Potholes

In last year's budget Chancellor Phil Hammond put £420 million towards helping councils to fix potholes, which had to be spent by the end of this month.

£12 million of that money came to Cumbria and of that the county council gave £866 thousand to the Copeland Local  Committee who are using it to fix several of the worst roads in Copeland which would otherwise have had to wait for several years to be fixed - hence the roadworks around the borough such as the works now going on in Whinlatter Road in Mirehouse. There is still a lot more to do - Cumbria County Council still have a long backlog of roads that need fixing - but this represented a very good start.

This week the government announced further action to tackle potholes, making sure people have better, safer journeys and building on the largest ever investment in our roads made at the Budget. 

One of the problems in fixing the roads is often poor restoration after a utility company has dug a road up. When the Highways authority fix a road, the deal for the public is that you have a few days or weeks of disruption and then have a better road. 

It is irritating if as often happens the Gas or Water company digs up the road again as soon as the council or Highways England has fixed it: unfortunately this is often necessary because in the process of rebuilding the road the earth underneath it shifts and this can disrupt underground facilities e.g. create gas or water leaks.

What is really infuriating is if they don't put it back properly afterwards so you have a nice shiny road for a day or two and then thanks to a bad job by cowboy contractors employed by a utility company the road is left in a poor state again and all the disruption is for nowt.

So I am pleased that the government is consulting on proposals to address this.


Key facts: 

  • Potholes are one of the biggest problems for road users and the Conservatives are looking at all options to keep our roads in the best condition.
  • This week the government launched a consultation on increasing the guarantee on roadworks, so that if a pothole forms as a result within five years, the utility company responsible must return to bring the road surface back to normal. 
  • This consultation follows a number of other interventions by the Government to help improve road surfaces and on top of the additional £420 million to fix potholes on roads at the Budget mentioned above. 

Why this matters: 

Potholes blight many journeys. The Conservative government has already taken steps to make sure councils have the funding they need, and are now going further by imposing higher standards to make sure roads stay pothole-free for longer.

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