Monmouthshire Council pothole reports rise by 550% in nine years

Pothole reports to Monmouthshire Council have increased by more than 550% over a nine-year period. According to council figures, requests for repairs rose from 669 in the 2017/18 financial year to 4,360 by 2026.

Despite the surge in complaints, the number of completed repairs has declined from 2,999 in 2017/18 to 2,740 in the most recent completed financial year. In the first three months of the current financial year, 838 requests were received, with 471 repairs completed, leaving nearly half of the reported issues outstanding.

Spending on pothole repairs has increased significantly, rising from £608,000 in 2017/18 to a peak of £1.174 million in 2024/25, aided by additional road resurfacing funding from the Welsh Government. However, the average time taken to repair a pothole after a report has grown from 10.5 days in 2019/20 to an average of 20.4 days in the current year. The council noted that longer repair times may be due to a shift toward planned, strategic repair options rather than purely reactive measures.