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 for local authorities to spend on road maintenance, the Local Government Association estimate 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 1,368 pothole repairs across Swindon, of which:

  • 1,332 were fixed within five working days of being reported
  • 1,245 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
  • 305 repairs were reported by residents, of which 123 were in criteria for a repair.

As our budget is limited, we risk assess and prioritise repairs as follows:

  • For a pothole to be considered a safety defect, it must be at least 40mm deep in the road surface. Potholes that pose a very high level of safety risk are completed within 24 hours. We aim to complete all other pothole repairs within 10 working days, with the majority completed within five working days. Other defects may be programmed for a longer period of repair of up to six weeks.
  • For defects less than 40mm deep, a risk assessment is made in line with our Carriageway and Footway Defects Management Plan to determine if the defect is a hazard and if a repair is necessary.

Find the answers to common pothole questions on our website.