Local highways maintenance transparency report
Contents
- Local highways maintenance transparency report
- Highways maintenance spending figures
- Condition of local roads
- Plans
Highways maintenance spending figures
The table below shows the capital funds allocated by Department of Transport each year, alongside both the capital and revenue spend.
The percentage spend on preventative maintenance is based on the amount spent on surface dressing, micro asphalt, resurfacing and retexturing treatments. These are treatments that are used to extend the life of the asset.
Reactive maintenance covers work that is needed to repair assets, such as filling potholes.
Highway maintenance spending
| Year | Capital allocated by DfT (£,000s) | Capital spend (£,000s) | Revenue spend (£,000s) | Estimate of % spent on preventative maintenance of carriageway (includes surface dressing, micro asphalt and resurfacing) | Estimate of % spent on reactive maintenance | Estimate of % spent on cyclical maintenance of all assets and capital maintenance of structures, footways and other minor assets |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025/26 (projected) | £12,377 | £15,768 | 7,697 | 18% | 29% | 53% |
| 2024/25 | £9,473 | £14,440 | 7,041 | 22% | 30% | 48% |
| 2023/24 | £10,967 | £10,577 | 6,629 | 16% | 32% | 52% |
| 2022/23 | £8,404 | £8,175 | 7,180 | 15% | 30% | 55% |
North Northamptonshire Council became a Unitary Authority in April 2021 and individual funding allocations for North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire were first made in April 2022.
Additional information on spending
Highway maintenance spend is used for reactive repairs, routine and cyclic works programmes along with longer term planned repairs including:
- carriageway resurfacing programmes
- preventative treatments including surfacing dressing and micro asphalt
- planned patching programmes
- bridges and structures maintenance and repairs
- reactive and emergency repairs including pothole filling
- cyclical maintenance including grass cutting, road drainage gully cleansing
- traffic sign repairs and road marking re-painting
- traffic signal and pedestrian crossing maintenance
Potholes remain as the defect that is most reported through our online reporting tool. In addition to customer reporting, we also conduct regular inspections of the highway network, to identify any safety repairs that are needed. The table below shows the estimated number of carriageway reactive repairs that have been completed over the last 5 years.
Estimate of number of potholes filled
Potholes are the defect that is most reported through our online reporting tool. In addition to customer reporting, we also conduct regular inspections of the highway network, to identify any safety repairs that are needed. This drives the reactive spend, which is based on an agreed risk based approach.
The table below shows the estimated number of carriageway reactive repairs that have been completed over the last 5 years:
| 2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15,821 | 13,645 | 11,320 | 13,542 | 14,350 |
2020/21 and 2021/22 - Before North Northamptonshire Council formed, but estimated based on data available
Through our asset management approach, we use network intelligence to help prioritise future planned and preventative repairs. Modelling is used to help determine the level of funding that is needed and to help inform future investment needs.
The preventative approach to carriageway maintenance will drive a significant increase in preventative maintenance activities from 2026.
Last updated 26 June 2025