DfT rating of local highway authority road maintenance spending

The Department for Transport (DfT) has published a new interactive traffic light rating system to show how local highway authorities (LHAs) are spending allocated funding to fix potholes and invest in long term maintenance measures for England’s roads.

The new ratings system grades 154 LHAs across England as red, amber or green based on current road condition, every LHA’s rating, to highlight best practice and drive improved performance from councils.   

The red, amber, green ratings are based on 3 key areas:

• the condition of local roads
• how much LHAs are spending on road repairs
• whether they are following best practice in maintaining highways

The interactive map is available to view here.

The UK Government’s uplift in funding for England’s roads, to fix potholes and invest in long maintenance, will allow LHAs to repair potholes effectively and move away from expensive, short-term repairs increase value for money.

The UK Government’s record £7.3 billion for local road maintenance is allocated for LHAs to renew and improve tens of thousands of miles of roads in every corner of the country.   

LHAs that scored ‘green’ were able to demonstrate they are following best practice, such as investing in more long-term preventative measures rather than just patching up potholes, while also maintaining good road conditions and investing significantly into improving local roads. 

‘Amber’ ranked LHAs showed some of these qualities with room for improvement in individual areas, while those rated ‘red’ are not yet meeting the expected standards in one or several areas measured by the ratings – such as the current state of the roads, their plans for preventing potholes or investment into maintaining their local roads more widely. 

LHAs currently rated red will receive additional support to bring them in line with best practices, backed by expert planning and capability assistance. The support programme will include peer reviews where sector experts will help improve processes and provide practical advice.

As a government incentive to better roads, access to full future funding allocations will be linked to performance, ensuring councils are encouraged to get on with the job and use taxpayer money efficiently to repair and maintain their roads before potholes form.

In an effort to improve transparency, 25% of local highway authorities’ funding uplift this financial year was withheld until LHAs published transparency reports and set out the level of compliance with best practice. The withheld funding was unlocked at the end of last year by LHAs which successfully submitted their reports.