HIGH risk potholes are filled within two hours, a council which is a year into a six-million-pound repair programme has said.
The wet winter, and bouts of frosty, freezing and snowy weather, has taken its toll on roads in Torfaen, especially in the north of the borough, prompting questions at the council’s March meeting.
Abersychan councillor Giles Davies said there had “understandably been an increase in reported potholes” while Blaenavon councillor Nick Horler said “residents are calling Blaenavon to the Varteg road the B4246, dangerous.”
Councillor Mandy Owen, the Labour cabinet member responible for highways, outlined the council’s approach to potholes and noted BBC Wales weather presenter Derek Brockway had drawn attention to the amount of rainfall the area has seen.
She said: “We had an unprecedented amount of rain over the last couple of months, Derek Brockway highlighted Blaenavon as the wettest place in Wales during January, not mentioning the frost and the snow that we’ve had.”
£6.4m road resurfacing budget
She said the council is spending £6.4m from April 2025 to 2030 on road resurfacing which is financed with £4m from the authority’s own capital budget and the balance using the Welsh Government’s local government borrowing powers.
“The current works programme follows a road condition survey in 2024 which at the time found most of the main roads in Torfaen were in a good condition however many of the unclassified roads were classed as red or amber,” said Cllr Owen.
“Therefore, the first two years of the project focused on unclassified roads with an estimated 80 streets due to be resurfaced. From 2027 the work will be guided by the results of a road condition survey which will be carried out shortly. Those works will be carried out alongside the council’s annual highways maintenance programme.”
Cllr Owen also set out why repeated repairs to the same pothole are sometimes required.
She said: “When a defect is deemed high risk an emergency response within two hours is required to ensure that the highway is made safe without delay.
“In many instances, the filling of a pothole is often a permanent fix however the depth of the pothole, the underlying condition of the road and the weather are all factors which may create additional problems to the road surface around it.
“In these cases, the initial pothole may need to be repaired and then programmed for a permanent repair within 12 weeks. During this period, further temporary fixes may need to be carried out.”
Prioritise permanent repairs
She said officers are currently working to prioritise permanent repairs where temporary fixes have been made while it also has a routine inspection regime and its highways asset management plan prioritises high risk repairs.
Independent Cllr Horler, said he was concerned roads have deteriorated since the 2024 study and said the poor weather means they are doing so rapidly. He said: “I saw what I call a scuff on the Wednesday and by the Saturday that was a deep pothole and if that’s happening in just one litte area there’s going to be lots of areas across the borough.”
Cllr Davies, who is also an independent, said he wondered whether cutting, filling and sealing would be a more cost-effective repair than following the Welsh Government advice of “cold-filling” potholes as an immediate response which he said involves crews banging the cold-fill down with a shovel.
Cllr Owen said she could ask officers to consider Cllr Davies’ suggestion but said: “Sometimes a quick fix is needed until we can get a permanent repair out but I will speak to officers about those possibilities. “