What we are doing about potholes and other road defects
What is a pothole?
Potholes are caused by three main elements:
- surface cracks
- water
- traffic
Small surface cracks form and expand over time with the action of traffic. Water then seeps through the surface of the cracked pavement, causing further deterioration. In winter, the freeze/thaw cycles speed up this process of deterioration and a pothole forms. Even during summer, heavy summer storms clear out the interlocking smaller particles. Traffic movement can then dislodge the remaining surfacing.
In Southend, a pothole is defined as the following and applies to all classes of road:
It must have a depth of over 40mm and must be larger than 300mm in any one direction.
All defects that meet these criteria will be repaired within a maximum of 28 working days. These timescales are reduced for defects found on our key network. Further information is in our Highways Inspection Policy
What we are doing to tackle potholes
Southend has always looked at ways to manage potholes. Early projects included ‘Find & Fix’ where dedicated gangs identified and repaired potholes. In 2 years, we delivered nearly 5000 extra pothole repairs, however, this was only a temporary solution.
So, we decided to improve the quality of our repairs. Since 2025, we now permanently repair all potholes that meet our intervention level, the first time.
We aim to repair all potholes (at or above intervention), on all roads, within a 28 working day maximum period. We believe this is a leading approach across UK highway authorities. On our key networks e.g. the A127, we do temporary repairs on safety grounds as a first action but follow up with a permanent repair.
Additionally, where multiple potholes are identified or the surrounding surface area is poor, we will order works for larger areas of patching.
We believe this approach to date, has stopped failures of our repairs and reduces repeat visits to the same locations. During 2025/26, we repaired 899 potholes. A reduction on previous years statistics, which we believe is evidence our new approach is working.
To assist further, during 2026/27, we are embarking on a programme of schemes to undertake restorative treatments. We reviewed 30 roads and found 7 that were at the correct stage to undertake this works. This protects the longevity of current surfacing that show early signs of failure. We will continue to develop this work through the funding period.
How members of public can report potholes and other highway defects
Members of the public can report potholes through our dedicated MySouthend online system. The system allows all highway defects and issues, including potholes, to go directly to our highway inspectors for action. This means most reports are inspected on the same day as they are received. Our new and improved Highways Asset Management system has recently gone live. This allows effective tracking and monitoring of all cases raised. Online accounts for users allow them to monitor progress of their reported defects. It can be accessed at Road or Pavement Issues Highways - Form.
What happens after a pothole is reported
Once a pothole is reported on MySouthend it:
- enters our Asset Management system
- is automatically allocated and notifies the appropriate highways inspector
- is inspected within 24 hours or next working day
The inspector will:
- assess the defect on site under our Highways Inspection Policy investigatory levels
- undertake the appropriate risk assessed action
- immediately order a repair if required
Identified potholes are repaired within 28 days. We believe that applying this timeline to all potholes on all roads, makes Southend a leading authority with this approach.