The councils with the most unfilled potholes revealed

More than 100,000 dangerous potholes on local roads that have been reported to Britain’s councils currently remain unfixed, as authorities buckle under a lack of government funding.

A website setup by a cycling organisation has been logging potholes reported by drivers and cyclists and listed the councils with the biggest backlogs of repairs in their areas.

According to the research, Surrey has the most cratered local roads in the country – and it has almost twice as many reported potholes as any other council.

The total number of reported potholes yet to be repaired across the UK currently stands at a whopping 100,249.

The shocking figure was revealed by vehicle breakdown firm 24/7 Vehicle Rescue, which analysed data complied by pothole action site, FillThatHole.org.uk.

The website, run by Cycling UK, allows people – who are predominantly cyclists well-placed to spot the holes – to report potholes that damage vehicles and potentially cause injury to road users.

The records are kept up-to-date and shared with local authorities. A notification is then sent when one of the craters has been filled in.

Of all the UK councils, Surrey that has the biggest backlog of unfixed potholes.

There are currently more than 6,700 reported examples of them on roads in the region that pose a risk today.

A Surrey County Council spokesman told This is Money: ‘We’re working incredibly hard to improve Surrey’s roads – potholes are fixed at a rate of around 260 a day – but as Surrey has some of the country’s busiest roads, wear and tear really takes its toll.’

The next biggest headache is in Kent, which has 3,194 logged potholes to contend with just ahead of the 3,124 ruts littering Hertfordshire County Council’s tarmac at the moment.

A full list of councils and their unfixed potholes is available at the bottom of this page.  

A spokesman for Fill That Hole said the figures may be skewed by the number of cyclists in the region, but said it was a strong snapshot of the state of the nation’s poorly maintained roads. 

‘As cyclists account for a very small per cent of all road users, we suspect that our pothole statistics are just the tip of the iceberg,’ he said.

‘We know the scale of roads needing repairs is massive.

‘And this isn’t about pointing the finger at local authorities, or accusing them of not doing their jobs properly. We want to help councils to identify potholes promptly so that they can be scheduled for repair.

‘Highways authorities have a legal responsibility to ensure roads are in a safe condition. But they can only do so when they’re aware of the issues.’

Hertfordshire Council was third on the list with the most reported potholes still to repair, these signs put up by campaigners in Hemel Hempstead highlight people’s anger

The website was also quick to acknowledge that authorities currently have their budgets strangled by a lack of government funding. 

In November, Chancellor Philip Hammond promised an additional £45 million fund to tackle potholes across England in 2017 and 2018. However, it appears that the injections of cash aren’t being split evenly between Highways England (responsible for major trunk roads in England) and local authorities.

Last week, the Local Government Council confirmed that it would only be provided with £21,000 per mile for the upkeep of routes across all English councils over five years between 2015 and 2020.

In comparison, the Government was providing £1.1m per mile to maintain its strategic road network over the same period – 52 times more than what local authorities are receiving. 

Councils have had budgets slashed by the Government as part of austerity measures and with vital services to protect, they may be choosing not to spend money on fixing roads. 

Surrey County Council told This is Money it could do more to catch up with the backlog of potholes it faces and reduce the impact of them if it had more financial support.

‘We face a £40m funding gap over the next five years and while our Operation Horizon project [its highway maintenance investment programme] has seen hundreds of miles of roads rebuilt to make them pothole-proof for at least a decade, we would like to do more which is why we think busier roads should get more government funding,’ the spokesman said. 

Fill That Hole’s representative described the funding situation as the Government using a ‘sticking plaster to mend a broken leg’ and added ‘local authorities can only work with what they’re given’. 

Philip Hammond promised a £45 million fund to tackle potholes in England this year, though it appears the money isn’t being split evenly between Highways England and local councils

Local councils deal with over 1 million potholes a year

A Confused.com report published in October last year found that a whopping 1,031,787 potholes were reported to local councils in 2016.

The average depth was said to be 40mm – big enough to damage tyres, alloy wheels and car suspension and likely to cause accidents if ridden into by cyclists and motorcyclists – something which resulted in £3.1 million in compensation being paid out to victims of potholes.

Added together, the nation’s pothole problem is 25 miles deep, the comparison site reported. 

And an RAC report last week suggested the problem is only getting deeper, as it had tracked an 11 per cent increase in pothole-related breakdowns in the final three months of last year.

Ranjen Gohri, director of 24/7 Vehicle Rescue, said it had experienced a spike in pothole-linked breakdowns, similar to what the RAC had seen. 

‘The figures aren’t going down. And they’ll only continue to rise as the Government continues to fail to invest in our road infrastructure,’ Mr Gohri said.

‘The underlying problems that cause the potholes are not being remedied.

‘They simply fill the hole as a temporary measure before this deeper defect returns with a vengeance a few months, or even weeks, later.

‘Yes, it’s more expensive and intrusive to repair the road properly, but the current approach is a false economy.’

Around 6,500 cyclists injured by potholes each year, says Cycling UK

Some 6,500 cyclists are injured by potholes each year, says Cycling UK

Cycling UK says around 6,500 cyclists are injured because of potholes each year in the UK.

Sam Jones, Campaigns Coordinator at the organisation said: ‘While the number of KSIs (Killed and Seriously Injured) due to defective road surfacing was thankfully down in 2015, the overall trend is worryingly on the up. 

‘If the roads were in a fit state, there would be no need for cash-strapped councils to be paying out nor families across the country having to struggle with the loss of a loved one.

‘Rather than building new roads, the Government should adopt a ‘fix it first’ policy. The UK has an estimated £12 billion pothole problem that a £6 billion pothole fund is meant to fix by 2021.

‘If the Government was serious about mending our roads, it would reallocate funding from the £15 billion Road Investment Strategy and give local authorities the means to bring Britain’s roads into an acceptable condition.’

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