Potholes: Kent fails to meet targets for repairs

Kent County Council has failed to meet five of its six targets on pothole repairs for 2023

Kent has failed to meet most of its targets for dealing with potholes, according to county council figures.

Key performance indicators show that Kent County Council's highways team and its contractors have fallen short on five of six targets for 2023 so far.

Priority reports completed within 20 working days fell short by more than half of the 85% target set.

Prolonged freezing conditions was cited as a reason for creating much higher demand for repairs.

Council figures for April to June showed a sharp increase year on year in the number of potholes needing repair.

That figure was 5,376 - over 50% higher than for the same period last year, according to a council report.

It said the council had dealt with a total of 687 emergency incident calls between April and June, an increase of 43% compared to the same period last year.

Of those, 627 were successfully attended within two hours, with 40 failing the target attendance time.

Kent County Council admitted in June that the county's highways were in a state of "managed decline".

A council spokesman said: "This financial year we have welcomed an additional £6m investment from the government to ensure we can repair safety critical defects, meaning the total investment in road and footway maintenance repairs and resurfacing for 2023/24 is expected to be in the order of £50m.

"A further six additional contractors have been appointed to ensure we have everything we need to deliver the level of repair required.

"This work has been going on since winter when Kent's roads were battered with wintry and icy conditions and will continue throughout the summer and autumn months."

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