Drivers in England will be capable to see how native authorities are tackling roads riddled with potholes through a brand new mapping software and visitors mild ranking system.
Thirteen native authorities – together with Cumberland, Bolton, Kensington and Chelsea, Bedford, West Northamptonshire, North Lincolnshire and Derbyshire – have acquired a “red” ranking based mostly on the situation of their roads and the way successfully they’re spending authorities funding to hold out repairs.
Essex, Wiltshire, Coventry, Leeds and Darlington are among the many councils to be given a inexperienced ranking on the Department for Transport (DfT) map.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander mentioned drivers had been left to pay the worth “for too long”.
She informed the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg that folks have been “fed up of driving to work and hitting the same pothole day after day”, with drivers paying a whole lot of kilos for “needless trips to the garage”.
She mentioned the federal government was giving councils extra funding to keep up roads and that it was “absolutely vital that the public has a mechanism to then see what is happening with that money”.
The authorities dedicated £7.3bn in November’s Budget to repair roads over the subsequent 4 years.
The DFT rated 154 native freeway authorities as purple, amber or inexperienced based mostly on street circumstances and the way properly they have been utilizing authorities funds.
The overwhelming majority have been rated as amber, that means they have been patching up roads and had preventative measures in place however there was nonetheless room for enchancment.
Derbyshire – as soon as rated the “pothole capital of the UK” – scored the bottom for street upkeep.
In December, the RAC discovered that Derbyshire had acquired the largest enhance in claims for compensation for potholes between 2021 and 2024. The council’s cupboard member for potholes, highways and transport, Charlotte Hill, mentioned claims had fallen by 72% since May 2025.
Councils rated purple will obtain further assist, together with a further £300,000 every, to assist them enhance.
The authorities mentioned that future funding can be “linked to performance” to encourage councils to make use of “taxpayer money efficiently to repair and maintain their roads before potholes form”.
Alexander mentioned no information had beforehand been collected on potholes – nor was there an official definition of 1 – so the federal government was gathering information “in a way that hasn’t been done before”.
She informed Sky News the map assessed areas based mostly on three components – the situation of the street, the extent of funding being put in and the extent to which the native authority was “using best practice and providing value for money”.
The UK is assumed to have multiple million potholes, resulting in 25,758 incidents in 2025, in response to the RAC.
The RAC says broken roads result in dozens of great accidents, accidents and breakdowns yearly.
The motoring group says drivers pay a mean of £590 for pothole injury – however some are out of pocket by greater than £1,000.
Common automobile issues attributable to potholes embody broken shock absorbers, damaged suspension springs and distorted wheels.
Tom Hunt, chair of the Local Government Association’s Inclusive Growth Committee, mentioned the “boost in funding is a helpful step in the right direction.”
He added that councils confronted a £17bn backlog of street repairs, and that “long term funding certainty” and preventative measures would assist to avoid wasting tax payers’ cash and scale back the necessity for repairs.
Shadow transport secretary Richard Holden mentioned: “A map won’t stop tyres blowing or suspensions snapping.
“Motorists, already being squeezed tight by Labour, deserve actual motion to again them.”
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckgj1m1ze8go?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss