Potholes and claims

The number of potholes reported to the council 

The total number of potholes within the local authority area is impossible to determine. Whilst we can provide the below figures, which represent the number of potholes picked up during routine safety inspections and those reported by members of the public, the number of reports alone does not reflect the actual number of potholes because some potholes will be reported multiple times, some reports will be of multiple potholes, some reports will be of defects that do not meet the national criteria, and some reports refer to defects on roads or car parks that are not within this Council’s jurisdiction. 

Please find below the number of potholes reported to the Council, as outlined above, based on financial years: – 

2014/15 – 53,080
2015/16 – 49,325
2016/17 – 60,639 

The number of potholes repaired 

Refer to above response. 

Amount of money spent on pothole repairs (£) 

2015 -16: £2.66 million

2016 -17: £2.71 million

2017 – 18: £3.42 million* 

*This figure is 54% of the actual safety defect spend, this is a typical percentage spent on pothole repairs in previous years. This is again due to a change in contractor and the way safety defects repairs are invoiced. 

Amount of money spent on pothole related compensation (£) 

2015 – 2016 = £128,774

2016 – 2017 = £35,357

2017 – 2018 = £84,332 

The biggest pothole a) that you have dealt with and b) left outstanding in diameter?  

Devon County Council does not hold information on the size of potholes.