Road and footways
Road and footways
As the Highway Authority, our aim is to keep the highway network, which includes roads, footways and cycle paths in a safe and accessible condition for all users.
To achieve this, we carry out regular safety inspections by a team of qualified inspectors in line with our Highway Safety Inspection Policy and Code of Practice. This is provided as guidance and standards for our inspectors to use when undertaking safety inspections:
- Highways Safety Inspection Policy (PDF, 530KB)
- Highway Safety Inspection Code of Practice (PDF, 1.37MB)
Our Code of Practice is a risk based approach and it helps to ensure consistency when identifying defects on nearly 2300 kilometres of road, over 2450 kilometres of footway (pavements), and more than 200 kilometres of cycle paths.
We manage our inspections, and any repair works according to the frequencies, standards and response times set out in our Code of Practice. This allows us to maintain the highway network to a reasonable standard, proportionate with available funding, and successfully defend against most third-party insurance claims for damage or injury.
We must undertake any identified repairs until carriageway treatments, patching or resurfacing can be considered based its condition, priority, and funding allocation. We use an asset management approach to how schemes are identified for funding as part of our capital improvement programme. We are currently managing a decline in the condition of the highway network and the demands on our highway maintenance budget far outpaces the funding available to address them, so difficult choices do need to be made about which roads are treated and when.
How we prioritise
Potholes which pose an immediate and critical risk will be made safe within two hours.
Potholes which pose an immediate risk and require urgent attention will be made safe or repaired within 24 hours.
Potholes which are deemed not to cause an immediate risk, can be repaired within longer timescales. The timing of the repairs will be determined on risk and have been divided into three priorities.
- high priority - make safe or repair within five working days
- medium priority – repair within 28 working days
- low priority – pothole recorded and will be re-assessed on next routine safety inspection
Potholes that have been identified as requiring repair but do not pose a safety related concern will be included in our programmed work. This will be completed along with other related work to ensure efficiency and provide value for money.
