Report a pothole
We inspect the borough's adopted roads regularly to identify defects, such as potholes, which we then risk assess and prioritise for repair.
If you are reporting an emergency that is likely to present an imminent threat to life, serious injury or serious damage to property, please call us on:
- Phone 01484 414700 during office hours; or
- Phone 01484 225646 out of hours
How to report a pothole
Fill in our simple online form to report a pothole, check if a pothole's already been reported to us, and check the status of existing reports, using our online form.
Interested party on existing problem - To log yourself as an interested party on an existing fault, simply select an existing fault and click 'Add'.
Clock Completing this form takes around 5 minutes
Paperclick To complete this form you must tell us:
- Street name or postcode near the location of the pothole
- Number of potholes at the location
- As much detail as you can about the damage.
- A description of the exact location, for example:
- Outside or between certain house numbers
- Outside the name of a business
- Near or between street lamp numbers
- At a road junction or between two road junctions.
You can upload a photo of the pothole as well, if you have one.
Map navigation
You'll need to show us on a map where the pothole is by dropping a pin on the map.
- On a touch screen device, pinch to zoom in and out.
- On a desktop device:
- click and drag to pan around the map area.
- To zoom you can either use the mouse wheel, hold down shift and click and drag a box, or use the zoom button on the toolbar.
- You can also use the map search facility to go to a place name, road, postcode or address.
After you have reported it
We are unable to respond to a repair request unless .
If you provide your email address, you will:
- Receive confirmation of your report by email.
- Receive an update with the report outcome once an action has been taken.
- If you are an MyKirklees account holder and you choose to provide your details, a record of this report will be saved in your account history.
What we'll do
We investigate all reported potholes if you have given the required information.
For a pothole to be fixed, it has to be an 'actionable defect' which is in line with defined guidelines.
How quickly we repair them depends on how the pothole is categorised, taking into account:
- The pothole's location
- Depth and size
- Type of road it's on
- Risk to pedestrians and motorists
Depending on the severity of the pothole, a risk assessment will be undertaken in accordance with our risk-based approach to road maintenance:
- If the pothole meets our emergency criteria we'll make a temporary repair within 24 hours to make it safe. We will followed up with a permanent repair, if required, at a later date.
- We aim to repair larger defects within 7 days.
- If it is not considered an emergency, work will be done within 28 days.
The majority of reported potholes fall into the non-urgent category and will be scheduled for repair as part of our planned maintenance programme.
If we can't find the pothole when we visit the site, and we don't have details to contact you for more information, we'll close the report
Areas we are not responsible for
We're not responsible for repairing potholes on:
- Private roads - repairs should be carried out by the landowner.
- Unadopted roads - repairs should be carried out by the developer.
- Trunk roads, motorways, major roads - contact Highways England if the pothole is on a motorway or an A road that they manage:
- Email info@highwaysengland.co.uk
- Phone 0300 123 5000
Highways defects we are not responsible for
These include:
- Fire hydrants, manholes and valve boxes
- Utility cabinets or telecommunications street furniture
- Bus shelters
- Boundary walls around private houses or private land
- Cellar head coverings.
If you report an issue which is not the council's responsibility, we will either direct you to the owner or contact them on your behalf depending on the issue. They will be expected to sort the problem in an appropriate timescale.
Surface erosion, cracking and crazing
Surface erosion, cracking and crazing do not meet our maintenance strategy for repair and are not regarded as a danger to users of the highway network. Therefore, no work can be programmed at this time.
However, our engineers monitor all locations on our scheduled highway safety inspections across the highway network and programme any repairs necessary.
About potholes
Potholes are created by water seeping into cracks in road surfaces, and then soaked up by the roadbed which sits under the surface. This can become worse when moving traffic pushes water through already saturated roadbeds causing it to weaken. Parts of the asphalt may then begin to sink into the eroded parts underneath. As vehicles continue to pass over this weakened area, parts of the asphalt become loose and a pothole is formed.
Scheduled maintenance
Kirklees Council carries out regular scheduled safety inspections across its highways network. These are carried out by a team of trained and accredited highway engineers.
Inspections are undertaken on monthly, three monthly, six monthly and twelve-monthly cycles, dependent on the road.
Although we all notice imperfections on the roads, our engineers will only schedule repairs for defects, such as potholes, which present a danger to highway users.
It is possible for defects to appear or develop further between scheduled inspections and we encourage you to report these.
Find out more about how often we carry out our inspections in our Safety Inspection Manual 2018.
How we repair potholes
A routine pothole repair involves:
- Removal of debris and water from the pothole
- Cutting clean edges round the pothole to make a square hole ready for the new material to bond to when compacted
- Bonding the new material to the square hole
- Compacting the material into the square hole, with our machinery, to ensure its level with the existing road surface
Why we cannot just resurface the road
Potholes form from general wear and tear of roads, compounded by level of traffic and the effects of weather. Simply resurfacing a road would not prevent potholes forming.
Each pothole is assessed on a case-by-case basis and required repairs are done accordingly.
View our Highways Asset Management Strategy to give you an insight into the approach we take.