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Road resurfacing fund

Road resurfacing fund

Resources for local road resurfacing, emphasising innovation, sustainability, and efficient maintenance strategies.

Made possible by reallocated HS2 funding.

Additional local highways maintenance funding for Northumberland

In October 2023, the government announced £8.3 billion for highways maintenance. This covers 2023-2024 and the next 10 years for local road resurfacing and wider maintenance. Allocated across the next 11 years, it will represent an increase of around two-thirds in Department for Transport (DfT) support for local roads.

An extra £2.768 million has been awarded for both 2023-2024 and 2024-2025. This is in addition to £3.782 million awarded in March 2023. This new money is additional to the existing annual Highways Maintenance Block (HMB) and Pothole Fund awards.

Our highway network in Northumberland is over 3,000 miles long and valued at over £5.8 billion. It is the largest asset for which the council is responsible. It is used regularly by many people who live and work in Northumberland. Ensuring a safe, reliable, and resilient highway network is fundamental to the county's success. We want to ensure this asset continues to support our corporate commitments.

We have significantly developed our approach to asset management in highways. However, we recognise we are in a challenging environment, with assets that deteriorate over time without maintenance. Increasing traffic volumes and climate change impacts are also factors. It is essential that we use the available resources effectively. Asset management principles must be embedded in our approach to managing the highway infrastructure.

Innovative road maintenance technologies

We're using multiple technologies and innovation to deliver maintenance services across Northumberland.

Northumberland is using artificial intelligence (AI) road assessment technology to identify the condition of network assets. This has recently extended to signs, road gullies, and road markings. Data is captured by our highway inspectors using cameras in Electric Vehicles (EV). It is then linked to our back office systems, feeding into our asset management software. This gives a full picture of the current and previous road conditions. Read the Vaisala case study (PDF).

Road reconstruction projects will be captured digitally and mapped with all project information. This will be integrated into our asset management systems, providing increased data for future and life cycle planning.

We are currently utilising warm temperature asphalt, averaging 12,000Tonnes. This equates to approximately 50Tonnes of carbon savings, offsetting the carbon our fleets create during surfacing operations.

We also have an extensive Cold Recycled Bound Material (CRBM) programme. This allows us to process hazardous materials within the existing road surface, recycle them, and place them back into new road maintenance works.

We have completed projects using plastic in roads and tyre crumb.

The council completes an extensive annual surface dressing programme, delivering over 400,000metres squared. They use micro-surfacing products on selected roads within the area.

We're working closely with suppliers on carbon neutral surfacing projects. We are also utilising more warm temperature asphalt.

Utility Works how we ensure utility works are completed in an organised and efficient manner

Northumberland implemented a permit scheme in 2020. This provided the Streetworks team with increased rigour and control measures compared to the previous noticing regime. It helps coordinate all notifiable works on the network to minimise the impact on residents and the travelling public.

Permit schemes allow authorities to add conditions to any permit before it is granted. This ensures that specific work methodologies are used to minimise disruption. Examples include limiting working hours to off-peak only and ensuring all Traffic Management (TM) is removed at the end of each day where safe. It may also specify the location where spoil can be stored to remove the need for any TM.

Proposed permit durations are challenged if deemed excessive. This ensures that no statutory undertaker occupies the highways longer than required. Site visits are used where appropriate to investigate if altering the proposed approach is possible. This may allow downscaling or removing the need for TM.

The Streetworks team uses One.Network, a national coordination tool, to avoid clashes of works. It also identifies potential opportunities for collaboration. The team hosts a quarterly coordination meeting to highlight major upcoming schemes to all works promoters in the county. This helps identify potential clashes, sequence them correctly, and ideally undertake them in collaboration to reduce the overall occupation of the highway.

Additional highways maintenance works made possible by Budget 2023

Additional highways maintenance works made possible by reallocated HS2 funding

Investment in the Maintenance of Local Highway Networks

Budget year Total DfT capital grant funding Total amount of capital investment in the maintenance of local highway networks (from council and DfT grant funding streams) Total amounts of revenue spend on the maintenance of local highway networks
2019/20 £21,452,991 £23,906,957 £8,907,000
2020/21 £20,154,799 £32,084,665 £10,387,000
2021/22 £23,390,261 £35,060,369 £11,658,000
2022/23 £24,046,646 £29,438,608 £12,972,000
2023/24 (budget) £31,178,537 £40,785,456 £14,389,000
2024/25 (budget) £24,745,124 £31,763,345