Councillor Joy Dennis, West Sussex County Council's Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport responds to comments by the MP for East Worthing & Shoreham on the Spring Statement
I read with interest Tom Rutland MP’s article discussing the recent Spring Statement, in particular his views on the recent Department for Transport announcement about pothole repair funding and the requirement for Highways Authorities to publicise repair figures in order to access their full allocation.
West Sussex County Council is committed to improving the condition of the roads in our county and we welcome the DfT’s investment of additional funding, which will enable us to continue our progress in this area.
It was frustrating, however, to read Mr Rutland’s claim that we haven’t, as yet, published figures on “how many potholes [we] have filled”.
I would like to assure Mr Rutland and our communities that we have already issued updates informing the residents of West Sussex about the work we have carried out on the road network, including the number of potholes we have repaired.
This information has been shared through press releases issued to our local media and hosted on our own website, along with more in depth information being available on our dedicated webpage . Residents are also able to use our dashboards to view data specific to the district or borough they live in about how many highways reports we have received and how many pothole repairs we've carried out since April 2020.
I hope Mr Rutland will find this information we have shared – and will continue to share – useful in keeping his constituents updated on the great strides we have made in tackling the issues faced by users of our road network as we endeavour to keep West Sussex moving.
For reference, previous press updates:
24 November 2022 £7.4million worth of road surface improvements completed in just six months at 197 sites - West Sussex County Council
12 January 2023 25,500 potholes filled in nine months – but severe weather leads to new influx of pothole reports - West Sussex County Council
31 May 2024 Better Roads campaign: our commitment to improving road conditions continues - West Sussex County Council