DfT graded road maintenance performance. Here’s how North West councils did

Wigan Council and Manchester City Council received “green” scores, while Bolton Council, Westmorland and Furness Council, and Cumberland Council were given “red” status.

The Department for Transport looked at the performance of 154 local authorities across England when it comes to potholes, resurfacing, and improving road resilience. Using a traffic light-themed system, the worst-performing councils were given red scores, while the best received green.

Most local authorities were granted “amber” status. You can scroll down to the bottom of this story to see the full list of North West councils and how they were graded.

Wigan Cllr Paul Prescott, the authority’s cabinet portfolio holder for planning, environmental services, and transport, welcomed DfT’s green score for the council.

“Wigan Council is one of only 16 out of 154 councils to achieve a ‘green’ rating for the conditions of our road network, which includes more than 1,000km of roads. This places us in the top 11% in the country,” he said.

“We take the approach that ‘prevention is better than cure’, with proactive works to tackle problems before they happen,” Prescott continued.

He detailed how the council invests 90% of its roads budget on preventative maintenance. He added that the council also reacts quickly to issues when they occur, with 99% of emergency highways problems repaired in less than 24 hours.

While Wigan Council celebrated its achievement, Westmorland and Furness Council had questions regarding the ranking.

The council noted that it had received an amber grade on each of the three categories the DfT explored when scoring: the current condition of local roads, how much is spent on maintaining local roads, and how effectively best practice for maintenance is used.

Westmorland and Furness Cllr Peter Thornton, cabinet member for highways and ICT, said: “We do not understand why amber ratings in the three categories are then translated into an overall red rating, which we do not accept reflects the overall performance of our rural authority.

“Our network has scale, rurality, and historic assets which make maintenance uniquely challenging, but we are determined to meet these challenges head-on and build on the progress already achieved.”

Westmorland and Furness Council and Cumberland Council faced an additional hurdle with the DfT ranking as well – as new councils they could only provide three years of data rather than the five years required by DfT.

Thornton said: “As a new authority with a limited range of data to offer we will be actively engaging with the DfT to understand the methodology behind the overall rating and to identify steps for improvement.”

The Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning, and Transport – a body that represents council place directors and their teams – asked for clarity on DfT’s methodology.

ADEPT’s president is Angela Jones, who is also the director of thriving places at Westmorland and Furness Council.

Jones said: “We need to ensure the ratings fairly reflect genuine progress across different local authority areas – in the future, we believe local authorities should have the opportunity to verify data and clarify any factual questions before ratings are published, to ensure accuracy and build confidence in the system.”

She continued: “While the £7.3bn investment announced in the Budget last year represents a step forward, it follows decades of underfunding that left local roads in a fragile state – it is just the start of what is needed to tackle the £17bn repair backlog that continues to grow.

“Road condition isn’t simply a measure of council performance – it reflects historic funding levels, traffic volumes, network size and weather impacts.”

Jones said multi-year funding certainty for road maintenance would make a massive impact for councils, enabling them to focus on preventative maintenance. This certainty is part of what the government’s £7.3bn commitment promised.

“However, after decades of underinvestment, it will take time before we see the rate of deterioration slow and meaningful improvements in network condition.”

How North West councils were rated

Cheshire

Cheshire East Council Amber

• Condition: Amber
• Spend: Green
• Best practice: Amber
• Overall: Amber

Cheshire West and Chester Council

• Condition: Amber
• Spend: Green
• Best practice: Amber
• Overall: Amber

Warrington Council

• Condition: Green
• Spend: Green
• Best practice: Amber
• Overall: Amber

Cumbria

Cumberland Council

• Condition: Amber
• Spend: Amber
• Best practice: Amber
• Overall: Red

Westmorland and Furness Council

• Condition: Amber
• Spend: Amber
• Best practice: Amber
• Overall: Red

Greater Manchester

Bolton Council

• Condition: Amber
• Spend: Red
• Best practice: Amber
• Overall: Red

Bury Council

• Condition: Amber
• Spend: Green
• Best practice: Amber
• Overall: Amber

Manchester City Council

• Condition: Amber
• Spend: Green
• Best practice: Green
• Overall: Green

Oldham Council

• Condition: Green
• Spend: Green
• Best practice: Red
• Overall: Amber

Rochdale Council

• Condition: Amber
• Spend: Green
• Best practice: Red
• Overall: Amber

Salford City Council

• Condition: Amber
• Spend: Green
• Best practice: Amber
• Overall: Amber

Stockport Council

• Condition: Amber
• Spend: Green
• Best practice: Amber
• Overall: Amber

Tameside Council

• Condition: Amber
• Spend: Green
• Best practice: Red
• Overall: Amber

Trafford Council

• Condition: Amber
• Spend: Green
• Best practice: Red
• Overall: Amber

Wigan Council

• Condition: Green
• Spend: Green
• Best practice: Amber
• Overall: Amber

Lancashire

Blackburn with Darwen Council

• Condition: Amber
• Spend: Green
• Best practice: Green
• Overall: Amber

Blackpool Council

• Condition: Amber
• Spend: Green
• Best practice: Green
• Overall: Amber

Lancashire County Council

• Condition: Amber
• Spend: Green
• Best practice: Amber
• Overall: Amber

Liverpool City Region

Halton Council

• Condition: Amber
• Spend: Green
• Best practice: Amber
• Overall: Amber

Knowsley Council

• Condition: Amber
• Spend: Green
• Best practice: Amber
• Overall: Amber

Liverpool City Council

• Condition: Amber
• Spend: Green
• Best practice: Amber
• Overall: Amber

Sefton Council

• Condition: Amber
• Spend: Green
• Best practice: Amber
• Overall: Amber

St Helens Council

• Condition: Amber
• Spend: Green
• Best practice: Amber
• Overall: Amber

Wirral Council

• Condition: Amber
• Spend: Green
• Best practice: Green
• Overall: Amber