Council faces 300% jump in pothole complaints

The number of potholes being reported to Cambridgeshire County Council has jumped from 500 a week to more than 2,000.

The authority said it is struggling with a big backlog of road repairs and needs an extra £42m over the next four years from the government.

It comes after a major road between Great Shelford and south Cambridge was resurfaced at the end of February, following complaints made about it more than a year ago.

The government said the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority would receive £188m in multi-year funding to "help resurface roads and fix the pothole plague".

Chair of the Highways and Transport Committee, Councillor Alex Beckett, said the snow and ice seen in January meant reports about potholes had increased.

The authority said it also had an £800m road maintenance backlog to contend with due to "decades of underfunding".

"The government is very much telling us now they are putting in their biggest investment in highways ever - and we appreciate that - but they are giving us £188m over four years when their own formula says we need £230m over four years."

The council said it was able to stay on top of potholes but was "struggling".

Earlier this month, it agreed to allocate £58m for road maintenance and improvements in the county over 2026-27.

The Department for Transport said it was investing £7.3 bn over the next four years to help UK councils with road issues.

It said £2.1bn of this was subject to local authorities demonstrating they had effective plans to fix and prevent potholes in their areas, and could ensure the funding was spent effectively, allowing residents to hold their councils to account.

"The government has done its bit, now it is over to councils to use this money to plan ahead and deliver safer, smoother journeys," a spokesperson said.

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