Council feels 'unfairly penalised' by pothole map

A local authority that has been rated as not meeting expected standards for tackling potholes said it had been "unfairly penalised" on a government map and was appealing.

A new map and traffic-light rating system was published by the Department for Transport (DfT) on Sunday that allows drivers in England to see how local authorities are tackling damaged road surfaces.

Suffolk was given an overall red rating which the county council believed was inaccurate, but the DfT disputed this.

Now the council has said the map failed to include data about funding it had brought forward to use and called on the government to change its rating.

The DfT rated 154 local highway authorities as red, amber or green based on road conditions, whether they following best practice and how well they were using government funds.

In a breakdown of Suffolk's figures, the county was given an amber rating on road condition and best practice, but red on spending money — resulting in the overall red rating.

The council believed the DfT failed to include in its assessment the £10m worth of highways funding it had brought forward from 2025-26 and invested early in 2024-25.

It said had it been included in the assessment, the council would have received an amber rating for highways expenditure, leading to an overall amber rating.

Paul West, cabinet member for operational highways, said: "That £10m delivered much welcomed resurfacing ahead of time, but we have now been unfairly penalised for it.

"We fully support transparency in the reporting of highway maintenance performance, but transparency can only be meaningful if the data being published is accurate."

He added the council had demonstrated to the government in a meeting on Monday where it had "gone wrong" and called for it to correct the rating.

The DfT previously said the council had not spent its full capital grant for highways maintenance, spending only £36.4m of £43.7m in 2025-26.

It said any suggestion it had mishandled or ignored data was "categorically untrue".

The DfT has been approached for further comment.

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