Insurer Zurich Municipal has encouraged councils facing huge compensation claims for pothole damage to think innovatively.
It comes after research published by the TaxPayers’ Alliance revealed that local authorities paid out a total of £8m compensation for road-surface related claims over 2013-2014 and 2014-2015.
The RAC also reported a 24% annual increase in call-outs to vehicles that it believes have suffered damage from poor road surfaces.
The (very) common pothole
A Zurich spokesman said: ‘The tough financial climate means that when it comes to potholes, councils across the country are having to think innovatively. They’ve got their work cut out, a recent Asphalt Industry Association survey found that it would take 12 years and £10.7bn to bring all English roads back to an adequate condition.
‘Entrepreneurial organisations such as streetrepairs.co.uk, which allows road users to report and map issues, are part of the solution. And our own research has found that streamlined reactive maintenance services, using LEAN principles, can achieve real results.’
Zurich pointed to innovative practice at Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council, which used LEAN techniques to repair potholes immediately, rather than using temporary solutions, which failed more than 80% of the time. This resulted in a zero failure rate and a 40% reduction in insurance claims.
