13,264 Pothole Repairs in 2024/25 on an Amber-Rated Network
Blackburn with Darwen earns AMBER DfT scorecards for overall performance and road condition, with GREEN on spend and best practice. Its May 2025 transparency report records 13,264 defect repairs in 2024/25, up 91% from 2020/21, while admitting a managed decline strategy on a network where 386km of U-roads (73%) compete for maintenance against classified routes. Section 58 still turns on your specific defect.
529km of Roads — Mostly Residential
Network scale from Blackburn with Darwen's May 2025 transparency report — where pothole claims actually happen
Priority caveat: The council states the maintenance of "resilient and classified roads often takes priority" over unclassified estate roads. It is aware that 25% of roads are in poor condition and "have been in this condition for many years" while arterial routes are kept functional. If your incident was on a U-road, that documented prioritisation is structurally relevant to a Section 58 claim.
"We are aware there are a large number of roads (25%) in a poor condition and that they have been in this condition for many years as we attempt to keep our main arterial routes functional."
— Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council Local Highways Maintenance Transparency Report (May 2025)
What AMBER Condition Actually Shows
Annual carriageway surveys — red, amber and green grades reported to the DfT
Survey caveat: Blackburn with Darwen surveys carriageways annually and footways bi-annually. Condition grades reflect the network at survey time and may not match the road on the day of your incident. The council warns that reactive pothole patching on red-category roads can "erroneously improv[e] results" and is "masking the overall poor and unstable condition of these roads." In 2023, 12.3% of U-roads were listed as unsurveyed.
Whole network (529km)
| Year | Red | Amber | Green |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 22.22% | 50.88% | 26.90% |
| 2022 | 20.77% | 53.25% | 25.98% |
| 2024 | 20.29% | 57.77% | 21.95% |
Amber-condition roads rose from 50.88% in 2020 to 57.77% in 2024 while green-rated roads fell from 26.90% to 21.95%. Red share appears stable near 20%, but the council attributes that to reactive patching rather than underlying improvement.
Unclassified roads (386km) — where most claims start
| Year | Red | Amber | Green |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 26.11% | 49.03% | 24.86% |
| 2022 | 25.34% | 50.94% | 22.22% |
| 2024 | 25.28% | 56.56% | 18.17% |
Roughly 98km of U-roads were in red condition and 218km in amber at the 2024 survey — about 82% of the residential network where the council admits deterioration is fastest and planned maintenance is deprioritised against classified routes.
"Roads repaired reactively, by filling potholes and defects as they arise, are not fully restored to an acceptable standard to offer longevity or stability of repairs."
— Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council Local Highways Maintenance Transparency Report (May 2025)
Following the Money
GREEN spend in 2025/26 — after years when reactive maintenance overtook prevention
| Year | DfT capital (£) | Capital spend (£) | Revenue spend (£) | Preventative | Reactive |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025/26 (proj.) | 10,384,986 | 10,384,986 | 3,077,453 | 77% | 23% |
| 2024/25 | 2,714,000 | 3,462,271 | 3,255,214 | 52% | 48% |
| 2023/24 | 3,142,000 | 2,190,568 | 4,481,698 | 49% | 51% |
| 2022/23 | 2,408,000 | 2,304,754 | 4,225,570 | 47% | 53% |
| 2021/22 | 2,408,000 | 2,358,097 | 3,126,525 | 57% | 43% |
| 2020/21 | 3,140,000 | 2,949,021 | 3,012,197 | 62% | 38% |
Why spend is GREEN
DfT capital allocation jumps from £2.714m in 2024/25 to a projected £10.385m in 2025/26 — including £6.55m Local Transport Fund — with capital spend matching the full allocation. Preventative share is projected at 77%, and the council plans 21.6km of resurfacing plus 15.5km of preservation treatments against a historical rate of roughly 1% of the network per year.
Why claims still happen
Between 2020/21 and 2022/23, reactive maintenance exceeded prevention — hitting 53% reactive in 2022/23 while defect repairs climbed to 13,264 in 2024/25. The council estimates £7m–£8m per year is needed just to hold steady or improve conditions. Forward 2025/26 investment does not retroactively prove the individual pothole was inspected and repaired within the council's own regime before your incident.
Rising Defect Repair Volumes
Estimated potholes and actionable defects corrected — carriageway and footway combined
| Year | Defects corrected | Change vs 2020/21 |
|---|---|---|
| 2020/21 | 6,946 | Baseline |
| 2021/22 | 10,467 | +50.7% |
| 2022/23 | 10,282 | +48.0% |
| 2023/24 | 12,722 | +83.2% |
| 2024/25 | 13,264 | +91.0% |
"It can be widely seen on our road network that conditions are declining. Current levels of funding are insufficient to hold back deterioration and roads are deteriorating faster than we can fix them... As such, a managed decline strategy is in operation alongside our ideal planned and preventative maintenance model."
— Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council Local Highways Maintenance Transparency Report (May 2025)
Roughly 36 patches a day
13,264 defect corrections in 2024/25 works out to about 36 repairs per day across 529km. The council plans around 14,000 carriageway and footway safety defect corrections in 2025/26 while also shifting spend toward 21.6km of resurfacing — evidence that reactive workload and structural deterioration coexist even as funding rises.
The Resurfacing Backlog
Council-estimated mathematics behind the AMBER condition scorecard
The council estimates asphalt design life at 15–20 years, yet at a 1% resurfacing rate most roads wait far longer between treatments. The backlog is "growing each year at double the rate we are undertaking re-surfacing schemes." Steady-state maintenance would need an estimated £7m per year; improvement plus steady state would need £8m. The 2025/26 capital uplift is a response — not proof past maintenance met a reasonable standard on every road.
Inspections, Surveys and Section 58
How Blackburn with Darwen says it knows the condition of its network — and where gaps appear
Survey and inspection frequency
- • Carriageways: condition surveyed annually
- • Footways: surveyed bi-annually
- • Major roads: safety checks every 3 months
- • Link roads: checked every 6 months
- • Local roads: checked at least once a year
- • Reported potholes: inspected within 10 working days
Intervention tolerances
Actionable carriageway defects require 40mm depth; footway defects require 25mm depth. Emergency defects are made safe as soon as possible — often within two hours of inspection — using a risk-based approach.
The council's optimal model targets a 60:40 split between resurfacing and preventative treatments on roads, but between 2022/23 and 2024/25 it failed to meet that standard while defect volumes rose.
Section 41 vs Section 58
Under Section 41 of the Highways Act 1980, Blackburn with Darwen must maintain public highways. To defend a claim under Section 58, it must show a reasonable system for inspecting and repairing the specific defect — not just publish GREEN spend and best-practice scorecards.
- • Was your road on the annual U-road survey — and had deterioration been recorded before your incident?
- • Did the defect meet 40mm/25mm thresholds during routine safety inspections?
- • Were there prior reports (FixMyStreet, council portal) giving actual notice?
- • Does photographic evidence show defect age beyond the inspection interval?
"Funding is directed to short term reactive repairs to mitigate immediate risk with planned and preventative maintenance marginalised."
— Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council Local Highways Maintenance Transparency Report (May 2025)
Claiming Against an Amber-Rated Borough
Honest assessment: significant 2025/26 funding is arriving — but years of managed decline are documented
What Works In The Council's Favour
- ✓ GREEN spend and best-practice DfT scorecards
- ✓ Projected £10.385m capital spend matching full DfT allocation in 2025/26
- ✓ 77% preventative share projected for 2025/26 — up from 47% in 2022/23
- ✓ Asset management aligned to ISO 55000 and Well-Managed Highway Infrastructure code
- ✓ Full HMB incentive funding received since 2018
Expect a structured Section 58 defence citing asset-management systems and the 2025/26 investment uplift.
What Works In Yours
- ✗ AMBER overall and condition scorecards from DfT
- ✗ Published admission of managed decline alongside ideal preventative model
- ✗ 386km of U-roads (73%) where maintenance is deprioritised
- ✗ 13,264 defect repairs in 2024/25 — up 91% since 2020/21
- ✗ Council admits reactive patching masks poor underlying condition
- ✗ 25% of roads in poor condition "for many years" by the council's own account
The Winning Strategy Here Is Specificity
Against a borough with GREEN spend scorecards and rising 2025/26 capital budgets, your claim lives or dies on the specific defect:
- • Prior reports of the same pothole — proof of actual notice beyond annual surveys
- • Photos showing defect size, depth and age (weathered edges, previous patching)
- • Road class — on a U-road, cite 25.28% red / 56.56% amber condition and classified-road prioritisation
- • Whether the defect persisted through the council's own 10-working-day inspection regime after prior reports
Mac builds exactly this case: prior-report search, photo assessment, and citations from Blackburn with Darwen's own transparency data — including managed decline and masking admissions — where they help you.
Report a Pothole to Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council
Reporting a defect creates a record the council had notice. The council inspects reported potholes within 10 working days. Do this before claiming — and tell us when you reported it so we can reference it in your pack.
Report a pothole — blackburn.gov.ukHit a Pothole in Blackburn with Darwen?
Managed decline on the record demands a precise claim. £35 for a professional claim pack.
DIY Claim
- • Submit photos and invoices
- • Use generic template letter
- • No managed-decline citation
- • No prior-report search
- • No U-road prioritisation argument
Professional Claim Pack
- ✅ Managed decline admission documented
- ✅ 13,264 defect repairs in 2024/25 cited
- ✅ 386km U-road condition and prioritisation argued
- ✅ Prior reports searched and attached
- ✅ Section 58 rebuttal tailored to Blackburn with Darwen
No percentage fees. You keep 100% of any compensation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Blackburn with Darwen's "managed decline" admission strengthen my claim?
It can be relevant evidence, but no council admission guarantees success. The borough's May 2025 transparency report states a "managed decline strategy is in operation alongside our ideal planned and preventative maintenance model" because funding is insufficient to hold back deterioration. Section 58 still turns on whether the specific defect that damaged your vehicle was reasonably inspected and repaired — not on network-level policy language alone.
Blackburn has GREEN spend and best-practice scorecards — can I still claim?
Yes. The DfT Spend scorecard is GREEN because projected 2025/26 capital spend (£10.385m) matches the full DfT capital allocation. Best practice is GREEN for published asset-management alignment. Overall and condition ratings remain AMBER. Section 58 depends on inspection records and repair logs for your specific road, not aggregate scorecards.
What if my pothole was on a residential or unclassified road?
Unclassified roads make up 386km — 73% of Blackburn with Darwen's 529km carriageway network. The council admits 25% of roads are in poor condition "for many years" while prioritising classified arterial routes, and that most deterioration is on U-roads. At the 2024 survey, 25.28% of U-roads were red and 56.56% amber. Local roads are safety-inspected at least once a year; if your incident fell between surveys, network percentages may not capture the defect on your street.
Pothole repairs rose 91% to 13,264 in 2024/25 — does that help my case?
It can. The council filled 6,946 defects in 2020/21 and 13,264 in 2024/25 — a 91% rise. The report defines these as actionable defects including potholes meeting 40mm carriageway or 25mm footway tolerances. Rising reactive volumes alongside an AMBER condition scorecard suggest defects still form across the network; that pattern does not prove your specific pothole was unavoidable, but it supports an evidence-led claim citing the council's own output data.
The council says red-road percentages look stable — does that weaken my claim?
Not necessarily. Blackburn with Darwen explicitly warns that apparent stability in red-category roads is "due to the reactive repair of safety defects and potholes" which is "masking the overall poor and unstable condition of these roads." The council admits reactive patching means roads "are not fully restored to an acceptable standard to offer longevity or stability of repairs." If your pothole was on a repeatedly patched red or amber road, that admission is directly relevant.
What are Blackburn with Darwen's pothole intervention criteria?
The transparency report states actionable carriageway defects require 40mm depth and footway defects 25mm depth. The potholes reporting page adds that reported defects are inspected within 10 working days using a risk-based approach, with emergency defects made safe as soon as possible — often within two hours of inspection. Meeting intervention dimensions does not automatically defeat a claim if the defect existed long enough to have been found earlier by routine inspection or prior report.
How do I report a pothole to Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council?
Report potholes and surface damage via the council's online form at blackburn.gov.uk/roads/reporting-issues/potholes-and-surface-damage. Prior reports of the same defect strengthen a claim by demonstrating the council had notice before your incident. Fixtyer searches for existing reports and attaches them to your claim pack.
Data sources: Department for Transport — Local Road Maintenance Ratings 2025 to 2026 | Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council Local Highways Maintenance Transparency Report (May 2025). Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.