Potholes | LocalGov


Pothole breakdowns jump 20% 23/04/2025 Pothole-related breakdowns have increased by nearly 20% compared to the same period last year, according to the RAC.
RAC: Only 3% of council roads maintained last year 08/04/2025 Just 3% of England’s council-run road network received any form of road maintenance during the last financial year, Government data has revealed.
PM tells councils to ‘get on with the job’ of fixing potholes 24/03/2025 Councils will be required to publish progress reports on what they are doing to tackle potholes if they are to access £1.6bn of highway maintenance funding.
Potholes: Treating the illness not just the symptom 17/03/2025 With the publication of the ALARM survey, chair of the Asphalt Industry Alliance, David Giles, talks to LocalGov about investing in local roads.
ALARM: Pothole repairs backlog hits £17bn 17/03/2025 Council chiefs have repeated their call for long-term funding for road maintenance as the ALARM survey reveals the pothole repairs backlog has reached £17bn.
Pothole accidents cost taxpayer £40m 10/03/2025 Accident claims lodged against local authorities in the UK due to potholes and other highway defects have cost the taxpayer nearly £40m since 2020.
Lancashire councillors agree £28m for pothole repairs 10/03/2025 Lancashire councillors have earmarked nearly £28m to repair potholes as part of a larger investment in the county’s highways infrastructure over the next year.
Zurich calls for more cash to improve local road safety 04/03/2025 A major council insurer has called for increased funding for local authority road maintenance and more flexibility when spending it.
AI and the Pothole Crisis: Learning from 'Down Under’ 04/02/2025 Leo Hanna, executive vice president UK at TechnologyOne, looks at what the UK can learn from Australia when it comes to using AI to identify potholes.
PAC brands local roads a ‘national embarrassment’ 16/01/2025 MPs have called England’s local roads a ‘national embarrassment’ and slammed the Department for Transport (DfT) for not taking its responsibility for the issue seriously enough.
Surrey gets ahead of the pothole game with switch to AI 16/01/2025 Surrey County Council is thought to be the first council in the UK to move away from manual inspections and solely use AI technology to log pothole repairs.
The AI opportunity for government is now 15/01/2025 After Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced the Government’s AI ambitions this week, Russell Goodenough, head of AI for CGI in the UK and Australia, discusses the benefits AI could bring to the UK’s public sector.
National Pothole Day founder announces retirement 15/01/2025 The UK’s leading anti-pothole campaigner has announced his retirement after 12 years urging Westminster to do more to improve roads.
Pothole repair costs rise 15/01/2025 The cost of pothole damage to vehicles increased by more than £1m last year, according to the AA’s Pothole Index.
National Pothole Day: Time to focus on permanent repairs 14/01/2025 Mike Hansford, chief executive of the Road Surface Treatments Association (RSTA), says it’s time to focus on permanent pothole repairs.
Council concludes ‘battle of the pothole repair machines’ 13/01/2025 Gloucestershire County Council has completed its trial of four different pothole-filling machines declaring that they ‘all have their strengths’.
Quarter of extra pothole cash to be held back 20/12/2024 Ministers have confirmed an extra £500m for local road maintenance in England next year, but a quarter of the cash will be held back on the basis of an incentive process that has yet to be worked out.
The Bumpy Road Ahead: Labour’s great pothole challenge 17/12/2024 David Giles, chair of the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA), discusses the state of the local road system and what Labour should do to help drive improvements.
Pothole claims double in a year 20/11/2024 Compensation claims to councils for pothole-related damage to vehicles have more than doubled in a year, new data has revealed.
One in five pothole-damaged cars written off 11/11/2024 A fifth of insurance claims involving a car damaged by a pothole have led to the vehicle being declared a write-off, Allianz has reported.
Analysis reveals who gets the most – and least – pothole funding 05/11/2024 Brighton and Hove has been identified as the local authority in England that received the most additional budget per mile for pothole maintenance last year.
Budget: Reeves announces £500m for potholes 30/10/2024 Chancellor Rachel Reeves has announced an extra £500m a year for local roads maintenance from next year and an ‘interim’ settlement for the national network to keep strategic projects moving.
Just one in five pothole damage claims successful 17/10/2024 Just one in five claims for pothole-related damage to a vehicle were successful in the past year, research has revealed.
Pothole-related breakdowns jump by 10,000 07/10/2024 The number of pothole-related breakdowns has increased by 10,000 compared to last year, according to the AA Pothole Index.
RSTA launches first Pothole Prevention Week 19/09/2024 The Road Surface Treatments Association (RSTA) has launched its first Pothole Prevention Week campaign, running from 16-21 September.
Shock as council paints over potholes 23/08/2024 Residents and councillors in Lymington were left in shock after the highway authority closed a pothole-riddled road for repairs – only to paint over the cavities.
Safety warning as 75-year-old fills potholes 23/08/2024 A Scottish council has expressed health and safety and insurance concerns after a 75-year-old resident used gardening tools to fill in potholes.
Concern over pothole-riddled roads reaches record levels 12/08/2024 Nearly six out of 10 drivers say the condition and maintenance of local roads was one of their top motoring concerns, according to a new survey by the RAC.
Potholes: What Labour should do to fix local roads 23/07/2024 Campaigner Mark Morrell, known in the media as Mr Pothole, sets out what the new government should do to fix the local road system.
Government failing to track pothole funding, auditors warn 23/07/2024 The Government does not know whether the funding it allocates to councils to fix the pothole-riddled road system is being used effectively, auditors warn.
Highway leaders warn of ‘roadwork gridlock’ 15/07/2024 Nearly two thirds of local highway authority (LHA) leaders believe that we are headed for a road and street work crisis by 2030, new research has revealed.
App data 'suggests 11.5 million potholes in UK' 02/07/2024 There are five times more defects on British roads than previous estimates, according to data from a dashboard app that uses AI technology.
Lib Dem £300m pothole pledge ‘won’t scratch the surface’ 20/06/2024 The Liberal Democrats have committed to spending £300m over the next Parliament to fill 1.2 million potholes a year.
Labour pledges to fix one million potholes 12/06/2024 One million potholes a year will be fixed if Labour are elected on 4 July, the shadow transport secretary says.
Council borrows to spend £10m more on roads 11/06/2024 West Northamptonshire Council plans to borrow up to £10m to spend on schemes aimed at improving roads across the district.
Half of cyclists say road conditions are dangerous 10/06/2024 A major local government insurer has warned that months of rain may have caused ‘some of the worst ever road conditions’.
RAC: Councils take ‘wildly differing approaches’ to potholes 23/05/2024 Local authorities take very different approaches to deciding whether potholes get fixed, which means many go unrepaired, say RAC and Channel 4’s Dispatches.
Devon CC to invest £12m in pothole and drainage works 13/05/2024 A new multi-million-pound investment in repairing potholes and boosting road drainage has been agreed by Devon council members.
Council invests emergency £5m to tackle ‘potholes menace’ 13/05/2024 Lancashire County Council has announced an emergency £5m to deal with the ‘potholes menace’ ruining the county’s roads.
Potholes cost economy over £14bn a year 29/04/2024 The poor state of England’s pothole-riddled road system is costing £14.4bn a year in economic damage, new research has revealed.
RAC: Drivers ‘dodged the pothole bullet’ 23/04/2024 Vehicle owners ‘dodged the pothole bullet’ in what is normally the worst three months of the year for breakdowns, according to the RAC.
How the government can support road improvements 16/04/2024 Jake Michael, RS Bonds, sets out a number of ways the Government can help local authorities improve the condition of the local road network.
Councils publish pothole battle plans 10/04/2024 Local authorities have published which pothole-stricken roads will benefit from the first tranche of an over £8bn package of reallocated HS2 funding.
Council responds to ‘Daventry Banksie’ pothole complaints 08/04/2024 West Northamptonshire Council has responded to an anti-pothole protester with a computer-generated image of a roadside sign laden with song titles.
Council payouts for pothole punctures down 13% 03/04/2024 Council payouts for punctured tyres are down 13% since 2020 despite reports of pothole-riddled roads increasing by almost a quarter over the same period.
ALARM: Pothole-riddled roads need £16bn investment 19/03/2024 The condition of roads in England and Wales has continued to decline despite councils spending £143.5m filling in two million potholes this financial year.
Pothole-preventing robot passes first road test 08/03/2024 An autonomous robot designed to detect and fill cracks on roads has passed its first test outside of a laboratory.
Council road maintenance reaches five-year low 26/02/2024 Road maintenance by local authorities in England has dropped by 45% over five years, the RAC has revealed.
February most dangerous month for ‘pothole prangs’ 13/02/2024 Motorists have been warned that February is the most dangerous month for ‘pothole prangs’ as research reveals a dramatic rise in pothole damage claims.
Council sued after cyclist hits pothole 06/02/2024 Staffordshire County Council is facing legal action after the triathlete Paul Hughes hit a pothole while cycling breaking multiple bones and damaging a lung.
Councils 'have tightened pothole payout criteria' 05/02/2024 Compensation paid by councils for damage caused by potholes has fallen by more than a half, with some giving out ‘next to nothing’.
‘Staggering’ two million vehicles damaged by potholes last year 12/01/2024 The AA attended more than 600,000 incidents involving vehicles damaged by potholes last year, new figures released on National Pothole Day today reveal.
Velocity’s low carbon interventions help prevent and repair potholes 11/01/2024 With National Pothole Day upon us once more, highways maintenance specialists Velocity discuss their innovative spray-injection patching technique.
Potholes: the drivers’ biggest pain 10/01/2024 Jack Cousens, head of roads policy at the AA, discusses the scourge of potholes and what councils should do to fix the local road network.
Pothole claims up record 40%, insurer reveals 09/01/2024 The number of pothole-related claims increased by a record 40% last year when compared to 2022, the latest data from Admiral Car Insurance has revealed.
Dismay as HS2 funds rerouted to fix potholes in London 21/12/2023 The Government’s decision to redirect HS2 funding to fix potholes in London under the Network North plan has been strongly criticised by Northern leaders.
London boroughs’ share of HS2 pothole fund confirmed 20/12/2023 Allocations for a £235m funding pot aimed at fixing London’s pothole-strewn roads have been confirmed by the Government.
‘Worst October in history’ for pothole breakdowns 27/11/2023 October this year was the worst on record for pothole-related breakdowns, according to the AA Pothole Index.
AI robot could help address ‘pothole crisis’ 23/11/2023 A self-guiding robot capable of identifying and repairing potholes using artificial intelligence (AI) technology could help tackle the blight of potholes.
Councils failing to fix potholes could face funding cuts 22/11/2023 Local authorities who fail to hit road resurfacing targets could see their funding withheld from a national pothole fund.
£8bn of HS2 savings to be spent on ending pothole ‘blight’ 17/11/2023 Transport secretary Mark Harper has confirmed the allocations of an £8.3bn plan to resurface England’s pothole-marked roads, set out in the wake of HS2 cuts.
RAC sees record third quarter 'pothole call-outs' 10/11/2023 The RAC has dealt with the highest number of pothole-related breakdowns seen in any third quarter since its records began in 2006.
Nine on 'flexible' Barnet highways framework 08/11/2023 Barnet Council has appointed nine contractors to a new four-year highway maintenance framework worth around £75m.
London borough trials pothole repair machine 06/11/2023 Redbridge Council is trialling a spray injection patching machine to fix potholes across the borough.
AA seeks new pothole cash as councils face cut 30/10/2023 Councils ‘desperately need’ more highway maintenance funding to address the deteriorating condition of local roads, the AA has said after its worst September fixing ‘pothole-related’ breakdowns for five years.
Concern over state of roads hits record high 20/10/2023 Half of drivers say the state of local roads is their top motoring concern – a record high since the RAC began asking for motorists' views on road conditions.
Council's failure to fix pothole blamed for man’s death 17/10/2023 A man died after falling from his bike when it entered a crack in the road that had been identified to Lancashire County Council, a coroner has found.
£1.3bn local road upgrade pledge unravels 12/10/2023 Doubts have arisen over the Government's pledge that it will deliver 70 local authority road schemes
Sinkhole swallows up bin lorry 06/10/2023 An investigation has been launched after a refuse collection vehicle in North Wales was partially swallowed up by a sinkhole.
No dates for HS2 pothole cash 05/10/2023 The Government has admitted it does not have a timescale for the billions of pounds for road resurfacing that it announced after the decision to curtail HS2.
Road conditions add flood risk to pothole ‘crisis’ 27/09/2023 English councils received hundreds of compensation claims for flood damage in recent years as they struggled to maintain roadside drainage, according to study.
Councils cut back on road resurfacing 13/09/2023 The number of miles of road in England resurfaced or given life-extending treatment is at its lowest point in five years, according to an analysis of government data by the RAC.
Reinstate ringfencing for pothole repairs, MPs say 12/09/2023 The APPG for better roads has issued a report calling for the Government to restore ringfencing and multi-year settlements for local road maintenance.
Wet July sees rise in pothole-related breakdowns 21/08/2023 This year is set to be one of the worst on record for damage caused by potholes, according to the AA, after July saw pothole-related breakdowns up a fifth.
The great pothole repair failure 16/08/2023 The UK has fallen far behind other countries when it comes to funding pothole repairs. Asphalt Industry Alliance's Rick Green discusses what needs to be done.
Government slashes pothole repair funding by £2bn 14/08/2023 The UK has fallen behind other high-income countries when it comes to funding repairs in pothole-ridden local roads, council chiefs warn.
Councils pay out £11m in pothole-related compensation 24/07/2023 Over the past four years councils have paid out more than £11m to drivers who successfully claimed their vehicles had been damaged by potholes, RAC reveals.
Councils warned over £16m of fake pothole claims 09/06/2023 Insurance experts have warned councils over a rise in fake claims for damage to vehicles caused by potholes.
‘Year of the Pothole’ declared as breakdowns up 29% 24/05/2023 AA has called on drivers to make 2023 the ‘Year of the Pothole’ by reporting every blemish they find on the road network as figures show breakdown increase.
Pothole-related breakdowns up nearly 40% 28/04/2023 RAC patrols helped more than 10,000 drivers who had suffered a pothole-related accident in the first three months of the year, new figures reveal.
Drivers face ‘pothole postcode lottery’, FoI reveals 17/04/2023 Some councils in England are taking over a month on average to fix potholes once they have been reported, a freedom of information (FoI) request has revealed.
High concentration of potholes in North, survey finds 12/04/2023 Half of the 20 councils in England found to have the highest concentration of reported potholes are in the North, according to a new survey.
Clampdown on utility companies leaving potholes 31/03/2023 Reduced traffic congestion has been promised by Government as a result of a clampdown on utility companies leaving potholes after carrying out street works.
Record £14bn needed to fix pothole-ridden local roads 21/03/2023 A record £14bn is now needed for local authorities to tackle the local roads maintenance backlog, according to the annual ALARM survey.
Budget’s lack of social care support ‘disappointing’ 16/03/2023 Council leaders welcomed the new funding in yesterday's budget but were disappointed by absence of investment in social care, health and children’s services.
Budget 2023: Hunt confirms £200m for 'potholes curse' 15/03/2023 Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has confirmed a further £200m in 2023-24 to tackle what he described as ‘the curse of potholes’.
Hunt set to restore £200m of local roads cash 13/03/2023 Ministers are set to announce an extra £200m for local road maintenance.
Council chiefs call for £130m to fix potholes 10/03/2023 The Government spent 31 times more maintaining motorways and major highways last year than funding councils to repair pothole-ridden local roads, study finds.
Councils forced to axe road improvement schemes 10/03/2023 Councils are planning to axe millions of pounds of road improvements because of rising costs and lack of funds, according to new research.
Pedestrian falls cost taxpayers up to £500m a year 01/03/2023 Pedestrian falls on dangerous pavements potentially cost taxpayers up to £500m a year, a new report has revealed.
Building a robust pothole-related injury legal defence 25/01/2023 Ravinder Johal, a partner at law firm Shakespeare Martineau, discusses the importance of a robust legal defence in the face of personal injury claims.
Council's £100m fight against potholes pays off 25/01/2023 Gloucestershire County Council’s plan to spend £100m over four years improving the quality of its roads is already paying off, the highway authority has said.
Cyclists warned to steer clear of pothole-ridden roads 23/01/2023 A bicycle insurance company has called for the crumbling road network to be fixed, citing data showing that 21% of cyclists have hit a pothole.
Tough Patch® repairs dangerous pothole on M180 25/11/2022 Leading infrastructure services company, Amey, has used UltraCrete Tough Patch® to repair a failed pothole on the M180.
RAC slams councils over pothole repair quality 11/11/2022 Six in 10 drivers believe the condition of the local roads they use regularly is worse than a year ago, with almost as many (55%) saying the standard of pothole repairs is ‘poor’, according to the latest RAC annual survey.
Council chiefs warn of plague of potholes and salt shortages 31/08/2022 Council leaders warn that local authorities will struggle to maintain roads and street lights, and face salt shortages due to inflation and energy prices.
Government to penalise companies for ‘plague of potholes’ 13/05/2022 The Government will introduce new measures to penalise companies responsible for leaving potholes on the roads after carrying out street works.
Councils pay out £12m in pothole compensation 13/04/2022 Councils and road authorities paid out more than £12m in compensation to motorists whose cars were damaged by potholes between 2018 and 2021, research reveals.
Councils face over £12bn pothole backlog 22/03/2022 Local authority highway departments are struggling to patch up local roads and face a backlog of pothole repairs worth billions, an annual survey has revealed.
Rod Stewart video prompts warning about DIY pothole repairs 14/03/2022 Essex County Council has urged residents not to try and fix potholes themselves after Sir Rod Stewart was filmed carrying out repairs.