Nottinghamshire Council claims it is 'doing all it can' to tackle increase in potholes caused by winter weather

The council says the winter weather means residents may see an increase in urgent repairs to keep roads safe until larger scale repairs can be made, but says permanent repairs are still continuing.

The council, the county highways authority, said one of the reasons potholes form is the ‘freeze thaw’ effect. where surfaces freeze and thaw repeatedly, causing deterioration.

This, coupled with “exceptional levels of rainfall over recent weeks”, means an increase in potholes is to be expected.

Coun Neil Clarke, council cabinet member for transport and environment, said: “Winter conditions always take their toll on highways across Nottinghamshire, but I would like to reassure our residents we are not alone as an authority in experiencing this.

“We’re open about the fact we have seen an increase in the number of pothole reports in recent weeks, but also want our residents to know this isn’t unusual at this time of year.

“At the start of December, Nottinghamshire experienced a period of severe cold weather with road temperatures dipping as low as -7C at times. It is this coupled with the effects of salt as we grit the network and the exceptional level of rainfall over recent weeks which has caused potholes to form.

“The RAC said themselves last week this has been the coldest start to a winter in 12 years and, because of this, they have seen a rise in the number of pothole related breakdowns in the last three months of 2022.

“With more than 3,000 miles of roads to maintain in Nottinghamshire, we’re doing all we can to take action following the bad weather and our teams are working hard to keep up with repairs.

“We know potholes are of great concern to residents and that is why over the last 18 months, as part of our Highways Services Review, we have increased the productivity of our repair teams by more than 100 per cent and moved to a right first-time approach, decreasing short-term pothole repairs by 61 per cent.

“We are in the early stages of our programme to invest £12 million into Nottinghamshire’s roads over the next four years and are starting to see the benefit of this in communities where our teams have been out to carry out longer-term repairs.

“We know, however, there is work still to do, but I am confident, as we move through our investment programme, we will continue to see more positive results.

“I would like to thank residents for reporting potholes to us and would ask that they continue to do so. ”

The council said if potholes have not been repaired, it may be because they have not been reported,so residents are reminded to continue reporting potholes to the council either via nottinghamshire.gov.uk/transport/roads/potholes/report-a-pothole, or the My Notts App.