Council to spend £37m tackling potholes

Potholes - the size, the number, the headache they cause for road users - it's made them one of the most talked about topics in England for months.

After taking more than 9,000 calls about them in the first three months of the year alone, Herefordshire Council plans to re-surface 20 miles of the road network in 2026/27, with another 64 miles undergoing further repairs.

They've allocated £37m to improve roads, footpaths and open spaces in the county, with £12m of that going on re-surfacing.

Preventative measures are also being taken to extend the life of the road network and slow the future development of potholes, with a flexible surface it is hoped will last for up to 15 years.

Highways engineer Gareth Williams, who has already been involved in several re-surfacing projects in the county, said it's about "being sensible".

"You could come here and do some potholes, but you know you haven't really achieved nothing, so if you do 700 metres, you know you've done a great job and then hopefully you don't have to come back," he said.

"If you're going to do a pothole, probably next month you're coming back to do another pothole and then another pothole and another pothole, it's never ending."

Ed Bradford, major contract programme director at the council, said the roads have been deteriorating more quickly this year.

"Across Herefordshire the last few months, we've seen really high levels of rainfall, the Met Office are saying it's one of the 10 wettest winters we've had on record out here and it felt like it was endless.

"Obviously that water on the network is never great, it gets into the road surface, it breaks up, obviously with traffic driving over it every day, that leads to that deterioration happening.... it really came on quite quickly."

The council said the resurfacing programme forms part of a broader package of improvements that includes better drainage, safer walking routes, repairs to bridges and other structures as well as upgrades to local public spaces.

"When we turn up to any job, we take the opportunity to take that 'hedge to hedge', 'fence to fence' approach... replacing gulleys, introducing new gulleys... to take that surface water away and off the road. We've been doing some ditching work as well," said Bradford.

The flexible surface they are using is designed to prevent potholes forming as easily, with engineers looking for 10 to 15 years of life from it.

"If you've got not much structure in the road, that material is actually designed for flexibility, so it does move with the weight of the traffic on the road," explained Williams. "So if there's any weak point, that road shouldn't crack later on".

Residents alongside the A44 Bromyard Road, which was resurfaced last month, said they weren't surprised the road was in such a bad state.

"I've come back after almost 40 years away," said Jean Brodie, who's house overlooks the road.

"The volume [of traffic] is horrendous and what I can't get over is the lorries - they are absolutely huge.. and the amount of them that go by," she said.

"Don't forget we've been having flooding as well there. They've sorted out all the drainage, before they did the job... it's just going to be wonderful."

Roads serving Hereford, Leominster, Ross-on-Wye, Ledbury, Kington and surrounding rural communities are included in the 2026/27 scheme.

The A44 in Leominster, the A438 Ledbury Road in Hereford, the A465 Belmont Road, the A480 at Mansel Lacy and the B4220 near Cradley are also included in the 142 roads marked for major repairs.

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