Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (or Environmental Information Regulations 2004 if applicable), I request the following aggregate data on potholes in the local authority area. This is for public interest transparency on road maintenance and safety. For calendar years 2023 and 2024 (and 2025 to date where available):

1. Please provide the total number of potholes reported from all sources, broken down by:
a) Source (e.g., public reports via portal/app, council inspections).
b) Month (or quarter if monthly unavailable).
The total number of potholes reported to Wokingham Borough Council via the Report a Problem feature (Report a problem) of the Wokingham Borough website is provided in the table below. Please see below the total number of pothole reports per month for the period January 2023 to September 2025.
Jan-23: 374
Feb-23: 181
Mar-23: 590
Apr-23: 433
May-23: 261
Jun-23: 105
Jul-23: 88
Aug-23: 78
Sep-23: 66
Oct-23: 90
Nov-23: 120
Dec-23: 123
Jan-24: 206
Feb-24: 262
Mar-24: 307
Apr-24: 136
May-24: 89
Jun-24: 59
Jul-24: 77
Aug-24: 27
Sep-24: 34
Oct-24: 56
Nov-24: 64
Dec-24: 100
Jan-25: 214
Feb-25: 275
Mar-25: 172
Apr-25: 124
May-25: 67
Jun-25: 51
Jul-25: 36
Aug-25: 38
Sep-25: 36

2. Please provide the total number of potholes repaired, including:
a) Type (e.g., temporary patches vs. permanent resurfacing).
b) Average resolution time from report to repair (days).
In accordance with the Wokingham Highways Inspection Policy (WHIP), Wokingham Borough promotes a ‘right first time’ approach to defect repair, however when this is not possible a make safe or temporary repair within the emergency or urgent response category is considered acceptable. The WHIP is available as Volume 2: Highway Network Maintenance of the Wokingham Highways Maintenance Management Plan (HMMP) at Highways Maintenance Management Plan. Accordingly, data on the number of temporary versus permanent repairs is not available.

Wokingham Borough has a risk-based approach to reactive highways maintenance, where the priority of a road repair is determined by factors such as the usage of the highway section, the location within the highway, and the size of the defect. More details are provided in the Wokingham Borough WHIP, Section 8. Different priorities of repair (emergency, urgent, etc.) have different target response times, so it isn’t possible to calculate an average time for resolution of a road defect.

Below shows the total number of pothole repairs per month for the period January 2023 to September 2025. Please note that some repairs may involve more than one pothole.
Jan-23: 298
Feb-23: 93
Mar-23: 380
Apr-23: 400
May-23: 321
Jun-23: 177
Jul-23: 206
Aug-23: 120
Sep-23: 123
Oct-23: 172
Nov-23: 168
Dec-23: 123
Jan-24: 226
Feb-24: 323
Mar-24: 458
Apr-24: 436
May-24: 196
Jun-24: 133
Jul-24: 114
Aug-24: 89
Sep-24: 119
Oct-24: 142
Nov-24: 96
Dec-24: 105
Jan-25: 187
Feb-25: 171
Mar-25: 264
Apr-25: 226
May-25: 62
Jun-25: 139
Jul-25: 55
Aug-25: 39
Sep-25: 57

3. Please provide the total expenditure on pothole repairs/related highway defects in spreadsheet/table format.
Below shows the total cost of pothole repairs in Wokingham Borough per month for the period January 2023 to September 2025.
Jan-23: £28,582.09
Feb-23: £10,581.80
Mar-23: £37,799.31
Apr-23: £35,262.34
May-23: £26,411.92
Jun-23: £16,443.96
Jul-23: £30,310.92
Aug-23: £13,126.90
Sep-23: £15,250.01
Oct-23: £30,750.69
Nov-23: £27,580.99
Dec-23: £11,346.85
Jan-24: £27,156.61
Feb-24: £31,251.11
Mar-24: £52,145.23
Apr-24: £46,578.95
May-24: £24,970.08
Jun-24: £17,471.72
Jul-24: £16,797.84
Aug-24: £10,257.70
Sep-24: £10,930.48
Oct-24: £18,143.34
Nov-24: £8,630.73
Dec-24: £9,881.68
Jan-25: £15,673.68
Feb-25: £14,969.17
Mar-25: £19,839.96
Apr-25: £19,369.60
May-25: £4,295.74
Jun-25: £11,207.18
Jul-25: £7,335.61
Aug-25: £2,700.60
Sep-25: £4,221.30

If the term 'pothole' is not recognised by your local authority please substitute for 'highway defects' or other equivalent measure.