Hampshire County Council says 37% rise in pothole repairs

A RECORD number of Hampshire potholes and road defects have been fixed over the past year, according to the latest county council figures.

In the year to April, 180,909 repairs were delivered, marking a 37% increase, after an extra £22.5m was added to the roads budget.

Cllr Lulu Bowerman, cabinet member for highways and waste, said: “We understand that potholes remain a significant concern for Hampshire’s residents, impacting daily journeys and overall satisfaction whether travelling to work, school, running a business or enjoying all our county has to offer.

“One year ago, we allocated an additional £22.5m to tackle this issue and make our roads stronger. This two-year investment is enabling us to deploy more resources dedicated to promptly fixing potholes, addressing the damage caused by cycles of wet and freezing winter weather.”

She added: “Higher costs due to inflation means that every year we must make our budget stretch further – for example, it now costs the taxpayer around 44% more to repair a pothole.

“Over the summer months, our highways teams will continue to make the most of the money we have available, and the generally drier, warmer days to support our priority focus on fixing large numbers of potholes, applying surface treatments to smooth our highways, and undertaking road maintenance on larger stretches of road across the county.”

Road defects and potholes can be reported to the council’s highways team online at hants.gov.uk/transport/highways