The recent cold spell has done nothing to improve the condition of Bury’s roads, as I saw for myself recently while caught up in a tailback, caused by a particularly egregious pothole, on the A14 just outside Rougham, which led to multiple vehicles being damaged. The good news is that National Highways started repairs immediately.

Elsewhere, however, the picture is certainly patchier (if you’ll excuse the pun), mirroring the sorry state of many of our roads, a situation reflected in the red rating recently issued to Suffolk County Council’s highways department, by the Department for Transport which indicates poor performance in terms of road repairs.

Only thirteen local authorities – including Suffolk County Council – received a “red” rating based on the condition of their roads and how effectively they are spending government funding to carry out repairs.

Money is not the issue. In the last budget the Chancellor announced £7.3 billion of additional funding for local road maintenance across England. In addition, last year Suffolk received over £11.7 million in additional government funding to repair potholes — part of a record £1.6 billion national investment to improve road maintenance and fix potholes.

The investment is paying dividends, as demonstrated by the dramatic drop in the amount of compensation paid to motorists for damage to their vehicles by Suffolk County Council, who are responsible for road repairs.

In 2023-2024, the Council was obliged to pay out over £33,000 of taxpayers’ money to motorists in compensation. In 2024-2025 however, and following the additional government investment, that figure had dropped by almost 50%, to £18,248.

However, there’s clearly more to do after years of neglect which motorists have had to endure, and I am concerned, given the money is there, that Suffolk County Council’s red rating indicates a lack of strategic planning and inadequate execution when it comes to tackling the pothole problem.

I have written to Suffolk County Council to outline my concerns and to offer the Council government-funded capability and planning support including expert peer reviews from experienced professionals who can share best practice and technical expertise in an approach backed by the RAC. If the Council accepts the offer, it will help it shift away from expensive reactive repairs towards proper preventative long-term maintenance. Patching up and make-do-and-mend is no longer an acceptable approach not least since future government funding will be linked to performance to encourage councils to use taxpayer money efficiently and to maintain roads before potholes form.

I will continue to monitor the Council’s use of the funds the government has made available to Suffolk County Council to ensure the money isn’t wasted on shorttermism and that repairs are carried out quickly and strategically.

To help me monitor how the money is being spent this month I launched a new pothole survey.

It only takes a minute to complete and all the information it gathers will be used to inform and scrutinise the maintenance and repairs being carried out (or not) by the Council.