Potholes (Roads)

Thu 12 Feb, 17:27

OCC is required to maintain the highways and repair potholes as per section 41 of the highways act 1980. Members of the public can raise issues with OCC using a section 56 notice. OCC will have one month to act and if not one can apply for a summons in the magistrates court. Message me separately if you want to take part.

Thu 12 Feb, 06:59

And Starmers reply is what I hate about politics.  Constantly avoiding the question. 

Is a local council allowed to raise money in any format? I would happily sponsor a pothole to get the roads repaired. 

My daughter has lost another tyre to a different pothole. She has already claimed for a couple, has a claim currently being looked at for suspension damage and will be submitting a further claim for this latest tyre. I don't know where the money comes from for these claims but obviously it would be better spent fixing the problem.

The state of the roads also leads to further issues. I currently drive a 4x4 type vehicle. I do not need a large car anymore but will not change it with the roads in their current state. I am well aware that my car is heavier than a standard car, and certainly less fuel efficient but is able to cope with some of these holes 

Wed 11 Feb, 19:53

Ok Liz I shall try and see what happens. 

Wed 11 Feb, 19:00

Good luck with that, Hans.   The Local Government Association's assessment is that councils across the country face a £17 billion backlog of road repairs.  The government's "record amount" of funding is £7.3 billion over four years

This is how seriously the PM takes the problem.

https://parliamentlive.tv/event/index/9ced6a7a-ce19-41a6-93f0-5683ffa7e943?in=12:20:27

Tue 10 Feb, 15:04

Some say one can serve a section 56 notice under the highways act 1980 on the responsible organisation for road repairs. Apparently the respondent has one month to repair the road. If they don't you can apparently sue them in the magistrates court.

Tue 10 Feb, 08:39

Just booking 2 visits to Greece, I will be paying the new Climate Resilience Fee for each hotel or short term let that I book. It is charged per room , per night. I do not begrudge it, I use the water from desalination plants and drive my disabled travelling companions on miles of  crumbling roads . I wish that our councils were able to levy such charges to overseas visitors.

Mon 9 Feb, 08:07

Thu 5 Feb, 11:18

Good of our local MP to lobby on our behalf - it might go down well for him in the next election.

Thu 5 Feb, 09:45

It would be nice, if, instead of writing letters to the local authority, our MP spent his time lobbying his treasury colleagues to get proper funding for our roads.

Wed 4 Feb, 23:50

Wed 4 Feb, 20:37

The one on Fawler Road was first reported on the 14th Jan on FixMyStreet and still to no avail despite numerous complaints; perhaps this should be escalated? 

FixMyStreet ref: 8689925

Council ref: ENQ261073086

Wed 4 Feb, 18:25 (last edited on Wed 4 Feb, 18:32)

OCC officers look at Fix My Street Oxfordshire every day, so I suggest that people rely on reporting any defects on that website, rather than relying on them picking up complaints from this thread!!  

Wed 4 Feb, 13:42

Inspired by Christopher Tatton's map (below), I also updated a pothole report yesterday -- originally submitted by somebody else to fix-my-street around 2 months ago.

And, lo and behold, the 2 potholes in Ditchley Rd were filled in today. Wonderful! And no doubt due in part to the complaints on this thread.  So, yes, it does pay to complain, and also to update any fix-my-street reports with any extra information about severity and impact. 

Wed 4 Feb, 10:58

Well it helps to complain - a massive 3 feet long 1 foot wide 8 inches deep pot hole in the middle of the north going side of Spelsbury Rd near the entrance to Watermead Farm was filled this morning - took all of 5 minutes or so. No disadvantaged person living in a cardboard box was impacted.

Can I ask that those of you who do not think potholes are a problem look elsewhere, please? 

Tue 3 Feb, 20:16 (last edited on Tue 3 Feb, 20:18)

I can confirm two new craters have appeared on the road heading into Fawler on the brand new ‘patchwork’ laid just a few months ago! Oh and to add, there was an RAC van 100 yards down the road fixing someone’s blow out! Absolute farce! Take care everyone, these potholes are impossible to see in this dark! 

And Simon, if you’d like to suggest a better way for me to attend my 7 appointments each day spread across the whole county I’d absolutely love to hear it!

Tue 3 Feb, 20:05

Perhaps it is the volume of vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians do not create potholes. Get out of your cars folks.

Tue 3 Feb, 16:04

Agreed at last that our roads are a challenge.  We have to be very careful out there.  Crisis emergency it is not.

Our council tax has been capped at or below inflation for 33 years.  The statutory responsibility for social care takes an ever greater percentage of the total budget. I fear you will always be disappointed by a council administration since their rationing of services necessarily increases every year.  It's been 33 years of a painful retraction of public services and the consequences are sleeping in cardboard on our crumbling streets or living in overcrowded, cold, mouldy accommodation without enough money to feed the kids.   That's a crisis emergency.

Tue 3 Feb, 12:27

Sorry with all due respect Alice I did not insult you . I just expressed disappointment that you seemed to be rather easily dismissing the obvious challenge to motorists, motorcyclists and cyclists, due the appalling number of pot holes now appearing, as evidenced in the local fixmystreet map and photo. I like you are very concerned about the cuts in public services that particularly affect the vulnerable in our society, after 14 years of Conservative Government and County Council rule.

I voted Lib Dem at the last County Council election, in the hope that they would manage all our public services more efficiently and effectively. Hopefully I didn’t get that decision wrong? 

However, I was disappointed to be told that Liberal and Green Councillors on the County Council voted themselves an above inflation 8% increase in salary and expenses recently, when the council tax payer is facing a cost of living crisis, rising council tax and cuts in  services. I was also told that Labour and Conservative councillors did not vote in favour of this above inflation increase in councillors expenses.

Tue 3 Feb, 11:26

Instead of insult Christopher, you can maybe respect that I care about those who are unable to care for themselves, whether they are children or adults and I expect my council tax to be used to support them.

I agree potholes are really irritating and slow down progress.  Just before Christmas I drove over what looked like a bit of Roman pavement or maybe cobbles, where the newer surface had completely disappeared.  I can't remember which County I was in, but that's what we need.

Tue 3 Feb, 08:16

Seems the plan is either nonexistent or top secret.

Tue 3 Feb, 07:38

Sorry to hear that the basic safety of motorists, cyclists and motor bikers on our local roads is not very high on your list of priorities Alice. 

A quick look at fixmystreet demonstrates the sheer extent of the appalling state of the roads in Charlbury and surrounding villages. 

Hans makes a very good point in requesting to see the plan to understand how and when this situation might improve.

Sun 1 Feb, 19:39 (last edited on Sun 1 Feb, 19:43)

Your understanding of an emergency crisis is completely different to mine and we are all council tax payers.  Whose understanding of emergency crisis is to be prioritised?  Even more important than child protection, care of the vulnerable, school dinners, etc, etc, etc.?

As somebody pointed out, this is a winter problem.  The winter rainfall is 200mm higher today on a 10 year rolling average than it was in 1840.  It'll be fixed when the weather gets better until next winter when we will demand to spend more money on it.  Isn't doing the same thing over and over again the definition of silliness?

How about a transport emergency plan - shoring up slumping roads & railway lines because of rising ground water and wet hill sides.  This is a national problem, local patching up doesn't work.  It's time to pay a climate adaptation levy and to start doing things differently. 

Sun 1 Feb, 18:46

Thanks Liz. That does not look like a plan to resolve the emergency crisis of the pothole situation. As others have pointed out, there will be accidents.

Sun 1 Feb, 15:20

We have a statutory responsibility to provide social care and well over half of our budget goes on that.  The rest has to be used for a large number of other things, for which some of the budgets are ringfenced, eg: public health, education. We spend what we can on road maintenance and in fact borrow to do so. But we can only borrow what we can afford to repay and that depends on how much we can raise in council tax (capped by the government) and in the core government grant (as Mark says, cut over a number of years, and cut again this year). We also have to deal with inflation, increase in NI and wage increases, which the government does not give us money for.  It doesn't help that the previous administration adopted a strategy of "managed decline" (their words) when managing road maintenance which means that the underlying structure of our roads is in a very poor state.  These are not excuses, they are what county councils all over the UK are having to deal with. In support of which, the vast majority of councils were classified a couple of weeks ago by government as amber for their road maintenance, including Oxfordshire. Only 14 were rated green, and10 were rated red.  Three of those rated green were Gloucestershire, Worcestershire and Wiltshire, which probably explains why people on this forum think we are doing so badly.  In case you want  to see in detail how we were rated this is the link  https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-road-maintenance-ratings/local-road-maintenance-ratings-2025-to-2026

Sun 1 Feb, 11:05 (last edited on Sun 1 Feb, 11:12)

I drove through Austria, Slovenia & Switzerland a couple months back and the roads were absolutely superb. The safety was top drawer. Not to mention how motorhome friendly their roads were. Oxfordshire is the worst place i’ve lived when comparing infrastructure and transport and i’ve lived in the north of England and 3 other continents. 

Sat 31 Jan, 18:46 (last edited on Tue 3 Feb, 07:43)

Mark, I can see that 14 years of a Tory government squeezed our public services badly and the results are obvious for all to see, and poor maintenance of the highways by the previous Conservative County Council administrations really has not helped. However, quite a few of us voted Lib Dem at the last County elections in the hope that they would do a better job of filling in the predictable and worsening pot hole feast, shortly after every new year, than the previous Conservative administrations. I thought that the situation was beginning to improve last summer with a few more roads being resurfaced. However, 2026, has seen the worst pot hole situation ever. Frankly it is a serious health and safety situation now, and a priority for money from reserves/contingency funds. God forbid that more cars get damaged or a cyclist is seriously injured or killed being thrown over their handle bars or in front of a car by a deep pot hole. 

Sat 31 Jan, 18:17 (last edited on Sun 1 Feb, 18:00)

I wonder if I'm the only one getting increasingly frustrated by this forum, and feeling a lot of sympathy for Liz.

Council budgets have been squeezed mercilessly for over a decade and their tax-raising power restricted. This, combined with an aging population and the failure of successive UK governments to properly fund for elderly care means local authorities are diverting more of their remaining money on this activity.

We can all see the results, in our libraries, youth services, environmental health, leisure centre facilities, inadequate maintenance of parks and spaces, non-statutory education, waste disposal, rubbish by the roadsides... and road maintenance. All non-statutory services end up being cut. 

I'm very struck each time I return to the UK just how run down the place has become in comparison with most other European countries. I'm frustrated by this, and I suspect most councillors are too. 

I'm also struck by the lack of interest in advocating for those services, their users are some of the more vulnerable in our communities. 

I only see calls for a specific group (car drivers) to have their specific interest (road surfaces) prioritised over everything else.

I want good quality public services (including roads). The way of achieving this is to properly fund them, and sort the financing of care service.

Sat 31 Jan, 17:44

The pothole situation is diabolical - worse than ever. I believe the return on investment is positive taking in to consideration the amount of compensation OCC has to pay for damaged cars.

Would Liz be so kind and publish the action plan to resolve the pothole situation? I do understand that there is a lack of funding if there is no change in funding priorities.

Sat 31 Jan, 16:44

Richard - Exactly!  

Now ... if they could do the same thing at all the other trouble spots!

Sat 31 Jan, 13:48

Maybe if there were potholes outside of councillor's houses, there wouldn't be a problem? See Park St and Church St. 

Sat 31 Jan, 13:22

Charlie – when you say “actually *do* something”, you mean like this?

https://www.charlbury.info/events/10634

Sat 31 Jan, 12:19 (last edited on Sat 31 Jan, 13:23)

If you drive a car, going to Specsavers now and then is probably quite a good idea.

Sat 31 Jan, 12:16

I would suggest that if OCC (and its "leaders") want to avoid accusations of not giving a damn about peoples' concerns about personal injury and car damage due to the appalling state of the roads, then they actually *do* something. 

In the meantime, I would suggest that anyone who had finished a job involving quick-drying concrete and has some left over should find a pothole to put it in! But no doubt that's against some bye-law or other! 

There are two appalling ones between the Fawler turn-off and the 20mph signs coming into Charlbury. 

Sat 31 Jan, 09:41 (last edited on Sat 31 Jan, 09:45)

Chris, you are absolutely right, we have quite deliberately constructed our budget and our road maintenance plan to make life as difficult as possible for road users while indulging the elderly, the disabled and children in need, and enabling councillors to feed from the trough with their massive allowances.

(Someone told me last night that they imagined me sitting at my computer biting my tongue before answering some of the stuff on the Forum.  Not this time.)

Fri 30 Jan, 20:09

I don’t fall for argument that Oxfordshire County Council is that short of money, that it can’t take quite a bit out of reserves or contingency funds to resolve the horrendous winter pot hole problems in our local roads. If that’s the case why did Oxfordshire County councillors award themselves an inflation busting pay increase of 8%. this year?

Liz, as you and I know, Westminster gave Oxfordshire a block grant, as did the Welsh Synedd to Gwynedd County Council, it is then up to local councillors to decide on the local priorities. More money could have been put in the budget to fix the expected winter pot hole problem with a bit of thought. Perhaps less bike lanes in Oxford, that rural cyclists will never make,  if they come a cropper in a pot hole on the way, or perhaps less 20mph signs that you need to go to specsavers to see, like the one opposite the Bell in Church St, just sayin.

Fri 30 Jan, 15:29

I agree every life saved is worth while but I wonder what the statistics are on lives lost through accidents involving potholes or caused by swerving to avoid them?

Fri 30 Jan, 14:03 (last edited on Fri 30 Jan, 14:06)

We are required by law to retain a specific percentage of our revenue budget in reserves.  Our revenue budget is about £900 million so the reserves are quite high

Not all counties get the same funding from government. As Lincolnshire has more deprived areas than Oxfordshire, they get more from their government grant. However we have a growing number of residents over 65 and people with disabilities, who need social care, which comes out of the county budget, and we are statutorily required to pay for that.  That means we do not have as much left over for highways as we would like. The recent Fair Funding Review means that we will have £27 million less from government over the next three years, while other counties will get more.  

I heard on the radio this morning that in Wales they estimate that 100 lives have been saved since the 20mph speed limits were installed.  I think that is worth spending money on.

Fri 30 Jan, 05:53 (last edited on Fri 30 Jan, 15:27)

We went to Lincolnshire for a few days in the autumn. Their roads were near on perfect apart from one, but this was being repaired as we drove down it. Interestingly, I didn't encounter any 20mph speed limits. Is this a case of them spending money in different areas? I honestly don't understand how some counties make it work but not others. 

Thu 29 Jan, 22:45

I read recently that Oxfordshire has the highest reserves in the country (£100's millions). Why can't at least a smaĺl fraction of this be invested in road repairs.

Thu 29 Jan, 11:38 (last edited on Thu 29 Jan, 11:40)

Devolution has its merits.  Wales is not dependent on national government to fund road maintenance like we are. 

Wed 28 Jan, 23:20 (last edited on Thu 29 Jan, 10:20)

Just back from a pleasant few days in Snowdonia and it was good to see highways out in force repairing pot holes in efficiently and effectively Plaid run Gwynedd County Council, then you get back into Liberal run Oxfordshire and wow pot holes galore and zilch in the way of noticeable action being taken. So car tyres continue to be shredded, suspensions broken, and cyclists risking life and limb avoiding pot holes, or annoying motorists by suddenly having to swerve around them.  

Wed 28 Jan, 23:05

Unfortunately I just saw another post on the forum that someone has had a blow out from the Fawler Road pothole this evening which is absolutely horrendously big! Not only is it destroying people’s cars but it’s also super dangerous as people are veering into the other lane to miss it! 

Wed 21 Jan, 23:05

The Witney to Hailey road is truely awful. There's a massive pothole just as you cross the last (raised) zebra crossing. There's also a huge hole in Hailey. Beware!!

Wed 21 Jan, 08:58

Had two punctures in 4 days.  One was the cut through coming back from Chipping Norton by enstone sports ground & the other was leaving Witney on the Hailey road by the garage. Be careful out there. 

Mon 19 Jan, 03:22 (last edited on Tue 20 Jan, 02:47)

Hans, much as it pains me to defend Thames Water,   the water coursing across the road, overwhelming the drain and causing the pothole is not mains water, its from a spring, exacerbated by the filling in of a small step well in the garden of Tooleys Cottage by a previous owner several years ago.  The run- off is also creating a nasty gulley on the side of the road on the hill leading to the corner and another deep pothole towards the bottom of the hill...where Thames Water are now also destroying the relatively recently repaired bridge with several heavy lorries turning every day at the sewage works. There's also a wide pothole developing just past the bridge in the Charlbury direction.

You also need to exercise caution on the road to Chadlington from Spelsbury - the the  corner at Dean Mill has a growing patchwork of holes, including the reappearance of a deep one recently filled in. 

Sun 18 Jan, 12:07

This pothole claimed my daughters car last night. Significantly damaged the rear suspension and also possible damage to front. Absolute joke that your car might be a write off because of roads not being maintained!

Thu 15 Jan, 12:39

Today is National Pothole day!

Tue 13 Jan, 13:58

A case of Crazy Paving In Love?

Tue 13 Jan, 12:22

It'd be interesting to see if the road repairers are able to collaborate with Thames Water. Because the cause of the broken tarmac is a water mains leak under the road. It's been broken on and off for many years.

Meanwhile the B4022 near Great Tew is not repaired. But there is good news the country lane past the closed pub in Wiggington is being repaired. Obviously this has nothing to do with a certain Beyonce - shame on you Hans how could you possibly suggest this?

Mon 12 Jan, 23:04

I have just received an email from OCC ‘s Fix My Street that the repair of the potholes in Spelsbury is due to be fixed in the next 28 days.

Mon 12 Jan, 22:21

I drove it yesterday Claire. DEFINITELY NOT FIXED.

Thu 8 Jan, 06:25

It wasn't fixed at 1pm yesterday Claire. It is my understanding that the fix my street notice is that it is agreed that repair is needed. But it doesn't say when. 

Wed 7 Jan, 22:24

I reported the spelsbury pothole on fix my street, and just had a message saying it has been fixed. Not driven that way yet to check but I’m looking forward to not doing the slalom. 

Wed 7 Jan, 15:49 (last edited on Wed 7 Jan, 15:57)

In the Oxford Mail article the government is quoted as investing £7.3 billion in road maintenance over the next 4 years.  Sounds like a lot.  But divided that between 207 councils and then divide by 4....... not so very much I'm afraid and it won't make a large difference to the state of our roads.  OCC is going to have to find £27 million of savings over the next three years, thanks to the so called Fair Funding Review of this government.  A lot more than we are getting for the potholes. 

In answer to Graham's comment about the Park and Ride at Eynsham, the way that things like this are funded (from government grants) meant that we were given the money to build the P&R but the money for the connecting road came from another funding pot, which we had to wait for.  Rather than holding on to the P&R money and then having to cope with inflated costs, we built the P&R and now that we have the funding for the road, the linking road is being built.  That was the sensible way to manage the money - though I agree that it doesn't seem logical - but that is local government funding for you!

Tue 6 Jan, 22:27

It’s seems that Oxfordshire has the worst record for potholes but the best for cycle lanes!

Tue 6 Jan, 18:04 (last edited on Tue 6 Jan, 18:05)

It seems that money is being wasted elsewhere within Oxfordshire,  what with the new Park and Ride at Eynsham and the massive cycle lane on the Osney Mead trading estate to name two.

Tue 6 Jan, 18:02

Tue 6 Jan, 14:20

The pothole on the bend is Spelsbury is in a dangerous place. It's also huge and deepening all the time. The ones I reported several times on the B4022 past the Tew Quarry still haven't been fixed, so I doubt this one will be either!

Mon 5 Jan, 18:58

Yes Graham, there's almost always a problem there. It is caused by a mains water leak. Seems Thames Water repairs it but the problem reappears a few months later. I'm deliberately care there.

Mon 5 Jan, 15:20

Just be warned as you come into Spelsbury on the Charlbury road 

Mon 5 Jan, 09:34

Mon 5 Jan, 08:46

I have used the ‘fix my street’ website to report potholes in the past, but my argument is that whilst this is fine for fixing individual potholes, the scale of the problem warrants a systematic approach from Oxfordshire Highways. It will be much more cost-effective to address them all at once than to make repeated visits to repair individual potholes. Judging by the report in the Oxford Mail (https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/25725621.oxfordshire-pothole-compensation-claims-297-per-cent/) this is part of a county-wide problem.

Sun 4 Jan, 20:31

I reported one on the road that links the A361 towards the Burford - Stow road using this link - thanks Hannen. I've made a claim against Oxon CC as I hit the edge of it at 40mph - it was 6' long, 20" wide and 5" deep.

Sun 4 Jan, 19:57

https://www.fixmystreet.com/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=14291319&gbraid=0AAAAAD-gRYEgtukqgSJY52fPrAbjW-UG_&gclid=Cj0KCQiAvOjKBhC9ARIsAFvz5lhoMd9UrtYfbVyjqvDtDyaGAhZn4AEH2uwsjbK7r2JsIBWVDftalfsaAgtKEALw_wcB

Sun 4 Jan, 19:32

I don’t think I have seen so many potholes around Charlbury. Rather than report each one individually to Oxfordshire Highways, is there a case for submitting a comprehensive photographic schedule requesting that these be dealt with at once? If so, how might this be achieved?