More potholes fixed in Uttlesford than ‘anywhere else’ across the county
More potholes have been fixed in Uttlesford than "anywhere else" recently, Essex County Council have said. Picture: Paul Donatantonio - Credit: Paul Donatantonio
Essex County Council (ECC) has resurfaced more roads in Uttlesford than “anywhere else” recently, it has claimed, as new data revealed about three potholes a day are fixed in the district.
In a freedom of information request made by this newspaper, ECC was asked how many potholes had been fixed in Uttlesford between August 1, 2017, and August 1, 2019, as well as a yearly break down.
In response, ECC said 1,588 'carriageway defects' had been repaired between 2017 and 2018, and up until August this year, 934 had been repaired.
This equates to 2,522 overall and roughly three defects a day.
The council was also asked how many official complaints it had received from members of the public about potholes in Uttlesford over the same period. Between 2017 and 2018, the council received 21 complaints and up until August 1 this year, it had received eight.
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An Essex Highways spokesman said: "We fix potholes all over Essex to exactly the same standards and using exactly the same safety-priority standards.
"Our inspectors regularly check, in detail, every single public road in Essex and log all potholes, with the ones that put drivers at most risk given highest priority for urgent repair. Local estate roads and less busy rural roads are inspected once a year, so we depend on members of the public to report potholes that develop in the meantime.
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"Please report any problems you find on the roads online at www.essex.gov.uk/highways because those reports go straight to our inspectors' table computers so they can check them quickly on site. We have done more re-surfacing recently in Uttlesford - which repairs and prevents potholes for years - than anywhere else, because the roads in the district justified that treatment."
In November 2018, it was announced that Essex would receive an extra £10.8million investment in road repairs, part of an extra £54.7million investment for the East of England. Councillor Kevin Bentley, deputy leader and cabinet member for infrastructure at Essex County Council, said at the time of the announcement: "This additional funding is very welcome and will build upon the additional allocations already made by the county council to reduce the level of potholes on the roads."
