Asked by: Lord Mawson (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the age distribution of potholes in England; and what tools exist for determining how long specific potholes have been left unrepaired.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Local highway authorities have a duty under Section 41 of the Highways Act 1980 to maintain the highways network in their area. The Act does not set out specific standards of maintenance, as it is for each individual local highway authority to assess which parts of its network need repair and what standards should be applied, based upon their local knowledge and circumstances.
The Department does not hold data on the time taken by local highway authorities to repair reported potholes, but national guidance recommends that defects and potholes which require urgent attention should be made safe at the time of inspection or as soon as possible.
Local highway authorities have a wide range of tools and methods available to them to survey their networks and to monitor the condition of the roads they maintain over time. The Government does not prescribe which of these must be used to inform their asset management programme.
Asked by: Lord Mawson (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what penalties exist for local highway authorities which do not spend the portion of funding allocated to them to address potholes on road repairs.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Government recognises that historic underinvestment has meant that authorities have not necessarily had the resources to maintain roads in the way that they would want to. The Government has therefore announced a record £7.3 billion for the next four years. This is building on the c.£1.6 billion in capital funding for local highways maintenance in England for the financial year 2025/26, which includes £500 million of additional funding when compared to funding levels for 2024/25.
In 2025/26, 25% of the additional funding was designated as incentive funding and was contingent upon local highway authorities meeting certain reporting requirements. A portion of the £7.3 billion over the next four years will also be designated as incentive funding and will be subject to local highway authorities demonstrating that they comply with best practice in highways maintenance, for example by spending all the DfT’s capital grant on highways maintenance and adopting more preventative maintenance. Authorities that fail to meet these standards will have this incentive funding withheld.
In addition, on 11 January, DfT published a new traffic light rating system for all local highway authorities in England. Under this system, each authority is rated red, amber or green based on the condition of their roads, how effectively they spend their record Government funding, and whether they do so using best practice. Authorities that state their capital investment to maintain local highways is less than DfT’s capital grant for highways maintenance receive a red spend scorecard under this rating system.
Asked by: Lord Mawson (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the current rate of improvement in road repairs across England; what metrics they use to undertake such an assessment; and what period such an assessment covers.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
DfT collects and collates a range of information about information about local roads from local authorities in England annually.
Official statistics on the condition of local roads in England are published annually on GOV.uk. These statistics have presented the percentage of road that should have been considered for maintenance (red), by road classification and local authority, since 2008. These statistics show that in England:
This financial year the Government has introduced transparency reporting for local highway authorities across England alongside making an additional £500 million available for highways maintenance. To qualify for their full share of this funding uplift, local highway authorities had to publish reports setting out how they comply with best practice, including in relation to the extent to which they prioritise preventative maintenance.
Further to this, on 11 January, the Department published a new rating system for every highway authority in England. Each local highway authority received a red, amber or green rating based on the condition of their roads, how much they are spending to maintain it, and whether they do so using best practice, including by adopting more preventative maintenance. The ratings, which will be updated periodically, provide an incentive for councils to adopt more preventative maintenance, and enable the Department to provide targeted support to authorities to help them adopt best practice.
To gain access to their full highways maintenance funding in the future, local highway authorities will have to continue to demonstrate that they comply with best practice, for example by adopting more preventative maintenance.
Asked by: Lord Mawson (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what percentage of funding originally allocated to road repairs in England has subsequently been diverted to other, unrelated, programmes in the most recent two years for which figures are available.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
From 2025, all local highway authorities were required to publish transparency reports on their websites to increase transparency and ensure that both Government and local residents can see how record investment into local roads is being spent. Using the data from these transparency reports, the Department published a new traffic light rating system for all local highway authorities in England on 11 January. Under this system, each authority is rated red, amber or green based on the condition of their roads, how effectively they spend their record Government funding, and whether they do so using best practice. This system provides public accountability and reinforces the expectation that funding is used for its intended purpose.
Under this system, 10 local highway authorities scored a red on their spend scorecard, which means they have stated in their highways maintenance transparency reports that in the current financial year they are due to invest less capital to maintain their local highways than their DfT capital grant for local highways maintenance. A large portion of local highway authorities did, however, spend more than their allocation with 113 local highway authorities receiving a green rating for this scorecard.
Asked by: Lord Mawson (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of road accidents in England in the last 10 years where potholes and poor-quality road surfaces were a cause.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Statistics on reported road injury collisions in Great Britain are published based on data reported by police via the data collection known as STATS19.
Within STATS19, reporting police officers can assign up to 6 factors which they believe may have contributed to the collision, including ‘poor or defective road surface’. Contributory factors are assigned based on the opinions of the reporting officer at the scene or within a short time of the collision, rather than a detailed investigation.
The number of collisions in each of the last 10 years with the factor ‘poor or defective road surface’ assigned is published in table RAS0701 on gov.uk and reproduced below:
Year | Reported road collisions in England with ‘poor or defective road surface’ assigned as a contributory factor |
2014 | 660 |
2015 | 544 |
2016 | 519 |
2017 | 465 |
2018 | 446 |
2019 | 437 |
2020 | 376 |
2021 | 429 |
2022 | 432 |
2023 | 532 |
Asked by: Lord Mawson (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the finding by the RAC in February 2024 that council road maintenance in England dropped by 45 per cent in 2022–23 compared to the five years previously; and whether road maintenance levels have improved since then.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Department’s officials meet regularly with local authority representatives and other experts in the road maintenance industry to discuss best practice. Ministers have also met with key stakeholder groups, including the Pothole Partnership which comprises organisations representing road users and industry.
The Department agrees that local highway authorities should focus on preventative rather than reactive maintenance activities, and this advice is set out in the Code of Practice on Well Managed Highway Infrastructure, which is available online. The Department is committed to updating this guidance and has begun work to scope out urgently which parts need updating and how. The Department strongly advocates a risk-based whole lifecycle asset management approach to local authority highways maintenance programmes, and encourages authorities to consider all parts of the highway network, such as bridges, cycleways, and lighting columns, and not just the fixing of potholes or resurfacing of roads.
Decisions on how much to spend on their local highway networks each year are matters for local highway authorities, who have a duty under Section 41 of the Highways Act 1980 to maintain the public highway network in their area. The Department for Transport collects and publishes on gov.uk each year data on authorities’ capital and revenue expenditure on their highway maintenance activities. The data shows that, at a national level, total spending on local road maintenance in the financial year 2022/23 was broadly similar to total spend in each of the previous five years.
This Government recognises the importance of well-maintained roads and has provided an additional £500m for highway maintenance for the year 2025/26 – a near 50% uplift on the current baseline. This has resulted in an 36% increase on average to individual local highway authority allocations, as well as providing highway maintenance funding top-ups to London authorities and mayoral areas already receiving City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements. These allocations can be found on gov.uk.
In addition, the Department is taking a number of steps to improve its understanding of the condition of local roads. It worked with the British Standards Institute and the highway sector to develop a new road condition data standard for local highway authorities, which was published last year. This will enable them to utilise new technologies, including AI, to identify potholes and other defects in their highway network more promptly.
Asked by: Lord Mawson (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to improve their understanding of the condition of local roads; and what plans they have to support local authorities to use exploit AI technologies that make it faster and easier to identify potholes.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Department’s officials meet regularly with local authority representatives and other experts in the road maintenance industry to discuss best practice. Ministers have also met with key stakeholder groups, including the Pothole Partnership which comprises organisations representing road users and industry.
The Department agrees that local highway authorities should focus on preventative rather than reactive maintenance activities, and this advice is set out in the Code of Practice on Well Managed Highway Infrastructure, which is available online. The Department is committed to updating this guidance and has begun work to scope out urgently which parts need updating and how. The Department strongly advocates a risk-based whole lifecycle asset management approach to local authority highways maintenance programmes, and encourages authorities to consider all parts of the highway network, such as bridges, cycleways, and lighting columns, and not just the fixing of potholes or resurfacing of roads.
Decisions on how much to spend on their local highway networks each year are matters for local highway authorities, who have a duty under Section 41 of the Highways Act 1980 to maintain the public highway network in their area. The Department for Transport collects and publishes on gov.uk each year data on authorities’ capital and revenue expenditure on their highway maintenance activities. The data shows that, at a national level, total spending on local road maintenance in the financial year 2022/23 was broadly similar to total spend in each of the previous five years.
This Government recognises the importance of well-maintained roads and has provided an additional £500m for highway maintenance for the year 2025/26 – a near 50% uplift on the current baseline. This has resulted in an 36% increase on average to individual local highway authority allocations, as well as providing highway maintenance funding top-ups to London authorities and mayoral areas already receiving City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements. These allocations can be found on gov.uk.
In addition, the Department is taking a number of steps to improve its understanding of the condition of local roads. It worked with the British Standards Institute and the highway sector to develop a new road condition data standard for local highway authorities, which was published last year. This will enable them to utilise new technologies, including AI, to identify potholes and other defects in their highway network more promptly.
Asked by: Lord Mawson (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to meet experts in the road maintenance industry, including the RAC, Road Surface Treatments Association, the Road Emulsion Association, and the Asphalt Industry Alliance, to discuss best practice.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Department’s officials meet regularly with local authority representatives and other experts in the road maintenance industry to discuss best practice. Ministers have also met with key stakeholder groups, including the Pothole Partnership which comprises organisations representing road users and industry.
The Department agrees that local highway authorities should focus on preventative rather than reactive maintenance activities, and this advice is set out in the Code of Practice on Well Managed Highway Infrastructure, which is available online. The Department is committed to updating this guidance and has begun work to scope out urgently which parts need updating and how. The Department strongly advocates a risk-based whole lifecycle asset management approach to local authority highways maintenance programmes, and encourages authorities to consider all parts of the highway network, such as bridges, cycleways, and lighting columns, and not just the fixing of potholes or resurfacing of roads.
Decisions on how much to spend on their local highway networks each year are matters for local highway authorities, who have a duty under Section 41 of the Highways Act 1980 to maintain the public highway network in their area. The Department for Transport collects and publishes on gov.uk each year data on authorities’ capital and revenue expenditure on their highway maintenance activities. The data shows that, at a national level, total spending on local road maintenance in the financial year 2022/23 was broadly similar to total spend in each of the previous five years.
This Government recognises the importance of well-maintained roads and has provided an additional £500m for highway maintenance for the year 2025/26 – a near 50% uplift on the current baseline. This has resulted in an 36% increase on average to individual local highway authority allocations, as well as providing highway maintenance funding top-ups to London authorities and mayoral areas already receiving City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements. These allocations can be found on gov.uk.
In addition, the Department is taking a number of steps to improve its understanding of the condition of local roads. It worked with the British Standards Institute and the highway sector to develop a new road condition data standard for local highway authorities, which was published last year. This will enable them to utilise new technologies, including AI, to identify potholes and other defects in their highway network more promptly.
Asked by: Lord Mawson (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the extent to which local authorities in England undertook preventative road maintenance, such as surface dressing roads to prevent potholes forming, in the last year; and what steps they intend to take to increase the amount of preventative road maintenance undertaken.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Department’s officials meet regularly with local authority representatives and other experts in the road maintenance industry to discuss best practice. Ministers have also met with key stakeholder groups, including the Pothole Partnership which comprises organisations representing road users and industry.
The Department agrees that local highway authorities should focus on preventative rather than reactive maintenance activities, and this advice is set out in the Code of Practice on Well Managed Highway Infrastructure, which is available online. The Department is committed to updating this guidance and has begun work to scope out urgently which parts need updating and how. The Department strongly advocates a risk-based whole lifecycle asset management approach to local authority highways maintenance programmes, and encourages authorities to consider all parts of the highway network, such as bridges, cycleways, and lighting columns, and not just the fixing of potholes or resurfacing of roads.
Decisions on how much to spend on their local highway networks each year are matters for local highway authorities, who have a duty under Section 41 of the Highways Act 1980 to maintain the public highway network in their area. The Department for Transport collects and publishes on gov.uk each year data on authorities’ capital and revenue expenditure on their highway maintenance activities. The data shows that, at a national level, total spending on local road maintenance in the financial year 2022/23 was broadly similar to total spend in each of the previous five years.
This Government recognises the importance of well-maintained roads and has provided an additional £500m for highway maintenance for the year 2025/26 – a near 50% uplift on the current baseline. This has resulted in an 36% increase on average to individual local highway authority allocations, as well as providing highway maintenance funding top-ups to London authorities and mayoral areas already receiving City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements. These allocations can be found on gov.uk.
In addition, the Department is taking a number of steps to improve its understanding of the condition of local roads. It worked with the British Standards Institute and the highway sector to develop a new road condition data standard for local highway authorities, which was published last year. This will enable them to utilise new technologies, including AI, to identify potholes and other defects in their highway network more promptly.
Asked by: Lord Mawson (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the extent to which local authorities in England divert money from their roads budgets to fund other policy areas.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport allocates capital funding to local highways authorities to enable them to maintain and improve their respective networks, based on their local knowledge, circumstances, and priorities. The funding is paid out as a grant under section 31 of the Local Government Act 2003, and is unringfenced. It is up to each authority to decide how best to spend it to fulfil its statutory duty under section 41 of the Highways Act 1980.
Revenue funding for highway maintenance is provided to local authorities each year by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government as part of the Local Government Finance Settlement. This funding is also unringfenced.
The Department publishes maintenance expenditure on local roads on gov.uk each year based on local authority outturn receipts. These show that capital expenditure on the local highway network is consistently higher than the funding provided by the Department for highway maintenance activities, which suggests that generally local authorities are not using the capital funding provided by the Department for other purposes.
The Department intends to introduce new reporting requirements on local highway authorities for the 2025/26 financial year, which will require them to provide further information to ensure residents can see how they intend to use the funding provided by the Government.