Pothole repairs more than treble on average

Road workers repaired over three times the number of potholes last month than normal.

Around 700 potholes were filled on West Lothian roads in January. On average West Lothian Council normally carries out 210 pothole repairs each month.

But the RAC recently said that the weather last month was the perfect recipe for potholes on roads – which is are a result of heavy rain and freezing temperatures.

Council bosses said they appreciate potholes are“frustrating” but new methods of reporting them has helped.

Jim Jack, the council’s head of Operational Services, said:“This winter we experienced a cold snap before Christmas, followed by very wet weather and now another cold period. These combined are the worst conditions we could experience in terms of the road condition.

“To put this into context, our team has repaired around 700 potholes in January 2023 alone, compared to our normal workload of around 210 per month.

“This clearly highlights the amount of work our team is getting through, both in terms of checking customer enquiries and repairing pothole defects.

“Our safety inspection programme is ongoing and we also respond to all reports of road defects. We would encourage people to use the web form on the council’s website to report any potholes or other road defects.

“We fully appreciate that potholes are frustrating but they certainly aren’t limited to West Lothian. The process of reporting potholes online has enabled residents to report potholes using a map within seconds and this has increased the number of enquires and reports. That’s a positive change, as that way the repairs get carried out more quickly.

“Despite the extremely challenging financial position that the council faces, our road network overall is in good condition in West Lothian, and we continue to work to maintain that.”

Once a pothole is reported to the council, the roads team normally attend within 24 hours to assess the extent of the works.

High risk defects will be infilled within 24 hours of the defect being recorded and with officers returning at a later date to undertake permanent repairs if required.

Potholes and road defects can be reported here: https://www.westlothian. gov.uk/report