A JCB pothole machine will be trialled in Derbyshire in a bid to boost the quality and longevity of road repairs across the county.
The Rocester-based firm has made an agreement with Derbyshire County Council to trial one of its £200,000 Pothole Pro machines imminently, Reform leader Cllr Alan Graves has confirmed.
This follows a visit by members of the Reform administration to the JCB factory in August and a trip from national leader Nigel Farage in the weeks before this year’s local elections.
Cllr Graves detailed: “Following a visit to the JCB factory last month by Councillor Charlotte Hill (cabinet member for highways), Councillor Robert Reaney (deputy leader) and Councillor Carol Wood (cabinet member for net zero and environment), with representatives from the highways service, the firm has offered to demonstrate one of their Pothole Pro machines on Derbyshire roads.
“We are working with JCB to finalise the most appropriate time for a demonstration.
“The demonstration will enable the highways service to test the machine’s capabilities in a number of locations and with different types of road surfaces, to make comparisons with existing techniques.”
Earlier this month, Cllr Graves said he wanted to buy two of the machines to make more efficient use of staff. The machines would require four staff instead of the current eight.
Cllr Hill had posted after the August visit: “Derbyshire are very excited to begin a journey of working with and collaborating with JCB in many ways including innovation. Onwards and upwards.”
JCB details that the Pothole Pro weighs 13 tonnes and can repair 250 square metres of road per day, fixing a pothole in eight minutes and costing £30 per square metre of patching.
The machine carries out three separate jobs usually carried out individually by highways staff, including cutting out the pothole, cleaning it and then cropping the edges.
JCB says one machine would be able to repair 700 potholes a month.
In Reform’s inaugural full council meeting at County Hall, Cllr Hill confirmed there were 22 potholes per mile of Derbyshire roads and that the efficiency and tender process of highways contracts would be reviewed.
The county council oversees 3,000 miles of roads, which would mean there are 66,000 potholes to be filled across Derbyshire.
Ahead of its first meeting, Cllr Graves had pledged: “Within a year there will be better roads (in Derbyshire).”
In July, councillors were told that it would take 185 years of funding – in excess of £1.5 billion – to bring Derbyshire’s roads up to standard, with 60,000 pothole repairs being carried out per year.
Opposition political groups have claimed that Derbyshire is the pothole capital of England, with RAC data showing that just 1.1 per cent of the county’s minor roads and 4.9 per cent of its major A roads received maintenance in 2023.
In 2024, the previous Conservative administration said the authority’s crews were filling 1,500 potholes a week and had repaired 90,000 in 2023.
In May, ahead of their election success, Mr Farage had said on a visit to Denby: “No-one is saying it is straightforward, but in the case of this council (then controlled by the Conservatives): Delivery on potholes, worst one in the country.”
In December, the county council said that in the past year (January to October 2024), residents had filed claims totalling more than £2 million for pothole compensation.
