Luton Borough Council is trialling a new, faster way to fix potholes across the town to help deal with a surge in road damage caused by an extremely wet winter. The local authority is testing a spray injection patching machine, commonly called a jet patcher, to supplement its traditional road repair work.
The equipment works by using a high-pressure hose to clean, prepare, and fill potholes in a single process. According to the council, these repairs can typically be completed within minutes, allowing roads to reopen to traffic almost straight away. Unlike older repair methods, this new system does not require excavation work and generally removes the need for road closures, while also producing fewer carbon emissions and lowering overall repair costs.
The trial is being delivered in partnership with the council’s highways contractor, VolkerHighways, and a specialist firm called Velocity. This initiative comes as the town deals with a high volume of road defects; in the first three months of 2026 alone, the council received 801 reports of potholes. This figure is already on track to exceed the 1,017 reports received during the entirety of 2025.
To address the issue, the council has allocated £7.2 million this financial year for resurfacing roads and fixing carriageway defects as part of its ongoing highway maintenance investment. If the current trial proves successful, the council intends to consider using the technology as a longer-term solution for maintaining the local road network, which could lead to faster and more efficient repairs across Luton.
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