Nottingham has a road repairs backlog totalling almost £80 million, the latest figures show.
The city has 767 km of roads, 1,442 km of footways, more than 200 bridges, 33,329 street lights, and 37,349 road gullies that must all be maintained.
Councillors say decades of cuts to council budgets under the former Conservative Government’s austerity measures have left many roads neglected.
During a meeting to discuss the city’s roads on Monday (20 July), Cllr Kirsty L Jones, of the Nottingham People’s Alliance, said: “I’m just disappointed that our roads, over the last decade of austerity, have obviously been neglected and have declined to such a poor condition that we have this backlog of £79 million.
“I just hope there is more funding. It sounds like Nottingham City Council is in a good place in terms of the knowledge that, if more funding were to come, it could actually tackle that backlog. But it is clear Nottingham is not getting the investment it needs.”
Chris Keane, assistant director of highways and public realm, said the city needs just over £9 million each year in funding to keep on top of the backlog.
“No council is ever going to get rid of its backlog,” he said. “What you have got to do is reduce your backlog. That has got to be the driver, and you’ve got to keep spending money to reduce your backlog.”
According to council data, for 2026/27, the city will be getting £5.7 million from the East Midlands Combined County Authority and an estimated £1.8 million directly from the Government’s Streets for People pot, leaving a shortfall of £1.5 million against what is needed.
Based on current funding awards, it is expected that, by 2028/29, funding will reach what is needed for a steady maintenance plan.
Despite the current shortfall, Mr Keane said the council is in a “really good position” in terms of funding to keep on top of repairs.
“We could all spend more, but the current trajectory here is that we are ahead of that curve, and that is positive news,” he added.
Road repairs are typically carried out depending on the severity of the damage and the risks they pose.
Emergency works, where there is potential for serious risk or major disruption, must be completed within two hours.
Urgent works must then be completed within 36 hours, while other safety defects posing a lower risk must be addressed within 14 to 28 days.
The council says that between 1 April last year and 31 March 2026, there were 235 damage claims.
However, just 9% of these claims were successful, and the total amount of money the council had to pay out totalled just £8,246.17 last year.
Cllr Sarita-Marie Rehman-Wall (Lab) said: “For what reasons are highways claims against the council successful, and what can be done to ensure these road maintenance issues are addressed in the future so they don’t give rise to claims?”
Mr Keane replied: “The reasons why we would pay out claims would be, one, that we didn’t get the work done on time, or that we’d walked down the road and carried out an inspection, there was a big hole in that road, and we missed it. That would be another reason.”
Colin Parr, corporate director for communities, environment and resident services, added: “We are in a positive place. My previous authority had a network about twice the size of ours, and the backlog was about £320 million at the point I left. It is not unusual for authorities to be reporting backlogs in the hundreds of millions.”
However, he said the council had been clever in where it invests money, varying investment between main arterial routes and neighbourhoods, leading to a more manageable position.
By Joe Locker, Local Democracy Reporter