Stepping up our work to tackle potholes in the city

We’ve stepped up our action to repair the city’s roads and pavements.

After weeks of cold and wet weather at the start of the year, we’ve seen more damage to our streets.

In response, we’ve significantly increased the number of teams going out make repairs from 2 to 10 throughout March.

In January, we repaired 1004 potholes. In February that increased to 1374.

We also made 610 repairs to our pavements in those 2 months.

A man in a high viz jacket and hard hat posing in front of a group of men in similar clothing working on a road with a bus in the background

Picture: Councillor Muten seeing work being done to fix the city's roads

Councillor Trevor Muten, Cabinet member for Transport and City Infrastructure, said: “Fixing our roads and pavements is a top priority for us which is why we’ve more than quadrupled the number of teams repairs our roads. We fixed more potholes last month than in January and that number is set to increase again in March.

“We know people are frustrated with the condition of some of our roads and we need to make them better. Years of underinvestment has led to a huge backlog in repairs and maintenance, not just in Brighton & Hove, but across the country.

“But we have committed to spend at least £8.8 million making them better over the next 12 months, including £2.2 million on fixing the most immediate problems.

“We’re acting now to fix the most serious problems. Longer term, we have a clear maintenance plan in place which will extend the life of our roads and pavements, stop potholes developing the in first and reduce the need for repair.”

A road with a pothole patched and repaired

Picture: One of the thousands of potholes repaired in recent months

How we assess and repair potholes and other defects

We investigate and assess every report we receive about potholes and other defects. We also have teams proactively inspecting our roads to identify problems before they occur.

Our Highway Inspection team then decide how serious the issue is based on size, depth, location and degree of risk to people.

Contractors are then sent out to repair within 2 hours, 24 hours, 7 days or 28 days, depending on the nature, location and type of problem.

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