In an ideal world we’d have the money needed to keep potholes at bay, by resurfacing and upgrading roads as they wear out.
While the Government announced some additional funding in November for local authorities to spend on road maintenance, the Local Government Association estimates it would take councils in England £14bn, and more than a decade, to clear the current local roads repair backlog.
Reactive pothole repairs can be regarded as a ‘sticking plaster’ but they’re essential to deal with road defects in the here and now that would otherwise pose a risk to road users.
Last month, our team completed 717 pothole repairs across Swindon, of which:
- 511 were fixed within five working days of being reported
- 644 were identified by our team of five highway inspectors who regularly check 522 miles of Swindon’s roads and all 646 miles of paths/pavements and 76 miles of cycle paths
- 136 repairs were reported by residents
For more information on potholes, how we define them and how we repair them, read our potholes FAQs.