Derbyshire has been named the English council with the worst road conditions, according to new data from the Department for Transport. The findings come as the cost of repairing pothole-ridden local roads in England and Wales reaches a record £18.6 billion.
Several London boroughs feature prominently in the top ten worst-performing areas, including Richmond upon Thames, Wandsworth, Merton, Waltham Forest, Kensington and Chelsea, Kingston upon Thames, Sutton, and Bromley. Bath and North East Somerset ranks tenth, while other poorly performing councils outside London include Cambridgeshire, Southend-on-Sea, and Bristol.
The Department for Transport has introduced a 'traffic light system' grading 154 local highway authorities on road conditions, with scores from 20 (lowest) to 100 (highest). Portsmouth achieved the best results, with all scores above 85, followed by the Isles of Scilly, the Isle of Wight, Wokingham, and Gloucestershire.
New reporting requirements mean councils must demonstrate they are prioritising long-term resurfacing over temporary fixes. Those failing to do so risk losing up to a third of their roads maintenance funding. Roads minister Simon Lightwood stated: 'For too long motorists have been left incensed by short-term work being prioritised over genuine long-term repairs. Thanks to our new guidance, that changes today.'
AA president Edmund King warned that potholes must not be a 'periphery issue', noting that drivers pay billions in taxes yet suffer from poorly maintained roads. He highlighted that last year, AA patrols attended 617,000 pothole-related incidents. Aviva figures show a quarter of pothole damage claims result in vehicles being written off, with average claim costs of £3,863.
An LGA spokesperson acknowledged the £18 billion repair backlog and called for sufficient, long-term funding to allow councils to plan preventative maintenance. The Department for Transport has been contacted for comment.
