How we maintain local roads, pavements, and the wider highway network in Bury Council

What we are responsible for maintaining

Headline Network Lengths

Carriageway – 584 km

Footways – 1,194 km

Highway Assets and Features

The assets that we maintain are listed below.

Maintaining the highway network is increasingly challenging due to the age and scale of our assets, high levels of daily use, and the impacts of more frequent severe weather. Like many local authorities, historic funding levels have not always matched the investment needed to fully renew ageing infrastructure. As a result, some assets have deteriorated over time, creating a maintenance backlog. We continue to prioritise investment using a risk-based approach, focusing available resources where they deliver the greatest benefit to network users.

Road conditions in Bury Council

A roads 

B and C roads

U roads

Additional information on carriageway condition

Road condition on the A, B and C road network is assessed using SCANNER laser-based surveys, undertaken in opposite directions each year, providing data for both directions over a two-year cycle. Survey results are used to calculate a Condition Indicator (CI), classified as:

Green (no action required),

Amber (maintenance may soon be needed),

Red (maintenance should be considered).

Unclassified roads are assessed through accredited Coarse Visual Inspections (CVI), with surveyors recording defects while driving the network. A condition index is calculated by software from these observations and an indication that surface or structural repairs should be considered. This is the only nationally defined threshold for unclassified roads; no national Green or Amber categories exist. Fifty percent of the unclassified network is surveyed annually, providing full coverage over two years.

From 2026/27, PAS 2161 accredited surveys will replace current methods, introducing five condition categories to provide a more detailed assessment of road condition across England.

What we are doing about potholes and other road defects

What is a pothole?

A pothole is a localised area of deterioration in either the carriageway or footway, typically formed as result of progressive weakening of the surface or structure, where the surface has broken away, resulting in a depression or cavity that may present a risk to highway users.

Bury Council uses a risk-based approach to whether a pothole requires intervention. The dimensions of a defect are not the only factor considered in determining whether intervention is required. The risk presented by the defect, considering location, hierarchy, traffic volumes and vulnerability of road user are considered alongside the physical characteristics of the defect.

Where intervention is required the nature and priority of repair is determined by the assessed risk. This approach targets resources towards defects presenting the greatest risk to highway users.

Target repair response times are:

Priority 1 – 2 hrs

Priority 2 – 24 hrs

Priority 3 – 14 days

Priority 4 – 28 days

What we are doing to tackle potholes

During 2025/26, Bury Council repaired approximately 9,430 potholes across our highway network. Our objective is to deliver permanent, right first time repairs wherever it is safe, practical and cost effective to do so. In some circumstances, a temporary repair may be required to make a defect safe pending a permanent repair. This may be necessary where traffic management is required, weather conditions are unsuitable, specialist resources are required, or more extensive planned maintenance is programmed.

We recognise that prevention is better than cure and place significant emphasis on planned and preventative maintenance. The Council’s annual capital investment programmes, deliver a combination of surface dressing, micro-asphalt, carriageway resurfacing, patching and reconstruction schemes designed to extend asset life and prevent the formation of potholes. We aim to broaden these programmes of work to include in-situ recycling.

Planned maintenance programmes of work are prioritised following asset management principles and lifecycle planning, considering condition survey data, safety inspection findings, insurance data alongside other metrics. This ensures that investment is targeted where it will have the greatest benefit, balancing reactive repairs with preventative treatments that improve network condition, reduce future maintenance liabilities and provide better value for money.

Approximately 75% of the Council’s Highway Maintenance budgets are allocated to planned and preventative maintenance interventions, demonstrating our strong focus on prevention

How members of public can report potholes and other highway defects

Most issues can be reported online, but potentially hazardous and dangerous issues should be reported by phone.

Hazardous road issues

Collapsed road surface: Report this issue promptly by phone.

Call 0161 253 5353 between 8.45am and 5pm, Monday to Friday or 0161 253 6606 outside of these hours.

Non-hazardous road issues

Non-hazardous road issues should be reported online at Report a Road Defect

Once a report is made, it is entered into our CRM system which then routes the issue to the relevant teams through our back-office Highway Management system – Causeway Alloy.

What happens after a pothole is reported

Bury Council uses an Asset Management system providing fully digitised, end to end reporting, inspection and works management.

An initial triage to identify potential Category 1 and 2 defects is completed for urgent action.

Non-Category 1 and 2 defects reports are issued to our highway safety inspection team, triggering an inspection of the defect to determine the associated risk, intervention type and repair response timeframe, generating a works instruction for allocation to repair teams.

If a reported defect does not meet the intervention criteria, it remains subject to ongoing inspection and monitoring through the Council's routine highway safety inspection regime.

What we spend to maintain the highway network and where the funding is coming from

Spending on highways maintenance (Capital and Revenue)*

Where our funding for highways maintenance comes from*

* The expenditure shown in the 'Spending on highways maintenance (Capital' and Revenue)' table represents in-year spend, whereas the funding shown in the 'Where our funding for highways maintenance comes from' table represents in-year funding awarded. Any variance between the two reflects delivery slippage across financial years.

Our maintenance plans for this year

Our plans for highways maintenance for 2026-27

• 9.2 km resurfacing
• 15 km surface dressing
• 10 km Footway refurbishment
• 10 km Footway Slurry Microsurfacing

Our current approved Resurfacing schemes for 2026/27 can be found on our website here. The list is separated into current and completed streets.

Our current approved Surface Dressing schemes for 2026/27 can be found on our website here.

Our current footway schemes for 2026/27 can be found on our website here.

Full list of planned carriageway and footway works 

See the below table setting out a list of road sections/streets that are earmarked for planned highway maintenance works in 2026-2027 including: carriageway resurfacing, preventative maintenance and footway reconstruction.

How decisions are made on our maintenance plans

Resurfacing and preventative maintenance programmes are identified using condition and skid resistance surveys, asset data, and highway inspections.

Candidate sites for treatments such as surface dressing, micro-asphalt and asphalt preservation are selected through a coordinated assessment process involving highway inspectors and engineering teams.

Roads are targeted before significant deterioration occurs, with factors such as surface cracking, loss of skid resistance and aggregate loss used to identify early intervention opportunities. Prioritising preventative treatments helps extend asset life, improve network condition and reduce the need for more costly resurfacing works.

This proactive, ‘prevention is better than cure’ approach maximises the value of capital investment, protects the original highway asset and supports the delivery of a safer, more resilient network for road users.