Pothole complaints drop 90%, claim Cheshire East Council bosses

Council chiefs claim they are winning the fight against pothole plagued roads across Nantwich and Crewe.

Cheshire East Council say they have reduced the number of reported potholes by 90% in a year.

Thousands complained last winter after the area’s roads were left badly damaged by severe weather and lack of repairs.

Nantwichnews also revealed a sharp rise in pothole damage compensation claims which doubled in 2012 compared to the previous year.

But now Cheshire East says its highways teams have carried out 56,000 pothole repairs since January, and cut the number of reported potholes to less than 300.

Cllr Michael Jones, Leader of Cheshire East Council, said: “We could not hide from the fact our roads were in a bad state of repair 12 months ago.

“So it is encouraging to know pothole reports are down so dramatically and our highway network looks so much better.

“However, that does not mean our work is done and we will continue to monitor the roads and prioritise works accordingly.

“We are investing £25m in the roads during a two-year period and we are now halfway through this. We have not just fixed potholes, we are undertaking extensive re-surfacing works across the road network.”

Cllr David Topping, Cabinet member in charge of the environment, added: “The majority of potholes and ‘defects’ are now self-identified through our team of highways inspectors. And even these have reduced by 43%.

“Since January 2013, the Highways Investment Programme (HIP) has delivered approximately 175 km of repaired road, including resurfacing, surface dressing, micro-asphalt and permanent patching.

“Significantly, members of the public, elected members of the Council and our frontline highways inspectors have all commented on the huge improvement to the network.

“We are proud to have delivered all inspections on time and ensured that repairs to all defects identified are completed quickly.”