Could you please assist with the following query: 1. a. How many potholes/road defects were reported to the local authority in each of the past five years for which data is available? b. Of those reported potholes/road defects, how many were reported as being on: i. ‘A’ classified roads, ii. ‘B’ classified roads, iii. Unclassified roads? c. How many potholes/road defects were repaired by the local authority in each of the past five years for which data is available? d. Of those repaired potholes/road defects, how many were repaired on: i. ‘A’ classified roads, ii. ‘B’ classified roads, iii. Unclassified roads? 2. a. Does the local authority set target repair times for identified potholes/road defects? b. For each of the past five years for which data is available, how many potholes/road defects were repaired within the local authority’s set target time?

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TfL Ref: FOI-2016-2021

Thank you for your request of 7^th January 2021 asking for information about potholes and road defects.

Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy.

Specifically you asked:

1. How many potholes/road defects were reported to the local authority in each of the past five years for which data is available?
1. Of those reported potholes/road defects, how many were reported as being on:
1. ‘A’ classified roads,
2. ‘B’ classified roads,
3. Unclassified roads?
2. How many potholes/road defects were repaired by the local authority in each of the past five years for which data is available?
3. Of those repaired potholes/road defects, how many were repaired on:
1. ‘A’ classified roads,
2. ‘B’ classified roads,
3. Unclassified roads?

1. Does the local authority set target repair times for identified potholes/road defects?
2. For each of the past five years for which data is available, how many potholes/road defects were repaired within the local authority’s set target time?

I am afraid that it is not possible to respond to your request within the costs limit for responding to FOI cases, as set out in section 12 of the FOI Act. Under section 12, a public authority such as TfL is not required to provide information if it would cost more than £450 to determine if the information is held, and to then locate, retrieve or extract that information from elsewhere. This is calculated at a rate of £25 per hour, equivalent to 18 hours work.

There is no easy or efficient way for us to source all of the information you have requested. For example, in relation to question 1, we would need to search different sets of records - notably, any communications / complaints sent to our Customer Services team over the last 5 years and, separately, data from our online “Street Care” reporting system (found here: https://streetcare.tfl.gov.uk/) which dates back to December 2019 only (i.e, just over one year). In the Street Care system alone there are thousands of reported road defects, suggesting that the number held in the Customer Services team for the entire 5 years would be higher still. Even if we could find all of this information from the different sources within the costs limit, for us to then determine which of these roads are classified as A, B or neither - as requested in question 1a - would take longer still, as there is no automated way of achieving this. Rather, we would need to cross-check each and every record to identify the road classification in question. Addressing your other questions would take more time on top of this. While it is difficult to estimate exactly how long it would take to answer all of your questions, we believe it would far exceed the £450 limit.

In order to bring your request within the costs limit, you may wish to consider reframing its scope to focus on the information that is of most importance to you, taking into account the comments above. Before narrowing your request, I would ask that you first review the information that is published on the Street Care pages of our website, as this may provide you with some information that is of interest. I would in particular direct you to the “all reports” section that can be found here:

https://streetcare.tfl.gov.uk/reports/TfL?zoom=10&lat=51.48977&lon=-0.08819

If you are considering submitting a further FOI request please think carefully about whether the request is essential at this current time, as answering FOI requests will require the use of limited resources and the attention of staff who could be supporting other essential activity. Where requests are made, please note that our response time may be impacted by the current situation.

Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal as well as information on copyright and what to do if you would like to re-use any of the information we have disclosed.

Yours faithfully,

David Wells

FOI Case Officer

FOI Case Management Team

General Counsel

Transport for London

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