How highways are financed
The largest part of county council spending goes to provide for those among our children, relatives, friends and neighbours who need particular care, protection or support because they’re vulnerable.
Managing our highways network within the budget available is complex and challenging. Not every road can be improved at once. That would require six times as much spending, money which is simply not available from a very limited council budget.
There are two main streams of funding for highways works:
Revenue funding
Revenue funding comes from Council tax, business rates and Government grants. We use this funding for reactive maintenance and to address any safety issues:
- Potholes
- Blocked Drains
- Missing Road lines
Council Tax and business rates provide approximately £40 per household/business per year for roads maintenance. Typically, we repair 30,000 safety defects at a fixed cost of £1.5m per year.
A pothole of around 0.5m x 0.5m typically costs £50 to repair.
Capital funding
Capital investment is the money borrowed by the Council or from Government grants to invest in the road network. This form of funding can only be spent on assets to replace worn out elements to return them to new condition such as renewing the surface of the carriageway and replacing parts of highway infrastructure. This money cannot be used to fill potholes but can be used to prevent potholes by resurfacing for example.
In 2023/24, almost £50m in total will be spent on improving East Sussex’s highways. This included an extra £15.7m to tackle the increased damage to roads, a UK-wide issue caused by more extreme weather in both winter and summer.