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English councils project £4.9 billion for local-highway maintenance in the 2026/27 financial year, according to the Department for Transport’s 2026 transparency returns. That is a planned total reported by councils—not a single grant and not money already spent. The same series records £4.4 billion of actual spending in 2025/26 and £4.1 billion in 2024/25. The plans cover nearly 7,000 miles of structural and preventative work, while a separate £220 million incentive fund announced on 21 October 2026 will depend on councils meeting performance targets.
How much is England spending on local road repairs?
The headline figure is £4.9 billion projected local-highway maintenance spending for 2026/27. It comes from authority-reported plans in the Department for Transport’s 2026 transparency series. It should be read as a forecast of council spending rather than a cheque issued by central government or a verified total of completed repairs.
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| Financial year | Local-highway maintenance spending | What the figure means |
|---|---|---|
| 2024/25 | £4.1 billion | Actual spend reported by authorities |
| 2025/26 | £4.4 billion | Actual spend reported by authorities |
| 2026/27 | £4.9 billion | Projected spend in 2026 transparency returns |
The series covers local roads in England, not motorways and major A-roads managed through the strategic-road system. Councils’ returns are provisional and can change as budgets and schemes are finalised.
Is the £4.9bn already spent or only planned?
It is planned spending. The Department for Transport says the 2026 returns are provisional and subject to review, so the projection cannot prove that every scheme will be delivered or that road conditions have improved.
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The summary combines findings from 153 authorities, although reports had been published by 152 of them. Birmingham had not published its return, and Transport for London data were excluded while discussions continued. The department expects to publish final disaggregated data and local-road maintenance ratings in early 2027.
There is also a definition issue. The transparency series is different from the department’s official maintenance-expenditure statistics, which use a broader definition and recorded £5.0 billion for local-highway maintenance in the year ending March 2025. Those totals should not be treated as directly comparable.
How many miles of road will councils maintain?
Authorities project nearly 7,000 miles of maintenance in 2026/27. The plan comprises nearly 2,000 miles of structural maintenance and nearly 5,000 miles of preventative treatments.
Structural maintenance
Structural work addresses the condition and load-bearing life of the road, typically through deeper renewal or reconstruction. The reported projection is nearly 2,000 miles.
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Preventative maintenance
Preventative treatments are intended to slow deterioration before a road requires more extensive reconstruction. Nearly 5,000 miles are projected, and 94% of authorities expect to carry out this type of work in 2026/27, up from 76% in 2025/26.
Reactive pothole repairs
For reactive pothole repairs in 2025/26, authorities reported that 77% used permanent methods and 23% used temporary methods. These are self-reported results, not independently audited measurements, so they indicate what councils reported rather than a nationally verified success rate.
What is the separate £220m incentive funding?
On 21 October 2026, the government announced a further £220 million in incentive-based funding. Councils can receive additional money only if they meet performance targets, and funding can be withheld when they do not. The release is therefore conditional support, not part of the £4.9 billion projection unless a council includes qualifying money in its own plan.
The government describes the wider local-road maintenance programme as worth £7.3 billion. That programme-level figure and the £220 million incentive announcement use different funding frameworks from the transparency total, so they should not be added together without checking what each covers.
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Which roads are included—and which are not?
The transparency series covers the local-road network maintained by English local authorities. That network is about 184,300 miles, or 97.6% of England’s total road network. It excludes the strategic road network operated by National Highways.
Strategic roads have a separate five-year Road Investment Strategy 3 worth £27 billion for England’s motorways and major A-roads. It includes a record £8.4 billion for repair and renewal of that network, alongside the £7.3 billion pledged for local-authority roads. These are different networks, budgets and reporting systems; combining them would overstate what the £4.9 billion local-road projection represents.
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What does the spending increase mean for road users?
The movement from £4.1 billion actual spending in 2024/25 to £4.4 billion in 2025/26 and £4.9 billion projected for 2026/27 indicates a rising planned maintenance effort. The nearly 7,000-mile programme also points to a greater emphasis on preventative treatments. However, the figures do not establish how quickly individual roads will be repaired, how much each authority will receive, or whether every planned mile will be completed.
A previous parliamentary answer said a £500 million local-highways uplift in 2025/26 brought funding to almost £1.6 billion and was estimated to cover 7 million potholes. That is historical policy context, not a count of repairs delivered under the 2026/27 plans.
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How will the plans be checked?
For now, the main limitation is timing: the 2026 returns remain provisional. The Department for Transport’s planned publication of final disaggregated data and local-road maintenance ratings in early 2027 should allow comparisons between authorities’ plans and their reported delivery. Until then, the £4.9 billion figure is best understood as a current projection, while the treatment-mileage and pothole-method figures remain council self-reports.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will every English council receive a share of the £4.9bn?
The £4.9 billion is an aggregate of authority-reported local-highway maintenance plans, not a uniform national allocation. Individual council amounts depend on their own budgets, programmes and funding arrangements.
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No. It covers local roads maintained by English authorities. Motorways and major A-roads sit in the separate strategic-road programme managed by National Highways.
When will final figures for the 2026/27 programme be available?
The Department for Transport says it plans to publish final, disaggregated returns and local-road maintenance ratings in early 2027. The current £4.9 billion figure is provisional until that review is complete.
Can councils lose incentive money for missing targets?
Yes. The £220 million announced on 21 October 2026 is performance-linked. The government says later funding can be withheld from councils that fail to meet the required targets.
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