Council spends £176k on pothole repairs
The Courier can reveal that West Lothian Council spent £ 176,900 in the last year repairing potholes.
We sent a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to West Lothian Council and discovered that in the twelve months from 1/12/2019 to 30/11/2020 there were 1769 potholes defects discovered on the roads.
When we last reported on this issue in February the council revealed that repairing each hole costs roughly £100 and therefore the total for the year past stands at an estimated £176,900.
It was revealed in February’s report that over the last three years West Lothian Council has spent an estimated £504,200 repairing potholes. The council have also paid out £25,529 to road users in claims for damage caused by potholes since 2007. Our FOI request also revealed that vigilant members of the public have reported defects on the roads over 1000 times in the last year.
A West Lothian Council spokesperson said: “For the last 12 months we had 1024 customer enquiries regarding potholes. We encourage customers to report potholes as we continually seek to reduce potholes and reduce the time taken between receiving a report and repairing them. Our online form helps customers report potholes more easily. During this period 1769 pothole defects (on carriageways and footways) were recorded and repaired. This number is larger than the above as our inspection programme and other ad-hoc inspections identify roads defects throughout the year.”
They added: “This year we are investing £ 10 million on major capital road, bridge and lighting works and a further £8.25 million on day-to-day revenue works to maintain the condition of West Lothian’s extensive 1000 km road network.
“The combination of proactive resurfacing and reactive repairing ensures our A roads are consistently ranked as among the best in the country. Traffic and severe weather are two of the main factors that can lead to potholes forming. The council’s performance in repairing Priority 1 defects, such as major potholes, within 24 hours is in excess of 90 per cent.”