Thousands of potholes have been repaired within their target timeframe over the past two years, the local authority has said. 

The council shared statistics regarding timescales just weeks after a councillor hit out at a drop in pothole repairs despite thousands more being spent tackling the problem.

In 2022/23, the local authority said it repaired 7,161 potholes, with 98.4% of repairs completed within the timescale aimed for.

Revealing the figures on January 30, the local authority stated it had repaired 5,282 potholes this financial year, with the number fixed by the target response time increasing to 99.8%.

Councillor Danny Devlin, convener for environment and housing, said: “The council’s road safety inspection strategy encourages a consistent approach by using a system that recommends the frequency of inspections as well as the method of assessing, recording and responding to road defects.

“It’s very encouraging to hear that this system is working well and 99.8% of pothole repairs have been completed within their targets so far this year.

“Of course, during the winter months cold weather exacerbates road deterioration, and this leads to more frequent and severe potholes.

“The council is continuing to improve its road network year-on-year so I’d encourage residents to report potholes so they can be repaired as soon as resources allow.”

According to the local authority, target response times are dependent upon the degree of risk posed by the pothole and factors include depth, surface area, location within the road network and the usage of the road or pavement.

They said that all first priority defects have a target response time of 24 hours and that they have dedicated pothole repair teams working almost every day, with three teams regularly working during the winter months when pothole numbers increase due to the effects of the weather.

Explaining their approach further, the council added that teams repair potholes on a first-time permanent basis whenever possible, however, on rare occasions when poor weather conditions or other problems arise the timescale required to carry out a permanent repair can increase and it may be essential in the interests of road safety to carry out a quick fix temporary repair.

Last month, The Barrhead News revealed that figures obtained through a Freedom of Information request showed 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 at the time: “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.”

Responding to the councillor’s concerns, an East Renfrewshire Council spokesperson said at the time: “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."