Nottinghamshire County Council is set to embark on a “record-breaking” multi-million-pound project to start fixing the county’s roads – but the leader says it is still “not enough”.
The Reform-led authority has announced this March it will be investing £122.5 million into the area’s highways network in the 2026/27 financial year as part of the first phase of a “record-breaking” roads programme.
Reform has come up with a six-point plan to tackle the county’s strained and crumbling roads, focusing on prevention, permanent first-time repairs, longer-lasting materials, better value from crews and equipment, extra crews during the winter period, and lobbying for more long-term government funding.
A September 2025 survey found about 38 per cent of Nottinghamshire’s roads are in ‘poor condition’ along with more than half of all road markings being in ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’ condition. The multi-million-pound investment will resurface and patch about 16 per cent of roads.
About 45 per cent of the £122.5 million money pot has come from the East Midlands Combined County Authority (EMCCA), with the other 55 per cent provided by the council, through money raised in council tax and secured grants from other funders.
The authority’s leader, Mick Barton (Ref), called the funding and plan “record-breaking” and “game-changing”.
He said: “We’ve had 20 years of underfunding. The EMCCA Mayor has identified and the government’s identified, we are in a mess, but it’s still not enough.
“We’re still only just doing what we should be doing without getting a big way forward, so that’s why we’re coming up with phase two to try and get ahead of the game.
“We’re really grateful to the mayor and EMCCA, but it’s still not enough – though that’s nothing to do with the mayor.”
Councils’ assessment of roads includes something called “steady state” funding – the amount of money needed to maintain the road network in the state it currently is in.
For Nottinghamshire, it is estimated around £101 million of this money is needed per year, with the leader saying around £200 million would be needed to “get ahead of it”.
Cllr Barton clarified if the authority can manage to match the £122.5 million investment going into the county’s roads in 2026/27 over five years then the area’s highway network would be “nearly there”.
David Langford, director of highways at the council, told the LDRS: “The national [highways maintenance] backlog is about £18 billion. The time frame to clear that is estimated to take 12 years.
“We need to be realistic and manage the expectations of the community. We can make a big impact but even if we were spending £100 million, our backlog’s around £400 million, so it’s going to take time to get back on top of it.”
Included in the council’s investment programme is £82 million for road, footway, drainage and other asset maintenance, along with £8 million for transport schemes including pedestrian crossings and road safety improvements.
The county’s roads have been left in a dire state in some parts over the last winter, where part of the investment programme includes 10 winter teams working during the next winter.
Cllr Bert Bingham, cabinet member for highways, added: “We’ll have crews out there permanently, so instead of going around doing temporary fixes, either emergency fixes and dashing around during the winter, they’ll be permanently working year-round to put permanent patching in.”
Mr Langford said a “huge amount of investment” will be put into the summer months, to get the road conditions as best prepared for winter as possible. A pot of reserve money is also being set aside to tackle damage left following the next winter period.
Councillors and officers say they will be lobbying the government for more tax from road users to be pumped back into highway maintenance, where £32 billion in fuel duty and vehicle exercise duty was collected by Westminster in 2024/25 but only around £1.67 billion was allocated to local road maintenance, according to Mr Langford.
Speaking on the much-needed plans, Councillor Barton said: “I’ll start sleeping at night.
“I’ve already burst two tyres myself driving home – which I’m not claiming for – but it’ll all calm down, because that’s all people are talking about at the minute, whether you go into pub, supermarket… in a couple month’s time hopefully nobody will be talking about it.
“It’s exciting. We’ve not just got new ways of working, we’ve got new officers come with fresh ideas which is helping massively.
“We’re getting new JCB machines coming hopefully the end of April which should have a massive difference.”
Cllr Bingham said the authority will be using improved, stronger “put-down-thicker” materials on the roads, adding: “We understand we’ve got to rebuild public trust.”
Mr Langford added: “Most of our staff live in the county, it’s a case of having a bit of pride in the place you live. Staff always want to do a good job and do right by residents.”
Conservative County Councillor, Neil Clarke, who was the previous highways cabinet member, said he welcomed the funding and programme.
He said: “What the Conservatives were previously putting into plan is very similar and they’re basically carrying on what we already started – it’s welcome they’re putting extra winter teams in.
“Everyone gets complaints on the state of the roads, across the whole country. It’s something we are very keen to keep an eye on, and work towards a time where roads aren’t the number one complaint for residents.”
Cllr Clarke said a “close eye” is needed to be kept on how many temporary repairs remain compared to how many are converted into permanent long-term patch repairs and more discretion needs to be given to highway workers fixing potholes in “close vicinity” to one that has been logged.
The council already announced back in February £2 million to go towards ’emergency’ road fixes across 35 sites in the county.
Phase two of its investment programme, centred solely on highways, will be announced in due course.
