Fixing potholes on Bristol’s crumbling roads is costing millions of pounds more than expected with extra cash asked for ahead of a wet winter. A deal between Bristol City Council and contractors has shot up from £8 million to £11 million, with climate change adding to pressures.
Eight years ago, council chiefs estimated how much they needed to spend throughout the contract which comes to an end next year. But the pandemic and inflation have meant the cost of fixing potholes has risen.
Councillors on the transport policy committee voted to increase the contract by £3 million, on October 24, which doesn’t mean all of that will be spent. The contract is larger than how much the council is forecast to need, in case the costs rise again more than is currently estimated.
Shaun Taylor, head of highways, said: “The uplift is quite sizeable but that’s because we’ve tried to put in quite a bit of contingency. We still have a winter to go and there could be something wrong.”
The team aims to fix “really dangerous” potholes within 24 hours of them first being reported, or otherwise within ten days. On busy junctions, potholes are temporarily repaired quickly, to avoid too much of an impact on traffic, before the team returns for a more permanent fix in quiet times.
Mr Taylor added: “It’s a risk-based approach. Each officer decides on the risk of that pothole. A pothole at the back of a footway next to a lamppost isn’t as risky as one right in the middle of the pothole, for example.”
In December the council will ask companies to bid on a new contract for fixing potholes. This time, the contract will include many more performance indicators, as well as requiring that the company is local to Bristol.
Members of the public can report potholes to the council via a website called FixMyStreet, as well as graffiti and fly-tipping. The reports are sent to highways officers, who can then allocate repair jobs to contractors.
Mr Taylor said: “It’s quite simple. It’ll come through, the officers will have a look at it and they can allocate the job. They can be out in Avonmouth and an enquiry arrives that could be around the corner, and it’ll come up on their handheld. It’s quite an efficient system. It’s a constant battle, but the climate is not helping.”
Climate change means potholes are appearing more often than a decade ago, due to more severe storms damaging the roads. Planting more trees along the streets of Bristol could help not just people with the cooling effects of shade, but also protect the surface of the roads. The team has increased surface dressing and preventative work, in response to the heavier storms.
Bristol, and other councils across the country, could soon get a lot more money to spend on fixing potholes. Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, announced an extra £500 million a year for local roads maintenance, in the budget on Wednesday, October 30.