Written Question · S6W-01079 · Session 6
How (a) many potholes have been reported and (b) much has been spent on repairing potholes in each year since 1999, also broken down by loc…
The question
To ask the Scottish Government how (a) many potholes have been reported and (b) much has been spent on repairing potholes in each year since 1999, also broken down by local authority area.
The answer
Transport Scotland, through its Trunk Road Operating Companies and Design Build Finance Operate (DBFO) Concessionaires, is responsible for the management and maintenance of the strategic trunk road network, including motorways. Repair of potholes on all other roads is the responsibility of the local authorities.
The following table shows the number of potholes reported or identified on the trunk road network since 2007, by financial year. Transport Scotland’s asset information system does not hold this data prior to 2007.
The Scottish Government fully funds the inspection and repair of all high risk category 1 defects (for example vandalism flooding, spills and potholes), on the trunk road network. The repair of all category 1 defects is funded from commercially sensitive monthly sums and cannot be provided. Transport Scotland’s asset information system does not hold the cost of repairing individual defect types such as potholes.
Trunk road investment is not allocated, recorded or reported on the basis of local authority area.
Since 2007, this Government has invested £4.35 billion in managing, maintaining, and safely operating the Scottish trunk road and motorway network. In 2021-22, we will invest £529 million, an increase of £59 million from 2020-21.
The budget for structural repairs and network strengthening of trunk roads and bridges, including the Forth Road Bridge, is being increased by £46.5 million in 2021-22 to £207 million. The budget for routine and winter maintenance of trunk roads is being increased by £12.5 million to £106.9 million.
We will continue to invest in our extensive trunk road maintenance and operations programmes, to improve Scotland’s road network through essential road maintenance schemes, our bridge strengthening programme, renewal of ancillary assets and increasing the resilience of the network to unplanned events such as landslides, flooding and extreme weather events.
The increases in Network Strengthening and Structural Repairs budgets will provide further investment to support our programmes of essential road carriageway maintenance and bridge strengthening and repairs contributing to our commitment to double investment in maintenance of existing assets over the next 5 years.
In addition, the overall condition of our network is being enhanced through the delivery of our capital investment programme.
Financial Year
Number of Potholes
2007-2008
3981
2008-2009
4941
2009-2010
6841
2010-2011
8868
2011-2012
13087
2012-2013
11968
2013-2014
12187
2014-2015
9534
2015-2016
11848
2016-2017
12468
2017-2018
20691
2018-2019
19237
2019-2020
21115
2020-2021
20988
The following table shows the number of potholes reported or identified on the trunk road network since 2007, by financial year. Transport Scotland’s asset information system does not hold this data prior to 2007.
The Scottish Government fully funds the inspection and repair of all high risk category 1 defects (for example vandalism flooding, spills and potholes), on the trunk road network. The repair of all category 1 defects is funded from commercially sensitive monthly sums and cannot be provided. Transport Scotland’s asset information system does not hold the cost of repairing individual defect types such as potholes.
Trunk road investment is not allocated, recorded or reported on the basis of local authority area.
Since 2007, this Government has invested £4.35 billion in managing, maintaining, and safely operating the Scottish trunk road and motorway network. In 2021-22, we will invest £529 million, an increase of £59 million from 2020-21.
The budget for structural repairs and network strengthening of trunk roads and bridges, including the Forth Road Bridge, is being increased by £46.5 million in 2021-22 to £207 million. The budget for routine and winter maintenance of trunk roads is being increased by £12.5 million to £106.9 million.
We will continue to invest in our extensive trunk road maintenance and operations programmes, to improve Scotland’s road network through essential road maintenance schemes, our bridge strengthening programme, renewal of ancillary assets and increasing the resilience of the network to unplanned events such as landslides, flooding and extreme weather events.
The increases in Network Strengthening and Structural Repairs budgets will provide further investment to support our programmes of essential road carriageway maintenance and bridge strengthening and repairs contributing to our commitment to double investment in maintenance of existing assets over the next 5 years.
In addition, the overall condition of our network is being enhanced through the delivery of our capital investment programme.
Financial Year
Number of Potholes
2007-2008
3981
2008-2009
4941
2009-2010
6841
2010-2011
8868
2011-2012
13087
2012-2013
11968
2013-2014
12187
2014-2015
9534
2015-2016
11848
2016-2017
12468
2017-2018
20691
2018-2019
19237
2019-2020
21115
2020-2021
20988
In the Official Report
No contribution in the Official Report cites S6W-01079 by reference.