Council say they are working hard to repair potholes

Friday, 13 February 2026 09:27

As rain continues to fall across the county, Wiltshire Council and its contractors say they are working around the clock to repair potholes across the road network.

Alongside its regular highway maintenance crews, the council has directed all 18 Parish Stewards to concentrate exclusively on repairing potholes that meet the council’s defect criteria over the next few weeks, helping to tackle the growing number of issues.

Cllr Martin Smith, Cabinet Member for Highways, said: “We have now had persistent and heavy rain on nearly every day so far this year, and it’s taking a toll on our highways network.

“We have seen a rise in potholes on some Wiltshire roads, and we’re working hard to address these issues as quickly as we can. So far this year, we have repaired more than 2,700 potholes, and we are continuing to repair many more each day.

“Our teams are actively responding to residents’ reports, and to boost this effort, we’ve asked our 18 Parish Stewards to focus solely on pothole repairs in their areas over the coming weeks.

“We were making progress on potholes – reports in 2025 fell by 28% compared to 2024, and we were also rated in the top 16 councils by the Department for Transport (DfT) for having good local road conditions.

“The recent adverse weather has obviously highlighted that there is a lot more to do.

“We are ploughing an extra £5m into preventative road maintenance, for the next three years, over and above the grant that the Department for Transport gives us. This is the only way we can make our roads more resilient to the weather.

“I’d encourage anyone who spots a pothole to report it to us using MyWilts.”

When a pothole is reported to the council, it is assessed and then scheduled for repair based on the priorities set out in the council’s highways inspection manual. The largest potholes are assigned priority 1 and will be fixed within one day; priority 2 is within two weeks; and priority 3 is 28 days.

The M4, A303, and A36 are managed by National Highways. Any problems on these roads should be reported directly to them, not to Wiltshire Council.

Residents can report potholes quickly and easily at www.wiltshire.gov.uk/MyWilts.