Disclosure Log
explanation of your process when a pothole is reported (FOI/7935)
Message from Nottinghamshire County Council - 11 June 2026
Dear *********
Freedom of Information Request – Ref: FOI/00007935
Thank you for your email of 14th May 2026 where you requested information about pothole processes. The response to your request is provided below.
In your request you asked:
How reports are assessed and prioritised.
Customer reports have 10 working days to be inspected and these inspections are carried out in line with the Highway Inspection and Risk Manual - Highway Inspection and Risk Manual
- What inspection procedures are followed
- What guidelines or standards you adhere to when determining repairs
As per the above this can be found in the Highway Inspection and Risk Manual - Highway Inspection and Risk Manual
- The difference between temporary and permanent repairs, and which has been applied in this case.
A temporary make safe would be signing and guarding, the application of hot/cold tarmac is a permanent repair method.
- What quality checks are in place to ensure repairs are completed to a satisfactory standard.
Contract agents do ad hoc site visits to ensure work is being completed and to a standard as required.
I would also like clarification on which guidelines or codes of practice you follow, such as those issued by the UK Roads Liaison Group or the Department for Transport, and how you ensure compliance with those standards.
The Highway Inspection & Risk Manual (HIRM) sets out how Nottinghamshire County Council manages and risk assesses the day to day or routine maintenance of its highways to fulfil its statutory obligations and deliver a safe, serviceable, and resilient highway network. It covers highway safety and service inspections for a number of assets (a service inspection is an enhanced safety inspection), with additional information recorded on overall condition, and potential for asset to be considered for future planned maintenance. These inspections do not attempt to address overall structural condition, which forms part of the technical surveys covered in the Highway Infrastructure Asset Management Plan along with aspects associated with sustainability and resilience.
This document has been written in line with the recommendations and guidance in ‘Well Managed Highway Infrastructure - A Code of Practice’ published in October 2016.
It should be considered as part of Nottinghamshire County Councils existing suite of highway documentation and the Highway Infrastructure Maintenance Plan.
• Highway Network Management Plan (HNMP)
• Highway Infrastructure Asset Management Plan (HIAMP).
• Highway Inspection & Risk Manual (HIRM)
These can be found here - Highway policy and strategy documents | Nottinghamshire County Council
Your privacy: we use your personal information such as name and address so that we can comply with our legal obligations to respond to FOI requests. For further details about the use of information about you, please see the information handling privacy notice on our website at https://www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/media/4323566/informationgovernanceandinformationrightsprivacynotice.pdf.
If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request, you have the right to ask for an internal review. Internal review requests should be submitted within 40 working days of the date of receipt of the response to your original request and should be addressed to: Complaints and Information – Team Manager, Nottinghamshire County Council, County Hall, Loughborough Road, West Bridgford, NOTTINGHAM, NG2 7QP or [email protected].
Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future communications.
If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, WILMSLOW, SK9 5AF or https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/foi-and-eir-complaints/.
Yours sincerely
The Complaints and Information Team
Nottinghamshire County Council