Extra £8.6m provided to fill thousands of potholes

An extra £8.6m of funding has been secured to fill potholes and resurface West Midlands roads.

The increase of about 35% in the region's highway repair funding comes on top of £24m already committed by the Department for Transport for 2025-26.

West Midlands Mayor Richard Parker said: "Far too many of our roads are blighted by dangerously deep potholes, cracks and craters."

The additional money is enough to fill 88,000 potholes and will be distributed across Coventry, Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull, Walsall and Wolverhampton according to a set formula.

Birmingham City Council's road repairs are funded through a separate private finance initiative process.

The additional funding will allow councils to schedule more roads for repair and resurfacing, as well as work to prevent more potholes from forming.

Parker said "years of under investment" had left "motorists to pick up the bill for car repairs and poor driving conditions".

"Now, with this funding I've secured from government, our councils can bring even more roads up to scratch and our motorists can enjoy journeys which are quicker, safer and with reduced wear and tear on vehicles."

He added with the funding he secured from the government, motorists could "enjoy journeys which are quicker, safer and with reduced wear and tear on vehicles".

Transport for West Midlands, which is part of the West Midlands Combined Authority, is also working on a government-funded research project to test new road surface materials, which are lower carbon than traditional methods and in some cases longer lasting.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.

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