The Government have announced £500 million for local authorities to fix 10 million potholes across England – helping councils ensure that our roads are kept up to standard and that potholes that blight road users are being dealt with promptly. Essex County Council has been allocated £13,638,000 pothole funding for 2021 to 2022.

Potholes are not only nuisance, but they can be a danger to drivers and cyclists, as well as causing damage to thousands of vehicles every year.

That is why the Government have allocated councils across England their share of £500 million for highways maintenance, as part of the £2.5 billion Potholes Fund between 2021 and 2024/25. With the average pothole costing £50 to fill in, the funding will ensure the equivalent of 10 million potholes can be filled and fixed.

This funding will ensure that councils can ensure that local roads are both safer and easier to drive and cycle on, as well as reducing the risk of damage to vehicles for road users.

The Department for Transport has already invested heavily in pothole filling since 2015, including the £296 million Pothole Action Fund, which ran from 2015/16 to 2020/21. It also topped up highway maintenance investment in 2018 with a one-off £420 million boost to all highway authorities in England, including London.

The Government is committed to supporting motorists. Through Road Investment Strategy 2 (RIS2), the Government is investing £27 billion in the biggest ever roads programme – with £10 billion of the record-breaking sum specifically for road maintenance, operations and renewals.

Locally, you can report any potholes and other road surface issues directly to Essex Highways through their report it tool at: https://www.essexhighways.org/tell-us/report-all-issues.aspx.