Source
Department for Transport — Local road maintenance ratings 2025 to 2026
amberOverall|amber Conditiongreen Spendred Best Practice
Rochdale: RED Best Practice, 71.77% of Reactive Spend on Potholes
Rochdale Borough Council spends above its DfT capital allocation and earns a GREEN spend scorecard. Yet the DfT rates its overall performance AMBER and its asset management approach RED — because the council's own transparency report reveals 71.77% of reactive spend went on pothole intervention in 2024/25, zero preventative maintenance in 2022/23, and a highways data system still being built "over the next few years."
71.77%
Of reactive spend on potholes (2024/25)
Against 17.04% of capital on preventative works. The council filled an estimated 8,890 potholes in 2024/25 alone — roughly 24 every day across its 732km network.
Why Best Practice Is RED
The DfT's RED best-practice scorecard is the strongest claim-relevant signal in Rochdale's ratings — and the council's own report explains why
"We did not carry out any preventative maintenance in 2022/23 due to the highway service delivery returning in-house and had insufficient timescales to arrange a preventative treatment programme"
— Rochdale Borough Council Local Highways Maintenance Transparency Report 2025
"We will continue to build up our information data in relation to inventory & condition over the next few years to drive a data lead prioritisation of maintenance works across different assets."
— Rochdale Borough Council Local Highways Maintenance Transparency Report 2025
What RED Best Practice Means
The DfT incentive fund scores best practice on asset management maturity — inventory completeness, preventative-first spending, reliable performance data, and alignment with Well-Managed Highway Infrastructure. A RED score means Rochdale falls short of national standards on these measures, regardless of how much it spends.
For Section 58, a council claiming a "reasonable system" of maintenance needs documented processes, consistent data, and planned intervention — not a programme that is still transitioning systems and building its asset inventory.
The Alloy System Gap
Rochdale recently purchased the Alloy works ordering and asset management system. It uses this to log assets, create works orders, and link to its CRM — but the council explicitly states it will take years to build complete inventory and condition data.
Pothole figures for 2022/23 are flagged as partial data due to the system change. A council still assembling its asset management foundation is a weaker Section 58 defendant than one with mature, continuous records.
The Preventative vs Reactive Split
0.00%
Preventative maintenance (2022/23)
17.04%
Preventative share of capital (2024/25)
65.19%
Average reactive share of revenue (5 years)
An average of 65.19% of revenue spend over the last five years has gone on reactive maintenance — primarily pothole repairs and urgent defect fixes. The council aims to shift towards planned preventative work, but its own projected 2025/26 split is still 21.23% preventative (capital) against 70.00% reactive (revenue).
What The Condition Data Shows
Five years of SCANNER and AEI survey data from Rochdale's own transparency report — AMBER overall because local roads are not holding steady
A-roads (101.33km — 13.8% of network)
| Year | Red | Amber | Green |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 4% | 23% | 73% |
| 2021 | 3% | 22% | 75% |
| 2022 | 4% | 23% | 73% |
| 2023 | 6% | 22% | 72% |
| 2024 | 4% | 21% | 75% |
A-road condition is broadly stable, with a spike to 6% RED in 2023. Surveys use a mixture of SCANNER and AEI data on an annual basis.
B and C roads (60.86km — 8.3% of network)
| Year | Red | Amber | Green |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 5% | 24% | 71% |
| 2021 | 4% | 21% | 75% |
| 2022 | 4% | 23% | 74% |
| 2023 | 7% | 25% | 68% |
| 2024 | 5% | 24% | 71% |
B/C roads hit their worst point in 2023: 7% RED and only 68% GREEN — a third of the classified local road network needing or approaching maintenance. The 2024 figure improved to 5% RED, but nearly a third of B/C roads remain in amber condition.
U-roads (576.93km — 79% of network)
| Year | U-roads in RED condition |
|---|---|
| 2020 | 17% |
| 2021 | 16% |
| 2022 | 17% |
| 2023 | 15% |
| 2024 | 12% |
At 12% RED in 2024, roughly 69km of Rochdale's residential and minor roads should be considered for maintenance. U-road condition is collected via the Annual Engineering Inspection programme, surveying 100% of the network each year.
"While AEI may indicate a higher proportion of the network in poor condition compared to SCANNER, this reflects its holistic, engineering-led evaluation of entire maintenance lengths."
— Rochdale Borough Council Local Highways Maintenance Transparency Report 2025
GREEN Spend, Reactive Reality
Rochdale's capital spend exceeds its DfT allocation — but the money is not buying a preventative-first programme
| Year | DfT allocation | Capital spend | Revenue spend | Preventative % | Reactive % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020/21 | £4,265k | £7,611k | £1,853k | 41.56% | 56.56% |
| 2021/22 | £4,121k | £5,106k | £2,000k | 14.59% | 59.78% |
| 2022/23 | £3,710k | £2,840k | £2,077k | 0.00% | 60.95% |
| 2023/24 | £4,641k | £7,734k | £2,245k | 12.92% | 76.89% |
| 2024/25 | £5,098k | £5,781k | £2,782k | 17.04% | 71.77% |
| 2025/26 (proj.) | £4,710k | £5,781k | £2,782k | 21.23% | 70.00% |
Why Spend Is GREEN
Rochdale consistently spends more capital than the DfT allocates — £5,781k against £4,710k projected for 2025/26, and £7,734k against £4,641k in 2023/24. Over five years, 49km of carriageway received preventative maintenance and 6.5km of footways were improved.
Why That Does Not Fix Your Road
Preventative and reactive percentages are funded from separate budgets and do not add to 100%. In 2024/25, 71.77% of reactive spend went directly on pothole intervention — patching symptoms, not preventing them. The council itself says maintenance is "not solely determined by the result of these surveys" but by "local needs and priorities."
"The maintenance of roads is not solely determined by the result of these surveys. Other factors, based on local needs and priorities, will determine where maintenance is carried out to ensure the safety and longevity of the entire road network through a risk-based, highway asset management approach."
— Rochdale Borough Council Local Highways Maintenance Transparency Report 2025
37,675 Potholes in Five Years
The scale of reactive repair tells you how many defects this network produces
| Year | Potholes filled (estimate) | Carriageway resurfaced (km) | Carriageway preserved (km) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020/21 | 8,247 | 5.038 | 22.604 |
| 2021/22 | 8,679 | 5.622 | 7.666 |
| 2022/23 | 3,768* | 4.994 | 0.00 |
| 2023/24 | 8,091 | 12.515 | 7.643 |
| 2024/25 | 8,890 | 6.196 | 11.082 |
| Five-year total | 37,675 | 34.365 | 48.995 |
~21 Potholes a Day, Every Day
Averaged over five years, Rochdale fills roughly 21 potholes per day. The revenue programme also carries out approximately 5,500 carriageway repairs and 2,000 footway repairs annually, plus 45,905 gully cleans. That is a network producing defects faster than planned works can prevent them.
*The 2022/23 Asterisk
The council's own footnote: "part data due to change of works ordering system." That same year saw zero kilometres of carriageway preservation and 0.00% preventative maintenance spend. If your incident falls in this period, Rochdale's records are explicitly incomplete.
Inspections, Surveys and Section 58
What Rochdale says it does to know the condition of its roads — and where the gaps are
How Roads Are Surveyed
- • A and B/C roads: annual SCANNER and AEI surveys
- • U-roads: Annual Engineering Inspection — 100% surveyed each year
- • Highway safety inspections: undertaken against prescribed timescales per the council's highway safety policy
- • Structures: general inspection once every two years
- • Skid resistance: annual survey to inform the capital programme
Reported Defect Response
Reported defects are prioritised for repair within 20 working days or logged for future consideration. The council's CRM system captures customer enquiries with dashboard reporting, and inspection teams log defects into Alloy with photographic evidence.
But the council also states road maintenance is not solely survey-driven — "other factors, based on local needs and priorities" determine where work happens. That discretion is exactly what prior reports and photos can challenge under Section 58.
Why This Matters For Section 58
Under Section 41 of the Highways Act 1980, Rochdale must maintain its roads. Under Section 58, it can defend a claim only by proving a reasonable system of inspection and repair. For your specific defect, ask:
- • Was your road in the 12% of U-roads the council's own survey rated RED?
- • If a safety inspection or CRM report flagged the defect, was it repaired within 20 working days?
- • Does the RED best-practice rating undermine the council's claim to a mature asset management system?
- • If your incident was in 2022/23, can the council produce complete pothole and inspection records?
- • With 71.77% of reactive spend on potholes, was your defect one of thousands the system could not prevent?
A council that admits its data is still being built, carried out zero preventative maintenance in 2022/23, and spends nearly three-quarters of its reactive budget patching potholes has a harder Section 58 argument than its GREEN spend scorecard suggests.
Claiming Against an AMBER Council With GREEN Spend
Honest assessment: Rochdale is not Derbyshire — here is how that changes your approach
What Works In The Council's Favour
- ✓ GREEN spend — capital expenditure exceeds DfT allocation
- ✓ U-roads surveyed annually via AEI — 100% coverage each year
- ✓ A-road condition broadly stable — 75% GREEN in 2024
- ✓ Documented highway safety inspection policy and 20-working-day defect response target
- ✓ 49km of preventative carriageway treatment over five years
Expect a structured Section 58 defence on well-surveyed A-roads. Generic claims will struggle.
What Works In Yours
- ✗ RED best practice — DfT confirms asset management falls short
- ✗ 71.77% of reactive spend on pothole intervention in 2024/25
- ✗ 0.00% preventative maintenance in 2022/23 — admitted in the council's own words
- ✗ 12% of U-roads in RED — roughly 69km of the network needing maintenance
- ✗ 37,675 potholes filled in five years — defects forming faster than prevention catches them
- ✗ Inventory and condition data still being built — incomplete 2022/23 records
The Winning Strategy Here Is Specificity
Against a council with GREEN spend but RED best practice, your claim lives or dies on the specific defect:
- • Prior reports of the same pothole (FixMyStreet, CRM enquiries) — proof of actual notice
- • Photos showing the defect's size, depth and visible age (weathered edges, previous patching)
- • The road's class — on a U-road, cite the 12% RED figure and whether AEI flagged your section
- • Timing — incidents near 2022/23 can exploit the admitted data gap and zero preventative year
Mac builds exactly this case: he searches for prior reports, assesses your photo evidence, and cites Rochdale's own transparency data — including the RED best-practice rating — where it helps you.
Hit a Pothole in Rochdale?
GREEN spend and RED best practice demand a precise claim. £35 for a professional claim pack.
DIY Claim
- • Submit photos and invoices
- • Use generic template letter
- • No RED best-practice argument
- • No prior-report search
- • No 2022/23 data-gap analysis
Professional Claim Pack
- ✅ RED best-practice rating cited
- ✅ 71.77% reactive pothole spend documented
- ✅ U-road RED condition data argued
- ✅ Prior reports searched and attached
- ✅ Section 58 rebuttal tailored to Rochdale
No percentage fees. You keep 100% of any compensation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Rochdale spends above its DfT allocation — can I still claim?
Yes. The DfT Spend scorecard is GREEN because Rochdale's capital spend exceeds its allocation, but the overall rating is AMBER and best practice is RED. Section 58 turns on whether the specific defect that damaged your vehicle was reasonably inspected and repaired — not on aggregate spend. With 71.77% of reactive budget going directly to pothole intervention and only 17.04% of capital on preventative works in 2024/25, the council's own figures show a reactive-heavy programme.
What does the RED best practice rating mean for my claim?
The DfT has formally scored Rochdale's asset management approach as failing national best-practice standards. The council's own report admits zero preventative maintenance in 2022/23, incomplete pothole data that year due to a system change, and that inventory and condition data will take "the next few years" to build. That undermines a Section 58 defence based on a mature, data-led maintenance system.
What if my pothole was on a residential or unclassified road?
U-roads make up 576.93km — 79% of Rochdale's 732.27km carriageway network. At the latest survey, 12% of U-roads were in RED condition, down from 17% in 2020 but still representing roughly 69km of residential streets, estate roads and minor routes. The council surveys U-roads annually via its Annual Engineering Inspection programme, but AEI may show higher poor-condition rates than SCANNER because it evaluates entire road sections rather than 10-metre sub-sections.
Does the drop in U-road RED from 17% to 12% weaken my claim?
Not necessarily — 12% RED still means roughly one in eight U-roads should be considered for maintenance. The council also notes that AEI's holistic, engineering-led evaluation "may indicate a higher proportion of the network in poor condition compared to SCANNER." A declining percentage does not prove your specific defect was inspected or repaired within a reasonable timeframe.
Does the 2022/23 pothole data gap matter?
Yes. Rochdale recorded only 3,768 pothole repairs in 2022/23 — less than half the surrounding years — and its own footnote states this is "part data due to change of works ordering system." That same year, the council carried out zero preventative maintenance after bringing highways delivery back in-house. If your incident falls in or around that period, the council's own records are incomplete.
Data sources: Department for Transport — Local Road Maintenance Ratings 2025 to 2026 | Rochdale Borough Council Local Highways Maintenance Transparency Report (June 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 GREEN; best practice RED.
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.