Pothole frequently asked questions
How do I report a pothole?
You can report a pothole using our Report a pothole online form.
How long will it take you to repair a pothole I've reported?
We aim to deliver the right repair to potholes at the right time, improving
the quality of road repairs. This means less filling of individual potholes
with either hot or cold materials, moving to cutting out and patching
with hot materials wherever we can.
Our 4 steps for repairing potholes
Wherever we can, we will make a patch repair, either first time, or at a
return visit. This approach may see residents and road users wait longer for some potholes to be repaired compared to previous find-and-fix repairs, but
will result in a higher quality repair. This is due to the additional time
needed to plan works, mobilise repair teams and gain the relevant legal
permits to allow us to make a cut-out repairs.
'Fill' repairs will be required for some defects which pose an immediate
risk to people or property. This ensures the highway remains safe,
generally we will return to make a permanent repair, however, in some
cases the defect will be programmed to be repaired as part of a larger
scheme of works at a future date.
If you have provided an email address when you reported the pothole, we will inform you of what action was taken from this inspection.
Inspections
As we move into the winter months, we anticipate an increase in defects
on the network. We will respond to this by increasing and redeploying
our resources to match these demands.
Our reactive repair resource has increased, enabling us to manage the
increased demand in cut out and patch repairs to potholes on the network.
Every road in the County is inspected at least once per year.
To allow our Highways Inspectors to investigate and manage defects reported on the network, our annual inspections are scheduled to take place between
April and November. Regular inspections still take place on the busier roads in the county over winter, as many of these are inspected on a monthly or quarterly
basis.
Why haven't you repaired a pothole I've reported?
For a pothole to be considered a safety defect it must be at least 40mm deep in the road surface or 20mm deep in a footway for us to investigate and prioritise the repair.
Providing it meets the requirements, a pothole will be prioritised for repair depending on its size, depth and road location. All potholes are inspected. If the requirements are met they will be put into one of these four categories:
- emergency work: repaired within 2 hours
- category 1: repaired by the end of the next working day (Monday-Friday)
- category 2: repaired within 28 days
- category 3: repaired within 90 days
Sometimes, we get reports on roads that are not maintained by Nottinghamshire County Council. Before reporting damage, it is worth checking who maintains the road if you are not sure.
Trunk roads: Motorways and trunk roads in Nottinghamshire (A1, A46, A453, A52 and M1) are managed by National Highways.
Faults on these roads can be reported online or by telephone: 0300 123 5000
City of Nottingham: Please report issues to Nottingham City Council
Not sure? Check your road here: address finder
If the pothole is quite large it will be marked for repair by our inspectors as additional equipment/support will be needed.
A pothole is a large, deep hole in the road. They are formed when roads freeze and thaw repeatedly. The changes in temperature causes damage to the surface. Layers of the road become unstuck or the surface breaks. As traffic travels over these weakened areas holes appear.
Potholes can appear at any time of year but are more frequent during late winter and early spring.
For smaller potholes we use a cold bagged material which can be poured into the hole. The material self levels and forms a very hard surface, making the road safe.
For larger potholes we cut out a section of the road around the hole, clear out old material and fill it with hot material.
If a road has lots of potholes it may require more work like patching or resurfacing.
We might not know about it. You can report a pothole using our Report a pothole online form.
We do not receive any funding from road tax or petrol tax, this goes directly to central government.
Larger potholes require different equipment - sometimes our teams fixing smaller holes don't have the right tools to fix larger ones.
Larger potholes are reported back to our larger highways teams to fix.
We inspect every adopted road in Nottinghamshire at least once a year. Inspections are carried out either monthly, quarterly, bi-annually or yearly depending on the use of the road.
For a pothole to be considered a safety defect it must be at least 40mm deep in the road surface or 20mm deep in a footway for us to investigate and prioritise the repair.
