How Cheshire East Council repair potholes

Chester East Council's aim is to carry out permanent repairs on potholes and other road defects, but sometimes that’s not possible.

Due to factors including weather conditions, the traffic management needed, or the number of defects that have been identified, emergency repairs may be required and a more suitable repair planned for the future.

For example, at this time of the year when we’re still experiencing freezing temperatures, we often make short-term emergency repairs to make the road safe. 

Emergency repairs may look less neat because they’ve not been cut out or sealed.

Once we’ve made the road safe, we then assess what the longer-term approach should be.We may schedule the defect for future treatment, adding the stretch of road to either our patching or resurfacing programmes.

Where there are a high volume of non-urgent defects on a stretch of road, we will plan patching or resurfacing work rather than individual pothole repairs.

This is because it’s not cost-effective to fill each pothole separately.

Our pothole repair teams are responsible for clearing up as they go, and they take pictures of every pothole repair so we can make sure they’re to a good standard.  

Each year, we identify and prioritise what maintenance, repair and improvement work to do each year. We do this by using our highway asset management approach which means we find the most cost-effective ways to make sure the network continues to meet the needs of road users and residents into the future. 

We invest in the right treatment, at the right place, at the right time. 

We are also currently prioritising works for 2025/26, and our finalised programme will be published soon.