Nearly 5,000 pothole complaints made in Wiltshire

Nearly 5,000 complaints were made by Wiltshire residents and businesses about potholes during the past 12 months according to new Freedom of Information figures gathered by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB).  

The FSB’s national report revealed that local authorities across the country receive a complaint to fix a pothole every 46 seconds and also showed that the South West had the fourth largest amount of complaints of any region in the country.

The figures show that Wiltshire Council received 4,001 complaints with Swindon Borough Council receiving nearly 900 more – although this was still well short of the highest number of South West complaints which were in Devon with over 30,000. 

In Swindon the most reported road was Thamesdown Drive with the A345 receiving the biggest number of queries in Wiltshire.   

The complaints led to a number of claims for compensation from people who had their vehicles damaged last year with Wiltshire council paying nearly £37,000 after 181 successful complaints and Swindon having to pay over £1,800 from 19.    

In all around 80,000 complaints about potholes were made across the South West during 2018/19 out of a national total of around 700,000. 

Potholes are regarded as a major blight on the nation’s roads by small business owners. SMEs rely heavily on the road network, with nine in 10 (89%) small firms considering the road network to be important, for their staff, customers and trade deliveries. 

As a result the FSB, Britain’s biggest business representation group, is calling for a number of measures to help improve road infrastructure across the country, including: 

• More funding for local authorities from central government to support planned regular maintenance programmes, and to help alleviate the pothole problem. Unless additional funding is provided, the road maintenance problem is likely to increase over time, meaning more will need to be spent on repairs and damage claims. 

• Better coordination is needed between utilities companies and local authorities when roads need to be dug up. The amount of time that utility companies are responsible for the road they have dug up should be extended from the current two to five years.  

• FSB also wants to see Government ensuring there is a simple system for both reporting potholes locally, as well as for submitting claims for damage to vehicles.

• Local authorities should use innovative technology to monitor road condition to enable them to identify deteriorating roads, learning from trailblazer councils.

Mike Cherry, FSB national chairman said, “Potholes are a major concern for the nation’s small businesses. Our members rely heavily on the local road network, with their staff, customers and trade deliveries, dependent on fast and efficient road networks. 

“Poorly looked-after roads peppered with holes and cracks not only hamper their ability to do business, but lead to damaged vehicles, which are often vital assets to small firms often working without large capital reserves.

“These figures show just how widespread the issue is and it’s clear that governments, both national and local, need to sit up and take notice. Measures like more funding for local authorities and improving the coordination between authorities and utility companies, will go some way in helping ease the burden of this ever-growing issue.”

Potholes in numbers (2018/19): Total spend on road repair – £949,866,134. Total number of complains about damaged road surfaces/potholes – 699,535. Total number of claims, successful or otherwise, for vehicle damage as a result of potholes or damaged roads – 31,620. Number of successful claims – 7,706. Total amount paid out – £1,978,676