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A financially strained West London council is one of only 15 local authorities in England considered to be maintaining roads in a good condition. Hillingdon Council is one of only two in London, alongside Lewisham, which the government has assessed that “are following best practice, such as investing in more long-term preventative measures rather than just patching up potholes, while also maintaining good road conditions and investing significantly into improving local roads.”
The overall rating was judged against three characteristics: road conditions; the amount spent on maintenance; and how effectively best practice is followed in highway maintenance. The ratings use data from official statistics and local highway authorities' published transparency reports.
Each individual metric could be scored either red, green, or amber. In Hillingdon, the conditions of the road, and the amount being spent on maintenance was rated green, with wider best practice scoring amber.
These scores were matched by Lewisham Council - the only other London borough to score green overall. Overall, London received poor scores, making up eight out of the bottom 11 councils in England for responding to potholes.
This news will be well-received by the Conservative-led Hillingdon Council, which, despite financial woes, has been able to keep on top of road conditions. In pothole management specifically, the government study found that Hillingdon, alongside Hounslow and Bexley, have done the most over the past year to deal with the issue.
The government believes that publishing these figures will enable them to identify where councils need to improve and to ensure that road conditions improve across the country. In Hillingdon, a projected 11km of carriageway is to be resurfaced in 2025-26, with 1km receiving preventative treatment.
Hillingdon Council told the Local Democracy Reporting Service [LDRS] that embracing "cutting edge" and AI supported technologies has enabled it to undertake a "new innovative process." The council uses AI in road condition surveys to support its pothole repair process.
This has led to a year-on-year increase in the number of potholes fixed since 2021. In the last two years, the council has repaired 1,020 potholes in the borough.
Hillingdon Council said: “As the borough with second-largest road network in London we’re pleased the government has recognised the positive work we undertake to help keep our highways safe and traffic flowing.
“We allocate an annual budget for planned, routine and reactive works, supported by additional funding from the Department for Transport (DfT) to enable us to keep our roads accessible.
“This green rating demonstrates our commitment to best practice in highways maintenance. We’ve embraced cutting-edge technologies to boost efficiency, including AI supported road condition surveys and a new innovative pothole repair process. These improvements have enabled us to fix more than 1,020 potholes in the past two years - up from 713 in 2021/22 and 844 in 2022/23.”