The total amount of pothole compensation paid out by Buckinghamshire Council has risen by 563 per cent in a year.

The unitary authority spent £82,696.26 on reimbursing drivers for damage to their vehicles in 2023/24, a freedom of information request by the Bucks Free Press has revealed.

This marks a huge increase on the previous financial year when council compensation payments added up to only £12,477.31.

The total of 206 claims settled in 2023/24 was also a 692 per cent rise on the 26 that were resolved in 2022/23.

Labour councillor Steve Guy told the Free Press: “I am truly shocked by the massive increase in these claims for damage to residents’ vehicles caused by the failure of this council to repair our roads in a timely way.”

The elected member for the Totteridge and Bowerdean ward sits on the council’s transport, environment and climate change select committee.

He added: “The council need to explain how this has happened, even after they trumpeted extra spending on potholes. We need to be told what has gone wrong and what will be done to rectify this in short order.”

The compensation data for 2023/24 also appear to show that some streets are disproportionately affected by defects.

For example, the council paid out for potholes on Stoke Road in Stoke Poges 25 times during the 12-month period.

The data also showed wide differences between the amount paid out to claimants, the most expensive being a claim for £7,257.04 related to Sevenhills Road in Iver.

The Liberal Democrat councillor for Wing, Peter Cooper, who also sits on the transport committee, suggested that although the data might appear worrying, pothole repairs were improving.

He told the Free Press: “Buckinghamshire’s road maintenance has been neglected for many years and its only since the appointment of the Council’s new partner, Balfour Beatty, that any improvements are becoming evident.

“I would anticipate that pothole damage to vehicles will reduce in the short term. However, I remain concerned by the level of future costs due to historical neglect and the poor structural integrity of many of the counties’ roads.”

Earlier this year, the council dipped into its reserves to pledge an extra £5 million of funding towards patching up potholes on Buckinghamshire’s roads – the second year in a row it has done so.

In total the council has committed £110m to highway repairs and improvements over the next four years.

Steven Broadbent, the council’s deputy leader and cabinet member for transport, said: “Much of the increase was due to the extremely wet weather in 2023 and over the winter of 2023/24, which had a very damaging effect on the roads across the country – Buckinghamshire was not immune from such detrimental impact.

“Alongside this, nationally there was extensive media coverage promoting to the public that they can make claims against highways authorities. This led to most local authorities receiving more claims than normal.

"In addition to the above, prior to April 2023 the highway maintenance contractor in Buckinghamshire was responsible for handling any such claims. Since that date we have moved to a new structure which ensures that claims come directly to us, consequently this has resulted in greater certainty about the number of claims been made but they may not be directly comparable. Any money paid for successful claims are covered from relevant council funds.

“It’s worth noting that we have clearly defined processes for assessing all claims on all roads. And due to robust road maintenance processes, inspection regime and response to reported potholes, as well as investment in our roads, most claims against us are unsuccessful – as is also the case nationally.”