Opposition councillors are calling for a change in the rules on repairing potholes in York.
It comes as they say one city street, now “rutted and crumbling”, shows the problems caused by the present policy.
Liberal Democrat transport spokesperson Cllr Stephen Fenton won cross-party support in 2023 with a motion about potholes.
He called on the council to review the policy which said it would only investigate potholes for repair if they were 40mm deep, and explore changing that to 30mm.
But Cllr Fenton says there’s been no review. And he said that City of York Council is now filling in fewer potholes than in previous years – in 2022/23 3,168 potholes were filled, falling to 2,255 in 2024/25.
The problem is exemplified by Lowfields Drive in Westfield, he said. Like many concrete roads in the city, it has been overlaid with a 30mm layer of Tarmac.
Now the Tarmac layer is “crumbling, causing ruts and potholes to develop”.
Cllr Fenton has called on the Labour executive to get on with the review of the pothole policy so that councillors and residents can have their say.
“Residents are rightly frustrated when they see a pothole filled, but another one just a few feet away is not filled,” he said.
“It clearly makes sense to address clusters of potholes at the same time rather than waiting for each pothole in a specific location to deteriorate until an intervention is required.”
In November 2023 Lib Dem Westfield ward Councillor Andrew Waller presented a petition signed by 84 residents calling on the council to resurface Lowfields Drive. He said the road surface has become “increasingly rutted, with no prospect of repairs”.
Cllr Waller said: “Local residents have had to put up with years of disruption from HGVs servicing the Lowfield Green housing development, which has inevitably taken its toll of roads and verges.
“Lowfields Drive is particularly hazardous for cyclists and it’s hugely frustrating that the council’s current policy means the road doesn’t meet the threshold for repair. And since Labour scrapped the Ward Highways Budget, that can no longer be used for road and footpath resurfacing as it was under the Lib Dems.
“At a time when cycling rates are falling, it’s vital that we make roads safer so that people are more likely to choose to cycle locally.”
‘Record investment’
Cllr Kate Ravilious, Labour’s executive member for transport, said: “This year we invested over £12 million in our highway maintenance programme: more than ever before.
“One quarter of that budget is spent on preventative maintenance such as surface dressing and large patch repairs, which slow the decline of the highway, reduce the risk of potholes forming and is the most cost effective approach.
“By contrast the Lib Dem/Green administration prioritised costly quick-fix pothole filling, whilst investing under 5% of their highways budget on preventative maintenance, contributing directly to a decline in York’s roads that this administration has inherited.
“Scrapping the ward highways budget was the right thing to do, enabling us to take a more strategic and long term approach to highway repairs, rather than encouraging the populist pot-hole approach favoured by the Lib Dems.”
Cllr Ravilious said she was aware of the issue of potholes never reaching the threshold depth for repair on York’s concrete roads and have started to mitigate for this.
One of Bishopthorpe’s concrete roads is being resurfaced and more will follow.
“Labour’s councillors in Westfield have long been calling for repair of Lowfields Drive, but unlike the Lib Dems appreciate that these repairs will be funded by developer contribution due to the additional wear and tear added by construction traffic for the Lowfield Green housing development,” she said,
“And unlike the Lib Dem/Green administration, this Labour administration recognises the additional peril that cyclists face from poorly maintained routes and has introduced an additional weighting to our highway condition survey for key cycle routes, meaning that roads such as Albermarle Road (part of the cycle orbital route) were resurfaced this year.
“Furthermore, for the first time in decades we’re repairing and maintaining some of the off-road walking and cycling routes, with surface dressing occurring on a number of routes this year, and full resurfacing planned for other routes next year.”
She added: “Finally, let’s not forget pedestrians. Unlike the Lib Dems our administration is committed to enabling people to walk and use wheeled mobility aids, with footpath and pavement repair receiving the priority it deserves again after a decade of neglect.”
