FOI Request - Potholes and Pothole Compensation 2022-2025

Request 101003869937

I would like to request the following information relating to potholes and pothole maintenance in your council area.

Please provide the following, broken down by calendar year for the last three full calendar years (2022, 2023 and 2024).

Please also provide information from  2025 to-date (up until 31/09/2025). If data is not available up until then, please specify when the 2025 data runs until.

1. The total number of potholes reported to the council

2. The total number of potholes repaired by the council

3. The total estimated cost (in £) of pothole repairs carried out by the council each year, including both planned and reactive maintenance, if available.

If this information is not held specifically for pothole repairs, please provide the total annual spend on carriageway maintenance or road surface repairs instead, and briefly outline how this data is categorised or recorded.

4. The total number of compensation claims made to the council due to damage caused by potholes  

5. The total number of compensation claims paid out  

6. The total value (in £) of compensation paid, if available

7. The road(s) in your council area with the highest number of pothole reports in each year

If any of the above data is only available in financial years (rather than calendar years), please make this clear and provide the information in that format instead.

Response 12-11-2025

1.

2022     609
2023     854
2024     1256
2025     418 (up to 30/09/2025 as requested)
Note - The figures above are the number of pothole or carriageway defect enquiries that were received in the year, this could be for 1 or multiple defects per instruction

2.

2022     3966
2023     6525
2024     7882
2025     5412 (up to 30/09/2025 as requested)
Note - The figures above are the number of pothole or carriageway defect instructions that were completed in the year, this could be for 1 or multiple defects per instruction.

3.

We do not hold financial data in calendar years - the information below shows financial years.
Expenditure on Revenue Carriageway Patching
2022/2023        £767,065.53
2023/2024        £1,196,335.66
2024/2025        £1,068,107.32
2025/2026*      £590,808.29
Note* figure to date as of 22/10/2025

4. -6.

* The low numbers associated with this response may result in the identification of individuals. Therefore numbers of pupils between 1 and 5 have been redacted and marked with an asterisk instead. This response is exempt under Section 38(1)(b) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 - personal information.

Please Note:  Payments are reimbursements for damage/loss through insurance – not compensation
All claims and legal costs are covered in our insurance premium