MOTORISTS ENDURE NEW YEAR POTHOLE CARNAGE

winter weather has taken an inevitable and severe toll on our road network. First, torrential rain in November (the wettest on record), freezing conditions in early December (one of the coldest divergences in north west European temperatures versus the 30 year average), rapid thaw, followed by further torrential rain and flooding. Over 100mm of rain fell locally in December.” elements and caused countless punctures and suspension damage.

East Sussex Highways had in excess of 3,000 reported defects in the system across the county - more than 1,000 over normal operating levels.

Highways customer contacts rose from 4,500 in December 2021 to around 8,000 in December 2022.

This problem was not concentrated locally, but was a national issue throughout Christmas and New Year. Hailsham had major problems as many motorists reported incidents on Hempstead Lane, London Road and Hawks Road amongst many other areas

In nearby Ninfield, our reporter counted nine vehicles with punctures parked up next to a massive ‘trench’ on the A267 Ninfield Road on New Year’s Eve. The series of potholes which look to have been filled-in recently, opened back up causing damage to many vehicles over the new year weekend.

Mr Fox added: “We’ve increased resources to deal with defects and potholes by 150%, with Highways teams and stewards working overtime and extended hours, including weekends, to inspect and process cases, prioritise and action works. We’ve deployed additional resources to deal with drainage and flooding problems, supply of hot tarmac due to a manufacturing problem at the plant in Shoreham harbour. Therefore, a cold replacement was used which has proved not to be as effective.

Highways don’t repair every pothole that is reported; only those that meet County’s published ‘intervention’ criteria.

Those potholes that meet the criteria for repair will be repaired within two hours, five days, or 28 days depending on the size of the pothole, its location and type of road.

Where the Highways Steward judges that a pothole does not meet the prescribed criteria for repair, the Steward can refer a particular pothole, cluster of potholes, or stretch of road for inclusion in its patching programme to which East Sussex County Council devoted increased funding in last February’s 2022 budget.