Potholes captured on camera - as council leader refutes stats showing 71 per cent of the county’s roads are in need of repair

A recent article in the Independent newspaper listed Derbyshire County Council (DCC) in the UK’s worst authorities for pothole repairs stating that 71 per cent of the county’s roads are in need of repair.

However, leader Councillor Barry Lewis refuted this during a council meeting on March 16 – claiming Derbyshire is one of the best authorities for pothole repairs.

He called headlines ‘crazy’ and said that other local authorities across the country use a system that doesn’t record impact to minor roads, whereas Derbyshire does.

Ross Shipman, Councillor for Tupton at North East Derbyshire District Council has now photographed several roads in a terrible state.

He said: “I’m sure almost everybody in Derbyshire would have been shocked to read the Conservative Leader of Derbyshire County Council, Barry Lewis say that if we all used the stats he wanted us to, then Derbyshire County Council would be one of the best authorities for pothole repairs.

“He is either treating us like mugs, or trying to gaslight Derbyshire residents when it comes to potholes.

“Many residents will know the same old problem of potholes being repaired, and within weeks, if not days, the pothole reappearing and need reporting again for repair.

“Because of Councillor Lewis’ comments, I decided to go a walk about in Wingerworth which he represents on Derbyshire County Council and you can see from the photos I have taken on the same day the Derbyshire Times article was published that there are areas where it seems to require a pothole repair.

“The Leadership at Derbyshire County Council need to get a grip of this problem, and stop treating Derbyshire residents like fools.”

In response to councillor Shipman’s comments, a spokesperson for Derbyshire County Council said: “We are asking our inspectors to go out and visit the locations suggested by Cllr Shipman.

"At this time of the year we do tend to see the worst damage to our roads because of the winter weather, but we do have extra resources going into fixing potholes. Since Christmas, we have had up to 30 gangs repairing potholes and during this time we have fixed over 26,000 potholes

“We are just going into the third year of a £120m programme to improve our roads and in the coming year we’ll be improving more than 400 roads through resurfacing, surface dressing or micro-asphalting. We are also pleased to confirm that we will be receiving £4.2m from central government in the recent budget to support us in this work. This will particularly help us address challenges on the minor roads which make up so much of Derbyshire’s highways network.”