Dave Gaster on Behalf of Support Services Direct and working with a sponsor who seeks better roads, in collaboration with Mark Morrell, AKA Mr. Pothole.

The sponsor is due to be revealed on 2nd July 2026 is seeking to improve the quality and safety of British Roads, via their “Six-point plan” by sponsoring Dave Gaster to work within a highway’s authority for free, and enter into win-win-win discussions with government, enabling the selected authority to significantly improve: Efficiency and Effectiveness, via Continuous Improvement, Collaboration and Cooperation mainly.

They are aware of this submission, but not yet in a position to make a direct submission within the required timeframe.

This summary of recommendations is accompanied by 149 comments linked to the consultation draft. It is noted that the code of practice is recommended for authorities to follow, not mandatory. We are a little unclear as to which body would bring the code into force, is it Department for Transport or are powers vested within United Kingdom Roads Liaison Group?

The Government recently introduced the Road Safety Strategy, plus greater controls around pothole management for HA’s, rating a number of Authorities as Red rates, or poor, requiring improvement.

Road safety measured in terms of KSI’s – Killed and Seriously Injured, progressively improved for over 20 years until around 2010, since when the achievements have plateaued despite: Vehicles being safer, Highway Code being improved, NHS / fire and recue services improved, more likely to keep people alive. While all those have improved, there’s no doubt roads have worsened, as demonstrated via the backlog of repairs published annually, the condition of B, C and U roads, and the unprecedented rise in vehicle damage recorded by the AA, RAC and Insurance Companies. 

The recent improvements to the Highway Code have for instance significantly reduced road deaths for cyclists, whereas the Red Rated authorities have increases in vehicle KSI’s in 2024 & 5 while the average is definitely down across the country.

Prior to 2016 when Well Managed Highways replaced Well Maintained Highways, the Liverpool precedent of a 4cm hole was a pothole in the road, a 2cm trip was the actionable issue for pedestrian areas.

Since 2016 under a guise of “Risk Based Management” each HA has been able to decide what intervention levels they set, how long they can ‘legally wait’ between dangerous defects being reported BEFORE viewing them, then how long that defect may exist BEFORE it being repaired. Their policies may not achieve a defence in court under a Section 56 challenge.

Although this code does not condone much variation between neighbouring authorities, they do exist. We live on the borders of three HA’s, not far from another. Their standards are remarkably different, resulting in a paradox where a pothole in HA X would be inspected in TWO HOURS and made safer / repaired within a few more hours, in HA Y it may not be inspected for TWO WEEKS, then left for up to SIX MONTHS.

BOTH ARE LEGAL?

 

 

Recommendations:

1. Under the Local Government Act 1990 a “Managed Decline” is NOT permissible, Continuous Improvement is a requirement, hence new ways of working are essential to any HA who's backlog of works is likely to increase. https://www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk/governance/314-governance-a-risk-articles/57751-new-statutory-guidance-on-the-best-value-duty

2. We would prefer the Liverpool precedent to be reinstated for ALL HA’s, but recognise that UKRLG are wedded to the concept of Risk Based Management, however, we feel that the authorities that have proved they can’t be trusted i.e. either Red Rated for potholes or in the worst 10% of B, C & U roads need a mandatory minimum standard to comply with, preferably reintroducing the Liverpool precedent, or no worse than 20x20x4 cm before urgent repairs. REC: Reintroduce Liverpool precedent for “worst authorities”.

3. A triage system should be introduced to all highway authorities for defect reports, by a qualified / experienced highways officer no later than 12 hours after the reports are filed. REC: Introduce reports triage system for all authorities.

4. Furthermore, we feel that irrespective of other performances ALL credible reports of a dangerous defect should be inspected and if required made safe within 24 hours of the report, preferably complying with the Law Lords precedent Crawley Vs Barnsley. For safety, EVERY day is a working day. REC: Make safe all reported dangerous potholes within 24 hours.

5. The quality of TOLERATED road defects varies considerably between HA’s, we believe that the code is too tightly wedded to vehicles on the road, not considering cyclists and pedestrians enough may have influenced this. REC: That intervention criteria, including defect sizes and periods to repair, must be safe for cyclists.

6. Some authorities do not consider the whole highway system in S58 inspections, the worst ones only counting potholes in a road over several miles, with no awareness of location or size. ALL HAs should ensure the S58 inspection system records all locations and sizes of defects, plus assesses vegetation, road markings, drainage issues as a minimum. REC: All S58 inspections must geolocate defects, assessing all issues that compromise a highway being ‘fit for purpose’.

7. Many HA’s record driven inspections on paper, with no uplift into a database, with no “data-sanity’ checks to ensure a reasonable quality of inspection. On the B4525 (Welsh Lane) for instance the recorded amount of potholes over five months were 30, 0, 30, 0, 30 with no repairs carried out. REC: All inspection information must be loaded onto an appropriate database, including a data-sanity check.

8. There needs to be a mechanism to safely report urgent dangerous road other than using the police. It is suggested that Parish Councils, and Highway Authority councillors and MP’s are given special ‘powers’ to implement an urgent call protocol 24/7 to avoid avoidable crashes or vehicle damage. REC: Give powers to elected members to report urgent issues.

9. We recommend that all Red Rated and worst 10% of B, C & U road authorities plus National Highways are REQUIRED to use topographical camera-based AI S58 surveys, to ensure safety and probity. REC: Worst authorities plus National Highways MUST have daily AI based topographical inspection systems, with results visible to the public.

10. REC: We recommend that those same authorities MUST accept a nationally recognised reporting system such as FixMyStreet rather than insisting on their very variable alternatives.

11. REC: That NO office based ‘inspections’ are permitted to close new or escalating reports as ‘duplicates’. Where those reports indicate a rapid deterioration of defects, or damage related updates, an immediate inspection would be required.

12. REC: All geolocated ‘permanent’ repairs should be warrantied for two years, supported by AI based comparisons of new reports to previous work.

13. There is a raft of excellent AI based highways information, such as in Stan, CrashMap, AISIN and FixMyStreet, as well as the Asset Management information listed. The worst authorities appear to be hiding behind “Implausible deniability” pretending they are unaware of how bad or dangerous some roads are. REC: The worst authorities must seek to learn where their worst issues are, then scientifically eliminate them.

14. REC: Highway authorities working with the police and other agencies have a duty to pursue road safety under Section 39.3.b of the Road Traffic Act. Asset management must be cognisant of all information within 12. above to coordinate and cooperate to make roads safer, using a pareto based methodology, addressing the worst 5% that cause 65% of crashes, each year accelerating to safer roads.

15. No authorities within highways have sufficient budgets to be 100% effective, REC: The Department for Transport should introduce incentives based on reducing KSI’s in a win-win-win format, far more targeted than the £300,000 per Red Rated authorities over two years.

16. No authorities within highways have sufficient budgets to be 100% effective. REC: All authorities seek partnerships with Parish Councils, Charities and Volunteer groups to add capacity in a structured way (including agency agreements) to inspection and repair urban roads initially, freeing up capacity for HAs to both improve inspection and recording methods, and to focus on the dangerous rural B, C & U roads.

17. There is insufficient attention to scree and delamination of highways in relationship to official post-crash reviews. Locally there’s around 40% of these issues on crash junctions and roundabouts, while the official figure is 1.6% RECs: That post-crash reviews actively assess scree and delamination, utilising AI based topographical inspection information.

18. REC: That police traffic management and post-crash review teams must both survey roads as a biproduct of normal driving and use that road safety information within reviews.

19. REC: That a new category of causation post-crash review causation is added, “Road not fit for speed limit”

20. REC: That tactical sweeping to remove scree at affected junctions be introduced to reduce the probability of crashes, or to reduce the severity of crashes.

21. REC: That ‘drizzle on’ pothole repair methods, that relay on a coated stone adhesion with no compaction are not allowed within 30m of bends or junctions as they increase the risk of skidding.

22. Each patch or trench repair surface creates a unique skid resistance characteristic, leading to different wheel traction, and the likelihood of swerving when braking. REC: HAs should seek to minimise different surface types within bends, junctions and roundabouts.

23. Each patch also presents differential thermal properties, such that a trench surface may be frozen, while the surrounding road is not. REC: When establishing winter gritting rounds, be aware of driver difficulties these cause, for second level treatment.

 

Dave Gaster                                                                      Mark Morrell

Director Support Services Direct                                     AKA Mr. Pothole

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Link to consultation:

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