Annual Road Pothole Reports Double In East Sussex

Reports of potholes and other road defects in East Sussex's road network shot up last year from 12,637 in 2021/22 to 26,309 in 2022/23, which is an increase of 108% — more than double.

The figures were given in a response to a Freedom of Information Act request.

Watch this report by Local Democracy Reporting Service journalist Gabriel Morris.

The number of reported potholes and other road defects in East Sussex for 2020/21 was 13,224.

It is important to note how these figures are for the numbers reported by residents, rather than the total number of potholes and other defects.

This is because the same problems may have been reported more than once, by different people.

The council has attributed the rise in reports to wet weather the previous winter — conditions it says were also seen in the past few months. 

East Sussex Highways is the organisation responsible for most major road maintenance — a partnership between East Sussex County Council and Balfour Beatty Living Places.

A spokesperson said:

"The winter of 2022/23 was one of the wettest on record and unsurprisingly took a toll on roads across East Sussex, as it did across the country. 

“This 2023/24 winter has also seen significant rainfall levels.

"To deal with the increasing number of potholes over the winter period in 2023, we had nearly three times the usual number of crews available to carry out repairs.

"We are responsible for more than 2,000 miles of road so prioritise our work, according to locally approved policies, to ensure potholes that present the greatest danger to road users are repaired as quickly as possible."

These policies broadly split potholes into three categories, with the council’s speed of response tied to how severe the defect is.

The council aims to ‘make safe’ those of the greatest severity — measuring more than 100mm deep — within two hours.

These are recorded as "Category One" potholes.

"Category Two" potholes are those which measure between 60mm and 99mm deep, and the council aims to repair these within five days of report.

"Category Three" potholes are between 40mm and 59mm and the council aims to repair these within 28 days. 

All other potholes are deemed to be at non-intervention levels and are not usually repaired until their condition worsens. 

According to the FOI figures, almost half of potholes or other carriageway defects reported between 2020/21 and 2022/23 did not meet the criteria for intervention. 

In all, 24,127 out of 52,170 reports did not meet the criteria.

This breaks down to 7,033 out of 13,224 potholes reported in 2020/21, 6,556 out of 12,637 in 2021/22 and 10,538 out of 26,309 in 2022/23.

Of those that did meet the criteria, the council was able to repair most within the its target time frames, although some repairs saw delays. 

In 2020/21, 7,533 out of 8,627 (87 per cent) of the reported potholes and other defects were repaired on time, a figure that improved in 2021/22, with 8,858 out of 9,443 (94 per cent) repaired on time.

But there was a dip in 2022/23, which saw 11,044 out of 13,931 (79 per cent) meet the time frame. 

A highways spokesperson said:

"The majority of our investment in the county’s road network focuses on preventative maintenance through an ongoing programme of Highway schemes, including resurfacing, to stop defects appearing in the first place. 

"In addition, we recently invested an extra £15.7 million, on top of the annual highways budget, to help improve the condition of East Sussex roads.

"This included an additional £2.5million to fund the patching of surrounding potholes that do not meet our intervention levels."

Rosie Mitchell, from Eastbourne, is among those whose vehicles have been damaged as a result of potholes on roads in East Sussex.

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, she said:

"A couple of days ago I arranged to meet a friend, to go to the garden centre and have a nice cup of tea.

"Driving along the road to garden centre a very large lorry came directly on the other side of the road, actually went over the white lines and I had to take evasive action and I went straight into a pothole.

"The tyre at the front was flat … I had to get a removal truck to take me back to have it mended.

"That was quite the performance, because the rim of the wheel was buckled … altogether it was £244, which is quite a lot of money seeing as we actually had to have another tyre done last year as well.

"They certainly are [getting worse]. When I was sitting in the garage while my car was being sorted out several people actually came through and I heard them mention potholes in Eastbourne.

"One lady was there having her front and rear tyre done at the same time."

After receiving the figures, the LDRS approached the council’s political leaders for their views.

Opposition groups raised several concerns about the council’s approach.

Cllr David Tutt, leader of the council’s Liberal Democrat group, said:

"I believe that the whole process needs to be reviewed, in terms of: the materials used, the way that the repair takes place and especially the policy that currently means that when the team are out repairing a pothole and see one near to it that does not meet the depth criteria they have to leave it.

"I consider this madness, as it will only get worse and they will have to revisit the site within a short space of time to repair the second one.

"I also believe that a clear programme of resurfacing needs to be in place. Many of the potholes that are filled are in roads that desperately need to be reconstructed.

"A good example of this is Southbourne Road in Eastbourne which is sinking and I have been asking for it to be resurfaced for years, but all that happens is that bad potholes are filled and it looks like a patchwork quilt."

Similar concerns were raised by Green group leader Cllr Johnny Denis, who said:

"What we often hear from the administration,  regarding the state of East Sussex roads, is that it’s been an exceptional year, that we have had a terribly wet or cold winter and that we are doing all we can. 

"But it fails to recognise that seasons happen, that preventative drainage works which exacerbates the issue are best done during the dry season and that their claim to have such an extensive highway network to manage (2030 miles) is, in fact, the least of any other county. 

"Far from recognising worsening weather due to climate change and developing preventative strategies, East Sussex continues to play catch up in a game it cannot win if it continues to do it the same way."

Meanwhile, Labour group leader Chris Collier said:

"The administration’s answer will undoubtedly be the same as it always is: they’ve invested more money in highway repairs and are seeing an improvement. 

"Unfortunately, after some initial signs of improvement, residents still witness the same poor maintenance. 

"More infuriatingly, they’ll still see clusters of potholes, with only a few being repaired.

"Making a fundamental change happen will take some new ideas, and with this tired Conservative cabinet at the end of its road, that’s not likely to happen until we see a change of administration."

Conservative council leader Keith Glazier sought to push back on these views.

He said:

"The winter conditions this year have been appalling and this has taken its toll on the local road network.  

"Since being re-elected in 2021, we’ve applied increasing resources to surfacing, patching, drainage and road safety.  

"This financial year we’ve taken on a new highways contractor.  Technology in place at our recently opened Control Hub enables them to prioritise jobs, monitor activity and track work more effectively.

"We’ve injected £15.7 million in spending and raised the highways maintenance budget in 2023/24 to double what it was in 2020/21.  We believe that these changes will lead to improvement.  

"We welcome critical challenge because it makes us better, but what perplexes me is that these opposition councillors, who were initially slow to support our increased resourcing for highways, have made absolutely no suggestion as to how things can be done differently or better or without cutting services elsewhere."