Pothole reporting, costs of repair and compensation: EIR release

Please could you provide me with the following information regarding potholes and road defects:

1.          The number of potholes reported on the roads Transport Scotland are responsible for in 2017 & 2018 (to date), broken down by calendar year
2.          The number of potholes repaired on the roads Transport Scotland are responsible for in 2017 & 2018 (to date), broken down by calendar year
3.          The total amount of money spent by Transport Scotland on fixing potholes in 2017 & 2018 (to date), broken down by year
4.          The total amount of money spent by Transport Scotland in 2017 & 2018 (to date), broken down by year, on paying compensation to claimants who have made vehicle damage report claims due to potholes and road defects
5.          The minimum depth and width (in inches or cm) a reported pothole must be in order to be recorded as a pothole by Transport Scotland

Response

The total number of potholes reported on the roads that Transport Scotland are responsible for are contained within Annex A of this request. The data includes but does not distinguish potholes reported by members of the public and potholes discovered by our inspectors.

In relation to questions 2 – 4, all of the information you have requested is available from FOI/18/03094 at https://www.gov.scot/publications/foi-18-03094/. This information is currently only available by financial year. Under regulation 6(1)(b) of the EIRs, we do not have to give you information which is already publicly available and easily accessible to you in another form or format.  If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website(s) listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

Please refer to Annex B of this request which is an extract from the Transport Scotland Trunk Road Inspection Manual which describes the minimum depth and width (in inches or cm) a reported pothole must be in order to be recorded as a pothole by Transport Scotland.