The councillor responsible for Warwickshire's roads has vowed to act after opposition figures showed more than half of pothole damage claims made during 2025/26 remained unsettled at the end of August.

Warwickshire County Council's Liberal Democrat opposition has published data that the volume of claims had more than doubled to 861 in the financial year 2025-26 – Reform UK's first in office.

They add that more than half of those – 448 claims – remained unsettled at the end of August despite the financial year concluding at the end of March 2026.

The council's website states it will "endeavour to advise" complainants whether their claims are accepted or rejected "within 90 days of commencement of the investigation". The council aims to begin investigations within 21 days of receiving complaints.

In a question to portfolio holder for transport and planning Cllr Stephen Shaw at July's full council meeting, the Lib Dems asked whether the council was up to date on processing claims and how much compensation was expected to be paid out.

Having not received a response, Cllr Richard Dickson sought data from council officers – the employed professionals.

He says they discovered the average award for settled claims was £306 and that the council had "already paid out more in respect of 2025-26 than it did across the whole of 2024-25", and that is without the undecided 448 claims.

"On that trajectory, the final cost of last winter will exceed anything the county has previously recorded," the Lib Dem statement adds.

Cllr Dickson wrote: "Residents who did nothing wrong have been left carrying the cost of last winter.

"They have paid for replacement tyres and springs out of their own pockets, submitted a claim in good faith and waited months without a decision. More than half of them are still waiting today."

Leader of the opposition Cllr Sarah Boad added that Reform had vowed to "stop potholes forming in the first place" and that "the prevention strategy promised for this year has not materialised".

They call for publication of the 861 claim decisions, a target date for remaining decisions to be taken and a commitment to clearing any backlog by the end of October 2026.

Cllr Shaw said he had not seen the question prior to being contacted by the Local Democracy Reporting Service and would need to look into the matter but admitted: "It is a big issue for the council at the moment.

"I am fully on it and will get something to them by the end of October.

"We have chucked more money into the budget for roads, there will be improvements. It was severely underfunded under the Conservative administration, especially up in North Warwickshire.

"We have made sure we have got a fair deal with more roads to be repaired through new technology so we will see those improvements."

On last year's claims, he added: "There is a process that the officers are going through and it is up to the officers to determine whether claims are legitimate or not.

"It is something I need to check on. It is not good enough from the council's point of view but I will make sure we push forward on this and that responses are up to date by the end of October."

Cllr Shaw also refuted that it was a failure on his watch.

"I took over the portfolio in May, there will always be improvements to be made in the council, nothing is ever perfect," he said.

"I will be getting on to the officers about this, going through the data and making sure people have answers.

"Sometimes you will get the answer you want, sometimes you'll get an answer you don't like but those decisions are for the officers, not the councillors.

"There are a lot of good things happening at the council at the moment but this is an area we need to improve on. It is not good enough, it shouldn't take longer than 90 days, residents deserve better than that."