North Yorkshire County Council has welcomed an annual drive to raise awareness of potholes and the state of the nation’s roads, saying the campaign echoes the high priority the authority places on road maintenance.
Monday, 16 January, marks the third annual National Pothole Day by Street Repairs, a national fault reporting system, encouraging people to report outstanding potholes.
North Yorkshire has a road network of more than 5,000 miles and the County Council is typically spending £65m a year on road maintenance, significantly more than in the past. The additional money comes from a £44m pot being spent between 2014 and 2021 to bring more of the road network up to scratch, particularly across rural areas.
The £44m is made up of £20m of the County Council’s own money and £24m from an innovative joint capital bid with East Riding to the Local Growth Fund, linking the maintenance of the rural road network with economic growth. This was the first bid nationally to the Local Growth Fund for capital funding to be spent on road maintenance.
County Councillor Don Mackenzie, Executive Member for Highways, said: “Good roads are vital for day-to-day travel, for business and pleasure, and for economic prosperity, so we understand the concerns of road users and the reasons for the National Pothole Day initiative.
“Roads maintenance is among the County Council’s highest priorities, as our investment across the county shows. Our additional funding is about vital support for economic growth, supporting business and keeping communities and the economy on the move. Well-maintained road surfaces are also important for road safety, especially for the increasing numbers of our residents who are choosing to give up their car and use two-wheeled transport.”
The County Council encourages people to report potholes online through its own website, www.northyorks.gov.uk/potholes.
Registering potholes, and other highways issues, through the County Council’s website means reports go straight to the highway inspector to investigate. It also allows people to pinpoint a pothole’s exact location on a map and to track the progress of the pothole report and view any updates from the highways inspector.
If a pothole has been inspected and assessed as needing attention, it will be added to a programme of work. The council prioritises repairs based on factors including the depth, size and location of the pothole on the road; the volume of traffic; and the speed of the road.
If the reported pothole needs attention, but does not pose an immediate hazard to the road user, it will be fixed along with other potholes in the same vicinity as part of an overall programme of work. It is more cost-effective to repair defects in this manner. Contractors are required to complete their work within 90 days of it being issued, though this target is dependant of weather conditions and changing priorities.