More than 40,000 road defects repaired in Oxfordshire since last Winter

You can’t have failed to have noticed that it is now officially winter – a season of long dark nights, cold mornings, ice and snow.

And any regular user of Oxfordshire’s roads will have seen the impact that one of the toughest seasons for tarmac has had on the county’s highways.

Relentless response to potholes and ruts

Thankfully, despite the multitude of cracks, potholes and ruts Oxfordshire County Council’s hard-working highways teams have been out every day since then relentlessly resurfacing roads and pavements. They have been able to more work than last year thanks to the county council putting extra cash over and above the normal budget in response to the problems caused during the last cold spell.

Since January the council has repaired 40,117 defects. That’s an average of 3,652 repairs a month which is quite colossal compared to what was needed during the same time period the year before – a total of 34,677 defects repaired between Jan 2017 – Dec 2017.

Due to severe weather last winter, pothole fixing peaked between February and May with nearly 18,000 being repaired.

Supporting our thriving economy

The county council this year invested an extra £10m in road repairs which has resulted in extra major resurfacing projects being completed as well as smaller, but no less important, repairs being completed across Oxfordshire.

County Councillor Yvonne Constance, Cabinet member for Environment said: “The fight to improve the condition of Oxfordshire’s roads is something that won’t stop – we have to keep working to repair and renew the road surfaces. To support our thriving local economy we need to ensure our transport links are in a good condition.

“Getting the upper hand takes money, and money is tight, but we have already put an extra £10m into making more repairs than ever before and there is more to come.

“Oxfordshire is not alone in maintaining a highway network that's deteriorating, with recent surveys showing that over 18 per cent of all local authority roads within England are considered to be in poor condition.

“The county is slightly better than the national average with only 10 per cent of roads considered to be in poor condition, this however still represents 277 miles of road that need significant repair and right now we're only able to fund approximately 15-20 miles each year.

“I know that is not something our residents find acceptable and that is why we are not only investing an extra £10m this year but also have plans to put in an additional £80m in the coming years.”

You can report any problem you find on the roads directly to our highways team via fixmystreet.oxfordshire.gov.uk

*Defects include potholes, blocked drains, damaged signs, missing or worn lines and broken street lights.