Funding
Bury Council Highway Investment Strategy
We know that fixing the borough’s roads is a top priority for residents and businesses of our borough, but Bury Council faces huge gaps in its budget and UK Government funding alone is insufficient to maintain our highway assets.
To help address this and respond to our communities, we have borrowed £30 million over nine years (2017-2026) to significantly increase and supplement funding for resurfacing, surface treatments and day-to-day maintenance of all highway assets.
This additional funding has allowed us to develop a phased, nine-year highway investment strategy and adopt a ‘prevention’ is better than ‘cure’ approach. As a result, the percentage of A, B and C roads ranked as good has risen by 4.7% and the percentage of the unclassified network ranked as good has risen by 6%.
Since 2017, our Highway Investment Strategy has allowed us to:
- Carry out resurfacing and preventative maintenance to 57km of roads and footways
- Repair over 66,000 potholes.
Using only the government funding we are allocated; this extra maintenance would not have been possible.
Our highway investment strategy is making a real difference, allowing us to make a strategy for long-term maintenance that:
- Enhances safety and makes our highways better for everyone
- Reduces emissions and helps the environment
- Supports the connectivity of our communities and the local economy
- Reduces the level of costly road repairs required in the future
UK Government funding
In July 2022, the government confirmed over £1 billion of capital funding for Greater Manchester from the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement (CRSTS).
CRSTS funding will deliver investments in local roads, bus, train and tram services over the five years to March 2027, with new quality bus corridors, walking, wheeling and cycling routes and improved transport infrastructure and connectivity for towns across Greater Manchester.
The Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) has allocated a share of this funding to Bury for several schemes and to maintain roads and other highway infrastructure.
UK Government CRSTS sustainable travel funding
£96 million has been allocated to Bury for sustainable travel schemes. This funding is ringfenced for the implementation of new cycling and walking initiatives, such as cyclops junctions and cycle lanes, to support active travel as part of the Greater Manchester Bee Network.
CRSTS funding is intended to transform the way we travel across Greater Manchester with 50% (one million) journeys made by public transport, walking, wheeling or cycling by 2040.
Funding ringfenced for sustainable travel schemes cannot be used to repair existing highways.
UK Government CRSTS highway maintenance funding
The funding allocated from the CRSTS for highway maintenance amounts to £10.4 million from 2022 to 2027. This funding is split as follows.
- £4 million ringfenced for the Key Route Network (major north/south/east/west A roads, along with Hollins Brow, Pilsworth Road and Croft Lane).
- £6.4 million for all roads in the borough, including resurfacing, surface treatment, safety schemes and other maintenance activities such as potholes, footways, guardrails and electrical equipment repairs.
More information about CRSTS funding
Priorities
Like all councils, we have limited funds, and we can’t fix all road defects at the same time.
Our £30 million extra investment in our roads is gradually improving their quality, but prioritising our road repairs is still essential.
To resurface every road across the Bury borough would cost in the region of £300 million, a sum we simply cannot afford.
While we must ensure public safety, we need to balance between reactive repairs, which don't last long, and more durable options like resurfacing. In between these options, we can carry out preventative maintenance using less expensive treatments like surface dressing and micro-asphalt . These surface treatments help improve roads that aren't too damaged, delaying the formation of potholes.
Pothole repairs are costly because they have to be done reactively, making it hard to save money by doing them in bulk like resurfacing an entire road. To manage costs better, we focus on long-term planning and use surface treatments that improve larger sections of the road network more efficiently, reducing the chances of potholes forming. Resurfacing is reserved for roads in the worst condition but is only done when necessary, considering other important factors as well.
Surveys, inspections and maintenance history
To inform highway priorities we carry out surveys and inspections and review maintenance history.
- Routine condition surveys: These surveys are carried out by specialist survey contractors on our behalf. The data gathered provides a detailed and objective view of the condition of roads. Lengths of road are graded from grade 1 (free from defects) to grade 5 (structurally impaired)
- Regular inspections: These can range from being weekly up to annually, depending on how busy the road is and how important it is locally and economically.
- Maintenance history: Reviewing maintenance history tells us the number of reactive repairs needed in recent years, as well as when the road was last treated. This information helps inform the likelihood of more rapid deterioration in the coming years.
This data helps us evaluate the condition of the entire 660km road network and decide on the most cost-effective repairs.
We then assess this data against a range of criteria to create a resurfacing plan for the coming years, prioritising roads that may need expensive repairs in the future to ensure the best value for money.
Criteria
The criteria we use to prioritise repairs includes the following.
- Risk to the public
- Condition of the road
- Road class/priority
Our highways team who compile the list of schemes also play a part in prioritising, in order that engineering judgement and the following important factors are considered.
- Scheme viability
- Connectivity to other proposals
- Consideration of other likely schemes and works to the highway, whether utility activities such as gas main replacement or active travel walking/cycling schemes
Together, these measures ensure that the limited available funding is used on the roads and pavements that are in the greatest need of treatment within the terms set out above, in a fair and consistent manner across the Bury borough.
This does not always mean fixing the worst roads first, because without enough funding this would lead to a faster decline in the overall network.
After prioritising, funds are allocated to the selected schemes.