Eye-watering cost of pothole repairs across Argyll revealed

The £7,069 paid out in compensation is low compared to other local authorities. 

The council has received 105 claims in the last three years, with 28 in 2024. Of these, 73 per cent were dismissed. 

The most Argyll and Bute Council paid out in one year came in 2023, when 10 payments totalling £3,924 were made to the public. 

Argyll covers four per cent of Scotland’s roads network. It accounts for less than a single per cent of pothole compensation claims.

It was revealed that £4,265,007 has been spent across all Scottish councils on pothole compensation in the last four years.

In the 2023/24 financial year, Dumfries and Galloway paid out £326,000 in pothole claims. It is home to

about eight per cent of Scotland’s roads.

Responding to the statistics, a spokesperson from Argyll and Bute Council said: “The council’s regular scheduled network safety inspections highlight any reactive repairs required, and this includes potholes, carriageway patching and jet patching our road network.

“Argyll and Bute Council is responsible for 2,300km of road, that’s four per cent of Scotland’s entire road network.

"Around 24 per cent of our roads are built on peat, which makes them more fragile and road repairs more complex.

"Over the past 10 years, the council has invested £80m in improving its roads.

"There has been a careful strategy of treatments designed to seal the road to stop the ingress of water, improve ride quality and reduce the number of reactive repairs, such as potholes.

"Without this investment and work there would have been a significant deterioration in conditions, affecting the travelling public, economic opportunity and tourism.

"This year the council agreed that the roads reconstruction budget be increased to £10m which will allow this work to continue.”