Derry potholes reach ‘crisis level’

The vexed issue of potholes has once again been discussed by Derry City and Strabane District councillors.

Derry News reported in February last year, there were 64,930 ‘official’ potholes across the North - according to government data analysed by CompareNI.com.

7076 of those were in the Derry City and Strabane District Council area and were, and are, causing widespread damage for drivers.

Speaking at January’s full Council meeting, Cllr Shaun Harkin (People Before Profit) said the local media designation of Derry as ‘pothole city’ summed up the problem.

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He added: “A report said in 2023, we had nearly 11,000 reported potholes and defects in our roads, which is an absolute disgrace. 

“Between November 2023 and January 10, 2024, there were nearly 2,000 reports of potholes and defects. We had a report from Department for Infrastructure (DfI) representatives, where they came in and said budgetary pressures meant they were not carrying out systematic repairs on our roads and it was only the worst potholes that were getting fixed. They had to be of a certain depth.

“As everybody knows, our road network system is in bits and more and more people are talking about it. Probably more and more claims are going to go in to DfI for damaged cars. 

“There is also the issue of public safety on our roads as well. I mean, can you really take a bicycle now out on these roads to get anywhere? The budgetary pressures on DfI are real but I think we have to be proactive in terms of getting them to do more than they are doing,” said Cllr Harkin.

Cllr Harkin said road service workers were being prevented from working because they were being denied a pay increase.

“Management are also insisting on keeping this ancient bonus system that punishes people, which is having an impact on their ability to fix the roads,” said Cllr Harkin.

“There is also something wrong where we’re seeing areas where the roads have been fixed but those same potholes are coming back again. I think we need to have a discussion between elected representatives and DfI officials to impress on them, whatever they are doing right now, despite the budgetary pressures, is not good enough because we are in a worse situation.

“I would like to propose that we have a meeting with DfI officials to find out what their plan is to address what is a crisis level of potholes,” said Cllr Harkin.

Seconding Cllr Harkin’s Proposal, Cllr Jason Barr (SDLP) said although the city roads were terrible, the B and C roads in the rural areas were also badly affected by potholes.

“They are being filled but they are just coming back ten times worse,” he added.

Sinn Fein councillor Aisling Hutton said most parties in Council met with DfI on a regular basis.

She added: “We are constantly receiving updates and keeping in touch in relation to this issue but we will support a meeting with DfI through Council.”

Cllr Harkin’s motion seeking a meeting between councillors and DfI representatives was passed unanimously.