Extra gangs scrambled to tackle potholes say Calderdale Council as officers explain how they respond to road repair calls

Once assessed, there is also a pecking order for repairs with the most urgent undertaken within two hours, they were told.

Calderdale Council Place Scrutiny Board was debating a range of highways issues, including potholes.

They heard how the council responds to incidents reported to it by members of the public or councillors.

A ‘category zero’ pothole is one which represents an imminent hazard, where not to provide an immediate response could significantly endanger the safety pf road users.

In these cases, a repair would be undertaken within two hours, said officers, and is a response the council will carry out 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Many potholes which appear on Calderdale’s roads fit either ‘category one’ or ‘category two’, councillors were told.

A ‘category one’ pothole – a defect which requires attention but not immediately – should be dealt within seven working days, under new guidance the council is following.

“These aren’t ones that are going to do immediate damage to you but they do need some attention within that working week,” said officers.

A ‘category two’ pothole is one where something does need to be done about it because “a stitch in time saves nine”, said officers, and the aim is to make them safe or repair them within 14 days.

‘Category three’potholes are ones which need attention rather than waiting to be added to a list of roads to be assessed for schemes, and has a 28-day response.

For category zero issues, the nearest gang is contacted and pulled away from their scheduled job to deal with it.

On reporting issues and prioritisation, board chair Coun Regan Dickenson (Con, Hipperholme and Lightcliffe) said a councillor’s opinion on what looked a horrible road to drive on might be different from an engineering perspective.

Officers said if there was need to get an extra gang in to do work to keep up with jobs coming through the door the council will do this, though the funding had to be taken from the permanent works budget.