Officials have denied accusations of “political influence” over the use of a pothole-fixing machine in Lincolnshire after Reform UK received a £200,000 donation from the machine’s manufacturer.
The Guardian has reported that Reform UK received the donation from JCB, which makes the Pothole Pro, in November last year.
The machine cuts out sections of road around potholes to allow neater repairs and is designed to work four times more quickly than traditional methods, according to JCB.
Lincolnshire County Council’s Conservative group has raised concerns about the independence of a trial of the machine, which was brought to an end eight months into a planned year-long programme before the machine was introduced permanently.
The group has called for greater transparency over how the trial was conducted, and questioned why an earlier trial in 2021 produced different results.
However, council leader Cllr Sean Matthews, Reform UK member for Tattershall Castle, rejected the claims and said the machine had been carefully assessed by experienced council officers.
Cllr Matthews said: “Given that this trial has been conducted, and that analysis has been overseen, by a very long-standing and respected group of officers who have been given the absolute freedom to say yes or no to this machine, I do not see how these comments apply to what has happened here.
“This trial has been set out differently from the previous trial in 2021, which lasted for just nine weeks.
“This new trial has shown a real benefit to road repair which can be proven, beyond doubt, after eight months on our roads. We now have a large amount of data which shows exactly where the gains are.
“To be clear, there was absolutely no political influence during this trial. And we continue to look at other products to improve our roads.
“I am extremely proud of the highways team for being so diligent and for putting this machine through its paces, and that it can add some serious clout to our road repair efforts.
“It is important that, as part of our efforts to improve our 5,500-mile road network, the highways team have the freedom to properly trial new technology and revisit previously discounted ideas in our ongoing effort to fix Lincolnshire’s roads.”
At a highways and transport scrutiny meeting on Monday 27 April, councillors were told the Pothole Pro trial had been successful. The authority’s highways contractor, Balfour Beatty, said it would keep the machine “on contract”, meaning it can continue to be used for pothole repairs across the county.
However, the Conservative group has questioned why the earlier trial, carried out in 2021, led to a different conclusion.
After the meeting, shadow executive member for highways Cllr Charlotte Vernon, Conservative member for Colsterworth Rural, said: “It’s not very good at potholes. Officers admitted that, and the evidence backs it up. This is the same machine that was trialled before and not taken forward.
“So it is right that the committee, and the public, ask why something previously judged not suitable for Lincolnshire is now being pushed so hard.
“Nothing about our roads has changed. The question is, what has changed in their approach?”
Shaun Butcher, head of highways asset and local management services at Lincolnshire County Council, also denied claims of political influence.
He said: “This latest trial of the machine was carried out by officers and the contractor without any input from the administration once the trial was underway.
“Right from the start, it was made clear that whatever the outcome of the data, the decision on whether to use the machine within road maintenance operations would be entirely down to our contractors, in liaison with officers, and not councillors.
“The leader of the council outlined that principle from the beginning of this work and has not been part of the trial in any way whilst we have analysed and collected the data when putting the machine through various scenarios to determine its suitability for the job at hand.”
Mr Butcher said the latest trial differed from the 2021 exercise because of the way the machine was deployed.
He said: “The previous trial with the Pothole Pro lasted nine weeks and looked at the machine in a different way, whereby it was tasked with individual pothole repairs and would have to travel quite some distances between jobs given the large, open nature of the county.
“The latest trial has lasted eight months, and we have worked closely on planning and deployment of the machine so that it now works on larger areas of road at a time to raise productivity.
“In our test, which was carried out by officers for the council independent of any political group, the outcome has been extremely clear, and the Pothole Pro has exceeded its targets for areas repaired.”
