Reform miscount casts new light on potholes

PARTY CORRECTS FIGURE ISSUED IN SPRING AND SETS OUT PLANS FOR MORE REPAIRS

- By EDDIE BISKNELL

REFORM UK claims that there were “22 potholes per mile” along Derbyshire roads were based on misunderstood information, it has been confirmed.

The claim was made during Reform’s first meeting at the helm of Derbyshire County Council and heard that there were 22 potholes per mile in the authority's 3,361-mile road network. This would equate to 73,942 potholes across the county.

Rounded down to a road network of 3,000 miles, there would still be 66,000 potholes according to that claim, but council statistics published this month detail that in April - one month before Reform took office there was a backlog of more than 16,000 potholes requiring repairs.

The county council says that it has now carried out 26,187 since April including two months before Reform formally took control of the authority and the backlog will be down to 3,000 potholes this month and on track to clear it entirely.

However, those figures contradict the claims made by Reform, with Cllr Charlotte Hill, Reform’s cabinet member for potholes, highways and transport, explaining the 58,000-pothole discrepancy. She told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that her claim at May's first Reform full council was based on Freedom of Information request figures which referenced reports of potholes, not individual potholes.