Enough is enough: It's time to get rid of the potholes in Surrey

For far too long, the state of our roads in Waverley and across Surrey has been an embarrassment. Potholes, crumbling surfaces and short-term repairs that simply don’t last have become the norm. Residents and motorists are rightly fed up. Hitting a pothole shouldn’t mean hundreds of pounds in repair bills — or worse, serious injury — yet that is now an all-too-common experience, and the problem is only getting worse.

A new government report has introduced a red, amber, green “traffic light” system to rate councils on their pothole performance and how effectively they use record levels of road-repair funding. Surrey has been rated amber, signalling that significant improvement is needed — both in the condition of our roads and in how pothole funding is being spent.

This is a damning verdict after years of Conservative control at Surrey County Council. Across the county — and particularly in our rural areas — roads remain patchy, perilous and poorly maintained. The same potholes reappear time and again, growing larger and more dangerous with every passing month. Residents report taking long detours to avoid certain roads altogether, fearing not just damage to their vehicles but for their own safety.

Surrey County Council now has one of the highest volumes of pothole compensation claims in the UK, with claims having skyrocketed in recent years. That places Surrey among the worst-performing local authorities for road condition reports. Yet despite this, the council has an extremely low success rate for motorists — with the vast majority of claims rejected.

As Cllr Liz Townsend (Cranleigh & Ewhurst) puts it:

“We cannot go on like this — our roads are frankly treacherous, and pothole repairs are more like a game of whack-a-mole. Roads should be safe and reliable, not a threat to drivers and cyclists.”

Local people deserve better than endless temporary, bodged fixes. They deserve proper investment in long-term maintenance, real accountability for performance, and leadership that treats road safety as a priority. The Conservatives in Surrey have had decades to fix this — and the evidence is clear that they haven’t delivered. If anything, most residents feel the situation is only getting worse.

With the West Surrey elections coming up in May 2026, it’s worth bearing this record firmly in mind. If you want better roads, better value for money and better leadership, now is the time to get involved.

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