Council reports on pothole progress

A new council administration which made potholes a priority has filled 21,263 in the nine months since it took control.

The Liberal Democrats said "fixing more potholes and improving the state of Shropshire's 3,200 miles of roads" would be a focus when they took Shropshire Council from the Conservatives in May 2025.

David Vasmer, the councillor responsible for roads, said the numbers to date were "really encouraging", but there were many more to be tackled.

In the 12 months of 2023, the council said it repaired more than 41,600 potholes.

One of the measures taken to fix more potholes was the creation of an addition pothole repair team in June.

This had been something the Conservatives had been in the process of setting up before they lost control of the authority.

The council said 1,950 of the 21,263 potholes had been fixed by the new team.

On average it said it had fixed more than 550 a week and it had also been carrying out road improvement work to prevent more potholes forming.

Since 26 May it said 61km (38 miles) had been surfaced dressed, and 51km (32 miles) had been resurfaced.

Vasmer said it was not unusual to see more potholes during the winter.

"It's frustrating that the very wet and cold winter period has seen an increase in the number of potholes on our roads – a situation faced by councils across the country," he said.

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