HAMPSHIRE County Council (HCC) received more than 10,000 complaints of potholes last year, a request under the Freedom of Information act has revealed

Out of the 13,680 complaints of potholes the council received, less than half of these were successfully resolved with only 5,805 being repaired in 2022. 

Last year alone, HCC spent £31,228,868.03 on repairs within the county to improve the conditions of the roads. 

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This figure relates to all road repairs, including planned schemes or Find and Fix jobs. 

An AA spokesperson said: “Potholes have long been the scourge of drivers, motorbike riders and cyclists and Hampshire is no different. Persistent cold weather means problem roads are undoubtedly going to get worse and potholes complaints will not go away until the roads are fixed."

They explained that if a vehicle strikes a pothole, at the very least it's likely to suffer tyre damage, which on average would cost £80, and put further strain on already stretched family budgets.

With many modern vehicles not having a spare tyre to rely on, the situation is likely to feel much worse.

The number of complaints received by HCC does not reflect individual potholes as multiple potholes may be reported under one enquiry, the same pothole may also be reported by more than one person.

Even though all potholes are investigated, not all reported potholes are found to be a defect on inspection. 

Cllr Nick Adams-King, executive lead member for universal services, said: “I would firstly like to thank road users who take the time to report potholes and other highway issues online. All reports are investigated and prioritised by our Highways team. Our online reporting system makes it very easy to report a pothole, and we often find that several road users will be quick off the mark and report the same one.

“I can confirm that more than £31,000,000 was spent on road repairs in 2022. While some of our road repairs are made in response to reports of defects, most of the budget we have is spent on planned maintenance activity, which aims to give road surfaces a longer service life, and avoid potholes forming in the first place. We spent approximately £25,000,000 on planned schemes and £6,000,000 on reactive repairs.

“The recent wet weather followed by freezing conditions has seen a significant increase in the number of defects on Hampshire’s roads and our engineers are working hard to keep them serviceable, and safe.”