1. How many potholes were reported to the Council between 01/01/2023 and 31/12/2023?
Potholes reported: 51,259 (includes potholes identified on formal inspections and all
reports of potholes, regardless of triage outcome).
2. How many potholes were repaired by the Council between 01/01/2023 and 31/12/2023?
Potholes repaired: 50,861
3. How many potholes were repaired by the Council more than once between 01/01/2023 and 31/12/2023?
Devon County Council believes that compliance with this request would exceed the appropriate cost limit under Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 which is £450 or 18 hours of officer time. Devon County Council holds relevant information, however, to locate and extract information to determine if a pothole has been repaired more than once between the 01/01/2023 and 31/12/2023 would require the manual review of thousands of records. This is because when inspectors record defects the software uses Global Positioning System (GPS) and gives us eastings/northings for location information, but this is only accurate to within a few metres. Therefore, we would not be able to look for duplicate easting/northings across defects to try and determine if they are the same defects. We also know that potholes can and do appear right next to defects that have since been repaired – so the location information may appear the same or similar on the face of it, but in reality it is a completely different pothole.
Under the Act, there is a duty to provide advice and assistance as to how a request can be refined to fit within the appropriate limit. Unfortunately, due to the way the data is held, this is not possible for this request.
4. How much has the Council spent on pothole repairs? Please give financial statistics for the period 01/01/23-31/12/2023?
We do not hold expenditure information relating specifically to potholes. Expenditure on potholes is contained within the total expenditure on Highway safety defect repairs, which is set out below:
Total spend on safety defect repairs from 1st January 2023 to 31st December 2023 was £8,237,219.
5. How many claims has the Council received for vehicle damage due to potholes for the period 01/01/2023 – 31/12/2023?
1,655
6. How much compensation has your Authority paid out between 01/01/2023 – 31/12/2023 as a result of damage to vehicles caused by potholes?
£66,182
7. How many claims has the Council received for personal injury due to potholes for the period 01/01/2023 – 31/12/2023?
86
8. How much compensation has your Authority paid out between 01/01/2023 – 31/12/2023 as a result of personal injury caused by potholes?
£11,843
9. What is your road maintenance/pothole repair strategy for 2024/25?
Highway Asset Management Policy and Strategy
10. What is the Council’s budget for potholes repairs for 2024/25?
We do not have a standalone pothole budget, it forms part of a wider budget for
repairing safety defects, which for 2024/25 is: £6,402,000m
11. What is the Council’s average repair cost per pothole?
For 2023/24 this was roughly £100 per pothole (for repairs up to 1sqm). We are currently working on figures for 2024/25 but these are not yet available.
12. Do the Council use external contractors to fix potholes, or do you have an inhouse Team?
Please refer to our Pothole FAQ
13. How many full-time equivalent staff does Council currently employ to inspect it’s road network to identify and classify pot holes or potential highway defects?
Our term maintenance contractor, Milestone Infrastructure Ltd, who deliver the Safety Inspection process for us, currently employ 23 full time Highway Safety Inspectors.
14. If not outsourced, How many full-time equivalent staff does the Council currently employ to repair pot holes or highway defects?
Pothole repairs are outsourced to our term maintenance contractor, Milestone
Infrastructure Ltd.
15. Do the Council measure environmental impact or carbon footprint of potholes repairs?
Devon County Council’s strategy approach to carbon reduction measurement is outlined in
the following documents:
Devon Carbon Plan – Devon Climate Emergency
Highways and Traffic Management, Engineer Development and Structures Service
Decarbonisation Strategy – Roads and transport (devon.gov.uk)
16. How many miles of highway is the Council responsible for maintaining?
8072.3 miles