Pothole repairs 'not enough', admits roads chief

Despite "more teams than ever before" working to repair potholes, the man in charge of Oxfordshire's roads has admitted "it's not enough".

Andrew Gant, Oxfordshire County Council's transport chief, said the authority had repaired 2,400 potholes in January alone.

He told BBC Radio Oxford he wished the authority could "deliver" a better system for repairing cavities in the county's roads.

But Kate Sissons, who lives near Charlbury, said the county's "enormous potholes" were forcing people to "drive like they're drunk" to swerve and avoid them.

She said: "The minute you get past Chipping Norton and you're heading up to Warwickshire, the roads improve. The minute you get into Gloucester, the roads improve."

"It really is quite specific what's going on in Oxfordshire and it really needs addressing by the council."

The government is giving Oxfordshire £167.9m over four years for pothole repairs, but Gant previously said the council needed £49.9m annually just to maintain roads at their current condition.

"I wish that we could deliver a system that does better, I'll be perfectly frank about that," Gant said.

"Our crews are working really hard, we've got 27 teams out there [which is] more than ever before, but it's not enough, I absolutely appreciate that."

He explained that "circumstances" were against repair teams.

"We're dealing with limited resource and of course the weather and conditions out there have been absolutely apocalyptic.

"I would love our roads to be in better condition than they are, but there are multiple challenges."

He added that potholes judged to be "dangerous" were being repaired within 24 hours of being reported, with others "then graded by seriousness".

Oxfordshire County Council said its teams repaired 644 potholes across the county last week, but has also seen a 10% increase in reports of potholes over 2 sq m in size.

Residents can report potholes through the council's FixMyStreet portal.

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