Written question asked by Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat) on Friday, 5 October 2007, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 8 October 2007. It was answered by Baroness Winterton of Doncaster (Labour) on Monday, 8 October 2007 on behalf of the Department for Transport.

Roads: Repairs and Maintenance

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many programmed road surface repairs there are.

Answer: This information is not held centrally for local roads. Highway maintenance on local roads in England is the responsibility of each local highways authority. All local highway authorities have been encouraged to produce asset management plans for their roads. These will consist of inventories of stock, its existing condition, and target condition based upon desired service levels. This information will assist local highway authorities to programme their road surface repairs.The Department has also endorsed ““Well maintained highways””, the code of practice for highway maintenance produced by the UK Roads Board. The document which can be found at www.ukroadsliaisongroup.org provides best practice guidance on the programming of highway maintenance.The Highways Agency are responsible for highway maintenance on the strategic road network in England. Their programme is sub-divided into significant renewal schemes and small works. Both types of programme may fluctuate, depending on the overall state of network assets and in-year urgency for tackling unexpected deterioration. The condition target for the strategic road network is measured by a road surface condition index. This target has been met since it was introduced in 2004-05.

Secondary information