A major survey taken to mark National Pothole Day has found that 81% of local authorities believe the pothole crisis has become worse over the last five years.
Funding cuts have played a significant part in the decline in the network with 57% of councils revealing they had their funding for repairs reduced over the same period.
And despite headline announcements from ministers, more than half (55%) said they do not believe central government fully understands the impact the funding gap.
On top of planned maintenance, councils can find themselves inundated with reactive repair alerts from the public.
Around a quarter (23%) of local authorities receive 51-100 pothole complaints every month.
The road safety impact of these surface defects is a key concern, especially as the Government and authorities encourage the recent rise in cycling with more dedicated infrastructure for active travel.
The survey found that 80% of cyclists have had to perform a 'dangerous manoeuvre' because of a pothole.
The National Pothole Day survey was conducted by UltraCrete, which has been researching and manufacturing pothole repair materials for over 40 years.
It spoke to over 40 local authorities across the country as well as contractors.
A significant majority of private highway maintenance contractors (68%) agreed their employers need more funding for pothole repairs.
Speaking to over 50 highway contracting firms, UltraCrete found 22% listed inferior materials as their greatest concern when making repairs; 'a statistic that may explain why 6% of pothole repairs are revisited on a weekly basis by contractors,' UltraCrete said.
UltraCrete has developed a suite of first-time permanent pothole repair materials and its technical and site support teams carry out regular training with contractors to help guarantee a first-time permanent repair.
For more information on National Pothole Day and the results of their survey, you can follow #NoMorePotholesUK on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
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