Herts County Council Fails To Fix Over Half Reported Highways Defects

Conservative run Hertfordshire County Council failed to fix over 50% of reported potholes in the year to May 2023.

In a question from Liberal Democrat Highways Spokesperson Cllr Stephen Giles-Medhurst, the County Council said they had 2,892 customer reported defects in the year to 19th May 2023 of Category 2 (non-urgent defects) but had only fixed 1,402 of them leaving 1,490 or 51.5% unfixed.

This compared badly with the year to May 2022 when of the 2,189 defects reported 1,401 were fixed leaving just 788 open or 36%.

Cllr Stephen Giles-Medhurst said:

"This is shocking news and seems to link to a major decline in service levels. Whilst the number of faults increased it is clear
the County Council is failing to fix them quick enough leaving over half untouched. This is not just a safety issue, especially for cyclists, but could lead to increased costs as the potholes get bigger and wider. The County Council must do better. This is just not good enough."