Local highway maintenance funding 2025-2026

Our highway network

Please provide information about the highways network that your authority manages. This is to help local people understand what you are responsible for. You should consider including the data below.

Lengths of highways, footways and cycleways

Type of highway	Length in kilometres (km)
A road	149 km
B and C roads	170 km
U roads	348 km
Total roads	667 km
Other public rights of way	311 km
Cycleways	3.83 km

You may also wish to provide information about other structures or assets you manage and any wider contextual information you feel is relevant. The suggested word limit is 250 words.

Highways maintenance spending figures

Year	Capital allocated by DfT (£)	Capital spend (£)	Revenue spend (£)	Estimate of percentage spent on preventative maintenance	Estimate of percentage spent on reactive maintenance
2025 to 2026 projected	£4,327,000	£1,908,869	£6,911,670	82%	18%
2024 to 2025	£3,920,000	£6,672,090	£5,026,686	79%	21%
2023 to 2024	£4,403,600	£7,163,809	£3,845,974	88%	12%
2022 to 2024	£3,577,000	£4,569,920	£3,731,173	82%	18%
2021 to 2022	£3,577,000	£4,446,715	£3,960,580	80%	20%
2020 to 2021	£4,505,000	£6,087,117	£5,024,362	81%	19%

Information on capital funding allocated by DfT is available.

Additional information on spending

Please add additional information or context on spending such as, for example, a description of the types of activities that are funded under each heading.

For your preventative maintenance spend, for example, please specify how many miles of network you have resurfaced or plan to resurface and how many structures you have maintained / planned to maintain.

For your reactive maintenance spend, please specify what proportion of this is on pothole repair and how many potholes you estimate have been filled in each of the last 5 years.

Please also explain how you determine the split between preventative and reactive and how you are trying to increase the proportion of your spend that is on preventative maintenance. The suggested word limit is 500 words.

Estimate of the number of potholes filled

Year	Estimate of the number of potholes filled
2024 to 2025	2791
2023 to 2024	2495
2022 to 2024	1734
2021 to 2022	1078
2020 to 2021	894

Condition of local roads

Set out information about the overall state of your network, including what percentage of your roads are in what condition, and how this has changed in recent years (in other words, highlighting for your residents the local level information that has formed the RDC01 data.

Please provide at least 5 years’ worth of data. You may also wish to include any ohttps://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/roadcondition-statistics-data-tables-rdc#condition-of-local-authority-managed-roads-rdc01ther information that you think might help members of the public to understand what this data means and the reasons for any trends.

Percentage of A roads in each condition category

Year	Percentage of A roads in red category	Percentage of A roads in amber category	Percentage of A roads in green category
2020	3.8%	24.2%	72%
2021	3.5%	23%	73.4%
2022	NA%	NA%	NA%
2023	3.4 %	22%	74.6%
2024	6.4%	21.5%	72.1%

Describe frequency of collection for A road data.  Collections are carried out annually.

Percentage of B and C roads in each condition category

Year	Percentage of B and C roads in red category	Percentage of B and C roads in amber category	Percentage of B and C roads in green category
2020	3.9%	24.95%	71.15%
2021	3.9%	24.95%	71.15%
2022	NA%	NA%	NA%
2023	4.75%	26.5%	68.75%
2024	5.95%	26.85%	67.2%

Describe frequency of collection for B and C road data. Collection is carried out annually.

Percentage of U roads in the red condition category

Year	Percentage of U roads in red category
2020	NA%
2021	NA%
2022	NA%
2023	NA%
2024	NA%

Please also provide a brief description your approach to understanding the condition of U roads in your area. If you would like to include other data on U roads and the trends in their condition, please do so here.  Due to budget restraints, at present U Roads in RBWM are not surveyed by scanner or other formal methods.  U Roads are inspected by the Highway Inspectors using CVI/DVI as part of the routine inspections. 

You may also wish to include text along the following lines to explain how road condition is monitored.

Road condition assessments on the local classified road network in England are currently made predominantly using 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 3 condition categories:

• green – no further investigation or treatment required.
• amber – maintenance may be required soon.
• red – should be considered for maintenance.

From 2026 to 2027 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 5 categories instead of 3 to help government gain a more detailed understanding of road condition in England.

Additional information on condition

Optional section – if you wish to add additional information or context on condition, for example, about significant factors skewing the numbers or further information on wider asset condition, please provide that here. The suggested word limit is 250 words.

% figures in red on A,B & C roads showed a  decrease in 2024. RBWM moved to a new survey supplier in 2024, which could account for the sudden change.

Plans

Overall strategy

Describe your current approach to asset management/highway maintenance. The suggested word limit is 250 words.

RBWM’s current approach is as set out in our Highway Asset Management Plan (HAMP).  The HAMP is in aligned with the Nationally recognised UK Roads Liaison Group Code of Practice. 

The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead is responsible for the maintenance of the majority of the highway assets in the borough.  These assets include carriageway, footways, bridges, public rights of way, highway verges, ditches and drainage, street lighting, traffic signals, signs and street furniture.  

The carriageway and footway are essential to us meting the objectives of exercising the highest standards of care and control over the assets and resources available, ensuring that these are protected from the risk of loss, damage or misuse, are used in the most efficient, effective and economic way and deliver services in a way that represents the best value for money achievable.  As such a valuable and heavily used asset needs considerable expenditure to maintain an appropriate condition.  

To manage RBWM’s assets in line with national policy, RBWM has the following objectives:

• To utilise up to date information to understand asset condition and maintenance requirements.
• To adopt life cycle planning techniques to inform asset investment need and to provide evidence for business cases and funding applications.
• To use whole life costing principles to minimise the cost of asset ownership over the long term.
• To provide senior officers and elected Members of the Council with the information required to make informed decisions.

What are you doing to follow best practice and deliver innovation and efficiency. The word limit is 250 words.

Specific plans for 2025 to 2026

Please answer the following questions:

• which parts of your network will be benefiting from this activity? 
  The whole of the borough will benefit from highway maintenance during 25/26.  The scrim and scanner data drives our resurfacing programme, whilst the highway inspector’s safety inspections drives our patching programme.
• what will be the split between preventative and reactive works? 
  There is no mathematical split between preventative and reactive works.  We use the data provided by scrim and scanner, as well as the highways inspectors, residents, report it forms all drive the reactive in works, as well as seasonal weather.   However the emphasis at RBWM is towards preventative works rather than reactive works.
• how many miles of carriageway are you planning to resurface?  
  Currently c.10.3km (6.4 miles) of carriageway planned for resurfacing in 2025/26.
• how many footways do you plan to improve?  
  During the financial year of 25/26 we are programmed to undertake footway maintenance at 10 separate locations across the borough. These sites are highlighted from the highways inspections which are undertaken.  We then also undertake reactive works in year depending on completed report it forms from residents, seasonal weather and any issues which may occur through the year, which could be in the region of 15.
• which of your structures do you plan to repair? 
  3no. Structures for Expansion Joint Replacement (Cuckoo Wier, Common Ditch and Eton Wick).
  Parapet Repair - Victoria Bridge.
  Masonry Repairs - Fleetwood Memorial Bridge.
  Retaining Wall Reconstruction - Hogs Bridge.
  Culvert Reconstruction - Holyport Green Culvert.
  Deck Plate tightening / Replacement - Jesus Hospital Bridge.
• how many potholes do you estimate you will fill in during 2025 to 2026? We estimate 2900 potholes being filled in 2025 to 2026.  

These will inevitably be rough estimates but may help to paint a picture for members of the public.

Streetworks

Please set out what your authority is doing to minimise the disruption caused by streetworks and to ensure that these are planned and coordinated effectively.

RBWM operates under a Permit Scheme which was introduced in 2016. All the permits relating to works are assessed individually and on their own merits. 

The officers ensure that where possible the requested works are coordinated by a single statutory undertaker to cause minimum disruption and where possible ask that statutory undertakers collaborate on their works if they fall within the same footprint. 

In addition we challenge the duration of the proposed works reducing the number of days the statutory undertakers occupy the road network. 

In addition we have quarterly performance meetings with statutory undertakers where their performance is discussed in detail. We have biannual coordination meetings where representatives of all statutory undertakers are invited to attend to discuss any schemes/works that can assist with collaborative works. 

Our Network Management Team ensures that the impact to the network is reduced by major development schemes, requesting that the developers and their contractors coordinate their works to reduce real loss of time on the network.  

Climate change, resilience and adaption

Please set out briefly what you are doing to:   

• decarbonise your maintenance operations.
• understand the risks your network faces from the changing climate and to make them more resilient. 
  The Council's maintenance operations are located at its Tinkers Lane depot. The Council has completed energy surveys of the site recently to identify opportunities for carbon reduction. As a result of this feasibility work, new upgraded lighting was installed throughout to reduce energy and carbon. Further work is underway to look at the heating system and low carbon alternatives to deliver heat to the building.
• The Council has also been trialling sustainable road repair technology to further reduce its carbon emissions. 

Our term maintenance contractor compile a carbon reduction plan containing various initiatives to assist in the reduction of carbon usage through highway maintenance activities, to assist in achieving the target of net-zero operations, construction and maintenance. 

This plan contains a suite of initiatives aimed at reducing Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, reviewed at least annually and monitored against baseline targets to ensure continued delivery against targets.

Examples include:

• Fuel – switch to alternative fuels, electric for smaller vehicles, Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) for larger vehicles as a direct replacement for diesel, is a significant area of charge. It is intended that all highway maintenance vehicles will undertake this transition by 2026.
• Plant – use of electric battery operated plant removes the need for diesel generators and ensures a quieter, greener and cleaner operation.
• Increased recycling and reduced usage of virgin aggregates through newer innovative maintenance practices such as thermal patching and asphalt preservation continue to drive carbon efficiency in maintenance practices.
• Use of lower temperature asphalts including cold applied micro-surfacing and warn-mix asphalts shows significant saving against more traditional methods. RBWM are happy to trial new systems or products which may promote further advances wherever practicable.
• Our term contractor and their sub contractors operate company travel plans to minimise individual journeys and offer incentives on a range of more sustainable travel options such as cycle to work schemes.
• Waste management is robustly managed to minimise waste to landfill, and to reward recycling at every opportunity, resulting in very positive trends in terms of recycling percentages.
• Environmentally lean reviews of all activities (e.g. video conferencing, reduced printing etc) continue to make small gains across our activity range.
• Understand the risks our network faces from the changing climate and to make them more resilient

Our term contractors planning ensures that the highway network in RBWM remains robust, safe and serviceable throughout any period of severe weather and that the potential impacts of such weather are identified, considered and mitigated insofar as is reasonably practicable. 

This includes:

• Flood resilience – our flood team identify and regularly review areas of the Borough which are prone to flooding, the majority of which are related to periods of spate of the Rover Thames. A number of communities have been identified as vulnerable and thus specific plans are in place and regularly tested, to mitigate the impacts. These plans are bespoke to each community and include traffic management planning, temporary closures of vulnerable roads, traffic re-routing, resource management, advance signing, availability and delivery of sandbags and availability of pumping equipment amongst other measures.
• Winter maintenance – our Winter Service Plan is updated annually following a review of previous season and current national guidance to ensure that the service remains robust and resilient, and that salt stocks remain sufficient throughout the winter season to cope with exceptional weather events. Rigorous testing prior to season commencement ensures that the requirements of the Service Plan are in place and deliverable throughout the winter season.
• High temperatures - engagement via our robust supply chain and specialist surfacing contractors/partners enables us to identify products which are less vulnerable to high temperatures over warmer months. This includes polymer modification in areas of vulnerability or high stress to ensure additional durability and resistance to rutting, fatting or other potential consequences of temperature fluctuation.
• Wind – tree stocks are subject to regular survey and review, including adjacent trees which may impact the highway, with a system of either enforcement of prioritised action ensuring that risks are identified, prioritised and mitigated.
• Emergency response – resilience is regularly modelled and tested to ensure that, should any impact occur which affects the highway network, suitable resources are available and can be brought to site promptly to effect any closure of other temporary measures which may be required to return the network to normal operation within short timescales.
• The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead is one of the most at risk areas in the country from flooding. Over the last 3 years, there has been a significant increase in the number of flood events reported to the Council (2023 - 376, 2024 - 742) and as Lead Local Flood Authority, is in the process of refreshing its existing Flood Risk Management Plan to help it manage better flood risk in the Borough.
• In 2025/26 the Council is spending £300,000 on improving highways drainage across its road network to deal with the heavier, more intense rainfall events that we are seeing.
• In addition, the Council has recently installed rain gardens as part of a junction improvement project to improve the resilience of its network. More information on the scheme can be found here: Norfolk Park | RBWM Together.

Additional information on plans

Optional section – if you wish to add additional information or context on your plans, for example, with links to wider projects you are undertaking, or ways local people can access more information, please provide this here. The word limit is 250 words. 

Our capital programmes are published through the RBWM communication channels which are in place – residents newsletter, councillors weekly newsletter.  We also look at additional opportunities and funding to improve our network.

Annex B - incentive element questions

What is your local authority’s assessment of the Gross Replacement Cost / Asset Value of your total highway assets (including bridges, cycleways, footways, drainage, trees et cetera but excluding land), using the HAMFIG or CIPFA methodology and the last available rates?

Table 8: Asset valuation report figures for 2023-2024

Asset group	GRC (£'000)	DRC (£'000)
Carriageways	£1,382,157	£153,797
Footways	£289,488	£145,085
Highways structures	£205,776	-£11,110
Street lighting	£34,784	-£1,025
Traffic management	£12,723	£7,196
Street furniture	£1,738	-£15,433
Highway land area (m²)	£3,540,707	£3,540,707
Trees	£301,991
Gross Replacement Cost (GRC)	£5,769,364
Depreciated Replacement Cost (DRC)		£3,819,217
Depreciation	30%

What percentage of your current asset value has been spent on maintenance in each of the last 5 years? 

Year	Proportion of CA value spent on Maintenance
2025 to 2026 projected    N/A	N/A
2024 to 2025	7%
2023 to 2024	15%
2022 to 2023	6%
2021 to 2022	7%
2020 to 2021	16%

Does your local authority use a Customer Service / Satisfaction Survey such as the NHT network? If so, who do you use and how does this get factored into maintenance operations? 

Yes part take in the NHT Survey biannually.

Does your authority carry out benchmarking of its performance with other authorities and can you provide evidence of that? 

Through the NHT Survey ,  as well as regular Highways and Transport meetings held across Berkshire.

Do you have a highways asset management performance management framework against which you are regularly tracking performance? 

No we don't.

What are your key performance indicators (KPIs) for maintenance? 

Percentage 24hr orders responded to on time.

Does your authority have, and can you provide a weblink to:

• a Highways Asset Management Plan (HAMP).
• a resilient network plan.

Can you confirm that your local authority has provided, or will provide, DfT with all of the data required under the annual single data list requirements in 2025, namely:

• 130-01: principal roads where maintenance should be considered - Yes.
• 130-02: non-principal classified roads where maintenance should be considered - Yes.
• 130-03: skidding resistance data - Yes.
• 130-04: carriageway work done from April 2024 to March 2025 - Yes.
• 251-01: winter salt stock holdings for winter 2025:
  Stock at start of season – 807 tonnes.
  Delivered in season – 738 tonnes. 
  Remaining in stock at end of season - 160 tonnes.