Wiltshire Council's £22m extra investment making a huge difference on the county's roads

Wiltshire Council's extra investment into its roads is improving highways throughout the county, with more roads resurfaced, more potholes filled, and more gullies emptied in every part of Wiltshire.

• More than 114 miles of roads resurfaced, surface dressed and retextured over 154 sites.
• More than 7.3 miles of roads repaired by Bobcat machines across 574 sites.
• 14,758 potholes repaired following reports from the public in 2024.
• 89% of top priority potholes repaired within one day.
• More than 70,000 gullies - over 80% of all gullies in Wiltshire - attended this financial year to prevent flooding.
• Three teams of engineers completing CCTV drainage inspection work.

The council has invested an extra £22m over two years into improving its roads and footpaths and preventing flooding, and this is on top of the £20.7m it receives from the Government to fund highways maintenance.

One of the key things that the funding has paid for is two Bobcat machines, which are tackling potholes around the county. These machines can remove and replace large areas of road in a matter of minutes, making high quality, permanent repairs to the road surface, before moving on to the next job.

So far this financial year, the Bobcats have repaired more than 7.3 miles of road in the county across 574 sites - with many more sites to come.

More potholes are also being filled when reported to the council, with priority one potholes (which should be fixed in one day according to the council's Highways Inspection Manual) taking an average of 0.7 days to fix and 89% repaired within the one day timeframe, and priority two potholes (fixed within 14 days) taking an average of 8.3 days to repair.

But the council's approach to tackling potholes isn't just about cure - it is doing a lot of preventative work by also investing in more resurfacing and other road treatments such as surface dressing and retexturing. It is on track to complete more than 114 miles of resurfacing, surface dressing and retexturing this financial year throughout the county.

Another key focus of the extra funding is flood prevention, in the form of both gully emptying and maintenance, and also drainage inspection work to identify drainage issues and engineer solutions.

Cllr Nick Holder, Cabinet Member for Highways, said: "Other councils around the country may be cutting budgets, but we're investing in Wiltshire's highways to fix problems, and more importantly to prevent issues before they happen - improving our road networks for years to come and meeting one of our key Business Plan objectives.

"We know that there is still work to do, but we also know that things are improving in Wiltshire, as evidenced in the recent Department for Transport road condition survey.

"We have doubled our resurfacing and surface treatments, fixed more potholes and invested in two Bobcat machines to repair large patches of road at once.

"We have also emptied more gullies than ever before to prevent flooding and invested in three teams of engineers who are completing CCTV drainage inspection work - up from one in the previous year.

"There is much more to do, but we are focused on improving our highways network, and our significant investment is paying off in all parts of Wiltshire."