The number of pothole repairs in West Lothian has grown significantly in the months since the council pledged a £2m investment in its February budget.
Councillors heard this week that more than 2,000 repairs were carried out last month, with the percentage of permanent repairs carried out by road crews has risen from 30% in May to 75% .
Additional staff, using three new Pothole Pro machines, will eventually see three times as many permanent repairs carried out compared to last year, a meeting of the Environment and Sustainability PDSP heard.
New dedicated pothole repair teams, along with the addition of three new Pothole Pro repair machines, have been put to work on carrying out permanent repairs on the road network.
Pothole repairs are broken down into emergency/temporary repairs and permanent repairs. Permanent repairs take significantly longer to undertake – with additional resources, time, planning and road disruption in comparison to temporary repairs.
In total, the council carried out 2,145 repairs in August.
The new Pothole Pro machinery that is being used excavates the surface from the road then sweeps and removes the excavated material and finally prepares the excavation for a permanent repair. This piece of equipment has speeded up the repair process. Whilst the machines are an added benefit, crews are still required to complete the permanent repairs by reinstating the excavations with new material. However, the new equipment plays an important role in helping the team to carry out more permanent potholes repairs.
Labour’s Tom Conn, the Executive councillor for the Environment & Sustainability said: “Our roads crews undertake a number of roles; planned maintenance works, gritting and emergency roads maintenance. This is over and above carrying out pothole repairs.
“Previously, the available resources, combined with the volume of work and timescales for making safe, meant that it was not possible to undertake permanent repairs on the first visit – at the majority of locations.
“Our additional investment – announced in the budget earlier this year – will ensure that dedicated staff resources are available all year round to undertake permanent carriageway repairs – drastically increasing the amount of permanent repairs on our roads.”
Potholes form when water seeps into tiny cracks in the road surface, usually caused by traffic. When this water freezes it expands and then, when it thaws, it gets smaller. This makes the cracks larger, further weakening the road and increasing the amount of water that can get under the surface.
As the road surface weakens, traffic breaks it up to create a small hole, which expands as more traffic passes over. This is why potholes appear more often during Winter.
The council has urgent deadlines in place for higher priority defects. Those classed as critical risk are made safe within 24 hours and those classed as high risk are made safe within 7 days.
During December 2025 and January 2026, 74% of all potholes fell within these categories, thereby triggering urgent response times for making safe. These are classed as temporary repairs (or patching).
Temporary repairs remain an essential part of the pothole repair work. Records are kept of all temporary repairs so that a programme of works can be put in place at a later date to carry out permanent works.
David Maule, the council’s Head of Operational Services said: “Our teams prioritise emergency road repairs and winter maintenance, and the additional investment will allow us to focus solely on road repairs and pothole fixes. We’re confident that the additional investment will make a significant difference to West Lothian’s road network and help ensure we have one of the best road networks in the country.”
By Stuart Sommerville, Local Democracy Reporter
