Cheshire East Council refutes claims it has most potholes waiting to be repaired

Cheshire East Council has hit back following reports in a national newspaper that Cheshire East Council is the worst in the UK for potholes.

New analysis by Tempcover, which was based on data from FixMyStreet.com, showed that Cheshire East Council topped the list with 17,191 open pothole reports, with the oldest reported in March 2020.

Councillor Mark Goldsmith, chair of Cheshire East Council's highways and transport committee, said: "Thankfully, Cheshire East does not have 17,197 potholes as incorrectly reported in a recent national newspaper. Instead, at the time of this article appearing, we had 550 defects. This is across a network of almost 1,680 miles (2,700kms).

"Last year, we fixed over 35,000 potholes, and the 550 represent a normal number that we could expect to be assessing. There will of course always be enquiries in the system waiting to be processed but we believe the discrepancy is due to the way reports have been showing on Fix My Street.

"The council will soon be moving away from Fix My Street though and will be launching a new online tool. It will allow residents to easily report a wider variety of issues like potholes, fallen trees, abandoned vehicles and fly-tipping within their community. It will also more accurately record the number of potholes we have too!

"More details will be announced about this in the coming weeks."

Cllr Goldsmith added: "We absolutely understand the frustration that potholes cause to our residents though and we're working effectively to tackle them and are currently putting together our investment programme for 2025/26.

"We're not alone in facing this challenge, with councils across the country battling with this same issue.

"We are using our limited budgets in the best possible way and ensuring that investment made on repairing roads is done using the right treatment, at the right place, at the right time."