Is Yorkshire suffering a 'plague of potholes'?

As winter drags on, the wet and cold continue to play havoc with the roads, leaving a "plague of potholes" across West Yorkshire.

The holes form when rain or other moisture gets into the cracks in the surface, which then freezes and expands, according to the RAC.

These holes then get bigger as vehicles drive over them, damaging the structure of the road, and as a result they are at their worst towards the end of winter.

AA breakdown data shows potholes have increased across the UK this January compared to January 2025, says Jack Cousens, head of roads policy at AA.

"Drivers in the north don't have to travel too far to see that their roads are plagued with potholes," he says.

"Last year the AA attended about 1,700 pothole-related incidents a day. That's people hitting those potholes and either their tyres being burst, wheels being damaged and even in the worst case scenarios suspensions being broken and steering roads and arms being damaged too."

In Garforth, Leeds, councillor Mark Dobson says he receives daily emails and calls from residents complaining about potholes.

He says it's worse this year because councils are using short-term fixes.

"The situation has got out of hand. And the repairs that are being done, simply aren't good enough," he says.

"It's an English winter, we've got to expect potholes but I've never come across an experience where by the day I'm having potholes reported to me and also significant damage to vehicles."

He says on Derwent Avenue, a street in his constituency, the same potholes have been filled up to 12 times.

"We've had endless quick fixes and eventually that does catch up," he says.

"In the spring there needs to be a proper plan to address them properly.

"Do proper patching that's going to hold so this time next year, we won't find ourselves this time next year back with the same issues."

Garforth resident John Rummings agrees that council workers only "skim on the top of the surface" of the potholes.

"When the council come, they do repair the holes in the road, but they don't do it properly – because in a few weeks it's back to where it was," he says.

Despite recently receiving a green highest-level rating from government for potholes, Leeds City Council says it has a backlog of repairs with an estimated value of £300m.

A spokesperson said: "As a council we set a high priority on maintaining our roads because we know it is a high priority for our residents.

"All of our highways maintenance work in Leeds follows national guidance and best practice and we invest an additional £13m of capital funding into highways maintenance each year to support our work."

According to the RAC, the Government has a pot of £1.6bn to tackle the problem up until the end of 2026.

Cousens, from the AA, agrees that local authorities need to move away from short-term solutions, but says the weather has not helped.

"January has been particularly wet and horrible and that has slowed down the rate at which local authorities are wanting to tackle the plague of potholes," he says.

"We need to get away from the repetition of filling potholes and really encourage council to resurface the roads completely.

"We need to see council tax payers money used properly, used wisely and resurfacing our roads at the first available opportunity."

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