Over 800 potholes fixed since Christmas

The Council has fixed more than 800 potholes since Christmas 2022, four times as many as the same period the previous year.

This winter has been particularly challenging and a huge undertaking for both the Council's Highway Maintenance team and our contractor Volker Highways.

Wet weather ahead of the Christmas break followed by freezing weather in the New Year accelerated the deterioration of many sections of road, causing a significant amount of potholes.   However, these conditions are not unique to this district and are affecting roads nationally. 

In recognition of this issue, the Government has made an additional £200m available for pothole repairs in its spring statement, £950k of which is allocated to West Berkshire Council.  In addition, the Council has also committed an additional £7m over the next 3 years to highway maintenance and we'll use this funding to ensure the resilience of our road network going forward.

We manage our highway network in accordance with national best practice, with our team of dedicated highway inspectors carrying out safety inspections cyclically throughout the district to ensure hazards and defects are reported and repaired.

We also rely on reports from the public and are grateful for the vigilance of our residents who use our problem reporting webpage to let us know about potholes and other highway defects.

Councillor Richard Somner, Executive Member for Planning, Transport & Countryside  says,

 "Extreme weather conditions this winter have caused our roads to deteriorate far more quickly than normal.  Our excellent staff and contractors are working tirelessly to ensure that our roads are safe by filling potholes that meet the necessary criteria as soon as we're made aware of them. 

 Our roads are vital to the economic and social success of West Berkshire. We're proud of our track record of investment in the network, and have included an additional £7m has been in our capital programme for the next 3 years. We also welcome the additional funding from the government, which will go a long way to ensuring we have a resilient network for years to come."