Stop patching over potholes - fix them, says MP

11 hours ago

Lewis AdamsEssex

News image — Marie Goldman wants potholes such as this one in Queen Street, Chelmsford, to be permanently fixed

Janine Machin/BBC A pothole in the middle of a residential road. Rubble has been exposed due to the surface layer breaking off. The road has industrial machinery parked nearby and is lined with yellow cones. — Marie Goldman wants potholes such as this one in Queen Street, Chelmsford, to be permanently fixed

Patching over potholes rather than finding a permanent fix is a "terrible waste of public funds", according to an MP.

Marie Goldman, who represents Chelmsford, said crews were repeatedly having to repair the same defects as a result.

Her concerns came despite Essex County Council being one of 16 local authorities to be rated "green" in the Department for Transport's (DfT) road repairs map in January.

A council spokesman said winter "make-safe" repairs would be replaced by long-term fixes when the weather was drier.

The DfT map rated highways authorities based on the condition of their roads and how effectively they spent government funding on repairs.

It pledged £6m to repairing potholes and road defects across Essex at a meeting on Thursday.

Goldman, a Liberal Democrat, urged the Conservative-led council to use the money efficiently.

Lewis Adams/BBC Marie Goldman has short auburn hair. She is wearing a blue T-shirt with white flowers on it and is smiling in front of a tree and a bush outdoors. — Goldman said there were "horrendous" examples of potholes in Chelmsford

"What I'm getting really fed up of seeing is potholes that have been patched, but then Essex Highways has to come back time and time again to repair them," she said.

"[They should be] doing a really good job in the first instance."

The MP told Ben Fryer on BBC Essex there were almost 30,000 defects awaiting repair in her constituency.

She cited Oaklands Crescent in Chelmsford as a "horrendous" example of potholes that were dangerous to people on bikes.

At County Hall on Thursday, the Liberal Democrats said there were 360,000 potholes that needed to fixed in the county.

However, the authority's spokesman said he did not recognise that number.

Figures provided to the BBC suggested more than 12,000 repairs had been made since April 2025.

"We do record defects reported to us on roads, footways and public rights of way and ensure they are inspected," the spokesman said.

"More serious issues are prioritised and repaired as quickly as possible.

"At this time of year those repairs will be 'make-safes' until a more permanent repair can be carried out in drier conditions."

Follow Essex news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.