Wolverhampton City Council has today been awarded £500,000 from the Government's Pothole Repair Fund and been praised by the Prime Minister as a national leader in roads maintenance.

David Cameron said: "Today we are announcing over half a million pounds to help Wolverhampton to rid its roads of the pain of potholes. Wolverhampton has shown it is one of the leading areas in the country in its determination to beat potholes, and is receiving extra cash as a result."

The council had to bid for the funding to the Department of Transport and, as part of the application, demonstrate how it maintains the city's roads. Extra funding has been given to "model" councils.

Wolverhampton follows Government guidelines on roads maintenance and the city council chairs a regional group on highways asset management.

The council carries out regular inspections of its highways and makes it easy for the public to report potholes via the web, mobile app or telephone. All of the most serious potholes in Wolverhampton are repaired within 24 hours and less severe defects are programmed in to be repaired within 36 days.

A scheduled programme of road resurfacing is also carried out each year - which aims to ensure potholes don't develop in the first place.

Potholes are repaired 'first time' - which means they are given a permanent repair to avoid expensive return visits fixing the same hole.

Councillor Peter Bilson, Wolverhampton City Council's cabinet member for economic regeneration and prosperity, said: "We're delighted that the Prime Minister and Central Government have recognised that here in Wolverhampton we are national leaders in our approach to pothole repairs and roads maintenance and this money will be invested into ensuring our high standards are maintained. I would like to congratulate our excellent employees in Highways and Public Realm.

"We repair all of the most urgent potholes within 24 hours and less severe within 36 days. Because we believe that prevention is better than cure, 95 per cent of our urgent potholes are given a permanent repair - meaning there is less risk that we will be called back out to fix them again in the future.

"The only time we would carry out a temporary repair is when the pothole is at a busy junction or similar and closing the road at short notice would inconvenience the motorists. In these cases we programme in a permanent repair at off peak times. We also use innovative, cost effective ways to repair the road surface as well - such as a machine that effectively recycles the existing road surface material, reheats it and creates a sealed, permanent repair. Wolverhampton also chairs a regional group of councils that share good practice on road repairs."

  • released: Friday 20 June, 2014