Overview
- The Department for Transport issued formal guidance on Tuesday requiring councils to publish detailed transparency reports by September 2026 that show how they repair roads and prevent repeat pothole failures.
- Councils that fail to publish the reports or follow the guidance risk having almost a third of this year’s highways maintenance funding withheld as part of new enforcement measures.
- The guidance will be used to update the government’s red/amber/green (RAG) ratings for local highway authorities and to target extra specialist support to red-rated councils, including around £300,000 of expert help.
- The changes are backed by a record £7.3 billion of long-term road funding intended to shift local practice from short-term 'patch up' repairs to preventative resurfacing that reduces repeat fixes and safety risks.
- Public pressure and Freedom of Information data showing more than 3.4 million pothole reports and 144,230 compensation claims between 2022–2025 helped drive the transparency push and give taxpayers a new way to compare local performance.