'We welcome the investment' - County councils in Sussex respond to government's pothole crackdown

For the first time, councils in the South East – including Sussex and Surrey – must publish how many potholes they’ve filled or ‘face losing the cash’.

A £1.6 billion investment – to ‘tackle a scourge of potholes’ – will be delivered to councils from next month as the Prime Minister tells councils to put the cash to use.

More than £27 million has been set aside for West Sussex, and £21 million has been granted for East Sussex.

An East Sussex County Council (ESCC) spokesperson said: “We await formal guidance from the Government. We already publish monthly figures showing the number of potholes repaired, and details of maintenance work on our East Sussex Highways website (live.eastsussexhighways.com).”

A West Sussex County Council (WSCC) spokesperson said: “We welcome the investment in road maintenance by the Department for Transport and agree that it’s important to keep our residents informed about the work we are doing to maintain the public highway in West Sussex, in line with the priorities in our Council Plan.

"We already publish six monthly updates on the numbers of pothole reports we have received and works carried out to repair defects on our website (westsussex.gov.uk/campaigns/better-roads-pothole-information).”

WSCC said its next report on pothole repairs for the previous six months will be published online ‘within the next few weeks’.

The spokesperson added: “We also publish the council’s Annual Delivery programme with details of all road maintenance and improvement schemes planned for the year ahead, so that residents can see where and how the capital funding we receive from the Department for Transport is being spent, on our website (www.westsussex.gov.uk/roads-and-travel/roadworks-and-projects/road-projects/highways-transport-and-planning-delivery-programme/).

“In addition to the money granted to us by the Department for Transport, the county council has also allocated £10 million to improve road conditions in West Sussex, on top of the £10 million we already invested in our roads in the previous financial year.”

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the country’s ‘broken roads’ are ‘not only risking lives’ but also cost working families, drivers and businesses hundreds – ‘if not thousands of pounds – in avoidable vehicle repairs’.

He added: "Fixing the basic infrastructure this country relies on is central to delivering national renewal, improving living standards and securing Britain’s future through our Plan for Change.

“Not only are we investing an additional £4.8 billion to deliver vital road schemes across the country to get Britain moving, next month we start handing councils a record £1.6 billion to repair roads and fill millions of potholes across the country.

“British people are bored of seeing their politicians aimlessly pointing at potholes with no real plan to fix them. That ends with us. We’ve done our part and handed councils the cash and certainty they need – now it’s up to them to get on with the job, put that money to use and prove they’re delivering for their communities.”

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said the government is ‘unblocking’ South East roads ‘after years of neglect’.

She said this will be done by ‘fixing the plague of potholes’, building ‘vital roads’ and ensuring ‘every penny is delivering results’ for the taxpayer.

Mrs Alexander added: “The public deserves to know how their councils are improving their local roads, which is why they will have to show progress or risk losing 25 per cent of their £500m funding boost.

“Our Plan for Change is reversing a decade of decline and mending our pothole-ridden roads which damage cars and make pedestrians and cyclists less safe.”