Source
Department for Transport — Local road maintenance ratings 2025 to 2026
amberOverall|amber Conditionamber Spendamber Best Practice
Leicester: Amber Everywhere, Pressure on U-Roads
Leicester City Council earns AMBER on all four DfT scorecards — condition, spend and best practice included. On its own 829.9km network, unclassified-road RED condition jumped from 17% to 24%, pothole repairs peaked at 6,432 in 2023/24, and the council resurfaced just 2.4km while filling 25,008 potholes in five years.
663.7km
Unclassified roads — 80% of the network
Not routinely surveyed by SCANNER. CVI-only assessment. RED condition rose from 17% to 24% before the 2024 figure was left blank in the published report.
What The Condition Data Shows
Five years of SCANNER survey data from Leicester's own transparency report — classified roads recovering, U-roads deteriorating
A-roads (99.8km — 12% of network): improving
4.2%
RED (2024)
down from 6.4% in 2020
27.6%
Amber
broadly flat
68.2%
Green
up from 64% in 2020
Credit where due: main roads have genuinely improved. But A-roads are just one-eighth of the carriageway network.
B and C roads (66.4km — 8% of network): volatile, now recovering
| Year | Red | Amber | Green |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 6.15% | 36% | 57.85% |
| 2021 | 6.85% | 42.9% | 50.25% |
| 2022 | 9% | 39.05% | 51.95% |
| 2023 | 4.05% | 29.55% | 66.4% |
| 2024 | 4.25% | 28% | 67.75% |
B/C roads hit 9% RED and 42.9% amber in 2021–2022 before recovering — but at the 2022 peak, roughly one in ten classified local roads needed maintenance intervention.
Capital Prevention, Revenue Reaction
£5.4m
DfT capital allocation 2025/26
£6.1m
Projected capital spend 2025/26
51.7%
Revenue reactive share 2024/25
Leicester reports 100% preventative capital spend — yet the DfT still rates spend AMBER, revenue maintenance is overwhelmingly reactive, and the council filled 25,008 potholes in five years. Prevention on paper; patching in practice.
The 663.7km CVI-Only Network
80% of Leicester's carriageway is unclassified — not routinely surveyed by SCANNER
| Year | U-roads in RED condition |
|---|---|
| 2020 | 17% |
| 2021 | 17% |
| 2022 | 17% |
| 2023 | 24% |
| 2024 | Not published |
"The table below presents results from Coarse Visual Inspection survey (CVI) carried out on unclassified roads (which are not routinely surveyed by SCANNER)."
— Leicester City Council Local Highways Maintenance Transparency Report 2025
"Before 2024, these were completed as Surface Condition Assessment for the National Network of Roads (SCANNER). We are now trialling automated road condition assessments, which utilises artificial intelligence."
— Leicester City Council Local Highways Maintenance Transparency Report 2025
The 17% → 24% Jump
For three consecutive years, exactly 17% of Leicester's U-roads were in RED condition — then the figure jumped to 24% in 2023. That is a 41% relative increase on the road type that makes up four-fifths of the city's carriageway.
At 24% RED on 663.7km, roughly 159km of residential and neighbourhood streets were flagged for maintenance intervention at the last published survey.
The Concrete Quarter
Leicester's own report notes that approximately one-quarter of the road network is of concrete construction — harder to maintain and more prone to defect formation at joints and edges.
"Approximately one-quarter of the city's network is understood to be of concrete road construction (either concrete or overlain concrete)."
— Leicester City Council Local Highways Maintenance Transparency Report 2025
Why This Matters For Section 58
To rely on the Section 58 defence, Leicester must show it had a reasonable system for knowing the condition of its roads. For the city's unclassified network, ask:
- • Was your road assessed by SCANNER or only by Coarse Visual Inspection?
- • When U-road RED rose from 17% to 24%, what was done about your street?
- • Why is the 2024 U-road RED figure blank in the published transparency report?
- • Does the switch from SCANNER to AI surveys make pre-2024 records comparable?
A council can't claim detailed network knowledge when 80% of its roads aren't routinely SCANNER-surveyed — and then stop publishing the one metric it does collect.
25,008 Potholes in Five Years
Reactive repair volumes on a compact 829.9km urban network
| Year | Potholes filled | Public carriageway reports | Resurfacing spend (revenue) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020/21 | 4,084 | — | — |
| 2021/22 | 4,806 | 926 | £1,843,186 |
| 2022/23 | 4,124 | 1,248 | £1,384,810 |
| 2023/24 | 6,432 | 1,769 | £1,685,894 |
| 2024/25 | 5,562 | 1,347 | £1,882,320 |
| Five-year total | 25,008 | 5,290* | £6,796,210* |
2.4km Resurfaced, 829.9km Network
Leicester resurfaced approximately 2.4km (48,000m²) of carriageway in 2024/25 — less than 0.3% of its road network by length. Meanwhile it filled 5,562 potholes from the revenue budget. That ratio tells you where maintenance effort actually goes.
The Permanent-Fix Policy
Leicester states a policy of first-time permanent fixes — but the pothole numbers keep climbing. Peak year 2023/24 saw 57% more repairs than 2020/21.
"The city council policy is to complete a first time permanent fix when carrying out pothole repairs, using asphalt in accordance with the HMEP Potholes review - prevention and a better cure."
— Leicester City Council Local Highways Maintenance Transparency Report 2025
*Public report and revenue spend totals cover 2021/22–2024/25 only; 2020/21 pothole count published separately.
Surveys, Systems and Outstanding Plans
What Leicester says about how it inspects and prioritises its network
"We carry out road condition surveys each financial year to identify existing condition of the carriageway. From the condition reports, we can identify the areas that need intervention (i.e. "red" scores). We also have our internal highway management team that carry out highway safety inspections and highlight any areas of the road network which require larger maintenance schemes. These are then prioritised based on the condition, road hierarchy, number of complaints, location, bus routes etc."
— Leicester City Council Local Highways Maintenance Transparency Report 2025
"Please note that this document is due to be reviewed and extended, until updated at a suitable time."
— Leicester City Council Local Highways Maintenance Transparency Report 2025
New Tools, Old Gaps
Leicester has introduced the Alloy asset management platform and is trialling AI-based condition surveys — but its Local Transport and Transport Asset Management plans are explicitly overdue for review.
Modern systems don't automatically cure a 24% U-road RED rate or a blank 2024 condition cell.
2025/26 Capital Programme
£6.1 million is allocated for 2025/26, with £2.202m (36.1%) for carriageway maintenance schemes across 13 named roads including London Road, King Richards Road and Vulcan Road.
Named schemes help if your defect is on a listed route. If it isn't, the prioritisation criteria — condition, hierarchy, complaints, bus routes — are your cross-examination points.
Claiming Against an All-Amber Council
Honest assessment: Leicester is not Leicestershire — here's how that changes your approach
What Works In The Council's Favour
- ✓ A-road condition genuinely improving — RED down from 6.4% to 4.2%
- ✓ 100% capital spend classed as preventative
- ✓ Projected capital spend (£6.1m) exceeds DfT allocation (£5.4m) in 2025/26
- ✓ First-time permanent fix policy; Alloy asset management system
- ✓ Annual condition surveys and documented Code of Practice compliance
Expect a structured Section 58 defence on A-roads and named capital scheme routes. Generic claims will struggle.
What Works In Yours
- ✗ AMBER on all four scorecards — no green badges anywhere
- ✗ U-road RED up from 17% to 24%; 2024 figure not published
- ✗ 80% of network not routinely SCANNER-surveyed — CVI only
- ✗ 25,008 pothole repairs in five years on 829.9km — defects outpace resurfacing
- ✗ ~25% concrete construction — elevated defect risk at joints
- ✗ Asset management plans overdue for review per the council's own admission
The Winning Strategy Here Is Specificity
Against a council with documented surveys and a permanent-fix policy, your claim lives or dies on the specific defect:
- • Prior reports of the same pothole (FixMyStreet, council reports) — proof of actual notice
- • Photos showing defect size, depth and visible age (weathered edges, previous patching, concrete joints)
- • Road class — on a U-road, the CVI-only survey gap and 24% RED rate are your strongest structural arguments
- • Whether your street was on the 2025/26 named resurfacing list — if not, ask why not
Mac builds exactly this case: he searches for prior reports, assesses your photo evidence, and cites Leicester's own transparency data where it helps you.
Hit a Pothole in Leicester?
An all-amber council still owes you a reasonable inspection regime. £35 for a professional claim pack.
DIY Claim
- • Submit photos and invoices
- • Use generic template letter
- • No U-road CVI survey-gap argument
- • No prior-report search
- • No concrete-network analysis
Professional Claim Pack
- ✅ U-road RED rise (17% → 24%) documented
- ✅ CVI-only survey gap argued
- ✅ 25,008 repairs in five years cited
- ✅ Prior reports searched and attached
- ✅ Section 58 rebuttal tailored to Leicester
No percentage fees. You keep 100% of any compensation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Leicester is AMBER on all four DfT scorecards — can I still claim?
Yes. An overall AMBER rating confirms the Department for Transport considers Leicester's maintenance adequate but not exemplary — and your claim turns on the specific defect, not the headline badge. Section 58 depends on whether the council had a reasonable system to inspect and repair the road where you were damaged. Leicester's own data shows U-road RED condition rising from 17% to 24%, pothole repairs peaking at 6,432 in 2023/24, and a methodology switch from SCANNER to AI surveys in 2024 — all of which are arguable on the facts of your case.
What if my pothole was on a residential or unclassified road?
U-roads make up 663.7km — roughly 80% of Leicester's 829.9km carriageway network. The council's own report states unclassified roads "are not routinely surveyed by SCANNER" and are assessed instead by Coarse Visual Inspection (CVI). At the last published survey, 24% of U-roads were in RED condition, up from a steady 17% in 2020–2022. The 2024 U-road RED figure is blank in the published report.
Does the missing 2024 U-road condition data weaken my claim?
No — it strengthens the structural argument. Leicester published RED percentages for U-roads every year from 2020 to 2023, then left the 2024 cell empty while simultaneously switching classified-road surveys from SCANNER to AI-based assessment. A council cannot rely on network knowledge it chose not to publish, especially after a methodology change that the report itself flags.
Pothole repairs peaked at 6,432 in 2023/24 — does that mean the roads are fixed now?
Leicester still filled 5,562 potholes in 2024/25 — roughly 15 every day — and resurfaced only approximately 2.4km of its 829.9km network in that same year. The council's five-year total is 25,008 pothole repairs. Reactive patching on a network where a quarter of carriageways are concrete construction is maintenance, not recovery.
Leicester allocates 100% of capital spend to prevention — does that block Section 58?
Not automatically. Capital prevention and revenue reaction are separate budgets. Leicester reports 0% preventative share on revenue maintenance and 51.7% reactive share in 2024/25. Section 58 turns on whether the specific defect was reasonably inspected and repaired — not on a capital table showing 100% preventative allocation while 6,000+ potholes are filled annually from the revenue budget.
Data sources: Department for Transport — Local Road Maintenance Ratings 2025 to 2026 | Leicester City Council Local Highways Maintenance Transparency Report (2025). Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Reusable evidence record
Council rating evidence and provenance
Rating period: 2025-2026 · Reviewed 19 July 2026
Observed DfT fact
Overall AMBER; condition AMBER; spend AMBER; best practice AMBER.
Cautious interpretation
This is network-level context. The rating does not determine liability for a particular incident or establish what was known about a specific defect.
Correction status: No correction recorded.