Report a pothole, or a road or pathway problem

Report a pothole or other damage to roads

Use this service to report problems with:

• potholes
• road conditions
• road lines or markings
• repair failures
• kerbs
• paving slabs

We can only investigate problems on roads we are responsible for.

What happens after you report a problem

To help us decide how quickly and what action we need to take; various factors are considered, such as:

• any potential risk to public safety
• the size and depth of the pothole
• the type, speed, and volume of traffic on the road
• the road alignment and visibility
• the location of the damage

After the defect has been inspected it will be added to our works programme where it will be prioritised for repair.

Temporary repairs

Sometimes temporary repairs are made. We do this:

• to make safe a defect quickly, as a permanent repair takes more time and may require a road closure or temporary traffic lights
• when further investigation is required; potholes, or a series of them, may be symptomatic of an underlying problem on the stretch of road resulting in a larger piece of work
• to address urgent safety risks on a temporary basis until we can come back to make a permanent repair
• if weather conditions are going to make a permanent repair less likely to be successful but a repair is needed because of safety concerns

How we repair roads

Over time, a road will lose its flexibility and start to become brittle. Traffic will then cause cracks to appear in the surface which, as water seeps through, leads to potholes and other defects. Very cold or wet weather speeds up this process, which is why there are often more potholes at the end of winter.

Picking the right treatment for repairing our defects is essential for using our budget wisely to keep the roads in the best condition possible with our available funding.

Types of treatment

There are a number types of treatment and each is appropriate in different situations, the main ones we use are:

Surface dressing

A layer of bitumen is spread on an existing surface. Chippings are then spread on the surface and rolled in. Over the next few days, traffic on the newly surface dressed road beds the chippings into the surface. Surface dressing improves the surface texture and is quick to lay, minimising road closures and disruption for the public. It can last around 10 years. When we use this technique we regularly sweep the road in the days following but it is important that drivers stick to the temporary speed limits to avoid the risk of skidding and damage to vehicles.

Resurfacing

The top surface layer of a road  is removed and replaced. This type of treatment is about five times more expensive than surface dressing and can last up to 20 years.

Reconstruction

This is required when a length of road has deteriorated to a point where we can neither surface dress nor resurface it. Reconstruction consists of digging down to repair or replace the foundation layers of the road and finally resurfacing it. This treatment can last up to 20 years, but at around 15 times the cost of surface dressing, this is a very expensive treatment which can also cause a lot of disruption.

Large patched repairs

This involves filling in potholes or defects on a length of road, not just a single location. Patching often enables the road to then be surfaced dressed, which further extends its life.

Spray injection patching

This involves a specialist machine spraying binder and stone chippings into defects at high pressure. This technique is a very efficient way of permanently repairing a lot of pot-holes in a short space of time.

Small patched repairs

This involves filling in individual or small groups of potholes.