Councils must show pothole progress to receive highway maintenance funding

From mid-April onwards, local authorities in England will start to receive their share of the government’s record £1.6 billion highway maintenance funding, including an extra £500 million, which is enough to fill seven million potholes a year.

In order to receive the full amount, all councils in England must publish annual progress reports and prove public confidence in their work, starting from today (24th March 2025). Those who fail to do this will have 25 per cent of the uplift (£125 million in total) withheld.

Councils will need to show they are taking action by publishing reports of how many potholes have been filled and what percentage of their roads are in what condition, as well as show how they are spending on preventative maintenance programmes for the future.

This extra cash will go towards getting on with huge projects, like the A428 Black Cat scheme in Cambridgeshire, and starting vital improvements to the A47 around Norwich.

This follows new figures from the RAC which show drivers encounter an average of six potholes per mile in England in Wales, with pothole damages costing an average 600 to fix. According to the AA, fixing potholes is a priority for 96 per cent of drivers.

Prime minister Keir Starmer said: “The broken roads we inherited are not only risking lives but also cost working families, drivers and businesses hundreds — if not thousands of pounds — in avoidable vehicle repairs. Fixing the basic infrastructure this country relies on is central to delivering national renewal, improving living standards and security Britain’s future through our Plan for Change.

“Not only are we investing an additional £4.8 billion to deliver vital road schemes and maintain major roads across the country to get Britain moving, next month we start handing councils a record £1.6 billion to repair roads and fill millions of potholes across the country.

“British people are bored of seeing their politicians aimlessly pointing at potholes with no real plan to fix them. That ends with us. We’ve done our part by handing councils the cash and certainty they need — now it’s up to them to get on with the job, put that money to use and prove they’re delivering for their communities.”