A cabinet member put on his hard hat to show how potholes are the hot topic in the city’s road maintenance budget.
Last nights cabinet meeting backed a plan for spending the £8.8 million of transport funding the government has allocated to Brighton and Hove for the next financial year.
Of this, £5.2 million has to be spent on highway maintenance and £850,000 on pavements.
The remaining money will be spent on active travel measures such as buses and cycle lanes, including £1.4 million for the new Hove seafront cycle lane and £286,000 towards the final phase of Valley Gardens.
The council is also committing £2.2 million from its own budget towards “reactive maintenance” to repair roads, bringing the total transport maintenance budget to £11 million.
A report to cabinet said: “A combined maintenance approach to reactively address potholes in the short term to make them safe, alongside a longer term planned maintenance approach to avoid potholes is the most efficient use of limited resource.”
It costs approximately £200 per square metre to repair a pothole compared with £10 per square metre to carry out preventative maintenance
The Department of Transport has allocated Brighton and Hove City Council’s transport and maintenance budgets for the next four years.
The budget is due to increase to £9.8 million next year, £10.6 million in 2028/29 and £13.1 million in 2029/30.
Cabinet member for transport and city infrastructure, councillor Trevor Muten said the aim is to build on the ongoing work to make the city’s roads smoother and straighter, and described the pothole issue as “one of failure”.
He criticised the former Conservative government for its lack of long-term investment which has impacted on roads across the entire country, but noted residents wanted “action not excuses”.
He explained that residents can report potholes and defects through the council’s website, and each road problem is ranked for risk with a response within two hours for the most dangerous.
There are three lesser risk categories, with responses within 24 hours, seven days and 28 days for the lowest priority.
He said: “We are coming for a pothole near you. With more we will do more.”
After listing the roads resurfaced or patch treated in the last year and scores of roads planned for the next year’s programme.
Wearing his high-vis and hard hat Councillor Muten said: “We are the party of Labour who get things done. Let me say this clearly: I’m not ashamed to put on my hard hat and high-vis jacket.
“I’m proud to stand with the workers who deliver. The contractors, the engineers and the officers who work day and night to keep this city moving. Their work matters, it’s skilled, essential and deserving of respect.”
Spending will also include drop kerbs, new trees and stump removal, as well as bike hire and cycle parking.
Deputy leader councillor Jacob Taylor said: “We’ve got to sort these roads out. At one point, someone said to me ‘god you’re filling so many potholes and are fixing so many roads, it’s causing a nightmare in the city’.
“But we’ve got to do it, and I really commend the work that Councillor Muten is doing and I commend him for putting on his high vis jacket to go and visit the sites because he should be speaking to our workers and contractors.”
Faker! Impersonating blue colour workers. You aren’t working class me oldie son
The trademark Muten gurn !
What could possibly go wrong?
If potholes are ACTUALLY a priority, why in the council’s transport plan have they only budgeted enough to cover the “maintenance burden” rather than spending money to tackle the £57m road maintenance backlog”. Unless they do that it’s just managed decline and more spin coming from this Labour council.
The Local Transport Plan can be found here: https://democracy.brighton-hove.gov.uk/documents/s206686/Local%20Transport%20Plan%20Capital%20Programme%202526.pdf. It says the funding is “not enough to resolve the maintenance burden. We estimated there is a backlog of £57m for roads and £39m for footways. To prevent further decline of these assets alone we would need an estimated annual budget of £8.45m”
To make out potholes are a priority, when the ACTUAL budget allocated is only enough to prevent further decline and nowhere near enough to tackle any road maintenance backlog, is not being honest with residents.
This pattern of Labour councillor spin is in overdrive the more desperate they get to cling on to power!!
It’s a fair analysis, I can’t dispute it. Minor omission is the doubling of preventative funding, since 20:1 is a really good ratio. My thoughts are that there’s potentially a long-term strategy there with devolution around the corner, since MCAs typically receive multi-year funding settlements, which would get that extra push. £4m extra would clear the backlog in about 15 years roughly, if my maths is correct.
I noticed you posted last year’s programme. The new one can be found here: https://democracy.brighton-hove.gov.uk/documents/s212823/Transport%20Capital%20and%20Maintenance%20Programme%202026-27.pdf
Talks about the programme comprehensively, because potholes are only one element!
.uten you will always put on your hi vis and helmet when there is a photo opportunity to show your smiling m7g but that doesn’t clear the shoddy pothole work, fill them in one day back up bigger the next ,you are a total disgrace to the office you are supposed to support.
Muten you will always put on your hi vis and helmet when there is a photo opportunity to show your smiling mug but that doesn’t clear the shoddy pothole work, fill them in one day back up bigger the next ,you are a total disgrace to the office you are supposed to support.
That should start Muten and also your smiling mug.
Sorry predictive txt
Muten you will always put on your hi vis and helmet when there is a photo opportunity to show your smiling mug but that doesn’t clear the shoddy pothole work, fill them in one day back up bigger the next ,you are a total disgrace to the office you are supposed to support.
Born and raised in Brighton, Muten has proven to be one of the least competent councillors I’ve seen. He frequently boasts and publicises even the most minor positive developments he is loosely associated with. He embodies the kind of self-promoting, underperforming politician this country does not need.
Sod cycle lanes fix the bloody pot holes.