The cost to Kirklees council of fixing potholes last year is revealed

Kirklees Council spent £1.65m fixing potholes in the last financial year, an FOI has revealed.

The sums of £1,655,162 covered the repairs of 33,908 potholes in the borough between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024. In the same time frame, a total of 27,637 potholes were reported to the council.

Earlier this year, residents of a road in Longwood branded it “one of the most dangerous” in Kirklees and called on the council to act before it was too late.

Read more: Huddersfield fire live as residents warned to ‘keep windows closed and stay inside’

Before that, Kirklees gained the unfortunate accolade of being one of the worst places in the UK for potholes in 2022, according to research by Bill Plant Driving School. The borough scored second in a team of ten, after the London borough of Islington.

We asked Kirklees Council if they believe the pit spend is sustainable, if anything is being done to reduce costs in the current financial year and what their approach is to solving the problem.

A Kirklees Council spokesman said: “Repairing our roads is an ongoing priority for the council and we know it is important to our residents. We carry out regular inspections across the motorway network on a monthly, three, six and twelve monthly cycle depending on the road and other factors including road use and type.

“We carry out preventative treatments such as surface dressing which prevents pitting. We are currently underway with our summer program of resurfacing 32 roads in the district. This type of maintenance is often the most effective, sustainable and cost-effective form of intervention.”

The roads which will benefit from the dressing works are the following – Penistone Road A629; C997 Fenay Lane; Fleminghouse Lane; Westgate; A6024 Woodhead Road; A616 New Mill Road; C656 Thurstonland Bank Road; B6123 Batley Field Hill; B6128 Challenge Way; Road C525; C554 Heaton Moor Road; C554 Hollin Hall Lane; C554 Hopton Lane; C554 Town Road; Clerk Green Street; Dark Lane; A58 Whitehall Road; B6124 Soothill Lane; C530 Hey Beck Lane; Bank Road; Far End Lane/Far Banks; Upper Hagg Road; Cross Lane; Dean Brook Road; South view; Stayley Royd; Tenter Hill; Cemetery Road; Flash Lane/Shillbank Lane; Hillhead Drive; A635 Barnsley Road; A642 Wakefield Road.

Get all the latest and breaking Huddersfield news straight to your inbox Sign up for our daily newsletter here.