'Ridiculous' pothole repairs criticised by council

A council official said this "photo say[s] it all" and these repairs should all be made into one patch

Some pothole repairs by a major highways contractor have been called "ridiculous", "unbelievable" and are failing within weeks, according to a local authority.

Cambridgeshire County Council said its £51m-a-year contract with M Group had not delivered the "service levels expected or required".

In documents seen by the BBC, when reviewing individual repairs council officials have seen "very poor workmanship", and in one case claimed the "photo say[s] it all".

M Group said it was working "collaboratively" with the council to deliver more than 50,000 pothole repairs annually "within required standards".

In March, council highways committee papers stated "response times and quality of work is a continued concern" when referring to their M Group contract, which is for a range of services including pothole repairs.

One of the fixes criticised in council audits - obtained through a Freedom of Information request - was on Meadow Way in Wimblington.

A group of six or so small pothole repairs was labelled "ridiculous" and the papers said they should all be made into one patch, rather than a series of smaller square patches that overlap.

Janette Page said she and fellow residents were unhappy about the state of the local roads, adding: "Why they can't do a complete overhaul of the whole road I don't know; all comes down to money I'm assuming."

Areas marked up by the council for repair on this road in St Neots were not fixed, according to the documents

In May, repair work was carried on Priory Road in St Neots town centre.

Two weeks later, the council went out and said it was: "Not very good at all, areas marked up by [council] officers have not been carried out, dimensions smaller than marked out, clearly shows where pothole needed repair as breaking up but wasn't carried out."

They said the "potholes have only been completed 14 days and already fail", concluding that it was "very poor workmanship in my opinion".

Andrea Curkovic is worried the fixes on her road are "pointless"

Andrea Curkovic, who lives opposite the Priory Road potholes, said workers "keep coming back and doing repair work and it never seems to last long".

"I'm just concerned the work that they're doing is pointless. Realistically perhaps at this point resurfacing the road might be more valuable than the work that they're currently doing."

Later that month, a council official said the potholes repairs outside Quy Mill Hotel spa in Stow-cum-Quy "in my opinion are very poorly laid/marked out".

The council are "looking at all options" when the contract with M Group ends in two years, said Alex Beckett

Alex Beckett, chairman of the council's highways committee, said: "We are always pushing for better quality.

"We have been challenging our contractors hard. I have been pleased with the way they've responded to that; we have seen the quality is improving.

"We do somewhere between 40,000 and 60,000 pothole repairs every year. Not all of those will be perfect.

"What's really important is when those pothole repairs do not meet our standards we do not pay for it or we get them redone."

The contract is up for renewal in 2027, and Beckett said the council was "looking at all options".

Matthew Riches, operations director at M Group Highways, said they were "committed to continuous improvement".

"We work collaboratively with Cambridgeshire County Council to deliver more than 50,000 pothole repairs annually, within required standards and the contractual terms determined by our client," he said.

"We are mindful of the funding constraints and wider highways maintenance challenges under which our client operates."

He said they had "consistently exceeded 98%" in reaching contractual key performance indicators.