Cornwall spent £10m on potholes as reports hit new high

If your daily drive means steering around the same familiar crater, you are one of thousands of people across Cornwall reaching for the report button. New figures show pothole reports on the county’s roads have climbed to their highest level in three years, the repair spend has passed £10 million, and one number buried in the data is quietly heading the other way.

What the Cornwall figures show

The numbers come from a Freedom of Information request sent to councils across the South West by JF Law, a firm of personal injury solicitors. In Cornwall, members of the public reported 5,919 potholes on the county’s roads in 2023/24, followed by 6,043 the next year and 9,102 in 2025/26. That adds up to 21,064 reports over the three years, with the most recent year the busiest of the three.

Over the same period, Cornwall Council put £10,271,191 towards pothole repairs. The bill rose every year, from £2.96 million to £3.25 million and then £4.06 million. The council adds an important caveat to that spend figure. It is based on an estimated average cost for each defect and does not capture the full cost of wider resurfacing and patching schemes, where potholes are often mended alongside other damage.

How Cornwall compares across the South West

The same request went to six councils in total, and Cornwall sits in the middle of the pack rather than at the top. Devon County Council logged by far the most reports, at 151,669 over three years. Dorset Council came next with 42,890, then Cornwall on 21,064, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole on 17,213, Plymouth City Council on 12,622, and Torbay Council the fewest at 1,299.

On money, Devon again led the way, spending more than £27 million on repairs across the three years. Cornwall’s £10.3 million was the second-highest total in the group.

Why the numbers are worth reading carefully

A reported pothole is not the same as a confirmed one, and several councils were keen to say so. Plymouth City Council pointed out that its totals cover all carriageway defects rather than potholes alone, that a single report can describe more than one defect, and that only some are confirmed once an inspector has been out. Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole made a similar point about its own figures.

So a rise in reports can reflect more people flagging problems as much as more holes appearing, and the totals are best read as a measure of what was reported, not a clean count of potholes. Cornwall’s spending figure comes with its own estimated-cost caveat on top.

The compensation picture

This is where Cornwall does top the table. The council paid out £177,169 in successful compensation claims for vehicle damage or injury over the three years, the largest total of any council in the group and ahead of Devon’s £159,592. But almost all of it landed in a single year. In 2023/24 Cornwall paid £133,726 across 41 claims, and since then the payouts have dropped sharply, to £22,947 and then £20,496. The headline total is the highest in the region, yet the trend behind it is falling.

What the firm behind the figures says

JF Law, which handles road traffic accident claims, gathered the data and is urging drivers and cyclists who have been hurt or left out of pocket to look into their options.

“Every year, motorists and cyclists are forced to navigate dangerously degraded roads, and the mounting injury claims and repair bills point to a clear failure in local highway maintenance,” said Tracy Chick, Road and Traffic Accident Manager at JF Law.

Tracy said the firm regularly speaks to people whose vehicles have been written off or who have suffered serious injuries after hitting a single overlooked pothole, and argued that the burden of fixing the damage should not fall on the public. She added that councils have a legal duty to keep highways safe and fit for purpose, and encouraged anyone who has suffered a loss or injury on defective roads to seek professional advice on their rights.

Those views are JF Law’s own. Cornwall Council’s response to the figures is not recorded in the release, and at least one council in the group, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, says its full spending picture will only be confirmed once its next transparency report is published.