Over a million potholes are fixed on England’s roads, but there’s a county that repairs more than the others.
A freedom of information request to every local authority has revealed the number of repairs over the last three financial years.
At least 1.23 million potholes were repaired by English councils over the 2022/2023 year. That’s up from 1.21 million the previous year and 1.19 million in 2020/2021.
The way that each council records pothole repairs differs, however, as some log each individual pothole whereas others will group multiple potholes into a single unit of work.
Four councils saw the number of potholes they repaired double in 2022/23 compared to a year earlier.
Bedford repaired 1,955 potholes in 2021/2022 but a whopping 4,654 last year. That’s an increase of 138 percent, the largest of any local authority in England.
In Portsmouth, the number of repairs rose from 152 to 350 over the same period, an increase of 130 percent.
In Nottinghamshire they went from 4,483 to 9,866, and in West Berkshire they rose from 924 to 2,011.
At the other end of the scale, the number of potholes repaired by Ealing council fell by 56 percent from 6,654 in 2021/2022 to 2,888 in 2022/2023. That’s the largest percentage drop in the country.
In Newham the number of repairs fell by 53 percent from 416 to 197, while in Wirral they fell by 51 percent from 1,222 to 599.
The county with the most overall repairs may be Hampshire, which fixed over 130,000 potholes in 2022/2023. They are followed by Cambridgeshire which fixed 50,000 and Surrey which fixed 45,000.
Percentage increase in the number of potholes fixed:
Bedford: 138%
Portsmouth: 130%
Nottinghamshire: 120%
West Berkshire: 118%
Lambeth: 85%
Hampshire: 83%
Brent: 58%
Sheffield: 53%
West Sussex: 44%
Brighton and Hove: 43%
Westmorland and Furness: 36%
East Sussex: 35%
Medway: 33%
Redbridge: 33%
Kensington and Chelsea: 31%
Enfield: 30%
Plymouth: 30%
Warwickshire: 27%
Hillingdon: 25%
Nottingham: 24%
Peterborough: 23%
Sheffield City Region: 23%
Barnet: 22%
Waltham Forest: 20%
Richmond upon Thames: 19%
Wiltshire: 19%
Halton: 19%
Essex: 17%
Rochdale: 16%
Merton: 16%
Bolton: 14%
Kingston upon Hull, City of: 12%
Tower Hamlets: 12%
Shropshire: 11%
Derby: 11%
Thurrock: 11%
Croydon: 10%
Herefordshire, County of: 10%
Buckinghamshire: 8%
Bury: 8%
Walsall: 8%
East Riding of Yorkshire: 7%
Oxfordshire: 7%
Cambridgeshire: 6%
York: 5%
County Durham: 5%
Haringey: 5%
Wakefield: 4%
Surrey: 3%
Wandsworth: 3%
Salford: 3%
Warrington: 2%
Leeds: 2%
Greenwich: 1%
Somerset: 1%
Solihull: 0%
North Lincolnshire: 0%
Staffordshire: 0%
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole: -1%
Dorset: -1%
Lewisham: -2%
Worcestershire: -2%
Cornwall: -2%
Southampton: -2%
Bristol, City of: -3%
Dudley: -3%
Coventry: -3%
Gateshead: -4%
Blackburn with Darwen: -6%
South Gloucestershire: -6%
Islington: -7%
Slough: -8%
Wolverhampton: -8%
Sunderland: -8%
Kent: -8%
Rutland: -9%
Torbay: -10%
Hounslow: -10%
Hackney: -10%
Devon: -11%
Telford and Wrekin: -12%
Knowsley: -12%
West Northamptonshire: -14%
Central Bedfordshire: -14%
Leicester: -14%
Suffolk: -15%
Derbyshire: -16%
Oldham: -16%
Liverpool: -16%
Havering: -16%
Sefton: -18%
Darlington: -19%
Sutton: -19%
Barnsley: -19%
Sandwell: -19%
Stockport: -20%
Wigan: -20%
Cheshire East: -20%
Norfolk: -20%
Bracknell Forest: -21%
Trafford: -22%
Middlesbrough: -23%
North Northamptonshire: -24%
Reading: -27%
Leicestershire: -30%
Calderdale: -32%
Wokingham: -33%
Southwark: -33%
Kirklees: -38%
Doncaster: -40%
Milton Keynes: -41%
Stoke-on-Trent: -41%
Blackpool: -42%
Newcastle upon Tyne: -43%
Wirral: -51%
Newham: -53%
Ealing: -57%
