An East Renfrewshire councillor has hit out at the council after it was revealed that pothole repairs have dropped by around a third despite more than £135,000 more being spent tackling the problem.

Figures obtained through a Freedom of Information request show the local authority shelled out £135,727 more on pothole repairs in 2022/23 despite fixing 3,104 less than the previous financial year.

A total of £499,537 was spent on repairs in the last full financial year on record compared with just £363,810 in 2021/22.

Despite throwing nearly half a million at the problem, just 6,871 were repaired in 2022/23 compared with 9,975 in 2021/22.

Conservative Cllr Andrew Morrison told the Barrhead News: “I’ve spent quite a lot of time going around the community and speaking to residents as we gear up for a General Election year with my party’s candidate Sandesh Gulhane.

“The number one issue residents always raise with me on the doors, in the street and at my surgeries is the number of potholes and the poor condition of our roads.

“It is therefore concerning to me that figures revealed by the Barrhead News show around a one-third drop in the number of pothole repairs being carried out, despite around £135k more being spent on repairs.

“There are absolutely questions to be answered here by the roads department to explain what has happened, because on the face of it this isn’t the best possible value for money for local taxpayers.

“The figures shown to me by the Barrhead News include COVID-19 periods when work crews were socially distancing, working in bubbles and council administrators were learning to adjust to working from home measures.

“The roads were much quieter with less wear and tear too, so it is concerning that there were around three thousand fewer road repairs in the last finalised year versus the year to March 2021 – that which was worst impacted by the pandemic.”

Barrhead News:

The figures also showed that in 2019/2020, £490,232 was spent repairing 9,869 and in 2020/2021, £353,345 was spent repairing 9,647.

It was also stated that 1,489 potholes were reported in 2022/23 compared with 5,857 in 2021/22.

The 2021/22 5,857 pothole reports figure, however, includes customer reports of potholes as well as potholes identified during the council's own safety inspections whereas the 2022/23 1,489 figure is for customer reported potholes only.

In 2022/23, 74 pothole compensation claims were received, five of which were paid out and 45 of which were rejected.

The total amount paid out by the council for pothole inflicted compensation claims was £6,568.40 in the last full financial year.

In comparison, figures obtained by the Barrhead News through a previous FOI request, show that 143 pothole claims were made in 2021/22, 31 of which were paid out, costing the council a whopping £9840.74.

An East Renfrewshire Council spokesperson said: “We carry out routine safety inspections of our roads and any safety issues, including potholes, are recorded with repairs scheduled as soon as possible.

"A percentage of East Renfrewshire's roads are assessed and reported on nationally by an independent body each year with our A and B class road network classed as in a relatively good condition.

"As part of the 2019/20 budget it was agreed to invest an additional £15million over five years to the council’s annual roads resurfacing works programme, with residential roads and pavements across the area benefiting from an additional £3million investment each year alongside other annual budgets.

"This has seen a 41% reduction in potholes identified in the past year, either reported to us or by our own inspections.

"We encourage all residents to report any potholes through the online form on the council's website, so any remedial action required can be carried out as quickly as possible."

Council chiefs also stressed that, depending on size, some pothole repairs require more time, materials or traffic management.

Some of the extra costs have also been attributed to increases in the cost of labour and hiring plant machinery.

“My concern would be if the explanation for the variances is the fact potholes being repaired in 2022/23 are larger and that is why fewer were done," added cllr Morrison, who represents Newton Mearns North and Neilston. 

"Does that mean potholes are getting bigger because they aren’t being attended to as quickly as before?

“The fact they vary in size, location and so on would be equally true of the previous years too and when you look over multiple years, clear trends can be seen.

“The three years prior are fairly consistent in number and didn’t seem particularly impacted by the effects of the pandemic neither.”