On 20 December 2024, the Government announced the 2025/26 highway maintenance funding allocations for all eligible highway authorities and mayoral combined authorities, this included additional funding announced by the Chancellor as part of the 2024 Budget.
Devon County Council’s allocation
Allocation – Baseline
Allocation – New Funding(subject to incentive criteria)
Total Funding (if incentive criteria met)
Devon County Council
£61,117,000
£22,523,000
£83,640,000
The Government announced that 25% of the additional funding for 2025/26 will be contingent on local highway authorities demonstrating to Government that they are complying with certain criteria aimed at driving best practice and continual improvement in highways maintenance practice.
Our highway network
At 13,000km, Devon County Council has the largest road network of any local highway authority in England.
The road network consists of:
8% A Road – major roads providing large-scale transport links within or between areas
5% B Road – roads connecting different areas and feeding traffic between A roads and smaller roads on the network
35% C Road – smaller roads connecting unclassified roads with A and B roads
52% U Class – local roads for local traffic
Only 2,916 km of roads are categorised as urban with the remaining 77% serving local rural communities.
Roads of all types in Devon are heavily affected by seasonal variations in traffic volumes with flows increasing significantly during the summer months. This contributes to congestion, particularly on our principal routes, and increases carriageway deterioration on our minor roads.
The construction of Devon’s roads is diverse, ranging from designed roads constructed to modern standards to those that have evolved from historic tracks built up over the years from layers of different treatments. This presents challenges when managing the asset and maintaining the network in a safe and usable condition.
Devon County Council also has the largest local highway authority bridge stock in the UK at over 3,000 bridges and nearly 2,000 retaining walls. As well as modern bridges, masonry arch bridges represent the majority of highway structures, which also include 95 historic granite clapper (flat stone slab) bridges and a range of other historic listed bridges and scheduled monuments that require specialist knowledge to maintain.
Lengths of highway, footways and cycleways
A road
B/C roads
U roads
Total roads
Footways
Other public rights of way
Cycleways
1,041km
5,170km
6,789km
13,000km
2,806km
5,018km
953km
Exeter to Turin, Italy
Exeter to New York, USA
Exeter to Florida, USA
One third of the circumference of the world
Exeter to Istanbul, Turkey
Further than the coastline of England
Lands End to John o’Groats
Bridges and structures
Bridges
Retaining walls
3,079
1,723 113 km
Around seven times more bridges than there are in Venice
About the same length as Hadrian’s Wall (117.5km)
Traffic signs and other traffic assets
Traffic signs
Traffic signals
Street lighting
250,000
417
80,393
Soft landscape and drainage
Highway trees
Gullies
345,000
212,742
More water than 12 Olympic swimming pools
Highways maintenance spending figures
Year
Capital allocated by DfT (£,000s)
Capital spend (£,000s)
Revenue spend (£,000s)
Estimate of % spent on preventative maintenance
Estimate of % spent on reactive maintenance
2025/26 (projected)
£83,640
£83,166
£31,183
90%
10%
2024/25
£60,876
£74,523
£31,386
89%
11%
2023/24
£68,877
£70,658
£29,179
89%
11%
2022/23
£52,823
£57,096
£25,424
92%
8%
2021/22
£53,323
£65,291
£25,559
94%
6%
2020/21
£75,001
£69,247
£25,935
95%
5%
* In relation to the table, reactive maintenance includes: safety defects, incident reaction and emergencies. Everything else is considered as preventive maintenance.
Additional information on spending
Highway maintenance funding is either a capital or a revenue allocation.
Capital expenditure reflects investment in an asset and is defined as ‘expenditure which adds to, and not merely maintains, the value of a fixed asset.’ Highway works eligible for capital funding include activities that extend the life of the asset, such as resurfacing schemes
Revenue expenditure covers day to day expenditure and income, including works which maintain, rather than increase, the value of a fixed asset. Some example of revenue items are works involving repair of safety defects, minor drainage repairs, grass cutting and winter maintenance.
Highway maintenance activities can be split into either preventative or reactive maintenance.
Preventative maintenance involves inspections, minor repairs, and surface treatments designed to slow deterioration and extend its function. This includes applying protective road surfaces and addressing drainage issues to prevent more severe damage.
Reactive maintenance involves responding to defects, such as potholes, surface failures, and structural weaknesses in order to maintain road safety and usability.
There is a tension between preventing future problems and addressing the problems that are affecting residents today, but as far as possible, the council follows national guidance and therefore seeks to prioritise preventative maintenance. This proactive approach delivers better long-term value for money than more disruptive and expensive reactive maintenance.
Despite the Council’s best efforts to invest in a proactive preventative approach, funding levels and impacts such as inflation and climate change has over time meant that the need for reactive maintenance is becoming more prevalent, leading to a rise in unplanned and disruptive maintenance.
Estimate of number of potholes filled
2021/22
2022/22
2022/23
2023/24
2024/25
55,591
47,324
42,329
56,328
58,824
Devon County Council has a legal duty to keep the highway network safe. Details around how the Council achieves this can be found in the Highway Safety Policy. The policy includes the risk based approach to formal safety inspections, including their frequency dependant on the maintenance category of the highway, and also the defect investigatory criteria that needs to be met to trigger a risk assessment, which in turn will determine a suitable response.
The investigatory criteria used to determine actionable safety defects aligns the Council with many other authorities across the country, and forms part of a wider risk-based approach, ensuring the ongoing safety and accessibility of the network. Further information on the Council’s approach to potholes can be found in the answers to some frequently asked questions.
These figures above represent pothole defects passed to Devon County Council’s term maintenance contractor for repair, with a completion date falling within each financial year. The Council’s pothole repairs are categorised according by size of repair required to support operational efficiency and scheduling, ranging from regular potholes (up to 1sqm), pothole patches (1sqm-4sqm) and large pothole patches (4sqm+). As well as safety defects, the numbers will also contain non-safety or serviceability pothole defects that have been repaired.
Condition of local roads
It is a requirement for local authorities in England to report road condition assessments on their local classified road networks (A, B and C class).
Due to the large proportion of Devon’s network being unclassified (52%), the Council has always taken the approach collecting and reporting condition on all classes of its network. To do this, the Council employ an external organisation to use Surface Condition Assessment for the National Network of Roads (SCANNER) laser-based technology.
A number of parameters measured in these surveys are used to produce a road condition indicator which is categorised into three condition categories:
Green – no further investigation or treatment required.
Amber – maintenance may be required soon.
Red – should be considered for maintenance.
From 2026/27 a new methodology will be used based on the BSI PAS2161 standard. Local highway authorities will be required to use a supplier that has been accredited against PAS2161. This new standard will categorise roads into five categories instead of three to help government gain a more detailed understanding of road condition in England.
*Condition data is collected by lane length over a two-year period (one direction per year)
Percentage of B and C roads in each condition category
Year
Red
Amber
Green
2020
14%
36%
50%
2021
14%
37%
49%
2022
9%
36%
55%
2023
10%
36%
54%
2024
10%
36%
54%
* Condition data for B class is collected by lane length over a two-year period (one direction per year)
* Condition data for C class is collected by lane length over a four-year period (half one direction each year)
Year
Percentage of U roads in the Red category
2020
18%
2021
16%
2022
20%
2023
23%
2024
25%
* Condition data for U Class is collected by lane length over a four-year period (50% one direction per year)
Condition of unclassified roads
Maintenance budgets provide insufficient funding to meet the annual cost of deterioration and consequently the condition of certain elements of the highway asset will get worse. Appropriate funding levels are allocated to the more strategic network to try to maintain their current conditions levels, while managing a decline in the more minor network. This is illustrated in the gradual decline in the Council’s U road network over the last five years.
Additional information on condition
The statistical measure of road condition using SCANNER is designed for road maintenance purposes however may not fully align with the user perception of road condition. Whilst road condition surveys are a tool to identify road sections that require maintenance treatments, the maintenance of roads is not solely determined by the result of these surveys. Other factors, based on local needs and priorities, will determine where maintenance is carried out to ensure the safety and longevity of the entire road network through a risk-based, asset management approach.
Technology and innovation in the highway sector is moving at pace. One area that appears to be moving more swiftly than some is within digital technologies. Amongst other items this includes the introduction and development of AI (Artificial Intelligence) systems to provide a variety of services for highway authorities, which includes condition surveys.
Changes in road condition reporting standards by the DfT, as highlighted above are also driving development in the market, leading to a greater choice and opportunities for maximising efficiency and accuracy in service delivery.
To ensure appropriate governance was afforded to this area, the authority has established a Digital Innovation Assessment Group (DIAG) which meets monthly. The main function of this group is to provide centralised analysis and assessment of technology across the sector and direct any trials that may be offered, and act as a knowledge base for any incoming enquiries.
Plans
Overall strategy
In accordance with national guidance and best practice, the Council adopt an asset management approach to maintenance.
The UK Roads Leadership Group has produced national guidance for highway Infrastructure asset management and define asset management as:
‘A systematic approach to meeting the strategic need for the management and maintenance of highway infrastructure assets through long term planning and optimal allocation of resources in order to manage risk and meet the performance requirements of the authority in the most efficient and sustainable manner.’
The Council’s Highway Infrastructure Asset Management Plan (HIAMP) is a suite of documents that ensure that key asset groups have the right maintenance strategies in place, that fit within a wider framework of prioritisation and transparency.
Maintenance budgets do not provide sufficient funding to meet the annual cost of deterioration and consequently the condition of certain elements of the highway asset will get worse. The Council’s strategy in this area will be to manage and mitigate that decline.
The Council’s maintenance strategy focuses on four key pillars:
Hierarchy
Constraints on funding and resources mean that it is not possible to maintain every part of the network to the same standard.
The Council will continue to prioritise available funding on the more strategic parts of the network, such as A and B carriageway classes, with the remaining budget spread across Devon’s lengthy road network of ‘C’ and unclassified roads
Preventative maintenance
Through the appropriate planned application of thin surface treatments prior to the development of surface and structural defects, road conditions can be managed and maintained far more cost effectively, as well as road lifespans extended – potentially indefinitely. The Council continues to invest in such programmes as surface dressing and developing asset intelligence to ensure that timely preventative interventions take place.
Whole lifecycle approach
A whole lifecycle asset management approach sits at the heart of the Code of Practice, which makes clear recommendations on treating the highway asset in its entirety and not as separate components. The Council aims to, where possible, combine maintenance functions within single road closures, minimising disruption and maximising value for money.
Innovation and learning
To best face the challenges of maintaining a vital yet fragile network, especially within an insufficient funding framework, means that the Council continues to encourage innovation and reflection by engaging internally and externally with employees and partners.
Like all authorities, Devon is facing significant financial pressures. The additional effects of climate change bring real added challenges for the Council in maintaining its assets. The Highways and Infrastructure Development Service has continued to focus on innovation and engagement with neighbours and peers to ensure it maximises efficiency and effectiveness to drive value for money.
The Council is fortunate to have maintained its materials laboratory. Established in 1952 to monitor the quality of asphalt being produced in the County, it continues to be a leading light nationally and UKAS accredited since 1989. As well as monitoring performance and undertaking investigations the materials laboratory takes the lead on evaluation of new trials and adding vital governance through a Technical Appraisal Panel (TAP).
A separate budget has been established to enable innovation campaigns to take place. The Innovation Programme saw the funding and delivery of ten campaigns during 2024/25, including:
in-situ recycling
asphalt preservation
pipe relining
off road multi-use trail surfacing trial
park and ride condition survey trial
road stud trial
lining trial
structural survey trial
tree survey and management trial
gully reinstatement trial
The learning from these projects is still being captured with some continuing into the 2025/26 financial year as either standalone projects or incorporated into business-as-usual operations.
Specific plans for 2025/26
Each year, the Council produces a report that is approved by Cabinet, which sets out how capital highway maintenance funding is allocated. It reviews the progress delivered during the 2024/25 financial year for the capital programme and details the proposed programmes for capital funding for the 2025/26 financial year.
Note: Some changes to programmes are inevitable, for instance, extreme weather, budget pressures or co-ordination with other works.
Summary of proposed maintenance within the financial year of 2025/26
Maintenance type
Treatment type
Length in km
Number
Preventative
Surface dressing
325
158
Preventative
Micro asphalt
10
25
Preventative
Footway slurry seal
39
77
Preventative
Footway reconstruction
2.5
15
Preventative
Joint fill
32
Preventative
A class resurfacing
23
27
Preventative
B, C and U class resurfacing
14
28
Preventative
Recycling
6.5
4
Reactive
Potholes (estimated)
59,000
* Note – a number of additional schemes are identified throughout the year, and programmes are subject to change, due to factors such as financial pressures and climate change. Pothole figures are an estimate based on 2024/25 figures.
A customisable dashboard of the wider programme allows users to focus on certain electoral divisions, parishes, class of road, and type of scheme.
Streetworks
Devon County Council is a Permitting Authority and its scheme is designed to provide a way for the Street Authority to best deliver its network management duty (NMD), a statutory duty as defined by the Traffic Management Act 2004.
The NMD remains at the core of the authority’s operation which is to secure, as far as reasonably practicable, the expeditious movement of traffic on the network and facilitate the same on other neighbouring authority’s networks.
Street and road works are coordinated and managed on the network to mitigate, using best endeavours, disruption to the public and road users (New Roads & Street Works Act 1991). Specific conditions can be attached to permits to ensure potential disruption is considered by both utilities and the authority while undertaking activities to ensure parity. If the Authority considers more could be done it can impose conditions on the promoter.
When a promoter wishes to undertake works on Devon’s network an application must be made for a permit. Those carrying out works which are not statutory undertakers must apply for a licence. Coordination meetings are held biannually with utility companies as part of its duty to coordinate. This allows for forward programs of work to be shared between the authority and the utility companies allowing opportunities to promote collaboration.
In addition, biannual performance meetings are held with the six key utilities submitting the most permits to the authority. This provides transparency and allows the County Council to hold utilities to account on their performance compared to others to better manage the network, addressing key performance issues which create the most disruption on the network and any specific maters causing concern.
A ‘firm but fair’ approach is used in managing road space. Where it is feasible, activity is enabled rather than a preventative approach being adopted. Access to road space is a requisite feature in street works and, while scrutiny is applied, working cooperatively is the aim and promoters have a duty to cooperate with the authority in its endeavours. Geographically-based enforcement officers inspect and take appropriate action when required.
Through DCC’s Bus Service Improvement Plan and Enhanced Partnership Board, the Traffic Management Group work closely with internal and external colleagues to mitigate the impact of street works on public transport services. DCC also have representation on regional or national groups to ensure regular benchmarking with the activities of other highway authorities.
Current network activity
A number of works take place daily across the county, undertaken by numerous organisations. To help the public plan their journeys as well, as the Council to co-ordinate this activity in order to minimise disruption, a publicly available map of network activity is available via one.network.
It is free to sign-up to and also provides information on the highway networks (M5, A30, A35, A38 and A303) as well as neighbouring authorities.
Climate change, resilience and adaptation
The Council is undertaking the following in response to climate change.
Decarbonising of maintenance operations
Devon operates a real time carbon reporting system. The learning from this has enabled Devon to take a data led approach to decarbonisation. A Highways Decarbonisation plan has been published and is in its 2nd publication. Further supply chain specific Carbon Plans have also been developed, such as a Devon highways Carbon Plan covering Devon’s Term Service Contract.
These strategies have led to improvements in carbon emissions, such as a movement to Hydrated Vegetable Oil where sources are sustainable, low cement concrete, warm mix asphalts, electrified plant and equipment, and bollard recycling initiatives.
Further work to consider low carbon solutions is ongoing.
Understanding network risks from the changing climate and making it more resilient.
Devon CC, working collaboratively with Exeter University, achieved funding from UK Research and Innovation (Principles of full economic costing (fEC) – UKRI) to help consider the impact of climate change on roads and bridges. Although this project is at its early stages, it is hoped it will offer an insight into the long-term approach needed for asset management policies and principles in Devon. The project will also hopefully provide Devon with a better understanding of risks brought by climate change, so we can be better prepared.
Devon is an active member of Live Labs 2, proposing a negative carbon improvement scheme on the A382. This has included the consideration (and in some cases trials) of several new approaches, such as negative carbon aggregate, tree translocation, biochar plants, low emission materials, and improved scheme designs, focusing on carbon reductions.