MORE than 4,500 potholes in Woking borough were reported to Surrey County Council in a two-year period from January 2021 to December 2022.

The 4,651 registered were part of the 85,377 potholes brought to the attention of the county council, the authority responsible for roads, according to a freedom of information request from Ellen Nicholson, the Liberal Democrat borough councillor for Mount Hermon and living well portfolio holder.

“I have spoken with lots of residents over the past few weeks and the state of Woking's roads is a constant theme,” Cllr Nicholson said. 

“My ward colleague Cllr [Ian] Johnson has noted potholes on the roads around the arch yet to be fixed, and wherever I go I seem to find more. 

“Particularly bad is the Old Woking Road, which is due for resurfacing from Maybury Inn towards Westfield, but it is also bad in the stretch from Maybury Hill to East Hill beside Greenfields School.  

“You only have to look on social media to see how residents feel. ‘You work hard to buy your dream car and pay your taxes’ and ‘The roads around Woking are riddled with large potholes and degraded road surfaces’ are just a couple I’ve seen.

“And it’s not just motorists, but cyclists also struggle with potholes. They have less space to swerve if a car is going past as they reach a pothole and are ultimately more vulnerable.”

Surrey County Council (SCC) does not record how much was spent on repairing potholes, referring only to figures for all road surface defects, which would include potholes as well as any other repairs.

The figure is almost constant, though, over the past two financial years: £4,758,776 (2020-21) and £4,796,417 the following year.

During the period from January 2021 to December 2022, SCC paid a total of £402,252 in compensation in respect of claims relating to potholes, which includes any third-party legal fees and other associated costs which the council may be responsible for if a claim is successful.

 The figure is not broken down by area, so compensation information for any pothole damage suffered by Woking residents is unavailable.

However, as the News & Mail has reported, SCC believes the state of Surrey’s roads “is no fault of the county council”.

Councillor John O’Reilly (Conservative, Hersham), chairman of the communities, environment and highways select committee, said: “The state of our roads, through no fault of this council, do require not just pothole filling but resurfacing.”

The county council plans to restrict a rise in council tax to 2.99% in its current budget plans for 2023-24, with a £152.8million boost to investment in Surrey’s roads and tackling climate change.

However, SCC is aiming to reduce the highways maintenance capital fund from £69.8million in 2023-24 to £29.5million in 2024-25, say the Liberal Democrats on the council.

The local highway scheme, that funds projects such as pedestrian crossings, tackling speeding and other improvements, is cut from £12.5m in 2023-24 to £1m in 2024-25, and councillors’ individual delegated highway budget of £100,000, which funds specific road resurfacing projects, is completely abolished from 2024-25, add the Lib Dems.

TO report a pothole, visit www.surreycc.gov.uk and use the Report tab.