Hertfordshire Council says more than 16,000 extra potholes have been fixed using £3.95m fund

More than 16,000 extra potholes have been repaired on roads across Hertfordshire in the past few months.

Earlier this year the Government awarded the county council almost £3.95million from the national Potholes Fund.

And since then thousands of lower priority potholes on the county’s roads – that would not usually meet the council’s criteria of pothole – have been repaired.

On Thursday (November 2) – at a meeting of the council’s highways and transport cabinet panel – councillors heard that 16,500 of these potholes had already been repaired, as a result of the Government funding.

That, they were told, was in addition to the more serious category one potholes that would have been repaired anyway. And the work was ongoing.

In a typical year, it was reported, the council would repair around 20,000 potholes in Hertfordshire.

But, with the additional funds, by the end of this year they expect to double that figure – to 40,000.

It was reported to councillors that last winter (2022/23) roads had suffered ‘exceptional damage’.

This, it was reported, was as a result of ‘challenging weather conditions’ – due to snow and ice followed by heavy rainfall.

At the meeting head of highways operations Chrissy Jacques said that following those ‘really challenging conditions of the winter period’ it had been decided that the council’s £3.9m allocation should be ploughed into potholes.

And she said that it had also been decided that these funds should focus on lower priority defects – that wouldn’t usually meet the council’s criteria of pothole.