20,000 potholes uncovered on roads in district

20,000 potholes uncovered on roads in district

15 January 2025

NEWRY, Mourne and Down has the highest number of potholes of any of Northern Ireland’s local authority areas, it has been revealed.

Almost 20,000 potholes – equating to one pothole for every six kilometres of road – were recorded across the constituency, with the total number for all 11 council areas 107,000, according to a recent CompareNI survey.

The overall total number of potholes was down around 3,000 on the previous year with the figure in Newry, Mourne and Down down by 4.5%.

Last month it was revealed that the Department for Infrastructure shelled out almost £800,000 in compensation to local drivers whose cars were damaged by potholes last year.

The government department paid out on 90% of over 700 claims during the last financial year for incidents across the Newry, Mourne and Down area.

The CompareNI data reveals the pothole issue worsened in the Ards and North Down council area, with a 22% year-on-year increase, rising from 5,757 to 7,003, while in Belfast there was a 9% increase to 12,840.

There was an eight percent decline in potholes across Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon area saw a decline of 8% in the number of potholes from the previous year with 11,923, although still the third highest area in Northern Ireland for potholes.

Castlereagh and Lisburn had the least amount of potholes of any council area for the year with 5,232, but the figure represents a 5% increase for that area from the previous year’s total of 4,998.

A survey of around 800 drivers conducted in the first week of January for car insurance experts at CompareNI found that nearly three quarters of drivers in Northern Ireland don’t believe the pothole issue is too big a problem for local government to fix, yet 85% insist the situation is getting worse.

Those surveyed were asked if they thought the problem was worse in rural areas – and 69% said it was.

With National Pothole Day today, government data reveals that there were 106,923 potholes in Northern Ireland in the period April 2023 to March 2024.

Dealing with the pothole problem is still a major issue. Of the 134,108 total road defects, 67,513 took five working days to be dealt with, 57,127 took three to four weeks, and 1,285 took six weeks.

Recent confirmation of the high number of potholes and the £800,000 paid in compensation reveals local roads are crumbling at an alarming rate, according to South Down MLA Andy McMurray.

He said the Newry, Mourne and Down Council area had the worst roads in Northern Ireland.

He said it was “a tag no one will be proud of’, with drivers not only reporting damage to their vehicles, but highlighting discomfort including back pain inflamed by driving over potholes.

“Vehicle damage claims locally have nearly tripled over that time, reaching 704 claims in 2023-24, with the DfI paying out on nearly 600 of them at a cost of over £770,000. Most of that increase was due to potholes.”

Mr McMurray said potholes can cause a lot of damage and that a vehicle was damaged in most of the 600 cases the DfI paid out on.

He said the DfI data also revealed 120 claims were made over the last five years because someone was physically hurt due to a road defect. 

“Potholes are more dangerous for vulnerable road users,” he continued. “That includes cyclists, motorcyclists and pedestrians, especially those with reduced mobility. That is easily forgotten when the focus is on damage to cars. 

“Vulnerable road users can be seriously hurt if they ride through or trip over a pothole or veer into traffic in order to avoid one. Those road users are also at increased risk from other drivers losing control of their vehicles.” 

Mr McMurray said a DfI survey on road safety revealed that 40% of cyclists revealed that poor road conditions made them feel unsafe, ranking behind only heavy traffic and inconsiderate drivers.

He added: “Road repairs have been significantly affected by long-term underinvestment and staff shortages within the Department for Infrastructure. As a result, it has operated only an essential road maintenance service for several years now, where only the highest-priority defects in areas of high risk are being fixed.”