How Hartlepool Borough Council fares in new nationwide potholes league table
Council chiefs in Hartlepool have stressed they are committed to delivering continued improvements after their first rating in nationwide pothole league tables.
The Government’s new traffic light system allows drivers to see how well all 154 local highway authorities in England are tackling the problem.
The ratings grade authorities as red, amber or green based on current road condition and how effectively they are spending the government funding to fix potholes and invest in long-term measures to maintain highways.
Hartlepool received an amber rating overall, the same as 124 other authorities including Durham and Stockton, while Darlington and Middlesbrough scored green.
The ratings are supported by scorecards that measure local highway authorities’ performance in three different areas.
Hartlepool received a green rating for how much it spends on maintaining local roads and amber scores for the current condition of roads and how effectively wider best practice is followed.
Councillor Owen Riddle, chair of Hartlepool Borough Council’s neighbourhoods and regulatory services committee, said the authority has made “continuous improvement” over recent years.
He said: “As an authority, we are responsible for maintaining over 400km of public roads. This is a significant challenge and one that we take very seriously.
“We operate a rolling five-year preventative maintenance programme using information from a range of sources, including annual condition survey data, highways safety inspections feedback, engineers’ local knowledge and reports from local residents, councillors and businesses.
“This programme is ‘fluid’ in that it can be modified on the basis of the above information so that those parts of the road network with the greatest needs can be considered for maintenance ahead of other routes deemed to have a longer lifespan.
“This flexibility also enables us to respond quickly where roads suffer from a sudden marked deterioration as a result of, for example, extreme weather conditions.
“We work closely with appointed contractors, with industry best practice and innovation, including the use of low-carbon and high-durability road surfacing materials, forming key elements of our maintenance programme. This is an on-going process and one that we aim to build upon in the future.
“Our latest local highways maintenance transparency report demonstrates the continuous improvement within our highway network over the last five years and we remain committed to continuing this improvement.”