The Minister for the Future of Roads, Lilian Greenwood MP, has been in Devon to see the innovations Devon County Council is using to repair the roads.
More than 9,500 potholes have been filled across the county so far this financial year and, where possible, the highways teams have also been intervening earlier with repairs on some roads before “safety defects” can form. This work has included over 5,750m2 of extensive patching.
A further 10,000m2 of repairs have been carried out using Elastomac, a state-of-the-art road repair material which we have recently adopted, following a successful two-year trial. Elastomac is durable and can be effective in challenging weather conditions to provide a watertight, crack-resistant, and long-lasting repair. It’s also more environmentally friendly as it’s made from 80% recycled material and reduces waste as it doesn’t require defective road surface to be cut out and disposed of.
“Dragon Patchers” – which emit a flame to help bond repair material to the road – have also been deployed across the county and have undertaken extra shifts over the past couple of months to repair around 17,500m2 of roads. There are four dragon patchers in Devon and the Minister saw one of them in action in Exmouth.
The Future of Roads Minister, Lilian Greenwood, said: “The pothole plague has been blighting roads in Devon and across the country for far too long, which is why we are investing £1.6 billion to resurface roads and fix up to 7 million more potholes across England this year, to help deliver our Plan for Change.This includes over £83 million for Devon, where the County Council’s ‘Dragon Patchers’ are one of the many great examples of using new technology to repair roads faster.”
The UK Government announced a record £1.6 billion investment in road maintenance for highway authorities in December. Devon received the largest share of this funding and will be able to invest its full award of £83.6 million if it delivers preventative maintenance on its road network, which is the biggest of any authority in the country.
The Council also added an extra £4 million to the highways budget for 2025/26 to maintain and improve roads for the people of Devon.
Road users can report potholes and other issues on Devon’s roads via their Report a Problem webpages.
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