More than 8,000 Nottinghamshire potholes will be fixed by December this year, according to a senior councillor.
Between April 1 and October 31, 8,860 potholes and road defects were reported to Nottinghamshire County Council.
The pothole figure was mentioned in the council’s cabinet meeting on Thursday (November 6) as part of the authority’s anticipated highways review.
In June 2025, the council approved a decision to move forward with a review of the county’s roads and highway services.
Its completion has found four key themes, comprising maximising funding opportunities, “prudent” asset and network management, effective and efficient delivery and improved communications and community-led works.
Speaking to the local democracy reporting service (LDRS) following the meeting, council leader Mick Barton (Reform) said the authority and its highway partner, VIA, “have worked really hard before the winter” to fix potholes.
He said: “We’ve reported over 8,000 potholes since our administration in May. A lot of them we’ve worked hard before the winter comes, because if you don’t work on them before winter, they will break up – a lot of them have been repaired properly.”
Councillor Bert Bingham (Reform), cabinet member for transport and environment, told the LDRS these would be “pretty much done by December” as part of preventative efforts before the colder and wetter months.
Part of the council’s highway plan is to “maximise” money opportunities for improving the county’s roads.
Currently, £44.7 million of the £52.4 million total money for road works comes from the East Midlands County Combined Authority (EMCCA).
For 2025/26, EMCCA gave the council nearly £15.2 million above the usual funding from the Department for Transport.
EMCCA is set to receive “significant levels” of money from the government in 2026/27 that equates to £2 billion over the next six-year period.
Speaking during the meeting, Cllr Mike Introna (Con) asked: “What proactive steps are being taken to secure a larger, fairer share of EMCCA’s £2 billion, for our local roads?
“[EMCCA] is funnelling millions into active travel schemes instead of tackling the real infrastructure challenges that are holding our region back. This administration needs to challenge this – without that financial support, even the best plans will remain aspirations only.
“The right-first-time and permanent repairs principles that [the previous Conservative administration] introduced must remain the standard, not the exception, and continue to be improvable.”
Responding to Cllr Introna’s question following the meeting, Cllr Barton said he has a “brilliant” working relationship with EMCCA mayor, Claire Ward (Lab).
He said: “If we can get on with some smaller projects like the White Post roundabout or some others that will be quick wins to get started before we do the big [projects].”
He added the authority had asked the mayor for more money for roads in the next financial year, saying “the comments have been favourable… the signals are good”.
From that £2 billion pot, Cllr Bingham said the council is seeking additional funding for a multi-year period of three to five years and that EMCCA funding is “back-loaded”, adding: “We’d like to see it more front-loaded so we can get more work done up front.
“Negotiations are ongoing and by December we’ll have a pretty good idea.”
The Reform authority’s leader said it has reintroduced a three-road principle.
This relates to each county councillor being able to put forward three roads each in their respective wards that they believe require the most attention. They will then be seen as priority roads for fixing.
This policy existed previously at the council but has not been a principle for several years and Cllr Bingham says alongside the three roads, councillors will also be able to put forward three other highway issues, such as crossings and signage problems.
As part of the authority’s road fixes, Cllr Barton says he is hopeful “hundreds of miles” of roads will have better weather-resistant micro asphalt resurfacing works done, rural villages are already receiving drain cleaning and new equipment is currently being looked at.
Around 17 miles of resurfacing works are planned for the 2025/26 financial year, and around 14.5 miles of this have already been completed since April.
