£1million fund to repair thousands of potholes in Coventry and Warwickshire

The government says the money will allow almost 20,000 potholes to be filled - but Coventry City Council claims it's not that simple



A £1million war chest has been opened to tackle thousands of potholes in Coventry and Warwickshire.

The Department for Transport has today revealed £154,000 of pothole repair funding for Coventry and £832,000 for Warwickshire.

Officials at the DfT say that will allow 2,906 potholes to be repaired in Coventry and 15,698 in Warwickshire - working out at a rough cost of £50 each.

But Coventry City Council’s roads boss said the solution wasn’t that simple - adding that an estimated 400 repairs were needed on Coventry’s 200 miles of roads at any one time.

Labour Coun Rachel Lancaster, cabinet member for public services, also believed the Conservative government had skewed the funding allocation in favour of Tory-dominated Warwickshire, rather than dividing the money fairly.

A total of 13 councils in West Midlands will receive a share of £5.7m under the government’s Pothole Action Fund.

Coun Lancaster said: “I don’t know how they work out their figures - I think they just stick their finger in the air and see which way the wind is blowing.

“We have to look at what work needs to take place.

“It doesn’t make sense to just fill potholes when that might not be the most effective or efficient technique.

“Filling potholes is short term and is only an emergency measure, we prefer patching roads when we can because it lasts much longer.

“We don’t have to use the funding to fill potholes, we can use it for other appropriate repair work - as long as we can show we are achieving value for money.”

Asked if she thought political allegiance played a part in the distribution of funding, she said: “I think it plays a huge part.

“I would hope it was all allocated on the length of roads. I think, unfortunately, some of it comes down to having a word in the ear of a mates to secure extra funding.”

Coun Lancaster added that the city was expecting to see a spike in potholes in the coming weeks as the effects of the wet weather on road surfaces in March and February begin to become evident.

Patrick McLoughlin, the government’s transport secretary, said: “I know how important well maintained roads are to people across the West Midlands.

“Almost every journey starts and ends on a local road, so the government is giving councils in the West Midlands £5.7m specifically to tackle the blight of potholes in their area.

“This is just one part of our unprecedented investment in local road maintenance over the next five years. We are giving a record £512m to local authorities in West Midlands that will improve journeys across the region.”

The Telegraph reported in March that it would cost more than £1billion to repair every pothole in the West Midlands according to a survey by the Asphalt Industry Alliance.

I thought they were repairing our road yesterday even though there was no warning of closure.

Silly me!

It turned out they were only 'patching' it. It now looks like a patchwork quilt with squares of different size from one end of the road to the other.

Patches don't work. At best they are short term emergency stop-gaps. But I don't expect that the numpties we elect to the council to have the brains to realise that.

Pothole compensation totalling £30,000 paid out to drivers in Coventry and Warwickshire last year

Dozens of drivers received nearly £30,000 in pothole compensation in Coventry and Warwickshire.

Payouts averaging £430 were made to 67 motorists for damage to their vehicles caused by poor road conditions last year.

In Coventry 21 drivers received a total of £3,664 (average payout £174) while in Warwickshire 46 drivers received a total of £25,208 (average payout £548).

The RAC said the payouts highlighted the "inadequate funding" available for local road maintenance.

However 163 other motorists who made claims against Coventry City Council and Warwickshire County Council were unsuccessful, with both authorities only paying out in a third of cases.

In 2014/15 the councils paid out a total of £15,947 to 41 motorists, while in 2013/14 it was £33,751 to 115 drivers.

The analysis released by the RAC Foundation today is based on data collected from 204 out the 207 local authorities in Great Britain.

Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, said: “These figures are symptomatic of the inadequate funding available for local road maintenance.

“Year in, year out, the backlog of work on local roads is estimated to run to several billion pounds.

“A pitted road surface isn’t just a problem for motorists – for those on two wheels it can be life threatening.

“Just last week the Chancellor acknowledged that there had been decades of underfunding in the nation’s infrastructure and that he was keen to support targeted, value-for-money public investment.

“Providing the funds to fix our roads would be a great place to start and would show rapid results.”

Coventry City Council and Warwickshire County Council have been contacted for comment.

Only paying 1/3 of all claims. OK, some will be try-ons, but in other cases motorists are left out of pocket because of this appalling state of affairs. There really is little excuse for letting our roads decay to this extent.

Even if they paid 100% of all claims, it's clearly much cheaper to pay compensation than to fix the potholes.

They never fix them properly anyway.

Even if they paid 100% of all claims, it's clearly much cheaper to pay compensation than to fix the potholes.

Run by the bean counters!

£36m fund for Coventry and Warwickshire road repairs



A £36m war chest has been allocated to Coventry and Warwickshire to help tackle problems with the region’s roads - including £2.1m to tackle potholes.

The Department for Transport has revealed that the West Midlands Combined Authority will receive £21m towards road maintenance in the coming financial year.

Meanwhile Warwickshire will take a £15m stake.

The funding is part of the government’s economic plan to “build a country that works for everyone”

The money will be spent on improving transport links and better maintaining roads, which would help people access work, school and other services.

A total of £2,185,000 will be given to the region to repair potholes, which will have been made worse during the winter.

The state of the region’s roads has been well documented in the past.

Coventry will also be given a share of the combined authority’s £5.8m National Productivity Investment Fund.

DfT bosses say they want this money to be spent on “improving local road networks”, such as reducing congestion at key locations.

However no roads in Coventry or Warwickshire were listed as being eligible for money from the £175m Road Safety Fund.

Coventry City Council and councils in Warwickshire will now be able to bid for a portion of £75m which has been set aside to repair local highway infrastructure, like lighting and bridges.

So Coventry now has to go cap-in-hand with its begging bowl to the Greater Birmingham Authority to receive any funding?

How to make the council pay for repairs if a pothole damages your car

Dean Dunham is a lawyer and consumer rights expert.

Dean also runs the Retail Ombudsman, and he told Mirror Online, if the local authority knew about the pothole but hasn’t repaired it, or hasn’t followed road maintenance guidelines, you may be able to claim compensation if your car becomes damaged this winter.

Council pays out thousands over cars damaged by potholes

If you damage your vehicle in a pothole follow these steps to avoid a negative response:

1. Collect evidence - Take photographs of the pothole (including close-up images and images of its location on the road), the size and depth of the pothole – you can use something like a ruler in the photograph to demonstrate this – and the damage to your vehicle.
   
2. Assess the damage - You need to know how much it is going to cost to repair the damage caused to your vehicle. Obtain written quotes for this.
   
3. Make a report - All councils allow you to report potholes via their websites. When you make a report, include all the supporting evidence you have collated and the quotes to repair the damage.

The council will review all the evidence you have provided and make an assessment as to their liability.

If you have submitted all the relevant evidence they are more likely to pay out.

However, section 58 of the Highways Act 1980 provides councils with a statutory defence if they can show that reasonable care was taken to secure the road and that it wasn’t dangerous to traffic.

Try it, you will likely be very disappointed. CCC are not exactly the most honest of councils!