Hertfordshire County Council accused of fixing potholes in 'secret'

The county council recently announced that Ringway will continue to be responsible for the work after the company won the new highways contract, which could be worth more than £55m per year over an initial seven-year period from October 2025.

Data from FixMyStreet.com suggests Hertfordshire has as many as 12,650 potholes, and the Liberal Democrats say around 1,000 drivers each year make claims against the county council for damage to their vehicles. Councillor Stephen Giles-Medhurst, Lib Dem highways spokesperson, claimed the process for handing out the new contract had been done “behind-closed-doors” and was a “deliberate snub to Hertfordshire’s long-suffering motorists”.

The contract award was agreed by the council’s cabinet in a behind-closed-doors portion of last month’s meeting. Councillor Giles-Medhurst continued: “Tory leaders had a golden opportunity to improve our roads, by insisting on a stringent and ambitious new maintenance contract. But they’ve squandered that chance … our county’s drivers deserve better.” The leader of the Lib Dem group, Councillor Steve Jarvis, said: “By effectively renewing the old deal on the same terms, the Conservatives have made it clear they have no interest in improving the dreadful condition of our roads.”

But the council’s executive member for highways, Councillor Phil Bibby, hit back in an article for Nub News . He insisted the figure of 12,650 potholes is “totally inaccurate” and said the council fixed 74,000 potholes in 2023/24. Councillor Bibby also claimed that opposition members had been “invited to take part in a joint advisory group” but had then absented themselves from it.

Councillor Bibby added: “In the case of the highways contract procurement, progress was fully updated and debated on several occasions within my cross-party cabinet panel – so no secrets.” He said Ringway had won the contract “against tough opposition” and that under the existing contract “they professionally carry out the defect management approach and intervention levels that Hertfordshire County Council stipulate … designed to provide best value for money within our limited financial resources”.