Road maintenance top priority for £41m investment programme in county roads and transport

Major new maintenance and transport schemes worth up to £41 million to repair the county’s roads, tackle surface water flooding, improve pavements and reduce traffic congestion will be discussed by County Councillors at next week’s Cabinet meeting (24th July).

The 2025/26 budget for the county’s road maintenance programme, funded by the Department for Transport, totals £37 million –  £13.8 million more than the county council expected.

Almost two thirds of the maintenance funding – £24 million – has been earmarked for road repair schemes. 

The money will be targeted at key ‘A’, ‘B’ and residential roads across the county to fix potholes and to repair and resurface roads.

Major repairs to the county’s roads this summer include:

• a £3.6 million surface dressing programme, at 57 sites across Derbyshire
• micro asphalt repairs to 79 residential roads at a cost of £930,000
• patching work to repair roads ahead of next year’s surface dressing programme at 111 sites across the county
• the annual dual carriageway repair and tidy programme at 27 ‘A’ roads across Derbyshire.

Councillor Charlotte Hill, Cabinet Member for Potholes, Highways Assets and Transport said: “Potholes and road maintenance are a number one priority for local people, and our administration. Our commitment to improve our roads is backed with a major investment this year of £24 million in repairs, as part of the wider £41 million transport investment programme.

"We’ve already got 22 pothole teams working across the county with plans for an additional four teams to join them, helping us to fix us to fix up to 1,400 potholes every week.

“This money marks a start towards tackling significant under investment in our road network and infrastructure for many, many years, but more money will be needed from central Government and our Mayor and I will be making the case to champion Derbyshire at every opportunity.”

How the money will be spent to maintain Derbyshire’s roads and transport network in 2025/26

• Road maintenance repairs £24.2 million – 64.7%
• Pavements    £2.769 million – 7.4%
• Drainage and flood relief schemes    £423,000 – 1.1%
• Bridges, retaining walls and highway boundary structures £1.425 million – 3.8%
• Landslip site investigations and temporary solutions £1.025 million – 2.7%
• Signs, lines and signals    £660,000 – 1.8%
• Street lighting    £450,000 – 1.2%
• Public rights of way    £315,000 – 0.8%
• Cycle routes    £20,000    – 0.1%
• Greenways    £283,000 – 0.8%
• Contingency to cover unexpected issues like inflation, emergencies etc. £5.873 million – 15.7%

Total: £37.503 million     
 
New schemes to improve travel and transport across Derbyshire

• Congestion management schemes including new signing, better lighting and pedestrian crossings. £1.070 million – 29.1%
• Key Cycle Network investment to support the development of recreational cycle routes across the county. £550,000 – 15%
• Local cycling and walking routes.  £30,000    – 0.8%
• Bus and travel to work scheme improvements including long term, low-cost moped hire, bus shelters and bus arrival/departure information at stops. £910,000 – 24.8%
• Road safety including crash barriers, drainage improvements and interactive speed warning signs £762,000  – 20.8%
• Air quality. £195,000 – 5.3%
• Contingency to cover unexpected issues like inflation, weather related emergencies etc. £154,000 – 4.2%

Total: £3.671 million     
Grand total: £41.174 million.

To report a pothole or any other fault on the road including a damaged road sign or faulty traffic light, please visit derbyshire.gov.uk/reportit

To find out details about any current or forthcoming roadworks in the county, including schedules and diversion routes, visit one.network/uk/derbyshire