West Sussex County Council gets 2,500 pothole reports in 11 days

West Sussex County Council blamed “severe weather” for the “influx” of 2,500 pothole/carriageway-related enquiries from the public during the first 11 days of 2023.

This was almost double the total recorded for the whole of January in 2022, which saw 1,400 enquiries.

In the past nine months, approximately 25,500 potholes were filled by the council’s highway teams on 145km of road at a cost of £8.1million.

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Matt Davey, the county council’s assistant director, highways, transport and planning, said: “We are aware of the fresh influx of pothole concerns, sparked by severe weather and temperature changes, and will do all we can to repair those that need filling for safety reasons as soon as possible.

The Velocity road-patching system was deployed in 2022 to treat areas of carriageways (Image: West Sussex County Council)

“In November and December, 2022, our Highways teams received our second-highest number of pothole reports on record. Unfortunately, roads are not permanent structures, they deteriorate over time from constant use, the weight of vehicles using them and the effects of weather, resulting in new potholes.

“Older roads, potentially with small cracks, can be impacted by changes in temperature.

"West Sussex has experienced one of the hottest summers, then mild/wet weather, then the very cold snap from 6 to 15 December, followed by mild and very wet again, sometimes with flood conditions.

"These fluctuations, with torrential/persistent rain, combine to cause road surfaces to expand/contract and expand again, potentially causing further cracks and new potholes to form.

“We totally understand that potholes are a big source of frustration for all road users and we will investigate people’s concerns so we can prioritise repairing those which meet the safety criteria as quickly as possible.”

The county council is responsible for maintaining around 2,500 miles of road, A and B roads are ordinarily inspected monthly, C-class and main distributor roads on a three or six-monthly basis and declassified roads are typically inspected annually.

People have been encouraged to report potholes to the council at www.westsussex.gov.uk/roads-and-travel/make-an-enquiry-or-report-a-problem-with-a-road-or-pavement/ .