Highways maintenance transparency report 2026-27
Contents
Technical annex
Highways maintenance funding and spending
| Financial year | 2024-25 | 2025-26 | 2026-27 (projected) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Highways maintenance capital funding allocated through DfT | £9,473,000 | £12,377,000 | £12,820,000 |
| Other DfT capital funding utilised by local authority for highways maintenance | £355,300 | £7,440,180 | £11,572,000
|
| Other Government capital funding allocated by local authority to Highways Maintenance | £0 | £0 | £0 |
| Other capital funding allocated to highways maintenance | £4,500,000 | £3,150,000 | £1,500,000 |
| Total Capital funding allocated to highways maintenance | £14,328,300 | £22,968,970 | £25,892,000 |
In 2024, the Council agreed to invest an extra £9 million over three years to improve local roads. This money is being used to carry out important repairs and increase the amount of planned maintenance, helping to prevent roads from getting worse. The Council has also agreed to use part of the Department for Transport Local Transport Grant and Integrated Transport Fund to improve safety and access on the network, including essential maintenance work on key bridges, sections of carriageway and traffic signals.
| Financial year | 2024-25 | 2025-26 | 2026-27 (projected) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total highways maintenance capital spend | £14,619,736 | £19,751,591 | £30,442,862 |
| Total highways maintenance revenue spend | £7,258,626 | £8,773843 | £8,500,840 |
| Total spend | £21,878,626 | £28,525,434 | £38,943,702 |
Highway maintenance capital spend figures include Local Transport Grant and Integrated Transport Fund, that has been allocated to essential carriageway, structures and traffic signal maintenance works. It also includes for the additional £9m that the Council has allocated to improve the highway network.
| Carriageway spend related maintenance type | Capital 2025-26 | Revenue 2025-26 | Capital 2026-27 (projected) | Revenue 2026-27 (projected) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Planned maintenance | ||||
| Preventative carriageway maintenance | £3,153,128 | £0 | £5,889,473 | £0 |
| Structural carriageway maintenance | £1,249,884 | £0 | £4,096,043 | £0 |
| Planned carriageway repair / patching programmes | £5,572,285 | £0 | £7,270,095 | £0 |
| Reactive carriageway maintenance | ||||
| Reactive carriageway repairs / patching (temporary repairs) | Unable to separate, including in total figure | |||
| Reactive carriageway repairs / patching (permanent repairs) | Unable to separate, including in total figure | |||
| Reactive carriageway repairs / patching (total) | £3,000,978 | £284,244 | £2,156,493 | £323,703 |
| Other carriageway‑related spend | £262,764 | £3,449,768 | £504,755 | £3,100,439 |
| Total | £13,239,038 | £3,734,012 | £19,916,859 | £3,424,142 |
We are unable to separate the spend between temporary and permanent reactive repairs, but the number of temporary repairs are shown in the table below (Number of potholes filled).
Highways maintenance activity
| Financial year | Road receiving preventative road surface treatments (length, km) | Road receiving planned structural maintenance (length, km)
| Area receiving planned repair / patching programmes | Area receiving reactive repair / patching (permanent methods) | Area receiving reactive repairs/ patching (temporary methods) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-26 | 16km | 2km | 45,200m2 | 0m2 | 0m2 |
| 2026-27 projected | 47km | 11km | 140,000m2 | n/a | n/a |
The above figures do not include pothole repairs that are detailed in the table below (Number of potholes filled).
The figures above do include works carried out as part of our preventative maintenance schemes programme. An additional 6,500m2 of patching was completed in 2025/26 in advance of surface dressing and micro asphalt treatments and a further 38,775m2 will be completed in 2026/27.
Pothole repairs
This section sets out how we identify and repair potholes and other defects in carriageways, and how this activity fits within their wider maintenance approach.
The table below sets out how the Council defines potholes and other carriageway defects, and the intervention criteria that apply.
| Pothole/Defect category name (as used by your authority) | Minimum investigatory or definitional threshold (e.g. depth, area, width – include units) | Additional risk or contextual factors considered (e.g. road hierarchy, traffic levels, location in carriageway) | Target response time – make safe | Target response time – permanent repair |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Emergency | 40mm depth, 300mm diameter | Based on Impact and Probability matrix, taking into account factors such as road hierarchy, traffic flows, speed limit, location in carriageway, | 2 hours | Recategorised based on P2, P3 or P4, based on risk factors |
| Priority 1 | 40mm depth, 300mm diameter | End of next day | Recategorised based on P2, P3 or P4, based on risk factors | |
| Priority 2 | 40mm depth, 300mm diameter | 7 days | ||
| Priority 3 | 40mm depth, 300mm diameter | 28 days | ||
| Priority 4 | 40mm depth, 300mm diameter | 90 days |
| Year | Number of potholes filled (estimate) |
|---|---|
| 2025-26 | 17295 |
| Planned repair / patching programmes | Planned structural maintenance programmes | Reactive repair using temporary repair methods | Reactive repair using permanent repair methods |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15170 | No data held | 847 | 1278 |
In addition to the above pothole repairs, an additional 29240 m2 of carriageway repairs were also completed using proprietary products such as Roadmender Elastomac, as part of our leave no defect behind approach.
Authorities have different criteria for identifying potholes and different methodologies for counting how many they have filled or resolved. Summing the figures in the above table across authorities will therefore not provide a reliable estimate of the total number of potholes filled across England.
| Pothole type | Unit/average cost |
|---|---|
| Permanent pothole repair on your network (reactive) | £109 |
| Temporary pothole repair on your network (reactive) | Not available |
The unit cost of a temporary pothole repair is not available.
We aim to make repairs last by setting clear standards for materials, workmanship and expected repair life. Permanent repairs are covered by a two-year guarantee, and the repair method is chosen to suit the road type, traffic speed, location and defect. Quality is checked through monthly audits by supervisory staff and the Council, with samples of completed work inspected. Any defects that don’t meet the correct standard are captured and will be repaired by our main contractor at their own cost. We monitor repair performance through monthly summary reports, and these are managed through contract governance meetings and quality reporting. Where issues are found, they are reviewed with the contractor, so standards are maintained and future repairs continue to improve.
Reporting system for defects and other issues
Customer reports made through the North Northamptonshire Highways Online Reporting Tool are logged, reviewed and used alongside inspections, asset condition data and operational knowledge. Reports help identify locations where defects are causing concern, recurring problems or wider network issues. This information feeds into our HEAT prioritisation process, where schemes are assessed against condition, safety, network importance, customer and stakeholder feedback, efficiency and wider benefits.
Customers receive updates through the reporting tool, including confirmation that their report has been received, whether an inspection or repair is required, and where appropriate, why no immediate action is being taken.
Our reporting tool uses the Fix My Street platform, with NNC specific link on the Councils website and automated links to our contractors works management system.
Maintenance of highway structures
Information about other highway structures and assets.
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Number of highway structures on your highway network | 791 |
| Number of highway structures with interim measures in accordance with CS470 applied? | 33 |
| Number of structures due a General Inspection in 2025-26 in accordance with CS450 | 297 |
| Number of General Inspections carried out in 2025-26 | 297 |
| Number of structures due a Principal Inspection in 2025-26 in accordance with CS450 | 40 |
| Number of Principal Inspections carried out in 2025-26 | 40 |
Asset Management
This section focuses on asset management practices that underpin how the authority plans, prioritises and delivers highways maintenance. It is intended to provide confidence that decisions are evidence led, risk based and aligned to whole life value, in line with the Code of Practice for Well Managed Highways Infrastructure.
The initial Policy and Strategy documents were approved by Executive in January 2025, the papers are available via the following link Highways Asset Management Policy and Strategy
| Asset type | Asset inventory held? (None / partial / full) | Condition data held? (None / Partial / Full) |
|---|---|---|
| Carriageways | Full | Full |
| Footways and cycleways | Partial | Partial |
| Structures | Full | Full |
| Drainage assets | Partial | Partial |
| Street lighting | Full | Full |
| Traffic signals | Full | Full |
The Council is filling footway and drainage inventory and condition gaps through targeted surveys, system updates and scheme-led data capture. A Footway Network Survey is being used to check and update older inventory records, the survey started in 2025 and will capture updates of the network over a 4 year period. Drainage data is held in our asset management system, where inspection, maintenance and reactive works continually add asset and condition information. New or amended drainage assets are captured through post-construction CCTV surveys, adopted roads, improvement schemes and third-party works. Limited records for carrier drains, outfalls and culverts are being addressed incrementally as new evidence becomes available.
Asset inventory and condition data for our key highway assets is primarily managed on multiple digital platforms with limited integration.
A number of specialist digital asset management systems are used because different highway assets, such as carriageways, structures, drainage, lighting and signals, require different types of inventory, inspection, condition and lifecycle data.
These systems provide the technical functionality needed to manage each asset effectively, while API links and structured data uploads allow key information to be shared with our works management system and HEAT prioritisation tool. This creates a connected evidence base for inspections, repairs, customer reports, condition trends, lifecycle planning and scheme scoring, helping us target investment, coordinate works and make risk-based maintenance decisions across the whole highway network.
Lifecycle plans help us target maintenance investment at the right time and achieve best whole-life value across carriageways, footways and structures. For carriageways and footways, condition data and deterioration modelling are held in Causeway Asset Strategy to forecast need, compare treatment options and develop forward programmes. Proposed schemes are then assessed through HEAT, which scores condition, safety, network importance, customer impact, efficiency and wider benefits. For structures, BridgeStation and SAVI hold inventory, inspection, condition and risk information, supporting prioritised maintenance, strengthening and renewal decisions. Together, these systems support evidence-led, risk-based investment rather than reactive decision-making.
An initial performance management framework has been established as part of our Highway Asset Management Plans. This framework is currently being reviewed, setting new targets, based on current asset condition, available funding and projected condition modelling. This will be included in the future updates of the Highway Asset Management Plans.
Annual performance and condition data informs scheme prioritisation, investment decisions and the forward maintenance programme through our HEAT prioritisation process.
North Northamptonshire Council was formed as a unitary authority in 2021, and the highways service has focused during its early years on establishing its operating arrangements, governance, asset management approach and performance framework. In 2026/27 the Council is looking to undertake benchmarking exercises through APSE and has recently joined the Future Highways Research Group – Value for Money Benchmarking Club. These will be used to compare costs, performance and service outcomes with other authorities. This will help identify opportunities for improvement, demonstrate value for money and inform future service planning and investment decisions.
Maintaining footways and cycleways
For 2026-27, the length of footways that have been earmarked for:
- structural maintenance, reconstruction or renewal is: 0.5km
- preventative maintenance treatments is: 1.5km
Footways and cycleways are managed through a risk-based approach, supported by routine inspections, condition information, customer reports and local knowledge. Priority routes are included in the Council’s winter service where appropriate, with gritting and snow clearance carried out during adverse weather to help maintain safe access. As a unitary council, we also coordinate routine activities such as footway sweeping, grass cutting, weed control and vegetation clearance where required, helping to keep routes safe, accessible and usable for pedestrians, cyclists and other users.
The following link provides further information on the councils Winter service plan and arrangements: Gritting, grit bins and winter plans
Drainage
The Council's estimate drainage maintenance expenditure split (in percentages):
- Reactive (incident- or failure-driven) maintenance: 22%
- Planned maintenance (routine/cyclical and/or risk-based): 78%
The Council operates a risk-based gully cleansing programme supported by KaarbonTech, a digital drainage management platform. The system holds drainage asset inventory, cleansing and inspection history, known problem locations and risk scoring information.
Gullies are visited on programmed cycles informed by flood risk, road hierarchy, historic silt levels, customer reports and local knowledge. At each visit, operatives record cleansing outcomes, including silt levels and whether the asset is running clear, partially blocked or requires further investigation. This evidence helps refine cleansing frequencies, target high-risk locations, support planned drainage maintenance and reduce reactive flooding incidents.
Drainage asset management
Drainage asset management is supported by Gully Smart by KaarbonTech, which holds live drainage inventory, inspection, cleansing and reactive maintenance records. Data from programmed gully cleansing, recorded silt levels, CCTV surveys, flooding incidents, Section 19 investigations, customer, parish and member reports, reactive defects and local asset knowledge is used to understand network need and identify problem locations.
Known drainage issues that contribute to flooding, surface water ponding or carriageway deterioration are reviewed alongside asset age, lifecycle and condition. Potential schemes are then assessed through the Council’s HEAT approach, considering condition, safety, network importance, efficiency and external factors. This supports a risk-based, evidence-led programme of minor works, annual capital schemes and multi-year forward drainage improvements.
Skills and training
Kier, as the Council’s main highways contractor, supports a competent and professionally qualified workforce through recognised professional development routes, including the Institute of Civil Engineers. Competence requirements are defined for key highways asset management roles, with training and development plans used to identify and address gaps. Kier also supports relevant staff with professional development costs, including professional membership fees where required for their roles. Specialist highway structures capability is available through professionally qualified engineers, including access to Chartered bridge engineers and equivalent expertise, ensuring bridge and structures management is overseen by appropriately competent staff within the contracted service arrangements.
Kier supports early careers development locally through its Northamptonshire highways contract by providing practical, highway-focused routes into the sector. This includes apprenticeships, graduate placements and trainee opportunities across operational, technical and professional roles such as highway maintenance, civil engineering, structures, drainage, asset management, quantity surveying, project management, health and safety, environmental management and business support. Early careers staff gain experience working on the local highway network, combining formal learning with site-based delivery, supervision, mentoring and exposure to real maintenance activities. Apprentices are supported to work towards recognised qualifications, while graduates benefit from structured development, professional mentoring and opportunities to progress towards membership or chartership with relevant professional bodies. Through the contract, Kier helps build local skills, retain talent in Northamptonshire and develop the next generation of highways professionals needed to maintain and improve the network.
In Autumn 2026 we are carrying out additional training on asset management with key staff within the Council and our main contractor, focussing on lifecycle planning and our preventative maintenance approach.
Adapting roads to withstand climate pressures
Climate and environmental factors, such as heavy rainfall, prolonged heat, and freeze-thaw cycles, are integral to effective highways asset management, as they influence asset performance, deterioration rates and long-term resilience. Understanding both the impacts of a changing climate and the carbon implications of maintenance activities supports better decision-making, helping authorities to optimise durability, manage risk and deliver best whole life value from their assets.
The Highway Asset Management Policy incorporates the need to take affordable and practical action to manage the impacts of climate change on the highway network.
The Resilient Network has been identified; a map is included within our Network Management Plan Highways plans and strategies | North Northamptonshire Council
We map areas of the network that are subjected to repeated flooding, undertake investigation in order to highlight mitigation and network improvement works that are needed.
The Council was an early participant to the ADEPT Carbon Leadership Programme and has completed the assessment, with reports provided in January 2026. The Scope 1&2 data for the highway service has been extracted from the Rio Sustainability Platform.
Scope 3 emissions are currently calculated on spend-based methodology.
Emissions data for the highway service is verified by BSi to ISO14064.
We are currently progressing a re-assessment as part of the Carbon Leadership Programme.
Adaptation and resilience activities
We have been working to decarbonise our highway maintenance operations by:
- Investing in low carbon pothole repair equipment such as Roadmender that is made of 100% recycled content and produces no waste.
- Using HVO to fuel our fleet.
- Use electric powered plant to replace petrol powered equivalents.
- Use of Foam-mix on suitable sites which recycles both hazardous and non-hazardous asphalt waste to be used across the road network for resurfacing.
- Identify aggregates and other road laying materials that have greater environmental attributes compared to primary sourced materials.
Working to a 2030 net zero target, with a focus on the decarbonisation of our fleet (roll out EV LGV and trial of EV HGVs. HVO use)
In addition, we will:
- Use the innovations group and supply chain partners to identify new materials and technology to help with mitigation and adaptation towards climate change.
- Enhance the natural environment along highways through tree planting and grass verge management, improvement and restoration.
- Utilise technologies that allow in situ recycling of road materials to reduce the use of new materials.
- Implementation of the Severe Weather Plan (covering all weather types inc. extreme heat and droughts).
- Optimisation of our maintenance operations through AI assisted scheduling, resulting in a reduction of fuel use and CO2
- Look at nature-based solutions and use / management of the soft estate, tree planting, rain gardens etc
Innovation
Innovation is encouraged through our highways contract, with the Council and contractor reviewing new materials, processes and digital tools through innovation working groups, performance monitoring and service governance.
We continue to explore approaches that improve cost-efficiency, durability and sustainability, including Roadmender Elastomac permanent hot-lay repairs, thermal repair techniques, recycled in-situ materials, preventative surface treatments and the AI trials to support automatic works scheduling and driven highway safety inspections.
Successful trials are reviewed against safety, quality, productivity, carbon and whole-life value before adoption. Lessons are shared through contractor innovation forums, local authority networks and professional groups
Innovations that have been adopted
Roadmender Elastomac has moved from trial to business-as-usual use for permanent hot-lay repairs to fretting, failed joints, defective ironwork and other suitable carriageway defects, including on concrete roads. The method supports the Council’s right-first-time and “no defect left behind” approaches. Material is ordered in bulk; one tonne can complete around 60 m² of repairs—up to six times the area achieved using conventional methods—helping the Council do more within existing budgets. The process creates a hot joint without overbanding or joint sealing and allows crews to repair additional emerging defects within the same traffic management set-up. This reduces repeat visits, traffic management costs and disruption, improves productivity and public perception, and helps prevent minor defects becoming safety defects. The material is manufactured from 96% recycled products, including car tyres, is fully recyclable at end of life and delivers an estimated 85% reduction in CO₂ emissions. It also improves workforce safety by reducing manual handling and exposure to hand-arm vibration, while avoiding excavation and the associated risk of striking underground services.
Thermal repair techniques have also moved into operational use for suitable localised defects, re-heating and reusing existing material to reduce waste, imported materials, carbon and disruption.
In-situ recycling is now being considered as a potential treatment for planned structural schemes, two sites have been delivered as part of the 2026/27 programme of carriageway reconstruction, using recycling methods. This approach reuses existing pavement material, reduces disposal, aggregate demand and lorry movements, and supports whole-life value where site conditions are suitable.
Working with utility companies to reduce disruption to road users
North Northamptonshire Council routinely monitors utility works through its permit scheme, inspections, performance monitoring and the application of relevant enforcement powers where quality standards are not achieved. Utility companies are engaged during the development of the highways maintenance programme to identify opportunities for coordination and reduce disruption to road users. The Council is currently undertaking a review of traffic-sensitive streets and assessing the potential suitability of a lane rental scheme. Permit scheme performance is reviewed in accordance with scheme requirements, with evaluations undertaken and published where applicable.
The Council works collaboratively with utility companies through regular coordination meetings, permit management processes and advance programme sharing to minimise the impact of works on residents, businesses and network users. Ongoing reviews of traffic sensitive designations and lane rental suitability form part of the Council's wider network management and congestion mitigation activities, supporting its duties under the Traffic Management Act 2004.
Managing highways maintenance contracts effectively
The Council retains in-house technical capability through highway contract engineers, a contract inspector and monitoring officer, enabling independent assessment of contractor proposals and completed works. Contract performance is actively managed through defined KPIs, reported monthly to the joint Highway Contract Management Board, along with corporate reporting on key indicators. Corrective action plans are agreed where required.
Unit costs and productivity are routinely reviewed in the monthly contract meetings, including defect repair area delivered per day and cost per m², alongside benchmarking against historic performance. The contract promotes right-first-time permanent repairs, with temporary repairs used only where immediate make-safe action is required. Permanent repair completion and follow-up timescales for any temporary repairs are monitored through a risk-based approach.
During 2025/26 first time permanent repairs were carried out on 98% of all defects
Declarations
As Head of Highways Delivery for North Northamptonshire Council, I confirm that I have reviewed this highways maintenance transparency report and, to the best of my knowledge and belief, the information provided is complete, accurate and consistent with the Council’s approved policies, plans, programmes and operational records. I am satisfied that the report provides a fair and transparent account of the Council’s approach to managing and maintaining its highway network and has been prepared in accordance with the Department for Transport’s reporting requirements.
Name: Jonathan Pearson MSc CEng FIHE
Date: 06/08/2026
As the Council’s Chief Finance Officer appointed under section 151 of the Local Government Act 1972, I confirm that I have reviewed the financial information contained within this highways maintenance transparency report. To the best of my knowledge and belief, the funding, expenditure and projected financial information is accurate, supported by the Council’s financial records and approved budgets, and has been prepared on a reasonable and consistent basis. Where figures are estimates or projections, these are based on the best information available at the date of approval and are subject to the Council’s normal financial monitoring and governance arrangements.
Name: Claire Edwards
Date: 06/08/2026
Last updated 26 August 2026