COUNCIL officials get 85 complaints about potholes EVERY DAY in Kirklees.
The shock figure was revealed as a new study showed a blitz on potholes by local authorities has improved UK roads.
The latest survey by AA Streetwatchers found the situation has improved but roads are still blighted by an average of 6.25 per mile and winter is yet to show its worst.
Eight hundred hours of surveying by AA members in their own neighbourhoods in October found that even those walking on pavements encountered an average of nearly two potholes (1.9) per mile.
Kirklees Council has committed a huge amount of money to improving the state of the roads.
A spokesman said: “The exceptionally wet weather of this year increased the number of potholes locally, but extra resources were brought in. We have been able to respond to requests in the agreed priority timescales for each category – two hours for ‘dangerous’, 24 hours for ‘urgent’ and eight weeks for ‘standard’. The workload remains high, with potholes being reported both by members of the public and by our own safety teams.
“The average reported by the public daily is currently 25, and the number reported by our safety teams daily is currently 60.
“The pothole budget for this year was raised to £500,000 and extra work has been possible using the small patching budget (£200,000), plus some ward budgets have contributed to work in their areas.
“We will also re-examine budgets in the new year so that the amounts available reflect the scale of damage caused by the winter weather.
“We work extremely hard to repair potholes as quickly as possible,” he added.
Overall, the number of potholes in roads has improved from an average of 14.9 per survey last year to 12.5 this year.
Edmund King, AA president, said: “Only recently, the Local Government Association warned that potholes may again become a serious problem this winter with local authority budget cuts biting and no likelihood of extra government cash.”
