Lib Dems target Chichester’s plague of potholes

Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey has promised to address Britain’s pothole plague with a national £300 million pothole plan over the next Parliament to fill up to 1.2 million potholes each year. Davey criticised the pothole lottery created by the government cutting hundreds of millions of pounds from local authorities’ highway maintenance budgets since 2020-21.

In 2020-21 West Sussex recorded a total of 21,785 potholes, taking an average of nearly 30 days to fix with some taking up to 273 days.

“Potholes are a serious problem in the Chichester area both in our city roads and across our rural lanes. They are causing costly damage to vehicles, harming personal finances at a time when many people are feeling pressed for money, and harming our local economy,” said Jess Brown-Fuller, the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for Chichester.

Earlier this year, Chichester District Lib Dem Councillor James Vivian used social media to highlight the huge number of potholes across Chichester earning himself a reputation as a pothole warrior. Meanwhile, in March, the Liberal Democrat County Councillors slammed the Conservative-led administration at West Sussex County Council, which acts as the local Highway Authority, for short-changing the pothole repair budget for 2024/25.