Local highways maintenance transparency report technical annex - 2026

B1 - Highways maintenance funding and spending figures

B1.1.2 - Additional information on funding figures

Oxfordshire funds its highways capital maintenance programme from a combination of Department for Transport (DfT) grants, council capital funding, and borrowing/reserves. Funding includes the DfT Highways Maintenance Block, incentive funding, additional government highways funding (such as Network North allocations), and locally funded capital contributions. This capital investment is used for resurfacing, preventative maintenance, bridge repairs, drainage, footways and other asset renewal activities. For more information on DfT funding please refer to Highways maintenance funding allocations - GOV.UK, for further information on Oxfordshire’s own capital funding, please see Provisional Capital Outturn Report 25-26 (pdf format, 200KB)

B1.2 - Spending

B1.2.1 – Total spending

The questions in this section (B1.2.1) relate to the spending condition set out in the 2026–27 local highways maintenance incentive funding requirements. Completion of this section forms part of the evidence required to meet this incentive funding condition.

B1.2.2 - Additional information on total spending figures

Highways maintenance spend is split between capital and revenue. Capital spend funds long-term renewal or improvement of highway assets, such as resurfacing, structural maintenance, drainage improvements and other works that extend asset life. Revenue spend covers day-to-day activity needed to keep the network safe and serviceable, including safety defect repairs, routine maintenance, gulley cleaning, minor repairs and operational service costs. Budgets and actual expenditure can vary. see Oxfordshire County Council Statement of Accounts 2025-26 for actual spends.

B1.2.4 - Additional information on spending on carriageways by type of spend

The table above is based on outturn spend data for 2025-26 and actual expenditure data where available, supplemented by current budget, commitment and forecast information for 2026-27. Planned carriageway maintenance includes resurfacing as structural maintenance and surface dressing as preventative maintenance. Reactive carriageway maintenance is primarily pothole defect repair: permanent repairs are broadly cut into the road surface, while temporary repairs are applied to/fill the pothole defect. Other carriageway-related spend captures relevant activities not easily allocated to the main categories, including, but not limited to; staff costs, inspections, surveys, winter service, traffic management, vegetation, signs and lining.

B2 – Highway Maintenance Activity (Surface Treatments and Repairs)

B3 – Pothole repairs

This section sets out how authorities identify and repair potholes and other defects in carriageways, and how this activity fits within their wider maintenance approach. The Department is clear that prevention is better than cure: planned, preventative maintenance should be the foundation of a well-managed network, reducing the need for repeated reactive interventions

B3.1 – Pothole/Defect intervention criteria

Building on section A3.1, please set out in the table below how your local authority defines potholes and other carriageway defects, and the intervention criteria that apply.

B3.2.3 - Additional information on numbers of potholes resolved, by treatment type

In Oxfordshire, permanent pothole repairs are preferred wherever practicable as they provide a longer-lasting solution and reduce repeat interventions. However, temporary repairs may be used where defects present an immediate safety risk and need to be made safe quickly, particularly when response times or traffic management requirements do not allow for a permanent repair. Temporary repairs can also reduce workforce exposure to live traffic. Where deterioration is more widespread, planned patching or structural maintenance may offer better whole-life value by addressing underlying road condition and helping to prevent future defects. Treatment choice balances safety, network condition, operational constraints, cost and long-term asset performance.

CAUTION FOR READERS – Authorities have different criteria for identifying potholes and different methodologies for counting how many they have filled or resolved.

Summing the figures in the above table across authorities will therefore not provide a reliable estimate of the total number of potholes filled across England.

 B3.3.1 - Additional information on pothole prices

The figures in the table are calculated on a metre squared basis to ensure a like-for-like comparison. Temporary repairs are cheaper than Permanent repairs, as the latter generally require additional; plant, labour and materials, but are preferred where practicable. Reactive repairs are safety-led and response-time driven, limiting opportunities to group jobs, optimise traffic management or plan resources. Temporary repairs may be necessary where urgent response requirements, site conditions or restricted safe access prevent a permanent repair.

B3.4.5 - Evidence Summary

Oxfordshire monitors repair quality and material performance through a 20% randomised sample quality check, trials and Operational Performance Indicators (OPIs). New materials and repair techniques are tested in live network conditions to assess durability, suitability and value before wider use. Relevant OPIs monitor failed defect repairs within the guarantee period, providing evidence on repair longevity and workmanship, and measure the quality of planned repairs as perceived by customers, helping capture service outcomes and satisfaction. These indicators, alongside quality checks and trial learning, support trend analysis, continuous improvement and decisions on suitable repair methods.

B3.4.6 - Additional information

Overall, early-life material failures on planned maintenance works remain relatively low and, where they occur, are often linked to unpredictable extreme weather combined with Oxfordshire’s local geology. M Group, working with Oxfordshire officers, operates a robust quality assurance and audit process to ensure subcontractors work to specification and defects are identified early. Separately, routine condition monitoring of completed schemes has identified some skid resistance performance issues. M Group and Oxfordshire are working together to establish the root cause and agree appropriate remedial actions.

B3.5.3 - Evidence Summary

Public defect reports, including those submitted through FixMyStreet, are routinely used alongside safety inspections, condition surveys, defect data, officer knowledge and local feedback to inform maintenance planning. Reports may identify locations for investigation, support future maintenance proposals and help build the evidence base for forward programmes. Potential schemes are entered into scheme prioritisation software, assessed against condition, safety, traffic, hierarchy, active travel, resilience and local priority factors, then reviewed by officers for validity and treatment choice. This helps ensure public reports contribute to risk-based prioritisation and forward programme development.

B3.5.4 - Tools used for reporting

Oxfordshire uses FixMyStreet for online defect reporting and updates. Residents can submit details, photographs and location information, receive an acknowledgement, track progress and subscribe to updates. Outcomes are published online.

B4 – Maintenance of highway structures

B5 – Asset Management

This section focuses on asset management practices that underpin how the authority plans, prioritises and delivers highways maintenance. It is intended to provide confidence that decisions are evidence led, risk based and aligned to whole life value, in line with the Code of Practice for Well Managed Highways Infrastructure.

B5.1 - Asset Management Strategy and Policy

The questions in this section (B5.1) relate to the asset management condition set out in the 2026–27 local highways maintenance incentive funding requirements. Completion of this section forms part of the evidence required to meet this incentive funding condition.

B5.1.6 - Further context

Local Government Reorganisation will disaggregate Oxfordshire County Council into three new unitary authorities. With shadow authority membership due to be elected in May 2027, this update will maintain the status quo and not pre-empt future highway maintenance policy or strategy decisions. Ordinarily, officers would pursue a council decision for a new policy that changes service provision or requires investment. The proposed update to Oxfordshire’s Highways Asset Management Approach will not change existing service provision or require additional funding outside the annual budget setting process.

B5.2 - Asset data

This section seeks to establish whether asset management decisions are supported by appropriate and up-to-date condition data.

Please complete the table below for your key highway assets.

5.2.1 - Further context

Oxfordshire holds full inventory and condition data for core managed assets where this is needed to support risk-based, lifecycle asset management. Section 3.2 of the Highway Infrastructure Asset Management Plan describes inventory and condition information as the evidence base for understanding asset extent, deterioration and future maintenance need. Carriageways, structures, street lighting and traffic signals are therefore supported by full records, while footway and drainage condition data is recorded where available and continues to improve.

B5.3 – Asset data integration and management

This section seeks to understand the maturity of how asset data is managed and integrated to support planning and investment decisions.

B5.3.1 – Asset data integration

How is asset inventory and condition data for your key highway assets primarily managed? (please indicate one option with an X)

B5.3.2 - Further context

WDM’s Highway Infrastructure Asset Management System (HIAMS) is Oxfordshire County Council’s principal highways asset management platform. It provides a single integrated system for managing highway asset data, condition information, customer enquiries, inspections, schemes, works orders and pavement management activities. HIAMS is used to manage reactive maintenance, minor works and major works programmes. The system is integrated with FixMyStreet for public reporting and with the Term Maintenance Contractor for ordering works. Other specialist systems include Alloy for street lighting, BridgeStation for structures and KaarbonTech GullySMART for drainage, all contributing to a coordinated asset management approach.

B5.4 – Lifecycle planning and investment decision-making

This section focuses on whether the authority uses lifecycle planning to inform maintenance investment decisions, rather than relying solely on reactive demand or short-term pressures.

B5.4.4 - Evidence Summary

Lifecycle planning is integral to Oxfordshire’s highway asset management strategy and follows HMEP Lifecycle Toolkit principles. The Oxfordshire’s highway asset management plan sets out how lifecycle plans and whole-life costing are used to select the preferred maintenance solution and timing, helping determine future maintenance needs and treatment options. Asset Group Status Reports support this by summarising inventory, condition, customer expectations, expenditure, budgets, investment need, risks and asset-specific strategies. This evidence-led approach informs service planning and investment priorities, helping Oxfordshire move beyond reactive demand or short-term pressures towards planned, preventative maintenance and whole-life value.

B5.5 – Performance monitoring and continuous improvement

This section focuses on whether the authority monitors the effectiveness of its asset management approach and uses performance information to inform ongoing investment and prioritisation decisions.

B5.5.5 - Evidence Summary

Oxfordshire monitors the effectiveness of its asset management approach through KPIs measuring delivery of the highway maintenance strategy alongside condition surveys, safety inspections, defect reports, customer feedback, contract performance measures and annual programme reviews. This evidence informs scheme selection, prioritisation and lifecycle planning, targeting investment where it delivers safety, resilience and whole-life value. Published maintenance information shows programmes are shaped by asset condition, risk, usage and available funding. The April 2025 highways maintenance contract reprocurement also supported value for money through competitive tendering and strengthened service expectations.

B6.1.6 - Please provide any brief additional information you consider helpful in explaining your approach to maintaining footways and cycleways

Similar to carriageway maintenance, Oxfordshire takes a preventative maintenance approach to footways and off-carriageway cycleways. A dedicated footway and cycleway programme is informed by hierarchy, condition data, inspections, safety risk, usage and available funding. The majority of planned treatment area is preventative, helping preserve surfaces before deterioration accelerates and reducing the need for more disruptive reconstruction. Localised structural repairs are often undertaken first to address failed areas, improve treatment effectiveness and support longer-lasting outcomes. This right-treatment-at-the-right-time approach helps extend asset life, supports walking and cycling routes, improves safety and accessibility, and provides better whole-life value across the wider highway network.

B6.1.7 - Evidence Summary

Oxfordshire does not currently have a dedicated standalone cycleway maintenance programme, but cycleway needs are considered through wider carriageway and footway maintenance planning. Routes important for cycling and active travel are assessed alongside condition, safety risk, hierarchy, usage, accessibility, funding and wider network benefits. Salt-bins are suitably located along footways where the highway is not on a dedicated salting treatment route. A dedicated route treatment budget also supports local area minor works and vegetation clearance, helping keep priority footways and cycleways safe, accessible and serviceable.

B7.1.5 - Evidence Summary

Oxfordshire’s manages its drainage asset, using KaarbonTech’s Gully SMART digital drainage management platform. Asset records, condition data, silt level data, flood investigations and known problem locations are used to inform prioritisation and programmes of works. Records of blocked drains, highway flooding, surface water ponding and drainage-related carriageway deterioration support targeted inspections and forward works. Countywide gully inspections cleaned 135,254 gullies and identified follow-up repairs, informing the £4m repair programme and a revised cleansing regime, with high-risk locations prioritised annually and other gullies managed on a two-year cycle.

B7.1.6 – Further context on approach to drainage asset management

Oxfordshire’s wider approach recognises drainage as essential to road safety, flood resilience and pothole prevention. The council maintains approximately 147,000 drains and is responsible for highway drainage and flooding issues such as blocked road gullies, while adjacent landowners usually retain responsibility for roadside ditches. Following recent severe rainfall, gully emptying has been strengthened from a historic four-year cycle to a more frequent, risk-based programme. Specialist crews use suction and jetting equipment, with manual clearance where silt is heavy. Public reports through FixMyStreet, flood history, access constraints and repair findings help refine future cleansing, investigation and improvement work.

B8.1.7 - Evidence Summary

Oxfordshire County Council maintains training and development plans for highways asset management staff and supports continuing professional development through both in-house and external learning opportunities. Training is delivered through council funded programmes, use of the Apprenticeship Levy, professional courses, conferences and sector events. Our highways maintenance contractor supports structured professional development through recognised ICE training agreements and development pathways,

providing access to mentoring, technical training and professional registration support. Professionally qualified engineers, including Chartered Engineers, support key highways disciplines. Competency requirements are identified through recruitment, performance management and contractual arrangements, with apprenticeships, graduate development and sponsored qualifications supporting future workforce capability.

B8.1.8 – Further context on skills/training

Oxfordshire supports staff development through regular 12:3:2 performance conversations, helping employees understand expectations, review progress and identify training needs. Staff can access in-house classroom training, e-learning and externally supplied technical training, with courses covering management, project delivery, business support, IT, health and safety, and role-specific technical requirements. OCC also supports relevant professional qualifications and CPD where appropriate.

Coaching and mentoring are available through a Coaching and Mentoring Pool, giving staff access to internal and external public sector coaches. Within Highways, training needs are captured through, personal appraisals, risk registers, business requirements and regular review of business plan actions. The service also supports career progression through graded role structures, secondment opportunities and clear development routes. Asset management staff have completed HMEP e-learning modules, with additional training provided in areas such as confined spaces, environmental awareness, manual handling, defect assessment, winter maintenance and pavement design, as required.

B9 – Adapting roads to withstand climate pressures

Climate and environmental factors, such as heavy rainfall, prolonged heat, and freeze-thaw cycles, are integral to effective highways asset management, as they influence asset performance, deterioration rates and long-term resilience. Understanding both the impacts of a changing climate and the carbon implications of maintenance activities supports better decision-making, helping authorities to optimise durability, manage risk and deliver best whole life value from their assets.

B9.1.8 - Evidence Summary

Oxfordshire's Highway Infrastructure Asset Maintenance Approach supports the delivery of the council's Climate Adaptation Plan through improved network resilience. The highways service, working with its contractor and subcontractors is committed to decarbonising Highways operations and have produced a Contract Carbon Reduction Plan, which supports Carbon Management Plan 2022 to 2030 detailing how the service will reduce carbon on highway maintenance activities. In addition Oxfordshire was an early adopter of the Future Highways Research Group (FHRG) carbon calculation toolkit and has completed the Carbon Leadership Programme (CLP) Carbon Best Practice Assessment, achieving scores above the benchmark in all but one measure.

B9.1.9 - Further context on your adaptation / resilience activities

Oxfordshire is strengthening highway resilience through a risk-based approach to climate adaptation, supported by the Oxfordshire Climate Adaptation Route Map and which includes Detailed Implementation Blueprint. Climate vulnerability, flood risk and known severe-weather locations inform maintenance planning, drainage investment and emergency response. The council has enhanced drainage maintenance following recent flooding, including countywide gully inspection and cleansing, annual cleansing of higher-risk locations and a funded repair programme to investigate, repair and replace defective gullies and improve flood resilience. Drainage records, flood mapping and investigation reports help target works where surface water affects safety, serviceability or carriageway deterioration. Oxfordshire is also considering nature-based solutions and developing a new SuDS policy to help manage surface water and reduce climate impacts. The council has undertaken an extensive programme of embankment monitoring and repair to manage slope stability and geotechnical risk. As part of its innovation work, Oxfordshire has trialled longer-life and lower-carbon materials and techniques, including graphene-enhanced asphalt, cold recycling and alternative repair methods, to improve durability, reduce repeat interventions and support resilience to heat, heavy rainfall and freeze-thaw cycles.

B10 – Innovation

10.1.4 - Evidence Summary

Oxfordshire County Council’s procurement and contracting arrangements actively encourage innovation through specific contract commitments, collaborative working with

our supply chain and a dedicated innovation fund. Innovative materials, techniques and technologies are regularly reviewed through governance groups and trials, with successful approaches embedded into operational delivery where they demonstrate improved safety, durability, value for money or carbon reduction. Recent examples include trials of alternative pothole repair methods, graphene asphalt, QED analysers and digital systems improvements. Learning and outcomes are shared through industry networks, innovation groups, professional bodies, councillor briefings and wider sector collaboration to support continuous improvement across the highways industry.

B10.1.5 - Further context on your innovation activities

Oxfordshire’s innovation activity includes live trials comparing repair techniques and longer-life surfacing such as graphene-enhanced asphalt. The council is also working with M Group and Oxford Brookes University to apply academic research to highways challenges, focusing on inspection methods, predictive modelling, asset management, materials innovation and data-led decision making. This supports research projects, student placements, KTP opportunities and practical innovations that can improve durability, productivity, carbon performance, whole-life value and service delivery before wider adoption.

10.2 – Examples of innovations that have been adopted

Guidance - please provide examples of innovations that have moved beyond trial into operational use in your authority. For each example outline: What was implemented, what impacts it has had (e.g. cost, performance, safety), and the scale of adoption.

Oxfordshire County Council works closely with its maintenance contractor and supply chain to trial and implement new technologies, materials and processes. Successful innovations are evaluated against safety, durability, productivity, cost and environmental criteria before being incorporated into business-as-usual operations.

Examples include the adoption of mastic asphalt pothole repairs, which were introduced following previous innovation trials and are now an approved repair technique within the contract. The Council has also implemented the QED Analyser, allowing rapid on-site identification of coal tar within excavated materials. This has reduced the need for laboratory testing, accelerated programme delivery and increased opportunities for recycling materials. The BackX safe excavation tool has been embedded into operational practice, reducing utility strikes and improving workforce safety when excavating around buried services. In addition, Oxfordshire has trialled and adopted graphene-enhanced asphalt on selected schemes to improve surfacing durability and support a longer-life asset.

These innovations are reviewed through formal governance arrangements and performance monitoring, ensuring that proven solutions can be scaled up and integrated across the wider highway maintenance service.

B11.1.6 - Evidence Summary

Oxfordshire manages street works through its Network Management Plan 2023-28 and established coordination arrangements, with utility works quality monitored through inspections, compliance checks and enforcement where works do not meet required standards. Utility companies are engaged through forward planning, coordination meetings and consultation processes so planned works can be considered alongside highway maintenance activity and wider network impacts. Oxfordshire also reviews traffic sensitive street designations in consultation with utilities and other interested parties. The last traffic sensitive streets review occurred in 2025.

B11.1.7 - Further context

Oxfordshire County Council Cabinet approved the development of a Lane Rental Scheme in June 2023 and subsequently carried out a formal consultation between November 2023 and January 2024. The consultation invited feedback from the public, utility companies, neighbouring highway authorities and road user groups on the proposed scheme documents, and evaluation plan. Following consultation feedback and updated DfT guidance, amendments were made before submission to the Department for Transport for approval. Following DfT approval, Lane rental and permitting went live in May 2026. The most recent published evaluation of Oxfordshire’s Permit Scheme is the Year 2 (2021/22) Evaluation Report.

B12 – Managing highways maintenance contracts effectively

Only answer this sections if you utilise a contractor to deliver any of your carriageway maintenance operations, including: structural maintenance, planned repairs / patching, or reactive repairs / patching

12.1.5 - Evidence Summary

Oxfordshire retains in-house technical capability to review contractor proposals, costs and performance, with officers taking on a Clerk of Works Role. The 2025 highways maintenance contract introduced a new delivery model, retaining the Single Managing Agent approach while bringing more design, prioritisation, programming and engagement activity in-house. Unit costs and performance are monitored through contract governance, benchmarking, quality checks, KPIs and operational performance indicators. Oxfordshire separately considers NHT’s Cost, Quality and Customer results to benchmark performance alongside other measures. This strengthens client-side challenge, reduces reliance on contractor-led decisions and supports improved value, quality and accountability in maintenance delivery.

B12.1.6 - Further context

Oxfordshire’s contract performance framework links service quality, repair durability and commercial incentives to support effective highways maintenance delivery. The default reactive repair expectation is a permanent repair where safe and practicable, with temporary repairs used only where response time, access, traffic management or site conditions make this necessary. Contract KPIs and operational performance indicators are actively monitored through governance, quality checks and defect review processes. The council monitors repair durability through sample inspections and records failed repairs within the guarantee period. Failed repairs are not paid for, and poor performance is further penalised through contractual payment mechanisms. This reinforces single-visit permanent repair where appropriate, supports value for money and provides assurance that repair quality is managed through both technical oversight and financial accountability.