FI16703

Request

Please provide the following information broken down by calendar year for 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 and for the period 1 January 2026 to 31 January 2026 (or the most recent complete month for which figures are available):

  1. The total annual spend on repairs to pavements and footways, including repairs to potholes and other surface defects on pavements and footways, within your local authority area.
  2. The total annual spend on public realm repairs relating to paved or hard‑surface areas in parks and other public open spaces (for example: patios, paved seating areas, plazas, hard‑landscaped play or recreation areas, and similar).
  3. The total annual spend on repairs to potholes and other surface defects on carriageways (road surfaces used by vehicles) within your local authority area, over the same period.

If available, a breakdown of the spend in items (1), (2) and (3) by type of repair or work carried out (for example: routine/reactive repairs, programmed resurfacing or replacement schemes, trip‑hazard works, accessibility improvements, and similar categories used in your asset management or finance systems).

For the purposes of this request, I am interested only in works to paved or hard‑surface areas (for example slabs, blocks, asphalt, setts and similar), not soft landscaping. This includes both footways/pavements and carriageways as defined in your highways policies.

Response

  1. The Council does not hold this information as this is the responsibility of the highway authority. The relevant authority for our District is Kent County Council who can be contacted at freedomofinformation@kent.gov.uk.
  2. I can confirm that the Council may hold information falling within the description specified in your request in respect of parks and play/recreation areas. However, the information is not readily available in a searchable format and from our preliminary assessment, we have estimated that the cost of complying with your request would exceed the ‘appropriate limit’. The appropriate limit has been specified in regulations and for Local Government it is set at £450. This represents the estimated cost of one person spending 2½ working days in determining whether the information is held, locating, retrieving and extracting the data. I regret therefore, that on this occasion I must refuse this part your request in accordance with Section 12(1) of the Freedom of Information Act.
  3. The Council does not hold this information as this is the responsibility of the highway authority. The relevant authority for our District is Kent County Council who can be contacted at freedomofinformation@kent.gov.uk.