Roads: North East
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much funding has been allocated to (a) Hexham constituency, (b) Northumberland and (c) the North East for filling pot holes since July 2024.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood
Northumberland County Council, which is a member of the North-East Combined Authority (NECA), is the local highway authority for Hexham. The Government has provided NECA with a City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement (CRSTS), which includes funding for local highway maintenance for its constituent authorities.
For the 2025/26 financial year, the Government is providing NECA with an extra £21.7 million for local highway maintenance: funding allocations can be found on gov.uk. It is up to NECA to allocate highway maintenance funding to its constituent members, including Northumberland County Council.
The Department advocates a risk-based whole life cycle asset management approach to local authority highways maintenance programmes. This considers all parts of the highway network, such as bridges, cycleways and lighting columns – not just the fixing of potholes. Funding is not ring-fenced, and it is entirely a matter for Northumberland County Council to determine how the money is best spent to improve its local highway network, according to local needs and circumstances.
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