Written Question · S6W-23408 · Session 6
How (a) many potholes have been reported on the trunk road network and (b) much has been spent on repairing potholes, in each year since 20…
The question
To ask the Scottish Government how (a) many potholes have been reported on the trunk road network and (b) much has been spent on repairing potholes, in each year since 2007, also broken down by geographical area.
The answer
Transport Scotland, through its four Trunk Road Operating Companies and five Design Build Finance Operate (DBFO) Concessionaires, is responsible for the management and maintenance of the strategic trunk road network, including motorways. The repair of potholes on all other roads is the responsibility of the local authorities.
Category 1 potholes are defined within the term maintenance contract as those that present, or could present, an immediate hazard to trunk road users. They are typically detected during driven safety related inspections. The following table shows the number of Category 1 potholes recorded since 2013 broken down by operational area. A map showing these operational areas can be found here . Data between 2007 and 2013 is not available.
South East
South West
North East
North West
AWPR
M77 DBFO
M6 DBFO
M8 DBFO
M80 DBFO
Grand Total
2013-14
0
718
0
2154
114
114
8
3108
2014-15
453
1435
204
2673
81
101
100
4
5051
2015-16
646
2011
1010
4136
89
80
215
4
8191
2016-17
598
1982
1596
3925
110
47
189
6
8453
2017-18
890
4231
2258
5155
95
94
119
18
12860
2018-19
709
4066
1384
5095
116
38
49
4
11461
2019-20
717
4872
1468
5115
106
35
61
0
12374
2020-21
678
3999
2153
5566
2
213
52
31
1
12695
2021-22
785
2181
1510
4864
134
105
23
7
9609
2022-23
879
2371
1689
3073
21
140
86
48
19
8326
The Scottish Government fully funds the inspection and repair of all Category 1 potholes and the term maintenance contracts set out strict timescales for their repair. Following identification of Category 1 pothole defects, the Operating Companies are required to make the defect safe by 6am the following morning, preferably by completing a permanent repair. Where this is not possible then a temporary repair is required within the same timescale and permanent repairs are required within 28 days.
Road maintenance works are undertaken by our contractors under a term-maintenance contract, the current version of which is known as the Network Management Contract. This contract commenced in 2020 in the South units and in 2022 in the North units. Prior to this, the 4G Operating Company Contract was in place, under which arrangements, Category 1 defect repairs were funded from commercially sensitive monthly lump sums. We cannot, therefore, provide expenditure on Category 1 defect repairs from the previous contract. Similarly, the costs for defect repairs conducted by the DBFO contractors is included within their wider service charge and so it is not possible to extract or provide these costs. Expenditure under the Network Maintenance Contract for previous financial years is provided in the following table.
Unit
2020-21
2021-22
2022-23
North East
£440,650
North West
£1,351,727
South East
£314,571
£745,003
£585,680
South West
£472,008
£570,657
£777,523
Category 1 potholes are defined within the term maintenance contract as those that present, or could present, an immediate hazard to trunk road users. They are typically detected during driven safety related inspections. The following table shows the number of Category 1 potholes recorded since 2013 broken down by operational area. A map showing these operational areas can be found here . Data between 2007 and 2013 is not available.
South East
South West
North East
North West
AWPR
M77 DBFO
M6 DBFO
M8 DBFO
M80 DBFO
Grand Total
2013-14
0
718
0
2154
114
114
8
3108
2014-15
453
1435
204
2673
81
101
100
4
5051
2015-16
646
2011
1010
4136
89
80
215
4
8191
2016-17
598
1982
1596
3925
110
47
189
6
8453
2017-18
890
4231
2258
5155
95
94
119
18
12860
2018-19
709
4066
1384
5095
116
38
49
4
11461
2019-20
717
4872
1468
5115
106
35
61
0
12374
2020-21
678
3999
2153
5566
2
213
52
31
1
12695
2021-22
785
2181
1510
4864
134
105
23
7
9609
2022-23
879
2371
1689
3073
21
140
86
48
19
8326
The Scottish Government fully funds the inspection and repair of all Category 1 potholes and the term maintenance contracts set out strict timescales for their repair. Following identification of Category 1 pothole defects, the Operating Companies are required to make the defect safe by 6am the following morning, preferably by completing a permanent repair. Where this is not possible then a temporary repair is required within the same timescale and permanent repairs are required within 28 days.
Road maintenance works are undertaken by our contractors under a term-maintenance contract, the current version of which is known as the Network Management Contract. This contract commenced in 2020 in the South units and in 2022 in the North units. Prior to this, the 4G Operating Company Contract was in place, under which arrangements, Category 1 defect repairs were funded from commercially sensitive monthly lump sums. We cannot, therefore, provide expenditure on Category 1 defect repairs from the previous contract. Similarly, the costs for defect repairs conducted by the DBFO contractors is included within their wider service charge and so it is not possible to extract or provide these costs. Expenditure under the Network Maintenance Contract for previous financial years is provided in the following table.
Unit
2020-21
2021-22
2022-23
North East
£440,650
North West
£1,351,727
South East
£314,571
£745,003
£585,680
South West
£472,008
£570,657
£777,523
In the Official Report
No contribution in the Official Report cites S6W-23408 by reference.