Council struggle to manage road maintenance, with over 10,000 potholes recorded last year

Richard Youle, local democracy reporter

More than 10,000 potholes were recorded in a Welsh county last year, nearly twice the number in 2023.

The report about Carmarthenshire’s roads makes “very difficult reading”, says a local councillor.

With over half the roads in poor condition, Carmarthenshire council are under pressure to increase spending on road maintenance investments.

Under-investment

“The increase in potholes is as a result of sustained low levels of investment in preventative maintenance,” said a highway asset management plan.

“This trend is expected to continue as the long-term impacts of under-investment results in further road deterioration”, it added.

The asset plan said the road maintenance backlog now stood at £77 million.

It added that there was no Welsh Government grant for road repairs in 2024-25 and no indication of one for 2025-26 as yet.

The council, however, is working on a bid for a different Welsh Government pot of money called the resilient roads fund.

The asset plan said the council would need to spend £8 million per year to maintain the road network, which is the second largest of Wales’s 22 local authority areas.

In 2023-24 the council spent £1.6 million of capital funding on road maintenance, and £1.3 million of revenue funding on patching and repairs.

Undeveloped roads

Highway asset manager, Chris Nelson said around half of the road network in Carmarthenshire comprised historic, undeveloped rural roads, many of which had undeveloped drains.

Based on current funding levels, the proportion of roads estimated to be in a poor condition in Carmarthenshire is predicted to increase from 10% currently to 23% in a decade’s time.

The asset plan also said 18% of surveyed road drains were blocked or compromised in some way, while 7% had major defects or were not fit for purpose.

Budget concerns

The council has made savings by revising its winter gritting regime, cutting gritter numbers from 13 to 11, and spreading less road salt.

Members of the council’s place, sustainability and climate change scrutiny committee praised the highways department for its work given the budgetary constraints.

But councillors were worried about cuts to road sweeping and gully cleaning that are planned as part of wider savings measures for 2025-26.

Referring to the proposed savings, Mr Nelson said: “The last thing we want to be doing is cutting road sweeping and gully emptying because we know how much value that provides. However, efficiencies have to be made, so we have to target resources as best as we can.”

Council chiefs have set aside £320,000 to address people’s concerns about the 2025-26 budget plans, and the committee said the highways department should be allocated some of this to avoid having to make cuts.