West Sussex potholes: Councillor calls on West Sussex County Council ‘to stop wasting money and do a proper job’ after ‘inadequate’ repairs

Labour Group secretary Alison Cornell – a councillor for the Langley Green and Ifield East Division – said she spotted two, huge potholes while driving last Wednesday (April 3).

She said: “I was truly shocked to see the state of Langley Drive in my County Division of Langley Green and Ifield East. I know there are potholes all over the town (and the county) but the two I found on Langley Drive looked more like bomb craters and I reported them immediately.

“WSCC responded fairly instantly, ‘repairing’ the holes the next day.

"However, residents immediately noticed the poor quality of the repairs and many contacted me to ask why, with so many previous repairs on this stretch of road, a better job has not been done.

"The repairs are so clearly inadequate and breakdowns inevitable, so it really is time to stop wasting money and do a proper job.

“Residents are increasingly frustrated and angry to see their council tax wasted in this way.

“I hope money will be found, and soon, because looking at the (now) two-day-old repairs today [Monday] with my colleague and leader of Crawley Borough Council, Michael Jones, it is clear the repairs are already beginning to break down.

“Michael has been calling on our Highways Authority, West Sussex to use the ‘windfall’ money they will get from the borough council’s decision to charge second home owners and owners of empty homes more council tax, to address the number one issue residents raise, namely potholes.

"It’s certainly clear that’s what my residents want to see.”

Michael Jones added: “The changes we have made at borough on council tax will add £70,000 to the borough council’s coffers – and around £500,000 for the county council, because they receive the lion’s share.

"This is a significant windfall for the county council which we will have delivered for them.

“I am writing to the county council leader, Paul Marshall, urging him to use this additional money for a ring-fenced pothole fund, to increase the capacity for and quality of repairs.

“West Sussex is the Highways Authority responsible for our roads and pavements.

"They have the budget, not Crawley Borough Council – we have delivered them additional money, now I want to see the Conservative leadership provide a better service.

"This additional money is an opportunity for them to stop wasting money on short term fixes like the ones I have seen today on Langley Drive, and improve our roads right across the county.”

The county council responded to concerns over the quality of its repairs.

A spokesperson said: “We are aware of the situation in Langley Drive and a larger-scale, permanent patch repair will follow as soon as possible. Meanwhile, further temporary repairs may follow to ensure the site remains safe.

“We have been using the ‘sawn and sealed’ approach to pothole repairs this financial year and have seen a significant increase in the quality of our repairs. Both our contractors and officers from the county council will audit the repairs, with the council having audited more than 20,000 in the last financial year.

“In the last few years, we have experienced more extreme weather events, resulting in heat-damaged roads, wide-scale flooding, wind damage and an increase in the number of potholes being reported. We have approved an additional £4million to support highway maintenance activities.

“We are also investing an additional £7million of capital funding in the next financial year, increasing our resurfacing and treatments programme to more than £20million. A further £10million will be committed for 2025/26 to continue the work needed to provide a resilient highways network for the county.

“We have approximately 25 highway officers identifying safety defects, both through routine inspections and by responding to customer reports. We have up to 19 repair teams dealing with safety defects and are looking to bring in more contractor teams to bolster these numbers. In more rural areas, we are also using three Velocity road patchers to help tackle the volume of safety defects on the network.”