FOI Story - Lincolnshire Potholes

This story was originally submitted as part of a university assignment.

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Lincolnshire County Council get more funding to fix potholes

LINCOLNSHIRE County Council [LCC] has said that the public will see an improvement with pothole repairs after receiving an extra £1.7m from Government.

A Freedom of Information request revealed that it had previously received £2.482m from the Government for the year 2017/18.

For the year 2016/17 the money received from Government was £1.804m, however the Council is estimated to have spent just over £3m on repairing potholes in that period.

Richard Fenwick, Alliance Works Contract Manager at LCC said: “People can expect to see more gangs out there dedicated to filling potholes. We are responding, and this money will be helpful in terms of doing that.

“We do not deny that potholes are more of an issue at this time of year. But the work that we are doing will mean that we are set up more to pre-empt that in the future.”

Over 200 comments were received on a post in the Facebook group “You’re probably from Lincoln if…” with people voicing their opinions about potholes in the county.

June Boldrini, 65 from Bucknall said: “Potholes are making safe driving more difficult. So-called repairs are lifted by heavy vehicles and/or simply washed away by rain.”

Rhiannon Fraser, 31 from Lincoln said that recently she had £90 worth of damage done to her car after hitting a pothole in Birchwood: “I am disappointed in them [LCC] but you know nothing will change. It’s a daily occurrence. You start to avoid areas with lots of potholes which makes journeys longer.”

Sue Bidmead, 61 from Lincoln also experienced pothole damage: “[I am] angry. Lincolnshire roads are atrocious and getting worse.”

Mr Fenwick added that the council has a system of road inspections: “It’s our duty as a highway authority to make sure the road network is as safe as reasonably practical.”

The public can report potholes on the County Council’s website.