Q1 – How much money have you received in each year since 2009-10 from central government to specifically tackle the problem of potholes?
Year Pothole Action Fund (specifically for potholes only) Other additional DFT funding (severe weather, winter damage, not specific for potholes, but may include pothole repairs)
| Year | Pothole Action Fund (specifically for potholes only) | Other additional DFT funding (severe weather, winter damage, not specific for potholes, but may include pothole repairs) |
| 2009/10 | None | None |
| 2010/11 | None | £3,600,000 |
| 2011/12 | None | £9,300,000 |
| 2012/13 | None | None |
| 2013/14 | None | £6,000,000 |
| 2014/15 | None | £3,200,000 + £9.1M |
| 2015/16 | None | £2,563,000 |
| 2016/17 | £1,952,000 | None |
| 2017/18 | £3,192,000 | £4,400,000 winter resilience fund |
| 2018/19 | £1,920,000 | £18,754,000 additional funding given by Government in Nov 2018 |
Q2 – How much of the ‘£420 million to local authorities in 2018-19 to tackle potholes’ (5.3 Modernising transport, paragraph 3, https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/budget-2018-documents/budget-2018 ), that the Chancellor promised at the 2018 budget, has the council received so far?
Devon County Council has received £18.754 million of the £420 million to local authorities in 2018-19 to tackle potholes. 20% (£3,750,800) of this was allocated to locality teams towards local repairs. Additionally please refer to the Highways Budget Report for the Cabinet meeting held on 15 February 2019 – HIW/19/7 for allocation of additional funding for carriageway structural maintenance and bridge structural repairs, and the minutes of that meeting.
Q3 – How much of the £420 million, do you expect to receive? £18.754 million
Q4 – What proportion of potholes will you be able to fix as a result of money received from central government this year, which was specifically designated to tackle the issue of potholes (including the £420 million)?
It would take more than 18 hours for Devon County Council to collect the evidence and data to fully quantify the proportion of potholes that we will be able to fix as a result of money received from central government this year, the Council is therefore unable to supply this information under Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 – ‘Cost of Compliance’.
However, the Council can confirm that money received will be used to carry out repairs to highway assets with high frequency density of potholes and assets that have suffered damage due to severe winter/weather.
The Council uses information gathered from its asset condition surveys, customer complaints, and inspection reports to prioritise repairs in accordance with its asset maintenance policy, taking account of local knowledge and local priorities.
More information on how Devon County Council has used the money received from central government in the past is available on the Devon County Council website