Petition · past parliament

Make potholes Illegal and fix the UK roads.

Rejected 21 signatures

What the petition asks

I would like for potholes to be made illegal and each council liable for any reported potholes or road surface that is in poor condition. Make them pay fines that then would be given back into road repair schemes. Enforce councils to properly repair roads and maintain them.
The roads around my area where I live are absolutely horrible. It includes Chesterfield, Holmewood , Tibshelf, Alfreton and many more. Mansfield is one of the worse ones! Going to my gym from Alfreton to Mansfield feels like going on a off road day trip! Without a SUV or a car with comfortable suspension the drive is really horrible. It’s not about just my comfort - One day it will cause a motorcyclist to crash and die.

Why it was rejected

It was not clear what the petition asked the UK Government or Parliament to do.

Petitions need to call on the Government or Parliament to take a specific action.

We understand that you are concerned about the standard of some roads, but we're not sure exactly what you'd like the Government or Parliament to do.

Local authorities have an existing legal duty to maintain the highway under section 41 of the Highways Act 1980. You can report a pothole here: https://www.gov.uk/report-pothole

You may be able to claim compensation if your vehicle has been damaged by a road. You can find out more about this here: https://www.gov.uk/claim-for-damage-to-your-vehicle

We could accept a petition calling on the Government to introduce fines for local authorities that fail to meet their obligations to maintain the highways they are responsible for, if that's what you want to happen.

We have also published the following petition, which you might like to sign:

Compulsory annual safety inspections on roads throughout England: Compulsory annual safety inspections on roads throughout England

Timeline

13 Jan 2024 Petition opened for signatures
22 Jan 2024 Rejected by the Petitions Committee

Key facts

Signatures 21
Status Rejected
Rejected 22 Jan 2024

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Source: the official petition page. Last checked 15 Jul 2026.