What happens after you report a pothole

We will carry out an inspection within 24 hours of you reporting a pothole. An accredited highway inspector will assess the pothole and decide how urgent it is.

During the inspection, we look at:

• the size and depth of the pothole
• its location and the type of road or footway
• the level of risk it poses to road users.

Our approach to maintaining safe roads

Under the Highways Act 1980 (Section 41), we have a statutory duty to maintain the public highway and ensure the safety of the travelling public.

We use a risk-based approach, following the Well-managed highways infrastructure code of practice on the UK Roads Liaison Group website.

A risk-based approach means defects in high-speed or heavily used locations may be less tolerable than the same defect in quieter areas. We evaluate not just the presence of a defect but the level of risk it poses to the public.

This means not every defect needs to be repaired straight away.

Where it’s safe to do so, we may monitor a pothole instead of fixing it immediately. This helps us use our resources where they are most needed.

Our inspectors are experienced and fully trained. They make careful, professional decisions to keep roads safe, and always follow national safety standards.

Their decisions consider reasonable expectations of highway condition, the characteristics of the road and traffic levels, and the current state of the highway to determine the most appropriate action.

Focusing on the highest-risk defects first allows us to protect more people and make best use of the budget we have.

Having a robust and reasonable process in place, the council is able to defend over 90% of challenges claiming poor highway maintenance as the legal system recognise that roads cannot be maintained in perfect condition and accepts that we act reasonably.

We do not have to maintain the road in a perfect condition - some irregularities are normal, and not every minor defect requires repair.

Read about priorities and timescales for pothole repairs.

Keeping you updated

If you give us your email address when reporting a pothole, our engineers can update you directly from the roadside.

They’ll email you to confirm when the pothole has been:

• inspected and given a priority,
• repaired; or
• logged for ongoing monitoring.

If you don’t provide an email address, don’t worry - your report will still be inspected and dealt with.