Richard Gibbs from Stone-in-Oxney sent us this picture from last week with a question drivers in Rye have been asking for months. Why do some potholes get repaired and others, often nearby, get ignored?
He says "East Sussex CC really excelled themselves last week by filling one pothole on Military Road near the landslip / Volker Stevin site / Starlock House and leaving adjacent holes. So the road remains dangerous and the costs go up as they will have to come back. Incompetence? Negligence?"
East Sussex County Council says it's neither and all down to cost. "With more than 2,000 miles of highways to monitor and maintain we prioritise repairs to ensure that potholes which present the greatest risk are repaired as quickly as possible. Any adjacent defects that do not reach our published intervention levels at the time of repair continue to be monitored by our Highways stewards. Repairing all potholes and defects regardless of whether they are an immediate safety issue or not would cost about four times our current spend, which is considerably more resource than is available to us, and place an even greater burden on council taxpayers."
ESCC's statement continues. "Since 2020/21 we have spent £105 million on highways maintenance, despite Government funding of only £60 million. We have invested in a long term, planned programme of preventative maintenance through schemes such as resurfacing and surface dressing to stop potholes and other defects appearing in the first place."
Richard Gibbs is not convinced. "The point in this instance is that the various other holes adjacent do pose a safety risk and are getting worse by the day. People keep swerving to avoid them which is not great either. They will have to be monitored and fixed soon which will inevitably cost more money."
You can find out more on ESCC's policy on pothole - and how to report them - on the council's website www.eastsussexhighways.com.
