Just a week after Cornwall’s phantom pothole filler made national headlines it has been revealed that Cornwall Council is actually one of the best local authorities for repairing potholes.
A new study has revealed the top 10 UK areas where the most potholes were repaired in 2022 outside London, and Cornwall Council features in 10th place, repairing 19,847 holes on Cornish roads.
Motoring experts at Bill Plant Driving School submitted Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to all local authorities in England and Wales, asking for the total number of potholes reported in 2022, as well as the number of potholes repaired by the council.
In top place was Lancashire County Council which repaired all of the 67,493 potholes reported to the authority. In second place, Kirklees Borough Council repaired 37,552 potholes going above the 23,513 which were actually reported. Cornwall Council repaired 19,847 of 20,133 reported.
Pothole (Image: Wikimedia commons)
Connor Donnithorne, Cornwall Council’s portfolio holder for transport, said: “I am pleased that Cornwall Council has ranked as a top local authority nationally when it comes to repairing potholes last year. This is despite a record number of potholes being reported and fixed given the extreme weather that we have started to see more often.
“As Cabinet member for transport in Cornwall, it is my top priority to deliver more investment so that we can fix more potholes, fix our broken roads and deliver on the priorities of our residents and businesses.”
Cornwall Council has received an additional £5m from the Government towards its “pothole fund” adding to a £12m spend on mending potholes and other road repairs across the county each year. Cabinet members commented in a meeting last week on Cornwall’s roads comparing favourably with other areas of the country.
A mystery \'volunteer\' filled the Lostwithiel pothole with concrete
Data published just under a year ago showed Cornwall to be one of the worst places in the UK for the amount of potholes, according to data from the AA.
It ended up as second place on the list with 88,129 potholes found from April 2018 to June 2021, with the results published in July 2022.
This was only beaten by Northumberland, where an incredible 180,993 were found in the same time period.
READ MORE: Cornwall revealed to be one of the worst places in the UK for potholes
Last week, a mystery resident of Lostwithiel, dubbed the 'phantom pothole filler' took it upon themselves to fill a sizeable pothole with concrete in the Tanhouse Road and Bodmin Hill area of the town. The road, which had been closed since the beginning of April due to the hole, was unofficially reopened by the phantom repairer.
However, Cornwall Council’s roads repair company Cormac closed the road again and doesn’t intend properly repairing it until they’ve caught up with a backlog of pothole repairs across Cornwall. The road is now expected not to reopen until early June.
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