Tell us where the potholes are so we can smoothe the road ahead

Soon after Labour won an overwhelming majority on Brighton and Hove City Council at the 2023 local elections, I chaired the then Transport and Sustainability Committee.

One of my first questions to council officers was: why are our city roads such a state?

A decade of decline was the result of underfunding by the Conservative government, which paid scant regard to the state of our roads or those who use them.

We soon got started with resurfacing roads in Bevendean, applying a lower carbon impact approach to Auckland Drive, Hornby Road, Taunton Road and Norwich Drive.

Then I got to meet the amazing teams who work on our city roads, including the High Street in Kemp Town, and those working overnight including on Wharf Road – a daytime access to Shoreham Port – and I asked if they could do more.

The clear answer was yes. There was real capacity for our highways teams to do more road resurfacing and filling in of potholes.

We asked the then Conservative government for more money but they were not interested in properly funding public services such as making our roads and pavements better and safer.

Fourteen years of Tory decline have left our roads in a disgraceful state.

This has led to

• 100 times more potholes on our roads than craters on the moon
• Pothole damage that cost drivers almost £500 million over the past year alone
• Car insurance up by more than £200 on average – in just two years
• And now the Conservatives are blocking Labour’s plans to repair roads

This is why Labour is investing in our roads across England. Labour will

• Fix one million extra potholes each year
• Repair broken roads by investing £1.6 billion this year – that’s 50 per cent more than the Tories had promised

Labour is also helping drivers across England by tackling out of control car insurance premiums with a new taskforce.

We do what we can with the resources we’ve got. That’s why over the past 18 months under a Labour administration, the council highways teams have worked hard, resurfaced and made safer as many roads as we could.

These have included Lewes Road, Bear Road, the A259 coast toad between Rottingdean, Ovingdean and Brighton Marina, Western Street and Norfolk Square, Hangleton Way, Whitehawk Way, Worcester Villas, Leicester Villas, Stanley Avenue, Graham Avenue and Valley Road.

They have also included Woodland Close, Woodland Avenue, Hill Drive, Hill Brow, Woodland Drive, Tongdean Road, Dyke Road Place.

Then there’s Cooksbridge Road, Devonshire Place, Ardingly Street, Wiston Road North, Piltdown Road, Colgate Close, Pulborough Close, Haybourne Close, Limney Road, Haybourne Road, Coolham Drive, Sevelands Close, Twineham Close, Aldrich Close, Whitehawk Way and Hawthorn Close.

And not forgetting Chorley Avenue, Lindfield Close, Lustrells Close, Falmer Avenue, Effingham Close, Glynde Avenue, Wentworth Street, Upper Bedford Street, Margaret Street, Camelford Street, Manchester Street, Cavendish Street, Burlington Street and more.

Brighton and Hove City Council is ready to resurface even more streets, maintain more roads and repair more potholes and much more.

This is why it was a relief when the majority Labour government was elected in July. As cabinet member for transport, parking and public realm, I immediately wrote to Labour’s Secretary of State for Transport and asked for more money to fix our city roads and paths.

I was not alone, with local authorities across the country asking the same. The public deserve better and called for change.

Last week the government has announced it is allocating almost £4 million to Brighton and Hove to deal with potholes and make our city highways and paths safer and better this year.

After years of underfunding, this is part of a £1.6 billion package of support across the country to give councils the tools to tackle the huge backlog left by the Conservatives.

The Department for Transport (DfT) has also introduced a new incentive element in 2025-26 to ensure that best practice in sustainable highways asset management is followed.

This means there could be a further 25 per cent available assuming we meet certain criteria.

This additional fund is up to £1.4 million more for our city. This means that our city has up to £5.3 million for highways maintenance in 2025-26. Much more than before.

Recent resurfacing of Castle Square is complete and the next phase of Lewes Road surfacing is now progressing.

We have imminent plans to remove large potholes reported to us by residents, such as at the junction of Montefiore Road and Davigdor Road, in Hove, pictured above.

And in the coming months we plan to resurface Eastern Road and Preston Road, outside the Sainsbury’s Local, in Brighton, and Palmeira Square and Old Shoreham Road, by the recycling centre, in Hove.

With more highways budget, we can also address much-needed improvement to pavement access as we have done recently on Holland Road, with works soon to start on Clarendon Villas and Goldstone Villas pavements.

This is where we need your help. Let us know where the worst potholes are. To report a pothole directly to the council, click here and we will act.

We can do this because the overall funding allocation for 2025-26 has gone up to £5.3 million – more than £1.6 million in extra road maintenance grant funding for our city than the year before.

After years of underfunding under the Conservatives, our roads are not what they could or should be with potholes not fixed, road surfaces worsening and drivers, bus passenger and cyclists aggrieved.

Thanks to more government money, Labour is now well placed to sort out our city roads and paths and fix our potholes.

Councillor Trevor Muten is the cabinet member for transport, parking and public realm on Brighton and Hove City Council.