Transparency data

Highways maintenance and ITB funding formula allocations, 2020 to 2021

Updated 20 December 2023

Applies to England

Introduction

The repair of potholes and preventing them from forming is only one element to improve the condition for all road users. Well maintained highways not only improve local productivity but also the environment by reducing delays, and also makes cycling, horse riding and walking more attractive. The government is providing guidance and funding to highway authorities to ensure that our local roads and other highway assets are fit for the future.

The funding allocated to each local highway authority in England in 2020/21 is based on a formula using 2019 road length data provided by each local authority, and also takes into account the number of highways assets such as bridges and lighting columns for which they are each responsible for.

Existing and previous funding

Local highways maintenance – needs element funding – equivalent to £725 million in 2020/21

This existing needs based formula totals £4.7 billion over the 6-year funding period between 2015/16 and 2020/21. In 2020/21, the £725 million has been reduced to £674 million, as the needs element funding is not applicable to local authorities who have opted to receive their retained business rates instead.

It is important to note that authorities not retaining business rates have not been affected by this change.

Local highways maintenance – incentive/efficiency element funding – equivalent to £151 million in 2020/21

The incentive element funding totals £578 million between 2016/17 and 2020/21, however for 2020/21 the amount available to local highways authorities has been reduced to £139.74 million as some local authorities receive their retained business rates instead of the incentive element. It is important to note that authorities not retaining business rates have not been affected by this change.

This funding is for local authorities to ensure they are following an effective asset management approach and adopting efficiency and best practice principles for local highway maintenance. The funding is a mechanism for highway authorities to receive additional funding over and above the Needs based formula.

Two authorities are in band 2 of the incentive element scoring criteria, so were only eligible to receive 30% of their total potential allocation.

Pothole Action Fund – £50 million in 2020/21

The Pothole Action Fund was announced in Budget 2015 and, with subsequent funding, totals £296 million, enough to repair on average over 5 million potholes or to stop them forming in the first place. This funding is allocated by formula, and shared by local highway authorities in England, outside London, between 2016/17 and 2020/21.

Local highways maintenance funding – Budget 2018 – £420 million in 2018/19

In October 2018, the Chancellor announced in the Budget the government was allocating a further £420 million of new money for local highways maintenance in 2018/19. This additional resource was allocated using the highways maintenance funding formula and was used for the repair of roads (including potholes), bridges, and local highways infrastructure generally.

Local highways maintenance challenge fund – £93.4 million in 2019/20

This fund was used to enable 32 local highway authorities in England to successfully bid for funding for 33 major maintenance projects that were otherwise difficult to fund through the normal needs based formula funding. Further details, including previous challenge funding schemes is available.

The 2020/21 £100 million challenge fund (expressions of interest) has been incorporated into the 2020/21 funding allocation and will be distributed to local highways authorities by formula.

Future and additional funding

Local Pinch Point Fund (LPPF) – £150 million

The government will also make £150 million of LPPF funding available to local authorities in 2021/22 and 2022/23 which aims to support projects across England that ease congestion on local routes and for small improvement projects such as for road modelling and design.

National Roads Fund (NRF)

The £28.8 billion National Roads Fund for 2020-2025 was announced in the Budget 2018, which delivers on the government’s commitment to hypothecate English Vehicle Excise Duty to roads spending.

Within the NRF, the Roads Investment Strategy 2 (RIS2), published March 2020, will receive funding of £27.4 billion – greater than the expectation of £25.3 billion set out in the Draft RIS. Further funding will be available for the Major Road Network and Large Local Major Schemes. The split of funding between these 2 areas and its annual profiling will be determined in due course.

Major Road Network (MRN)

The MRN will see new investment in road enhancement schemes on the most important local authority roads. It will support economic growth, open up land for new housing, and focus on schemes that will reduce congestion and improve journey times for motorists, cyclists, pedestrians and freight.

Sub-national Transport Bodies will play a key role in working with their partners and constituent members to prioritise MRN schemes according to the most pressing regional needs. MRN schemes should start being delivered from 2020/21 when the National Roads Fund becomes available.

Local Growth Fund (LGF)

The majority of local transport improvement schemes are funded through the £12 billion Local Growth Fund (LGF). The Department for Transport is providing £6.7 billion to the Local Growth Fund over the 6 years from 2015/16 to 2020/21. Funding is awarded to Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) to invest in infrastructure to promote local growth.

Over 600 transport schemes are being funded, including roads, tram extensions, bus priority, and improvements for cyclists and pedestrians. Examples of the larger transport schemes that have or are being built with this funding include the Transport Hub in Lincoln, Ely Southern Bypass, Congleton Link Road in Cheshire, and the A13 Widening in Thurrock. Funding allocations to LEPs have been already been made for the duration of the current period to 2020/21.

An additional £387 million in 2021-22 was announced in the March 2020 Budget to provide certainty for local areas that they will be able to continue with existing priority Local Growth Fund projects that require funding beyond 2020/21. Of this £137.1 million of funding is to fund LGF schemes which have a known tail of expenditure beyond the next financial year.

Transforming Cities

Transforming Cities is a £2.5 billion transport fund to support connectivity in some of England’s largest cities, launched at the Autumn Budget 2017 and expanded in the 2018 Budget with funding running from 2018/19 to 2022/23. Around half has been allocated to Metro Mayoral Combined Authorities (£1.08 billion) on a devolved basis with the remaining amount (£1.28 billion) allocated across 12 cities.

New funding

Potholes Fund – Budget 2020 – £500 million

Councils will get an extra £500 million in 2020/21 through the new £2.5 billion Potholes Fund announced at Budget 2020. The funding is intended to fix up to 50 million potholes, but will also be available for local authorities to undertake longer-term road resurfacing works to prevent potholes from appearing in the first place.

This funding represents an approximate 45% increase to local road maintenance budgets for 2020/21.

South East

Local highways maintenance

We are confirming allocations for 2020/21 to local highway authorities for repairing potholes on the local road network which fall under the responsibility of those local highway authorities.

We are allocating over £108 million to the South East, enough to fix around 2 million potholes in 2020/21, or to stop them forming in the first place. This funding is in addition to the just under £120 million of block formula funding and nearly £25 million of incentive element funding we are already committed to providing in 2020/21 to help repair our local highways.

A breakdown is as follows:

£ thousands Pothole and Challenge Fund[footnote 1] HMB needs HMB incentive ITB Total
South East 108,576 119,905 24,974 47,251 300,706
Medway 1,925 2,048 427 1,589 5,989
Bracknell Forest 1,103 1,369 285 720 3,477
West Berkshire 3,048 3,472 723 910 8,153
Reading 908 1,185 247 1,580 3,920
Slough 708 727 151 1,349 2,935
Windsor and Maidenhead 1,537 1,752 365 851 4,505
Wokingham 1,815 2,136 445 734 5,130
Milton Keynes 2,796 4,122 858 1,527 9,303
Brighton and Hove 1,372 2,110 440 3,059 6,981
Portsmouth 1,050 1,151 240 1,851 4,292
Southampton 1,345 1,371 286 2,124 5,126
Isle of Wight[footnote 2] 2,116 0 0 1,418 3,534
Buckinghamshire 7,573 8,449 1,760 2,257 20,039
East Sussex 7,710 8,554 1,782 2,919 20,965
Hampshire 19,766 21,584 4,495 5,296 51,141
Kent 20,380 21,949 4,571 6,861 53,761
Oxfordshire 11,083 13,434 2,798 3,688 31,003
Surrey 12,497 13,449 2,801 4,784 33,531
West Sussex 9,844 11,043 2,300 3,734 26,921

East Midlands

Local highways maintenance

We are confirming allocations for 2020/21 to local highway authorities for repairing potholes on the local road network which fall under the responsibility of those local highway authorities.

We are allocating over £72 million to the East Midlands, enough to fix around 1.3 million potholes in 2020/21, or to stop them forming in the first place. This funding is in addition to the £83 million of block formula funding and £17 million of incentive element funding we are already committed to providing in 2020/21 to help repair our local highways.

A breakdown is as follows:

£ thousands Pothole and Challenge Fund[footnote 3] HMB needs HMB incentive ITB Total
East Midlands 72,049 83,169 17,322 24,893 197,433
Derby 1,713 1,782 371 1,811 5,677
Leicester 1,882 2,102 438 2,556 6,978
Rutland 1,295 1,535 320 458 3,608
Nottingham 1,817 1,782 371 3,390 7,360
Derbyshire 12,906 15,273 3,181 3,644 35,004
Leicestershire 10,174 11,442 2,383 2,728 26,727
Lincolnshire 20,909 24,955 5,197 3,312 54,373
Northamptonshire 10,471 12,292 2,560 3,078 28,401
Nottinghamshire 10,882 12,006 2,501 3,916 29,305

West Midlands

Local highways maintenance

We are confirming allocations for 2020/21 to local highway authorities for repairing potholes on the local road network which fall under the responsibility of those local highway authorities.

We are allocating over £74 million to the West Midlands, enough to fix around 1.4 million potholes in 2020/21, or to stop them forming in the first place. This funding is in addition to the £79 million of block formula funding and £16 million of incentive element funding we are already committed to providing in 2020/21 to help repair our local highways.

A breakdown is as follows:

£ thousands Pothole and Challenge Fund[footnote 4] HMB needs HMB incentive ITB Total
West Midlands 74,741 79,003 16,177 31,383 201,304
Herefordshire, County of 7,674 9,272 1,931 1,069 19,946
Telford and Wrekin 2,390 2,778 579 939 6,686
Stoke-on-Trent 1,994 1,915 120 1,666 5,695
Shropshire 11,570 13,275 2,765 1,626 29,236
Staffordshire 14,283 16,154 3,365 3,423 37,225
Warwickshire 9,199 10,421 2,171 2,637 24,428
Worcestershire 9,769 12,076 2,515 2,405 26,765
West Midlands CA[footnote 5] 17,862 13,112 2,731 17,618 51,323
- Birmingham[footnote 6] - - - - -
- Coventry - - - - -
- Dudley - - - - -
- Sandwell - - - - -
- Solihull - - - - -
- Walsall - - - - -
- Wolverhampton - - - - -

North West

Local highways maintenance

We are confirming allocations for 2020/21 to local highway authorities for repairing potholes on the local road network which fall under the responsibility of those local highway authorities.

We are allocating over £84 million to the North West, enough to fix around 1.5 million potholes in 2020/21, or to stop them forming in the first place. This funding is in addition to the £96.3 million of block formula funding and £20 million of incentive element funding we are already committed to providing in 2020/21 to help repair our local highways.

A breakdown is as follows:

£ thousands Pothole and Challenge Fund[footnote 7] HMB needs HMB incentive ITB Total
North West 84,448 96,377 20,073 43,423 244,320
Warrington 2,270 2,571 535 1,494 6,870
Blackburn with Darwen 1,265 1,552 323 1,424 4,564
Blackpool 1,048 966 201 1,720 3,935
Cheshire East 6,855 8,409 1,751 1,987 19,002
Cheshire West and Chester 5,581 6,398 1,333 1,954 15,266
Cumbria 17,976 21,791 4,538 2,546 46,851
Lancashire 15,891 18,567 3,867 6,054 44,379
Greater Manchester CA[footnote 8] 20,899 22,513 4,689 16,175 64,276
- Bolton - - - - -
- Bury - - - - -
- Manchester - - - - -
- Oldham - - - - -
- Rochdale - - - - -
- Salford - - - - -
- Stockport - - - - -
- Tameside - - - - -
- Trafford - - - - -
- Wigan - - - - -
Liverpool City Region CA[footnote 9] 12,663 13,610 2,835 10,069 39,177
- Halton - - - - -
- Knowsley - - - - -
- Liverpool - - - - -
- Sefton - - - - -
- St. Helens - - - - -
- Wirral - - - - -

North East

Local highways maintenance

We are confirming allocations for 2020/21 to local highway authorities for repairing potholes on the local road network which fall under the responsibility of those local highway authorities.

We are allocating over £36 million to the North East, enough to fix around 650,000 potholes in 2020/21, or to stop them forming in the first place. This funding is in addition to the £41.3 million of block formula funding and £8 million of incentive element funding we are already committed to providing in 2020/21 to help repair our local highways.

A breakdown is as follows:

£ thousands Pothole and Challenge Fund[footnote 10] HMB needs HMB incentive ITB Total
North East 36,672 41,312 8,604 18,695 105,283
Tees Valley CA[footnote 11] 6,891 7,601 1,583 4,746 20,821
- Hartlepool - - - - -
- Middlesbrough - - - - -
- Redcar and Cleveland - - - - -
- Stockton-on-Tees - - - - -
- Darlington - - - - -
North East CA[footnote 12] - - - 13,949 13,949
- County Durham 8,448 9,564 1,992 - 20,004
- Northumberland 11,421 14,036 2,923 - 28,380
- Gateshead 1,996 2,204 459 - 4,659
- Newcastle upon Tyne 2,178 2,184 455 - 4,817
- North Tyneside 1,851 1,817 378 - 4,046
- South Tyneside 1,275 1,246 260 - 2,781
- Sunderland 2,612 2,660 554 - 5,826

Yorkshire and Humber

Local highways maintenance

We are confirming allocations for 2020/21 to local highway authorities for repairing potholes on the local road network which fall under the responsibility of those local highway authorities.

We are allocating over £72 million to Yorkshire and Humber, enough to fix around 1.3 million potholes in 2020/21, or to stop them forming in the first place. This funding is in addition to the £75.3 million of block formula funding and £15 million of incentive element funding we are already committed to providing in 2020/21 to help repair our local highways.

A breakdown is as follows:

£ thousands Pothole and Challenge Fund[footnote 13] HMB needs HMB incentive ITB Total
Yorkshire and the Humber 72,419 75,313 15,684 32,633 196,049
Kingston upon Hull, City of 1,668 1,811 377 2,230 6,086
East Riding of Yorkshire 7,915 8,889 1,851 1,640 20,295
North East Lincolnshire 1,505 1,606 334 1,479 4,924
North Lincolnshire 3,194 3,702 771 1,159 8,826
York 1,815 1,827 380 1,570 5,592
North Yorkshire 20,773 23,858 4,969 3,023 52,623
Sheffield City Region CA[footnote 14] 13,605 10,113 2,106 8,428 34,252
- Barnsley - - - - -
- Doncaster - - - - -
- Rotherham - - - - -
- Sheffield[footnote 15] - - - - -
West Yorkshire CA[footnote 16] 21,944 23,507 4,896 13,104 63,451
- Bradford - - - - -
- Calderdale - - - - -
- Kirklees - - - - -
- Leeds - - - - -
- Wakefield - - - - -

East of England

Local highways maintenance

We are confirming allocations for 2020/21 to local highway authorities for repairing potholes on the local road network which fall under the responsibility of those local highway authorities.

We are allocating over £88 million to the East of England, enough to fix around 1.6 million potholes in 2020/21, or to stop them forming in the first place. This funding is in addition to the £99.3 million of block formula funding and £20 million of incentive element funding we are already committed to providing in 2020/21 to help repair our local highways.

A breakdown is as follows:

£ thousands Pothole and Challenge Fund[footnote 17] HMB needs HMB incentive ITB Total
East of England 88,583 99,374 20,346 29,174 237,476
Cambridgeshire & Peterborough CA 12,554 14,862 3,095 4,597 35,108
- Cambridgeshire - - - - -
- Peterborough - - - - -
Luton 1,045 1,101 229 1,457 3,832
Southend-on-Sea 1,032 1,121 233 1,401 3,787
Thurrock 1,336 1,604 334 971 4,245
Bedford 2,069 2,402 150 1,153 5,774
Central Bedfordshire 3,355 3,586 747 1,365 9,053
Essex 17,979 19,774 4,119 6,275 48,147
Hertfordshire 11,362 14,327 2,984 4,568 33,241
Norfolk 22,231 23,043 4,799 4,141 54,214
Suffolk 15,620 17,553 3,656 3,246 40,075

South West

Local highways maintenance

We are confirming allocations for 2020/21 to local highway authorities for repairing potholes on the local road network which fall under the responsibility of those local highway authorities.

We are allocating over £112 million to the South West, enough to fix around 2 million potholes in 2020/21, or to stop them forming in the first place. This funding is in addition to the £130.5 million of block formula funding and £27 million of incentive element funding we are already committed to providing in 2020/21 to help repair our local highways.

A breakdown is as follows:

£ thousands Pothole and Challenge Fund[footnote 18] HMB needs HMB incentive ITB Total
South West 112,510 130,548 27,188 30,546 300,792
West of England CA[footnote 19] 8,519 10,254 2,135 5,183 26,091
- Bath and North East Somerset - - - - -
- Bristol, City of - - - - -
- South Gloucestershire - - - - -
North Somerset 2,610 3,229 672 972 7,483
Plymouth 1,794 1,871 390 1,944 5,999
Torbay 1,212 1,174 244 1,063 3,693
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole 2,864 3,084 641 3,078 9,667
Swindon 2,016 2,253 469 1,378 6,116
Cornwall 16,426 18,254 3,802 4,105 42,587
Isles of Scilly[footnote 20] 89 0 0 0 89
Wiltshire 10,930 13,357 2,782 2,181 29,250
Devon 28,869 34,042 7,090 3,601 73,602
Dorset 9,112 10,564 2,201 1,971 23,848
Gloucestershire 12,667 14,350 2,989 2,861 32,867
Somerset 15,402 18,116 3,773 2,209 39,500

Footnotes

  1. Funding for England includes the £500 million Pothole Fund for 2020/21, the £100 million Challenge Fund for 2020/21, and the £50 million Pothole Action Fund allocation for 2020/21, totalling £650 million. 

  2. Highways maintenance for the Isle of Wight is provided through a Highways Maintenance PFI so do not receive HMB. 

  3. Funding for England includes the £500 million Pothole Fund for 2020/21, the £100 million Challenge Fund for 2020/21, and the £50 million Pothole Action Fund allocation for 2020/21, totalling £650 million. 

  4. Funding for England includes the £500 million Pothole Fund for 2020/21, the £100 million Challenge Fund for 2020/21, and the £50 million Pothole Action Fund allocation for 2020/21, totalling £650 million. 

  5. West Midlands Combined Authority comprises Birmingham, Coventry, Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull, Walsall and Wolverhampton. Highways maintenance for Birmingham is provided through a Highways Maintenance PFI so do not receive HMB. 

  6. Authorities with a Highways Maintenance PFI 

  7. Funding for England includes the £500 million Pothole Fund for 2020/21, the £100 million Challenge Fund for 2020/21, and the £50 million Pothole Action Fund allocation for 2020/21, totalling £650 million. 

  8. Greater Manchester Combined Authority comprises Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, and Wigan. 

  9. Liverpool City Region Combined Authority comprises Halton, Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton, St Helens, and Wirral. 

  10. Funding for England includes the £500 million Pothole Fund for 2020/21, the £100 million Challenge Fund for 2020/21, and the £50 million Pothole Action Fund allocation for 2020/21, totalling £650 million. 

  11. Tees Valley Combined Authority comprises Darlington, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar & Cleveland, and Stockton-on-Tees. 

  12. North East Combined Authority comprises Gateshead, Newcastle upon Tyne, North Tyneside, South Tyneside, Sunderland, County Durham, and Northumberland. Maintenance funding is made to each component authority. 

  13. Funding for England includes the £500 million Pothole Fund for 2020/21, the £100 million Challenge Fund for 2020/21, and the £50 million Pothole Action Fund allocation for 2020/21, totalling £650 million. 

  14. Sheffield City Region Combined Authority comprises Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham, and Sheffield. Highways maintenance for Sheffield is provided through a Highways Maintenance PFI so do not receive HMB. 

  15. Authorities with a Highways Maintenance PFI 

  16. West Yorkshire Combined Authority comprises Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees, Leeds, and Wakefield. 

  17. Funding for England includes the £500 million Pothole Fund for 2020/21, the £100 million Challenge Fund for 2020/21, and the £50 million Pothole Action Fund allocation for 2020/21, totalling £650 million. 

  18. Funding for England includes the £500 million Pothole Fund for 2020/21, the £100 million Challenge Fund for 2020/21, and the £50 million Pothole Action Fund allocation for 2020/21, totalling £650 million. 

  19. West of England Combined Authority comprises Bath and North East Somerset, City of Bristol, and South Gloucestershire. 

  20. The Isles of Scilly received £1.8 million in 2014/15 to upgrade and maintain the publicly maintained highways for which they are responsible.