Somerset Council is spending an average of £123.32 per pothole repair on average across the county.
The figure was revealed following a question by Conservative Group Leader Cllr Diogo Rodrigues before Christmas - the recording of that meeting has just been made public.
Diogo asked, "What is the average cost to this authority of repairing a pothole?", to which the Lib Dem councillor in charge of transport responded, "The cost of repairing potholes varies significantly, depending on the size, depth and urgency, the location, whether traffic management is needed, and whether or not it's a machine-laid patch. There are multiple different types of potholes, but we've calculated that the average cost of repair between April and October 2025 as £123.32, reducing to £98.63 when considering single pothole repairs."
Cheddar and Axbridge campaigner Graham Godwin-Pearson says, "How did we get to the point where a single pothole is costing so much money to repair? No wonder our roads in the Cheddar Valley are in such a poor state. There are hundreds of potholes between Cheddar, Axbridge, Shipham and Compton Bishop. Repairing them all at this cost is inconceivable."
Somerset Council is responsible for maintaining all of the road in the county, except for the M5, the A36 and the A303, which are the remit of National Highways.
Funding for road repairs comes from the Department for Transport, which rated Somerset Council as amber in a recent effectiveness report - praised for the condition of the road network and wider best practice, while criticised for spending measure.
