Spending on filling in potholes and the total number of potholes filled in Kent fell after Reform UK took over the council, new figures obtained by Polly show, despite a big increase in pothole funding made available by the Labour government.
Figures released to Polly under Freedom of Information laws show that spending on potholes in Kent fell by £200,000 after Reform took control of the council in May 2025, while the number of potholes filled in across Kent also fell by 3,000.
In total, £3.1m was spent in 2024-25, compared to £2.9m in 2025-26, according to the data released by Kent County Council. The number of potholes filled in 2024-25 was 45,247, compared to 42,395 in 2025-26 after Reform UK took over.
The decline in both spending and pothole repairs comes despite the Labour government offering Kent significant additional funding in 2025-26 compared to the previous year to fill in potholes.
In November 2025, Council Leader Linden Kemkaran claimed that KCC’s action to tackle potholes in Kent “was making a visible difference” and showed “the difference our new approach is making”.
Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport, Peter Osborne, also said the council had “worked hard to increase the number of potholes repaired”.
However, the figures suggest that under Reform UK delivery on pothole repairs has actually gone backwards compared to under the previous council.
Polly said:
“The appalling state of our roads is one the biggest issued raised with me by constituents in East Thanet, which is exactly why Labour offered councils like Kent a big increase in road maintenance funding so we can get them filled.
“But despite being offered lots of new money, this bungling Reform UK council in Kent has somehow managed to spend less and fill in fewer potholes since taking over, while the state of Thanet’s roads continues to decline.
“There’s simply no excuse for Kent being given the money it needs to fix our roads and somehow failing to spend it. Reform UK council leader Linden Kemkaran needs to get a grip and actually use the money she’s been given to get our roads fixed in Thanet.”
Polly Billington MP originally asked Kent for a breakdown by district of spending and pothole repairs in Kent. But despite Kent County Council admitting they did hold the figures, they claimed they would be too difficult to compile and release to the East Thanet MP, instead providing only total figures for the whole county.
Previous Freedom of Information requests have revealed unequal spending allocations across Kent for other services, including the revelation that Thanet gets just 2.3% of Kent bus funding, or less than one eighth of that received by affluent Sevenoaks.
In 2025, the Labour government introduced a new system of pothole funding. To incentivise good performance, under the new rules councils that deliver well on filling in potholes get access to further funding, while those that fail to deliver miss out.
The figures released to Polly suggest Kent missed out on the total available funding for road repairs due to poor performance.
Under a red-amber-green (RAG) government rating system, Kent received an amber rating last year, meaning their performance filling potholes requires significant improvement. The figures suggest Kent under Reform UK is failing to improve their performance when it comes to tackling the poor state of Kent’s roads.