Councils to come under tougher rules for spending on road maintenance

The Department for Transport said councils would be required to show that highways funding is being spent solely on road maintenance, or risk reductions to future allocations.

Under the new rules, councils will have to publish reports proving they are spending all of their highways funding purely on road maintenance, showing long-term plans for looking after roads and better training for their highways teams.

Around £525 million of the £1.6bn available to councils for road maintenance could be held back from councils across England unless they are transparent and prove they are performing, it added.

The Government said the measures, which come into force on Tuesday (14 April), are designed to ensure that funding is spent on maintaining roads, rather than being redirected elsewhere.

Roads and Buses Minister, Simon Lightwood, said: "Potholes aren’t just an inconvenience — they cost drivers hundreds, if not more, every time they cause damage to a vehicle. Fixing our roads is one of the most impactful things we can do to reduce the cost of owning and driving a car and we’re making sure every pound goes straight into doing exactly that.

“We’ve made it crystal clear that councils that fail to maintain their roads will now risk losing up to a third of their funding.

"And for the first time, we’re giving councils multi-year funding so they can plan properly and reverse a decade of decline in our roads."

Adam Carey