Waltham Forest Council has however disputed the DfT’s findings, arguing that the borough is actually one of the quickest in the country to repair potholes, reports Marco Marcelline
The Department for Transport (DfT) has ranked Waltham Forest among the worst councils in London for repairing potholes.
The borough yesterday (11th January) received a ‘red’ rating by the DfT for how it utilised the £686,000 it received to fix potholes last year.
Waltham Forest Council has fiercely rejected the DfT’s findings, arguing that the borough is “where others come to see what can be done and how to do it when it comes to highways innovation and best practice”.
In a statement to the Echo, council deputy leader Clyde Loakes said the town hall was “incredibly disappointed” by the DfT’s rankings, and urged it to “revisit the data and analyse it correctly so that they can accurately represent the situation on the ground”.
Cllr Loakes also pointed to research by GoCompare that found Waltham Forest took on average one day to complete pothole repairs.
But the DfT slapped down the council’s complaints, stating the suggestion of mishandled or ignored data was “categorically untrue”.
A DfT spokesperson said: “The ratings follow a clear, published methodology using data from official statistics that local authorities provided themselves.”
The ratings grade 154 local authorities as red, amber or green based on current road condition and how effectively they are spending the government’s total £7.3 billion funding to fix potholes and invest in long term measures to maintain roads.
The red, amber, green ratings are based on three key areas: the condition of local roads, how much local authorities are spending on road repairs, and whether they are following best practice in maintaining highways.
Waltham Forest scored reds for local road conditions and on road maintenance, and amber for how much it is spending on road repairs.
The condition of the borough’s B, C and unclassified roads were rated particularly poorly (20/100), while A roads were granted a score of 76/100.
The DfT’s findings also reveal that just 6km of the carriageway had been resurfaced between 2025/26, while no carriageway was due to receive preventative treatment this year.
Meanwhile, the spend score given by the government which was based on a measure of capital spend on highways maintenance compared to the highways maintenance block allocation was 45.7, which is far below the average of 78.2.
Waltham Forest, along with poorly ranked Greenwich and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, questioned the accuracy of the rankings, pointing to alternative surveys which were more positive.
In an impassioned defence of the council’s record, Cllr Loakes told the Echo: “Just like many others, we spend 60% of our highways budget on preventative maintenance and 40% on reactive maintenance. And only this week, research was published that showed Waltham Forest is in the top three councils for speed of pothole repairs.
“We have one of the most extensive and well-maintained cycle highway networks in London. The proportion of roads in Waltham Forest rated as ‘good’ or ‘very good’ in the Metis road condition survey, commissioned by TfL, increased to around 57% in 2024/25 from 48% in the previous year. This is significantly above the London average of 45% – and once again is above many of those ranked higher than us.
“Most importantly, we have seen an ongoing downward trend in accident data over several years. In 2019, there were a total of 1,186 road accidents in Waltham Forest. In 2024, there were 933. We will continue to do all we can to make sure local roads are safe and well maintained for all road users.”
The Echo understands the council met with DfT officials to discuss the methodology and purpose of their report today (12th January).
Meanwhile, TfL, which is responsible for maintaining the capital’s trunk roads, received an overall amber rating in the report.
The DfT says local authorities currently rated red are to receive dedicated support to bring them in line, backed by “£300,000 worth of expert planning and capability assistance”. The support programme will also include peer reviews where sector experts “will help improve processes and provide practical advice”.
As an incentive to better roads, access to full future funding allocations will be linked to performance, the DfT has said.
Waltham Forest says it will continue to comply with DfT guidance to ensure it receives pothole repair funding next year.
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