Conservative-run West Sussex County Council’s figures for the 2024-2025 financial year have highlighted the significant progress made by its highways team in improving the condition of the county’s 2,500 miles of road.
Between April 2024 and March 2025, the council’s highways team delivered a wide programme of essential reactive maintenance and proactive improvements including:
- 44,767 potholes repaired, using durable methods such as ‘sawn and sealed’ patching and ‘spray injection patching’
- A decrease in the average time between receiving a report and repairing a pothole to just 14 days
- 134.5 miles of surfacing works, including surface dressing, micro-asphalt and major carriageway patching
- 36,031 sqm of small and medium scale patching
Over the winter months, the highways team have also been working hard to keep drainage systems clear and ensure water can run off the roads as effectively as possible, cleansing 123,000 drainage gullies and completing 63 small scale drainage schemes. These works help to protect road surfaces from water damage and reduce the risk of flooding in the event of heavy rainfall.
As part of efforts to improve winter resilience on the road network, extra resources were provided to clear more gullies, ditches and areas where leaves build up. Extra CCTV resource was also brought in to monitor and identify issues, and an additional jetting unit was provided to clear flooded areas and get them moving as soon as possible.
The team’s hard work has been reflected in the number of reports of defects, such as potholes or blocked drains being submitted by the public. In recent years, there has been an upward trend in the number of defects being reported, however, in a clear sign of the improvement in the condition of the county’s road network, there has been a drop in reports from 69,669 last year to 53,574.
“It’s been a difficult few years, with extreme fluctuations in weather across the seasons, increased costs and a large volume of repairs being required, but now we’re seeing the rewards of our ongoing investment and improved delivery across both our reactive repair and proactive preventative maintenance programmes”, said Conservative Cllr Joy Dennis, Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport.
Cllr Dennis continues: “falling report numbers tell us that our strategy is working and that residents will benefit from safer roads year‑round. But while we’re pleased to see a drop in reports, we’re not slowing down our ongoing maintenance and repair programmes. This is reflected in not just a significant increase in the number of repairs the team have made this year but also in a decrease in the average time it takes us to repair a defect following it being reported.”
