Council seeks extra cash for potholes

Hertfordshire County Council has asked the government for additional funding to fix the county's potholes.

Cabinet Member for Highways, Cllr Stephen Giles-Medhurst, has written to the Department for Transport to ask ministers for urgent additional funding for pothole repairs.

From 1st April, the county council is investing £30m in its year-round routine maintenance programme including fixing potholes, plus a further £107m on highways and related transport infrastructure in 26/27. This programme covers longer term resurfacing and reconstruction of Hertfordshire’s roads to help stop potholes forming.

Frontline teams carried out over 5,700 repairs in February which is a 44% increase on the same month last year. So far this year, between the 1st January and 18th March, over 12,000 potholes have been fixed.

This winter, the weather has been especially wet. Hertfordshire received 157% of its average rainfall between December and February, which has caused significantly greater damage to road surfaces resulting in more potholes. The number of pothole filling teams has been increased to get on top of this, but the increasing cost of carrying out these repairs mean that more government funding will be needed to keep tackling the problem. “Despite the challenges the county council faces, the DfT currently rates Hertfordshire’s roads as some of the best in the south east, but it is increasingly difficult for us to keep them at a standard that residents expect. That’s why we’re asking the government for urgent additional funding so we can keep Hertfordshire’s roads in good condition.

:: Cllr Stephen Giles-Medhurst OBE, Cabinet Member for Highways

The news comes after a judge ordered the council to fill potholes in three roads in Berkhamsted and Hemel Hempstead after a driver took legal action.

Judge Andrew Johnson made the order at St Albans Crown Court, after Derek Bennett, a retired construction project manager, took action using section 56 of the 1980 Highways Act.

Council bosses have agreed to the order to mend the roads within 20 working days.