Written Question: Pothole Definition

Lord Moylan: To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have a national standardised definition of a pothole.

Minister of State, Department for Transport (Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill, CBE):

Local highway authorities are responsible for maintaining their roads under section 41 of the Highways Act 1980. Individual authorities set their own criteria, including the minimum size and depth at which a defect, or pothole, is recorded or repaired, and apply risk‑based assessments that account for local conditions, traffic volumes and safety considerations when making decisions on maintenance programmes. These thresholds therefore vary between areas and are not prescribed by the Department for Transport.

This approach is based on the Well‑managed Highway Infrastructure Code of Practice, which advises that local highway authorities should use a risk‑based approach when assessing and repairing defects, and recommends that each authority determine its own intervention criteria based on local circumstances rather than a single national threshold.