Recent research by the Liberal Democrats have revealed that Surrey is top of the pile when it comes to vehicle damage caused by potholes. 

Information gathered from responses to Freedom of Information requests show that nationally there were 23,000 compensation claims for damages or injury in 22/23, an increase of 70% on the previous twelve months.

Surrey County Council received 2,351 of these claims, the largest number submitted to any one authority. It also paid out the most amount of compensation, £237,000 in total including one payment of £31,000. Since 2018 the Council has paid out more than £1.2 million in pothole related compensation. 

The Lib Dems want to see local authority highways maintenance budgets fully restored, so local authorities have the necessary funds to repair their pothole backlogs. Recent research from the Local Government Association has found councils face a record £14 billion road repair backlog, while spending on local road repairs in the UK has been reduced by more than nearly all other OECD countries. 

The Government is firmly to blame for this failure to maintain our roads properly after having slashed funding for local road repairs. Many councils, including Surrey are being left without the funding to maintain roads properly while having to shell out thousands of pounds in pothole payouts. Local authorities need to have their highway maintenance budgets urgently restored so that we can end this vicious cycle of pothole payouts and poorly maintained roads.