Local highways maintenance transparency report

The Department for Transport expects all local highways authorities to publish information about their highways maintenance activities to help local taxpayers see the difference that funding is making in their areas.

Transparency report - Core report: How we maintain local roads, pavements, and the wider highway network in West Northamptonshire

A1 – What we are responsible for maintaining

West Northamptonshire Council is the highway authority for highway assets on the local road network and is responsible for managing and maintaining a large and varied highway network that supports everyday journeys, access to services, public transport, local businesses and the wider economy. 

Highway assets include carriageways, footways and cycleways, verges, highway drainage, highway bridges and structures, traffic signs, road markings, traffic signals and public rights of way.

Maintaining these assets safely and efficiently requires regular inspection, condition monitoring, planned maintenance and targeted investment so that the network remains safe, serviceable and resilient for local communities.

• Carriageways: total length of approximately 2486 km
• Footways: total length of approximately 2270 km
• Bridges and structures: 1081 WNC-owned highway structures
• Traffic signals: 98 signalised junctions and 181 signalised pedestrian crossings
• Drainage: including 86086 gullies, 2022 channels and 103 catchpits

Maintaining West Northamptonshire’s highway network is challenging because of its scale, varied asset types and differing ages, condition and lifecycles. The network includes heavily used strategic routes and local access roads, all requiring inspection, prioritisation and timely intervention. 

Traffic levels, safety risks, customer expectations and the need to keep routes available add pressure; while ageing assets and constrained funding can limit long-term renewal. Weather impacts, including flooding, winter conditions and climate-related deterioration, increase demand for reactive repairs and resilience planning.

The strategic highway network of motorway and trunk roads (M1, M45, A5, A14, A45 and A43 south of Northampton) are the responsibility of National Highways to manage and maintain, so are not included within the above figures.

A2 – Road conditions in West Northamptonshire 

A roads

B and C roads

U roads

Councils use road condition surveys to assess the state of their roads.

The results are grouped into three categories:

• Green – the road is in good condition and no further investigation or treatment is required
• Amber – the road may need maintenance soon
• Red – the road is in poor condition and should be considered for maintenance

The published official statistics for road condition include more detail about the methodology, timing and coverage of this data.

Additional information on carriageway condition

We check the condition of roads on the West Northamptonshire local road network every year. We do this using vehicles fitted with high-resolution cameras, which take detailed pictures of the road surface as they travel along the network.

The images are then reviewed using specialist software to help assess the condition of the road. This follows the new national standard, BSI PAS 2161.

Where condition figures remain unchanged, this does not mean that no improvement work has taken place; roads continually deteriorate through use, age and weather, so improvements made to some roads may be offset by deterioration elsewhere on the network.

A3 – What we are doing about potholes and other road defects

What is a pothole?

West Northamptonshire Council defines a carriageway pothole as a defect that meets the minimum level of 40mm or more in depth. A carriageway edge or verge defect is also investigated from 40mm depth, while footway and cycle lane defects are investigated from a minimum of 20mm.

Defects are not identified and repaired on depth alone: highway inspectors apply a risk-based assessment considering the defect’s size, position within the road, road hierarchy, traffic levels, vulnerable users and whether the defect lies in a wheel track or pedestrian desire line.

Response times are: Emergency within 2 hours; P1 within 24 hours; P2 within 7 days; P3 within 28 days; P4 within 26 weeks. 

Potholes form when water enters small cracks or weaknesses in the road surface and damages the layers beneath. Traffic repeatedly passes over the weakened area, causing the surface to break apart.

Freezing and thawing can make this process worse, while prolonged heat can soften materials and widen cracks. Heavy traffic, ageing surfaces, poor drainage and previous utility works can also increase the likelihood and speed of potholes forming.

What we are doing to tackle potholes

West Northamptonshire Council manages potholes through a risk-based inspection and maintenance regime. Safety defects are identified through planned inspections and public reports, assessed according to risk, and repaired within defined timescales as described above.

Our approach prioritises permanent repairs wherever it is safe and practical to do so, while also investing in preventative maintenance such as surface dressing and micro-surfacing to stop potholes forming in the first place. 

We seek to deliver durable, right-first-time repairs and minimise repeat visits; however, safety requirements, traffic management constraints, weather conditions, and the need to coordinate works with wider maintenance programmes can mean that temporary measures are occasionally required before a permanent repair can be completed.

Our “no defect left behind” approach means that, when we attend a road to repair a pothole or other safety defect, we look to extend repairs to pick up any wider deterioration on the edges of each defect, reducing the instances of another pothole forming immediately adjacent in the future. 

We also complete all suitable defect repairs within the same traffic management set-up wherever possible. This means that if crews are already on site, with cones, signs or temporary traffic signals in place, they will aim to repair nearby defects at the same time rather than leaving them for a future visit. 

This helps us make better use of time and resources, reduces the need for repeat visits and further disruption, and helps improve customer satisfaction by dealing with more issues in one visit.

In 2025/26 we fixed 19809 potholes and carried out an additional 102,855 m2 of carriageway repairs.

How members of public can report potholes and other highway defects

The public can report potholes to West Northamptonshire Council using its online reporting system, which is a tailored version of Fix My Street. Reports can be made by entering a postcode, street name or area, using current location, or uploading a photograph, then marking the pothole on a map and providing details.

The Council asks for photos where safe, contact details, a What3Words or grid reference, location description, and approximate pothole size and depth. Urgent safety issues should be reported by phone on 0300 126 7000, or 01604 651074 out of hours.

The public are directed to the following page where they are told how to report potholes: Report potholes or a highway problem.

What happens after a pothole is reported

When a pothole or highway defect is reported online or via telephone for urgent issues, we log it and send it to the appropriate team to review. If the report indicates that it could be an immediate danger, we will deal with it as a priority. 

Other reports are checked by a highway inspector, who will visit the site, assess the defect as described above and if it meets our criteria, we arrange a repair and set a timescale based on the risk.

A4 – What we spend to maintain the highway network and where the funding is coming from

Spending on highways maintenance

Where our funding for highways maintenance comes from 

A5 – Our maintenance plans for this year

Our plans for highways maintenance for 2026-27

During 2026/27 we will be completing the following highway maintenance schemes:

• Carriageway surface dressing to improve carriageway surface texture and prevent further deterioration on 11 km of roads, at five locations, on the A road network
• Carriageway resurfacing and patching across the network, three priority sites completed to date, another six sites identified plus additional sites will be identified and completed during the year 
• Bridge maintenance and repairs of 8 key structures, including parapet and wing wall repairs, arch strengthening and footbridge deck replacement.  Also, a number of minor maintenance repairs with be identified from bridge inspections and completed during the year
• Drainage improvement work at 3 key locations and other investigations ongoing to highlight additional priority sites
• Traffic signal upgrading works at 4 key junctions in Northampton

Full list of planned carriageway and footway works

Our works schedules are updated throughout the year along with live performance data on our network at wnc.ai/wise

How decisions are made on our maintenance plans

We prioritise highway maintenance using an evidence-led, risk-based asset management approach. Safety is the first consideration, with urgent defects identified through routine inspections, public reports and operational monitoring addressed in line with the Highway Safety Inspection Manual. 

Planned works are prioritised using asset condition data, lifecycle modelling and the Holistic Evaluation and Assessment Tool (HEAT), which scores schemes against condition, safety, network importance, efficiency, customer/stakeholder factors and wider impacts.

This ensures investment is targeted where it delivers the greatest benefit, particularly on critical routes, high-use assets and locations where deterioration could affect safety, resilience or accessibility. We also use preventative maintenance to treat assets at the right point in their lifecycle, reducing future costs and avoiding more disruptive repairs.

Efficiency is delivered through coordinated forward programmes, combining works where possible, sharing road space, using innovation and new materials, monitoring performance, and working collaboratively with service providers, utilities and stakeholders.

Last updated 14 September 2026