Sheffield councillor demands Amey is fined for 10-day no-show to repair potholed road
“Why would Amey let residents know what is happening, or speed up, or bother to do the work properly if they know there’s no penalty?”
A councillor has called for a contractor to be penalised over a 10-day no-show to repair a potholed Sheffield road.
Maroof Raouf has called for Amey, the company with a £2.2bn contract to look after Sheffield’s roads, to be fined for failing to turn up to Osborne Road in Nether Edge, or keep residents informed of the reason for the no-show.
Amey put out signs stating Osborne Road would be closed, and parking suspended, for 10 days from Wednesday, September 2.
But work has yet to start.
Coun Raouf said a lack of enforcement means the company is getting away with providing a poor service.
Coun Raouf, for the Green Party, said residents had moved cars every day to allow work to take place but had been “disrespected” by Amey failing to arrive.
Meanwhile vehicles were continuing to be damaged by “huge” potholes, he said.
He added: “Why would Amey let residents know what is happening, or speed up, or bother to do the work properly if they know there’s no penalty?
“I don’t think there’s the political will to enforce the contract because it will look bad on Labour.
“As a council we could put a lot more pressure on Amey.”
Amey, Sheffield City Council and Mark Rusling, who is the councillor reponsible for dealing with the council’s potholes issues, were approached for comment.
In June, the authority said it had fined Amey eight times this year, amid anger over the quality of some work and 13,000 repairs.
In July, Labour councillors announced a pothole ‘reporting blitz’ to pressure Amey into action.
On August 13, The Star asked for an update on road repairs completed and outstanding and was told a response would be made within 30 days, by September 11. It has yet to arrive.
Last week, Coun Mark Rusling, Labour’s lead for the environment, said two-thirds of potholes had been filled in the past five months, leaving 1,238.
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Amey representatives will be attending a Sheffield City Council committee meeting to answer questions on pothole repairs on Friday, September 18.
In June, the authority set out the staffing involved in “rigorously challenging” the contractor over pothole failures.
It said it organises monthly service improvement meetings to review performance and monthly service operations board meetings to confirm actions.
There are also monthly management board meetings and quarterly strategic board meetings which “provide opportunities for further escalation’”.
So far this year the authority has imposed eight fines on the company, for failing to tackle ‘category one defects’ within 24 hours.
The figures, in a Freedom of Information response, also showed no fines were imposed in 2025, or 2024.
The council’s £2.2bn contract with Amey runs until 2037.