Council / Only one pothole compensation claim made to SIC in last five years
NEW figures show that Shetland Islands Council (SIC) received just one pothole compensation claim between 2020/21 and 2024/25.
The figures, obtained by the BBC via freedom of information, show that no money was paid out as a result of the claim.
SIC depute leader Gary Robinson said: “Our roads are not perfect, but our roads team does a tremendous job with the resources the council receives for road maintenance.”
He added that being to places like Clydebank and Milgnavie recently “brought it home to me just how good our roads are by comparison”.
Orkney Islands Council received five claims over the same period, paying out £727.
In the Highland region just over 2,000 claims were received, with more than half a million being paid out.
Across Scotland the figure rises to more than £2 million, spread over 18,600 claims.
Robinson said that while there can be some complaints about potholes in Shetland, the figures show it is a national issue.
“While the Scottish Government says it has provided ‘record funding to local authorities as part of the 2026/27 budget, ‘record funding’ translates as ‘a bit more than last year’,” he said.
“It hasn’t kept up with CPI inflation let alone the real cost inflation faced by councils over many years.”
The SNP pledged in its election manifesto a £350 million ‘Better Surfaces’ fund to fix potholes but Robinson said there is little detail yet to this proposal, while he raised concern that there could be a number of councils battling for the money.
Robinson also sought to remind people that the roads that have been dug up for cabling works, mainly in the central mainland, will be “resurfaced once those works have been completed”.
The Lerwick North and Bressay councillor also encouraged people to report any potholes to the SIC’s roads department.
He said there are annual road surveys, but not every road gets surveyed every year, so reports from the public are always welcome.
Robinson said any potholes he has reported were usually fixed within a fortnight.
Responding to the national picture, a spokesperson for the Scottish Government pointed to the “record funding” it was giving local authorities in 2026/27.
“The Scottish Budget 2026/27 provides record funding of £15.7bn to local authorities, including £250m of unrestricted general revenue grant,” they said.
“It is for individual local authorities to allocate the total resources that are available to them on the basis of local needs and priorities.”
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