On 23 March 2025, the UK Government announced local authorities would have to publish how many potholes they’ve filled in order to get their full share of government funding, first announced last year.
Local highway authorities that comply will receive their full share of the additional £500 million roads pot, which is enough to fill the equivalent of 7 million potholes a year, as part of the government’s Plan for Change.
Local highway authorities must now publish reports on their websites by 30 June 2025, detailing how much they are spending, how many potholes they have filled, what percentage of their roads are in what condition, and how they are minimising streetworks disruption.
Critically, for the work of the Road Emulsion Association (REA) and its members, the announcement from government also says,
“They [local authorities] will also be required to show how they are spending more on long-term preventative maintenance programmes and that they have robust plans for the wetter winters the country is experiencing – making potholes worse.”
We’re also told, “By the end of October, councils must also show they are ensuring communities have their say on what work they should be doing, and where. The public can also help battle back against pothole ridden roads by reporting them to their local council, via a dedicated online portal.”
In this assessment, we’ll unpack what this announcement means for the REA, its members and local authorities. We also pose questions that need to be answered, in order to ensure that we have a more consistent pothole prevention and repair programme nationally.
Recap – What do we know?
- The government has allocated £1.6 billion to local authorities for pothole repairs, with £500 million ringfenced to tackle the equivalent of 7 million potholes each year.
- For the first time, all councils in England will be required to publicly report the number of potholes they have repaired on their website, in order to access the full funding.
- Councils that fail to demonstrate progress risk losing 25% of their additional pothole funding, amounting to £125 million nationally.
- Reporting requirements will include number of potholes filled, condition of local roads, spending on preventative maintenance against more extreme weather caused by climate change.
- Councils must submit their reports by 30 June 2025, and are also expected to engage local communities in identifying road priorities by October 2025.
- This move aims to create greater national consistency in pothole reporting, directly addressing long-standing concerns raised by the National Audit Office (NAO).
- The NAO has previously criticised the Department for Transport for having significant gaps in its data, noting that 62% of local roads (mostly unclassified) are not routinely assessed or reported on.
- The lack of consistent, comparable information has made it difficult to measure the true impact of government investment in local road maintenance.
- These new reporting requirements reflect the NAO’s call for improved transparency and accountability in how road conditions are monitored and managed.
- Alongside the pothole measures, the government also announced funds for strategic road upgrades via National Highways, covering schemes such as the A47, A428, A350, A647 and the M3.
What don’t we know?
- As far as we are aware, there is no clear framework or standardised format for how pothole data must be reported by local authorities.
- Media reports have mainly focused on pothole filling; it’s unclear how government will assess preventative maintenance (for example, surface dressing), which is also required.
- We do not know what official guidance or methodology the government plans to issue to help local authorities report or deliver preventative maintenance.
- It is not clear how ‘success’ will be measured, for example how will it be assessed whether a local highways authority has met expectations?
- There is no confirmation of whether the data will be collated and published as a central dataset for transparency.
- We do not yet know what enforcements will be in place if councils under-report or misreport data, beyond the proposed 25% funding penalty.
- There has been no clarity on how performance will be compared across councils, especially given varying road types, budgets, and regional challenges.
- We do not know if there are plans to include third-party verification or audits to ensure reported data is accurate and consistent.
- It is unclear whether this reporting process will be a one-off requirement or an annual expectation beyond 2025.
- There is no indication of whether councils will receive additional support, tools, or training to help them meet reporting and maintenance expectations effectively. This is important, given that local authority budgets are stretched.
What are our recommendations?
- Keep a strong focus on preventative maintenance on the country’s local road network, which makes up 98% of routes.
- For the Department for Transport to produce a clear local authority ‘Performance guide’ to explicitly set out expectations and best practice for local road preventative treatments like surface dressing and encapsulation. This could also include specific guidance for road repairs, including pothole filling.
- For the Department for Transport to require an annual report of road conditions from each local authority/council which includes the kilometres/miles of local roads that require preventative maintenance programmes over the next 5 years and in what priority of order.
- The REA recently called for the need to consider having two separate funding streams for road maintenance within local authorities: One for preventative works and one to repair the damage caused by many years of underfunded and neglected/untreated local roads. This would enable local authorities to plan ahead rather than having to use all the existing funds for reactive maintenance (pothole filling).