Roads will worsen without more cash, report warns

Roads in Nottinghamshire are going to keep getting worse without more funding, despite a multi-million-pound investment, a council report has warned.

Nottinghamshire County Council has approved plans for about £120m of investment for the first phase of its highways programme for 2026/7.

A report by council officers said the money approved for maintenance so far was not enough to address the backlog of repairs, or to keep the roads at their current level, after years of "underfunding".

Bert Bingham, cabinet member for transport and environment at the Reform-led council, said they had inherited a declining network, but would secure enough investment to reverse that deterioration.

The total investment planned for the first phase of the highways capital and revenue programmes is £122.5m.

That includes about £82m for improving and maintaining the highways, although not all of that will be spent on replacing worn-out road surfaces.

Council officers said it would cost about £100m to keep the roads at the standard they are in at the moment.

The investment also includes £8m for "integrated transport schemes", such as new pedestrian crossings, and £29m for a range of schemes, including flood risk alleviation and electric vehicle infrastructure, according to the report.

About 45% of the money will come from the Labour-led East Midlands Combined County Authority (EMCCA) and the other 55% from the council.

Bingham said their highways programme was the "biggest ever in Nottinghamshire" and "one of the largest to be delivered by a local authority".

The authority is applying for more funding, including £19m a year from the EMCCA, which will be announced in a second phase next month.

The report by council officers said this first phase of investment would see about 16% of the total highway network resurfaced or patched.

But 38% of roads were judged as being poor in 2025 and more than half of all road markings were in a poor or very poor condition, the report said.

It said road maintenance costs had risen due to inflation and more homes being built, and it was now estimated £101m was needed to be spent on maintenance every year to keep them at their current condition.

It added on top of this, a "prolonged period of underfunding" has meant "a backlog of deferred maintenance has been accrued".

In 2024, it was estimated it would cost £398m to address the maintenance backlog.

The report said: "The assets have been 'sweated' for a sustained period of over a decade due to financial constraints.

"Whilst the programme of work will have a positive impact on the condition of the highway, it still lacks sufficient scale to start to meaningfully address the backlog of deferred maintenance.

"Without further increases to funding, it is reasonable to expect the overall network condition to continue to decline."

But the report did state this problem was not unique to Nottinghamshire, adding a parliamentary report estimated it would cost about £18.6bn and take 12 years to clear the backlog of road repairs nationally.

Bingham said they could not yet outline how much they would be getting in the second phase, but they would be "comfortably" above the £100m mark needed to start improving rather than just maintaining the road this year.

He added: "We inherited a declining network that unless we spend enough money to stop that deterioration, it's not going to improve.

"So we are looking to invest enough to reverse that curve and climb out of the bottom of the trough, where we are."

Council leader Mick Barton added they were bringing in "new ways of working", including 10 "right first time" crews who will be going out from April and carrying on over the winter, to repair the roads.

"Highways are the top of our priority list," he said.

"Hopefully people will see a big difference next winter."

Mike Introna, the Conservative opposition spokesman for transport and environment, recognised it was an increase on what they had spent last year.

But he said it was "largely level with inflation".

He added they had been helped by money from the government and the EMCCA, which had not been available when his party was in charge of the county.

"Fair play to them, if they're putting all the resources into highways that they can, that's what residents want to see and want to hear.

"And what they don't want them doing is spending funds on vanity projects that could be spent filling potholes," Introna said.

The Department for Transport said it had given the EMCCA £20bn to spend on transport priorities - which could include fixing the roads - until 2032, and £20m for the next year specifically for local highways upgrades and repairs.

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