Pothole repairs from 1st May 2025

 live locally and have noticed roads around me getting worse, with potholes sticking around for ages.

Could you please confirm, for the period 1 May 2025 to present:

1) The average time (in days) taken to repair:

(a) emergency potholes
(b) non-emergency potholes

2) The total number of potholes reported, and how many are still outstanding / not yet repaired

3) Any internal targets or KPIs the council has for repair times, and whether these have been met

4) The longest recorded delay between a pothole being reported and repaired
 

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. 

1a-b. The Highways Asset Management Plan, which can be found at the link below, sets out response times for repairs based on hierarchy of road. If the fault presents an immediate danger a 2 hour emergency response gang will be deployed. The reason for an emergency response is not recorded against the job issued, therefore it is not possible to determine how many of these were issued for a pothole repair.

The table below details the mean and median response times to pothole repairs issued in line with our Highways Asset Management Plan.

Completing repairs can sometimes be delayed due to challenges accessing the location in question, this can be due to needing to liaise with National Highways, Network Rail or if there are other roadworks taking place in the area.

 The Highways Asset Management Plan: Highways Infrastructure Asset Management Plan

2) During the period, Lincolnshire County Council (LCC) received 19,706 public enquiries relating to potholes. Please note that the number of enquiries detailed may include instances of duplicate reporting.

Local highways officers issued 32,868 pothole repair jobs during this time. The majority of these are identified as part of routine inspections of the highway, whilst others were brought to their attention by public enquiries.

Of the 32,868 jobs, 27,479 (84%) have been completed, with 5,389 (16%) awaiting repair.

3) The Highways Service approach to, and timescales for, pothole repair times are detailed in the Highways Infrastructure Asset Management Plan. 

Highways Infrastructure Asset Management Plan

Pothole repairs are undertaken by the Highways Works Term Service contractor, Balfour Beatty. This contract is subject to a number of performance measures which are reported quarterly to the Highways and Transport Scrutiny Committee. The latest performance report can be found in the papers for the March Committee, at the link below.

Pothole repairs fall within the reactive service which is measured by performance indicator 3.

https://lincolnshire.moderngov.co.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=492&MId=9016

4) The longest delay between a pothole being reported and works being completed during this time is 208 days. This was due to challenges gaining access to complete the works as a result of the location’s proximity to the A1, and therefore liaison and coordination with National Highways was required