Funding approved to fix weather-damaged roads in Cambridgeshire city

The council also defended the ‘failed’ pothole repairs

Peterborough City Council has rubber-stamped plans to carry out highway repairs to road surfaces across the city that have deteriorated due to extreme weather.

At a Cabinet meeting held on June 23, the council approved a works order of £1 million to the authority’s highways partner, M Group, to carry out a series of jobs aimed at treating roads within the council’s boundaries. Councillor Angus Ellis, Cabinet Member for Transport, noted how extreme weather is having a “major effect” on the condition of Peterborough’s highway surfaces.

“It is vitally important that we act now,” he said, “and by agreeing this positive programme of works, we will help ensure that our highways are in an excellent condition for all road users and prevent key routes having to close in future.”

Some headlines have appeared in the press recently questioning the quality of M Group’s pothole repairs elsewhere across the Eastern region. During discussion, Cabinet Member for Adult Services, Cllr Neil Boyce, asked councillor Ellis: “What warranty we hold with M Group over works that they’ve done?”

Cllr Boyce posed the question after stating: “We’ve recently had issues with road surfaces that have been resurfaced failing within 12 months.”

Cllr Ellis replied: “Resurfacing works carried out through the M Group contract are subject to a ‘Defects Period’ – any issues due to poor construction during this time would result in the contractors having to return to make good.”

Cllr Ellis added that the Defects Period lasts for a year. The Cabinet Member for Transport then invited James Collingridge, Service Director for Property, Infrastructure and Highways to elaborate on why some roads are more likely to need re-fixing more frequently than others.

Mr Collingridge explained that roads – especially those in rural areas – built on peat soils are far more prone to undulations (potholes) reappearing within 12 months of initially being repaired. Being roughly 80 to 95 per cent water makes peat highly compressible, so it continuously expands, contracts, and shifts with weather changes, creating voids beneath the tarmac which ultimately lead to buckling, cracks, and large craters.

“[Follow-up repairs] are not always due to poor workmanship,” the Service Director noted: “It’s due to the issues we’ve got with the peat soil.”

Mr Collingridge said first-hand inspection is the best way to determine the actual cause of re-appearing potholes in rural areas: “Where we have a Defects Period, we go out and we would assess whether it is due to poor workmanship or whether it is due to the actual underlying issue.”

Funds for this project were approved as part of the council’s budget for 2026/27, with £1 million allocated to repair roads that have suffered from the effects of drier winters and warmer summers in recent years.