Local highways maintenance transparency report - Our highway network
Published: 12 May 2025
Walsall Council manages and maintains adopted highway assets falling within its 847km network. Comprising mainly of carriageways, footways, verges, highway drainage, highway structures, road signs, road makings, street furniture, urban traffic control telemetry, cycleways and public rights of way.
The council does not maintain trunk roads or motorways which are the responsibility of National Highways. Street lighting and illuminated road signs/bollards are managed and maintained for Walsall Council by Amey Highways Ltd under a PFI contractual arrangement.
| A road | B/C roads | U roads | Total roads | Footways | Other public rights of way | Cycleways |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 98km | 52km | 697km | 847km | 1,312km | 99km | 19km |
| Year | Capital allocated by DfT (£000’s) | Total Capital spend DfT & Council (£000’s) | Revenue spend (£000’s) | Estimate of % spent on preventative maintenance | Estimate of % spent on reactive maintenanc |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025/26 | £6,606 | £7,909 | £2,506 | 12% | 28% |
| 2024/25 | £3,713 | £7,452 | £2,348 | 16% | 30% |
| 2023/24 | £4,250 | £7,553 | £2,272 | 17% | 31% |
| 2022/23 | £3,330 | £5,933 | £2,094 | 17% | 32% |
| 2021/22 | £2,767 | £5,567 | £1,713 | 11% | 32% |
| 2020/21 | £5,673 | £8,473 | £2,026 | 12% | 24% |
Highway maintenance spend typically comprises:
- Structural highway resurfacing programmes
- Preventative highway surfacing programmes
- Planned highway patching programmes
- Reactive and emergency repairs - including pothole filling
- Cyclical maintenance - such as road drainage gully cleansing
- Flood prevention and flood alleviation schemes
- Bridges and structures
- Signs and road markings
- Street furniture
- Traffic signals and pedestrian crossing facilities
- Public rights of ways
- Cycleways
- Green assets – such as highway trees and verges
One of the biggest concerns road users express within stakeholder satisfaction surveys often relates to potholes. Walsall undertakes structured maintenance interventions annually to tackle the damage.
| 2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8,286 | 4,157 | 4,480 | 4,980 | 5,122 |