Conservative councillors are calling for an end to the "pothole pandemic" in Warwickshire just days after it was revealed the number of potholes in the county had tripled.

The Tory group at Warwickshire County Council will next week table a motion calling for the authority to boost its efforts to improve local roads.

Proposed by Cllr Jan Matecki, the motion criticises the Reform UK administration saying it is yet to "meet the scale of the challenge" of potholes, allowing the trend of highways "significantly deteriorating".

"Warwickshire's road conditions have been rated as amber, or in the middle tier across all four bands in the local road maintenance ratings published by the UK Government on 11 January 2026," the motion said.

It continued: "Road conditions are now significantly deteriorating nationally and locally through a combination of poor weather, increasing volume of traffic, heavier vehicles, and increased freight, but the current administration are yet to meet the scale of the challenge or fulfil their promises set out in their 'Recalibrating Warwickshire' strategy set out in August 2025 to tackle potholes."

The Tories are calling for a full review of the pothole repair process and an "urgent audit" of all junctions between local roads and motorways to "identify any necessary repairs required".

This as well as calling on the council leader to write to the chief executive of National Highways to update them on the audit and "any work which may be required of National Highways under their responsibilities for road surface repairs".

'Pothole pandemic'

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At the start of March it was reported the prolonged wet weather in early 2026 had seen the county request 4,962 fixes - compared to 1,678 in the same period last year.

Short-term fixes have been used to patch the county's roads across a "difficult few months".

More than 30 gangs have reportedly been working seven days a week for most of the period since Christmas to try to play catch-up.

At the start of March, the county had a backlog of 1,624 permanent repairs, including revisits to those quick fixes.

The temporary fix sees hot tarmac stuck in the hole as it is, while a permanent patch involves cutting into the road and removing debris under the right conditions before filling it and pressing into the road surface.

The council aims to keep temporary fixes to between 10 and 20 per cent of overall jobs but in early 2026 this rate was 56 per cent.

In the motion, the Tories said "many councillors are receiving increasingly high levels of public contact about potholes".

The group also said the previous administration - the council was Conservative-led before the May 2025 elections - doubled the rate of pothole repairs through its 'find and fix' teams.

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