AN online map from Herefordshire Council has revealed there are currently dozens of potholes in Hereford waiting to be filled in.

The information from Herefordshire Council does not give a target repair date for defects "in progress", but does show when they were reported and, once they have been repaired, the date this was completed.

It shows some potholes which have already been filled in were done within 24 hours, but some took more than three weeks to be repaired.

Holme Lacy Road between Rotherwas and the A49 Ross Road currently has the most potholes which have been reported to the council. There are 14 currently awaiting repair along the mile stretch of road, with another four on the Straight Mile after the railway bridge.

Other hotspots for potholes in the city include Eign Road with 13, Three Elms Road with 12 and the Holmer Road Service Road with 10.

Herefordshire Council's Covid-19 highway maintenance plans says: "Timescales are designed to enable highway defects to be, wherever practicable, actioned by a permanent repair.

"This balances the immediate risk posed to highway users with the ongoing risk that will be posed as a consequence of a failed temporary repair."

RELATED NEWS:

It's as the RAC says it attended almost 1,500 breakdowns that were believed to be caused by potholes in the fourth quarter of last year.

That’s despite reduced traffic levels brought on by national coronavirus lockdowns and the introduction of stricter ‘tier’ restrictions in the UK.

The breakdown service saw 1,461 call-outs for damaged shock absorbers, broken suspension springs and distorted wheels, representing almost one per cent of all call outs.

These figures are concerning, says the RAC, because they’re almost identical to the same period in the past two years, indicating the quality of road surfaces is not improving.

RAC head of roads policy Nicholas Lyes said: “As if 2020 wasn’t bad enough for other reasons, nearly 1,500 of our members have also had to endure unwanted, and no doubt expensive, damage to their vehicles caused by potholes and other road surface defects.

“We realise council budgets are under incredible pressure due to the coronavirus, but we badly need the Government to recognise the significance of local roads and take a fresh look at how to fund them.

“The Government’s approach of allocating funding to councils from various pots on an annual basis means authorities are always having to play catch-up by fixing potholes rather than focusing on preventative maintenance.

“We would prefer to see them make five-year funding settlements which would allow councils to make longer-term plans for their roads. This could be funded by introducing a similar scheme to the National Roads Fund, which ringfences money paid in vehicle excise duty by road users in England for the upkeep of major roads.

“Putting aside 2p from the existing 58p a litre duty on the sale of petrol and diesel would generate nearly £5bn of additional funds for local roads over five years. This would surely help to bring our local roads back to a fit-for-purpose state.”

Lyes also warned that with this being a colder winter than we’ve faced in years, coupled with pandemic-induced budget cuts, there’s a risk road conditions could deteriorate further.