Executive set to discuss council’s approach to road defects

02 April 2026

North Northamptonshire Council’s Executive will receive a report on Tuesday 14 April on how highways defects, including potholes, will be inspected and responded to. The council’s primary focus is to maintain the safety of the highways network for users, whilst delivering a faster, overall service for residents. 

The council’s new Highway Inspection Maintenance and Response Framework will replace and update the previous county council’s 2019 Highway Safety Inspection Manual.

Noticeable highlights in the new Framework include:

• Clearer transparency around the council’s approach to reactive highway maintenance and management.
• More predictable and practical repair times - currently defects that fall under the Priority 4 category see a response time of within 180 days, this is being reduced to 90 days. This will help reduce the number of duplicate reports and will support the council’s transition to a more preventative approach to defect repairs.
• Promotes and facilitates right first-time repairs.
• It is also proposed that the Priority 1 response time will be adjusted from 24 hours to a next day delivery (end of the next day, including weekends). This change will help reduce operational disruption, allowing for more efficient scheduling and delivery of work, higher productivity and better value for money for the council and residents.
• Changes are supported alongside robust monitoring processes to maintain road users’ safety.
• The current two-hour emergency response for urgent and high risks will be retained.

Both changes to the prioritisation of works are maximums and tasks may be completed sooner where practicable.

Other changes include:

• The updated document has a broader scope, beyond the process for dealing with safety defects - covering issues such as highway obstructions, encroachments and illegal signs, with clear routing to enforcement.
• The framework outlines how specialist highway inspections are completed

This new framework gives us a real opportunity to improve safety and the consistency of response time to repairs needed across our roads.

We all know that roads across North Northamptonshire need considerable work and this document focuses on the reactive and planned elements of routine maintenance including safety inspections and repair standards. This approach will ensure the network remains safe and serviceable, whilst getting repairs right the first time.Cllr Chris McGiffen, the council’s Executive Member for Highways and Travel

Roads across North Northamptonshire are suffering from years of underinvestment and over the next few years, we plan to bring forward record investment in the whole network.

Frameworks like this one will help us to tackle the sheer scale of the repairs that are needed.Cllr Martin Griffiths, Leader of the Council

North Northamptonshire Council’s Executive will meet on Tuesday 14 April at 10am at the Corby Cube and the papers are now available online. The meeting will be livestreamed on YouTube. 

Highways issues can be reported via the council’s road pages.