Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council maintains a large and varied highway network across the borough. This includes local roads, footways, highway structures, drainage assets, street lighting, traffic signals, road markings, signs, street furniture and public rights of way.
Keeping this network safe, accessible and resilient is a significant responsibility. Dudley is a busy urban borough, with competing demands from residents, businesses, buses, freight, utilities, local access, town centres, weather impacts and ageing highway assets. The Council must balance day-to-day safety repairs with planned maintenance, long-term asset management, affordability and value for money.
The Council has published its 2026/27 Local Highways Maintenance Transparency Report to explain how highway maintenance is managed in Dudley, how funding is used, and what work is planned during the year.
The report provides information on the highway assets the Council maintains, road condition in Dudley, potholes and defects, highway maintenance funding and spend, planned carriageway and footway maintenance, asset management, drainage, structures, skills, climate resilience, innovation, utilities and contract management.
Why this report is being published
The Department for Transport introduced local highway maintenance transparency reporting in 2025/26 as part of the Government’s approach to improving transparency, accountability and best practice in local highway maintenance. In 2025/26, local highway authorities were required to publish information setting out how highways maintenance funding was being used and what maintenance activity was being delivered locally.
The Department for Transport also published local road maintenance ratings for 2025/26, with links to each local highway authority’s published transparency report. The ratings were introduced to show how local highway authorities are maintaining their roads and making use of Government highways maintenance funding. Further information is available on GOV.UK: Local road maintenance ratings 2025 to 2026.
For 2026/27, the Department for Transport has continued and expanded the transparency reporting approach. In its June 2026 letter to local authority chief executives, DfT asked local highway authorities to publish an annual highways maintenance transparency report by 10 September 2026 and provide DfT with a link to the published report. The report is required to include a public-facing core report and a supporting technical annex. Further information is available on GOV.UK: Letter to local authorities about local highway maintenance transparency reporting requirements – June 2026 and Guidance on completing a local highways maintenance transparency report.
The 2026/27 transparency report also forms part of the Government’s wider local highway maintenance funding and incentive arrangements. DfT has set out funding and incentive requirements for local highway authorities, including requirements relating to transparency reporting, highway asset management, spending highways maintenance funding on eligible highways maintenance activity, and continued professional development. Further information is available on GOV.UK: Letter to local authorities about local highway maintenance funding in 2026 to 2027.
Dudley’s 2026/27 report has therefore been prepared to meet the Department for Transport’s reporting requirements and to provide residents, businesses and road users with clearer information about how the Council maintains the local highway network, how highway maintenance funding is used, and what maintenance work is planned during 2026/27.
Dudley’s 2026/27 transparency documents
The report is provided in two parts.
Annex A – Core Report
The core report explains what the Council is responsible for maintaining, the latest published road condition information for Dudley, the Council’s approach to potholes and defects, highway maintenance spending and the planned maintenance programme for 2026/27.
Annex B – Technical Annex
The technical annex provides the additional information required by the Department for Transport. This includes more detailed information on funding and spend, carriageway maintenance activity, pothole repairs, highway structures, asset management, footways and cycleways, drainage, skills and training, climate resilience, innovation, utility works and contract management.
Highway asset management
The Council’s highway asset management approach helps inform how maintenance needs are identified, prioritised and planned. It supports decisions on how available funding is targeted across the network, taking account of condition, safety, risk, lifecycle planning, value for money and local priorities.
Planned highway maintenance programme
The Council publishes information on planned carriageway and footway maintenance works for 2026/27, including scheme locations and treatment types.