Nottinghamshire Council to spend nearly £5m extra to repair county's roads after devastating winter

The county was struck by widespread flooding from Storm Babet in October and Storm Henk in January, with the exceptionally wet weather taking a toll on the roads.

More than 22,000 potholes had to be repaired in the county between October 2023 and March 2024 – three times the number for the same period the previous winter.

Insurance claims against the council also doubled to more than 2,300.

The council’s cabinet will now meet on Thursday, July 25 to consider plans to spend an extra £4.8m to repair the long-term damage and prepare for the coming winter.

It would add two extra teams to deal with serious potholes and road problems, along with seven large-scale patching schemes to target the Nottinghamshire areas which have deteriorated most.

This is on top of the council’s approved £33m highways budget for this financial year.

The work will be carried out by Via, the council-owned company, which is responsible for highway maintenance.

A report going before cabinet next week says: “Via’s capacity to both respond to the storm events and also tackle the damage to the network was severely tested.

“Whilst extra resources were put in place at the beginning of the winter to continue with follow up repairs to Category 1 defects – the most serious non-emergency potholes – there was a need to temporarily increase the amount of safety repairs with follow-up repairs being planned for 24-25.”

Very wet weather in winter can cause increased damage to roads when rainwater freezes.

Storm Babet in October 2023 saw 124mm of rain fall on Nottinghamshire in just three days, while another 75mm fell during Storm Henk in December.

Both caused widespread disruption, with dozens of roads closed and more 1,600 homes and businesses flooded.

Extra resources to prevent more flooding have also been put into emptying gulleys and clearing ditches.

There have been frequent complaints about the state of the roads since the winter, with one group of people in Gedling turning their frustration into a calendar of pot holes.