Unrepaired potholes place Rochdale bottom of league table

The potholes have been reported by cyclists

Rochdale Council has been placed 196 out of 212 in a national league table for repairing potholes.

Figures collected by the CTC, the national cycling organisation, show that out of 39 potholes reported to the Council only 5 have been repaired.

CTC set up a website called “Fill That Hole” for cyclists to report potholes.

The league table ranks authorities according to hazards reported through FillThatHole.org.uk, and shows which authorities are best at fixing their road defects and reporting back to CTC.

Neighbouring Bury was placed 136 in the list and Oldham was placed 173.

At the top of list is Bath and North East Somerset with a 99 per cent repair rate.

At the bottom of the list, ranked 212, is Shetland with a repair rate of 0.

At the time of publication a spokesperson for the CTC was unavailable to comment on the figures. But a statement on their website from campaigner Chris Peck reads: “Potholes are a serious concern for cyclists. We’ve had a number of members end up in hospital after riding over a pothole and nearly 20% of cycling crashes amongst CTC members have been caused by road defects. We set up the ‘Fill That Hole’ website as we want to make it easier for local authorities to find and fix potholes quickly, so fewer cyclists are hurt.”

Nationally the Fill That Hole website received on average 28.5 reports of potholes every day.

A spokesperson for Rochdale Borough Council’s Impact Partnership said: “We welcome all enquiries from sport and cycling clubs about the condition of the highway and try to respond in a positive way. However, there are limitations in the way this table shows performance that doesn’t give an accurate picture of achievement.
 
“In line with the council's highways maintenance policy, we aim to repair all potholes more than 4cm deep and others that are deemed particularly hazardous. In reasonable weather conditions we repair more than 80 percent of these within 20 days.
 
“We would ask that local residents report all potholes to us on our website at rochdale.gov.uk/roads or by telephone on our local rate number 0845 121 2979.”