Please provide the following information regarding pothole repairs in Devon:
1. The average time taken from a pothole being reported via the council’s online reporting tool to its repair over the past 12 months.
| 2024 | February | Average Days | Median |
| March | 9 | 5 | |
| April | 7 | 5 | |
| May | 5 | 4 | |
| June | 5 | 3 | |
| July | 6 | 3 | |
| August | 6 | 4 | |
| September | 5 | 4 | |
| October | 6 | 4 | |
| November | 6 | 4 | |
| December | 6 | 4 | |
| 2025 | January | 5 | 4 |
12-month average: 6 days (rounded up)
12-month median: 4 days
2. A monthly breakdown of potholes reported and repaired within that period.
| Year | Month | Instructed | Public | Scheduled Inspection | Completed |
| 2024 | February | 7193 | 6010 | 1183 | 6655 |
| March | 6881 | 5845 | 1036 | 7534 | |
| April | 8664 | 6212 | 2452 | 8858 | |
| May | 6111 | 4060 | 2051 | 6629 | |
| June | 4961 | 2588 | 2373 | 4618 | |
| July | 5163 | 2570 | 2593 | 5316 | |
| August | 3717 | 1474 | 2243 | 4122 | |
| September | 3525 | 1723 | 1802 | 3410 | |
| October | 3882 | 3381 | 501 | 3456 | |
| November | 3186 | 2621 | 565 | 3325 | |
| December | 3616 | 2987 | 629 | 3499 | |
| 2025 | January | 5324 | 4361 | 963 | 4982 |
Note: Monthly repair counts may include potholes reported in previous months, explaining variations between reported and repaired figures.
3. The longest and shortest recorded response times for pothole repairs in the last 12 months.
Longest repair time: 119 days; the initial response was 49 days, further delayed due to road flooding.
Shortest repair time: 1 hour 9 minutes
4. The total budget allocation for pothole repairs in the past two financial years and the actual amount spent.
Devon County Council does not hold budget and expenditure information relating specifically to potholes. Budgets and expenditure for potholes is contained within the total figures for Highway safety defect repairs. For Highway safety defect repairs, the budget and expenditure information for the last two financial years is as follows:
2023/24
Budget £5,467,000
Expenditure £7,499,959
2022/23
Budget £5,400,000
Expenditure £7,276,074
5. Any performance targets or service-level agreements (SLAs) relating to pothole repairs, including whether they have been met.
Devon Highways Strategic Partnership Board Monthly Performance Report 2023-24.
Strategic Partnership Board Performance Dashboard Jan 2025.
Some of the information in the performance reports is greyed out, this information is exempt from disclosure under Section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (Personal Data).
Devon County Council can confirm the requested information is held; however, the Council cannot disclose personal information if releasing it would contravene any of the provisions in the Data Protection Act 2018. In this instance release of this information would contravene the first data protection principle and therefore the information is withheld.
6. Any internal reports, audits, or assessments conducted on pothole repair efficiency in the past two years.
Devon County Council does not hold this information.
7. A breakdown of third-party claims against the council due to pothole-related damage, including the total number of claims, amounts paid out, and average processing time.
From 10/2/24 to the present, we received 1,275 claims for vehicle damage caused by highway defects.
The total paid out is £20,388 for 124 claims.
The average processing time is 93 days.