Edinburgh roads: Capital named second worst city in UK for potholes - and worst at fixing them

Edinburgh is second only to Glasgow among UK cities for the most potholes per head of population, according to a new study - and bottom of the league when it comes to fixing them. 

The study, which analysed the reports of potholes for 68 cities across England, Scotland and Wales, as registered via the FixMyStreet.com platform, found Edinburgh had 8.2 potholes logged on the site per 1,000 residents, compared with 11.7 potholes per 1,000 residents in Glasgow. The other 10 cities with the worst figures for potholes included Stoke-on-Trent, Sheffield, Manchester and Birmingham.

The study - conducted by SmartSurvey - also found that of the 5,538 potholes reported in Edinburgh since 2007, only 22.25 per cent had been marked as fixed, giving Edinburgh the poorest repair rate in the UK. In Glasgow, the figure was 24.25 per cent. The three cities with the best record for fixing potholes were Bath, Peterborough and Bristol.

Edinburgh transport convener Scott Arthur acknowledged the state of the Capital's roads was "unacceptable" but said he hoped recent investment had helped stabilise the situation and revealed he was seeking to secure at least an extra £8 million from next year's council budget for roads and pavements.

Edinburgh has been named the second worst city in the UK for potholes - and the worst for fixinng them. Picture: Yui Mok/PA Wire

He said: "I don't need to see that survey to know the situation in Edinburgh isn't good enough. I take these complaints very seriously and, absolutely, if people have concerns about the road surface they should complain. The condition of the roads in Edinburgh is unacceptable.

"I inherited a situation where road and footpath maintenance was underfunded, but last year we allocated an additional £11m. That means this year we'll resurface about 600,000 sq metres of roads and footpaths, which is double the previous level of work being undertaken."

Last year the council hired a Pothole Pro - a specialist machine dubbed "the pothole killer" - to trial it in action on the city's roads. Cllr Arthur has hailed it as a "great addition" to the roads operations team.

Cllr Arthur said the latest data, from the Scottish road conditions index, showed a marginal improvement in Edinburgh's rating. The city was now just below average among the country's 32 local authorities. "As Scotland's capital city we want to be in a much better position," he said.

"But hopefully it means things are starting to stabilise and we can start building  on that. If everything goes well this year, hopefully we can say we've halted the decline. What we need to do now is maintain that position and find an extra £8m in the budget in February.

"I'm working really hard to make sure we get £8m and then hopefully a little bit more so we can start making things better right across the city. And I'm open to working constructively with other parties to find that funding.

"It's also worth bearing in mind that Edinburgh is Scotland's worst-funded local authority - that's a real issue that needs to be addressed."