Our highway network
Our network is made up of:
- roads
- pavements
- cycleways
- other public right of way
| Type of road | Length in kilometres (Km) |
|---|---|
| A roads | 33.9 |
| B and C roads | 44.3 |
| U roads | 379.1 |
| Total roads | 457.3 |
| Pavements (footways) | 874 |
| Cycleways | 41.8 |
| Other public rights of way | 46.9 |
We have shared this information with the Department for Transport (DfT).
For more information on the different types of roads, visit the GOV.UK website.
We are also responsible for a number of other key assets including:
- 172 structures and bridges
- 15265 streetlights
- 1777 lit up signs
- 680 traffic signals
- 23467 road drains (gullies)
- 11833 road signs
Highways maintenance spending figures
This table shows our current and past spending to maintain our highways.
Preventative works are long lasting. They aim to limit the need for regular repairs. Whereas reactive works are completed as and when needed.
| Financial 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) | £4,473,000* | £8,000,000 | £1,041,000 | 80% | 20% |
| 2024 to 2025 | £3,151,000 | £6,500,000 | £745,432 | 80% | 20% |
| 2023 to 2024 | £3,151,000 | £4,000,000 | £1,153,392 | 65% | 35% |
| 2022 to 2023 | £3,151,000 | £10,000,000 | £1,121,663 | 70% | 30% |
| 2021 to 2022 | £2,919,000 | £10,000,000 | £791,121 | 70% | 30% |
*£181,000 of this funding comes with conditions that we must meet. On top of that, there's an extra £237,000 given to help develop local transport.
The DfT provides capital funding. You can find out more about this online.
More information on spending
We use our funding in a number of ways:
DfT Capital Grant funding
This is used for work on potholes. We now repair all potholes with a permanent fix to increase how long they last.
The following table shows the estimated number of potholes we have fixed over the years.
| Financial Year | Estimate of the number of potholes filled |
|---|---|
| 2024/25 | 1278 |
| 2023/24 | 1822 |
| 2022/23 | 1447 |
| 2021/22 | 3277 * |
| 2020/21 | 3469 * |
*Includes totals from a targeted pothole programme 'Find and Fix':
We estimate a further 2000 potholes will be fixed this year.
The funding also covers
- road safety
- street lighting
- structures
- network/junction improvements
- traffic signals
- bus infrastructure works
The main capital budget
This relates to our Highway Improvement programme for road and pavement schemes, which we are currently in year 2 of a 5 year programme.
We estimate that in the coming year, resurfacing will include:
- 8km of road
- over 15km of pavement
This follows last year's figures of:
- 6km of roads
- 11km of pavement
Additional year to year capital budgets
The following examples are not included in the reported spending figures:
- car park improvements
- a junction protection programme
- traffic sign improvements
- and more
Revenue funding
This concentrates mainly on reported defects and issues:
- through our MySouthend reporting system
- via our elected members
And covers:
- emergency 2-hour responses
- temporary pothole repairs
- footway defects
- poor condition signage replacement
- and more
It will also cover the gully (drains on the road) emptying programme. For now, our current contractor is covering the service until it's added into the new highways contract from April 2026.
Preventative measures and improved efficiency
We focus mostly on preventative maintenance. Our estimated percentage figures clearly show this. In addition to investing heavily in improving our roads, we're now permanently fixing all potholes that meet our repair standards. Because of the risk of carrying out works on some of our busier roads, we may at times, do temporary fixes. These will be followed up with a permanent repair.
We are also working to make our processes more efficient. Recent examples include:
Replacing signage
We now store information on our road signs that are not considered a safety risk. We pass this information to our contractor as a batch of work to complete. This is a more cost-effective option than visiting and replacing each sign one by one.
Disabled parking bays
Following an ongoing review, so far we have freed up 40 spaces that were not being used. Residents can now use them.
We now approve and install up to 50 new disabled parking bays per year. This:
- makes sure that they are given to those who need them most
- allows the work to be completed in batches, leading to savings
We believe that we are one of the best authorities in the UK in terms of inspecting reported issues (including potholes). We inspect all reported issues made through MySouthend, on all roads, either:
- within 24 hours
- the next working day
Even though the statistics suggest a decrease in activity, we are actually doing more. In the past only temporary fixes to potholes were completed. This led to further visits to the same location and higher repair numbers. Now that we are permanently fixing potholes, return visits are less likely to be needed. By permanently fixing potholes, we believe we are:
- working in a much more proactive way
- delivering better value for money
In addition, the numbers only include reports that were specifically labelled as potholes. They don't count works where several potholes were filled at the same time.