Driving around South Shropshire, it is clear recent weather, including two named storms, severe localised flooding, and freezing temperatures, has impacted our road network.

Potholes are a constant blight, and present a costly danger to road users, whether drivers, cyclists or pedestrians. Shropshire is a popular tourist destination – and was this month named by ABTA as one of the top 10 global holiday destinations, the only place in the UK to feature.

As a consequence of our growing tourism trade, as well as the impact of local drivers, HGVs, delivery vans and farm vehicles, our roads are well used. Over 2 billion vehicle miles were travelled on roads in Shropshire in 2022 across the 3,200 miles of road network in the county. Shropshire has the 17th largest road network of the 317 local authorities in England. So managing the road network presents a big challenge.

Readers might be surprised to know that Shropshire holds up well against similar counties when it comes to road repair. In 2023, the Council fixed over 41,000 potholes, 50% of which were fixed within five days of being reported. In the past six months, thanks to a concerted effort, the backlog of potholes has been reduced by 34%.

But I am also aware that more needs to be done. Before Christmas, the government announced that as part of the money saved from HS2, it is allocating £8.3 billion towards a long-term plan to resurface over 5,000 miles of road across the country over the next 11 years.

Across England, local highway authorities will receive £150 million this financial year, followed by a further £150 million for 2024/2025, with the rest of the funding allocated through to 2034.  

What this means, in the more immediate term, is that over the next two years, Shropshire Council will receive an additional £5.2m to help fix potholes, on top of the current baseline funding from government per year of £20.5m. 

This is a very welcome uplift, and last week I spoke to Shropshire Council’s portfolio holder, Cllr Dan Morris, about future plans. He has been a driving force in improving the response times for repairs to our roads, and is proactively seeking new ways to maintain our roads in the best condition. So I look forward to seeing this additional funding make a difference.

Of course, Shropshire Council can only repair the potholes they know about. If a stretch of road near you has a particularly bad pothole, please make sure you report it at  www.shropshire.gov.uk/roads-and-highways/highways-maintenance/potholes/report-a-pothole.