Potholes occur where an area of the road's surface has broken up and fallen out. Whilst we carry out regular inspection of the roads in Essex for which we are responsible, we know that potholes and defects may arise between these inspections, particularly in late winter and early spring when the road network has been subjected to freezing and thawing cycles.
We have a responsibility for the maintenance and repair of most roads in Essex, including pavements, but we are not responsible for:
- Private roads - these are the responsibility of the residents of each private road
- Trunk roads and motorway networks that cross Essex (A12, M11 and M25)
Any issues regarding A12, M11, M25, should be directed to the Highways Agency or please call 0300 123 5000.
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Please provide as much detail as possible to identify the location of the pothole. Please include:
- road names
- name of the junction or road and other easily identifiable landmarks;
- identifying features on the road such as a house name or number that the pothole appears outside; and
- the town/village name.
Description of the pothole/defect - Please provide as much detail as possible and include:
- size of the pothole/defect including the width, length, depth; and
- location in the road surface (at the edge, in the middle etc).
Your contact details - In case we need to contact you for more details, we ask that you provide us with your contact details.
An emergency is a hazard that is an immediate threat to life or limb. If you are reporting an emergency please do not report it online, but ring our Contact Centre on 0845 603 7631.
We will schedule a site inspection - From the location details you provide, we will check if the issue is already known to us. If it is not, we will assign the task to the officer responsible for that area who will visit the site to assess the situation, this will include deciding how urgent the repair work is and when it can be scheduled into the works programme.
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We operate a highway safety inspection system following guidance in the code of practice for well-maintained highways. Potholes arising from this inspection are repaired within a timescale based on risk to the travelling public.
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