Pothole Pro trial

Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 I request copies of the following documents relating to the JCB 'Pothole Pro' trial carried out by Lincolnshire County Council in 2021:



1. Any internal evaluation, appraisal or trial report produced by Council officers concerning the 2021 Pothole Pro trial (including cost-benefit analysis, operational feedback, data on repairs/hour, travel/time/costs,

and officer recommendations).



2. Any minutes, slide packs, appendices or papers presented to the Highways & Transport Scrutiny Committee (or other council committee/board) relating to the 2021 trial.



3. Any correspondence (emails/memos) between LCC officers and JCB (or other third parties) about the 2021 trial evaluation.If any of the information is available in redacted form or as part of other documents, please provide the material you are able to disclose.

 

I can confirm that the information requested is held by Lincolnshire County Council. I have detailed below the information that is being released to you. 

1. Lincolnshire County Council have a Highways Term Maintenance Contract with Balfour Beatty Living places who are responsible for the repairs to the highway network. As part of this process, Balfour Beatty are free to use any equipment they find offers the best combination of value, versatility and quality in order to meet the performance metrics and specifications set out by the Council as part of the contract. Balfour Beatty carried out a trial of various types of equipment which could be used to repair potholes and carry out minor patching across their local authority contracts nationally, and found that, at that point in time, given the type and location of repair that they were making, the Pothole Pro did not meet their needs as fully as some other combinations of equipment. The current trial aims to reassess that data and, given learning from elsewhere in the Country, review the use of the Pothole Pro. As this wasn’t an Officer-initiated trial, no reports were completed by Officers and no presentations made to Councilors. Balfour Beatty owned the equipment and so no correspondence was recorded between Officers and JCB. The current trial has been reported to Highways and Transportation Scrutiny Committee on a number of occasions over recent months which can be found in papers here Agenda for Highways and Transport Scrutiny Committee on Monday, 8th September, 2025, 10.00 am

2. See answer to question 1.

3. See answer to question 1.