Surrey County Council Response to Surrey Heath MP’s Pothole Letter - 20 May

Response from Cllr Matt Furniss, Cabinet Member for Highways, Transport and Economic Growth.

View Original Letter: Here 

Dear Al Pinkerton MP,

Thank you for your email concerning the condition of the Maultway, Camberley. In order to provide a response, I have consulted Highways colleagues and can provide the following information and responses to your questions.

1. What proportion of this funding will be allocated to highways within Surrey Heath?

The funding Surrey County Council receives from central government is not sufficient to meet the requirements for maintenance.  The Highway Network covers much more than just roads, it also includes pavements, bridges, drainage infrastructure, traffic signals and more.  The table below shows the funding that Surrey County Council has received over the past five years from central government along with the additional funding that Surrey County Council has allocated to maintain Highway assets. We have not yet finalised the accounts for 2024/25 so the table shows the forecast expenditure as at the end of February.

As you can see from the table above, considerable funds are allocated by Surrey County Council in addition to central government funding.  We have calculated that the backlog of works on our roads alone is £400m and therefore a sustained budget of £40m per annum would be required over a 10-year period to return roads to a serviceable position in addition to considerable sums needed for other highway assets.  From the allocations shown above, approximately £50m was allocated to full road resurfacing in 2024/25 with additional funding for road patching, and works on other assets such as pavements, bridges, drainage infrastructure and traffic signals.

As you may be aware, issues with road maintenance are a problem across the country not just in Surrey, so you may be interested to have a look at the Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance survey which is conducted annually and which Surrey County Council contributes to - ALARM-survey-2025.pdf.  The 2025 survey identified that the one-time catch-up cost to bring roads in England and Wales up to a condition that would allow them to be managed cost effectively is nearly £17bn.

I hope the information provided demonstrates that Surrey County Council is making the improvement of the condition of our roads a priority, but also that it will take a considerable time to return all roads to a serviceable condition. 

In terms of Surrey Heath specifically, I don’t currently have the data for the proportion of spend for 2025/26 as some programmes of work are still being determined, however in 2024/25 5.7% of the total roads resurfacing programme in Surrey was carried out in Surrey Heath.  Surrey Heath accounts for 7.8% of Surrey’s total road length and in terms of its overall condition compared to other Surrey districts and boroughs it ranks in the middle therefore the proportion of road resurfacing carried out in Surrey Heath is considered appropriate relative to the funding available.

2. What measures are in place to ensure full-length repairs on key roads rather thanpiecemeal patching?

Given the information provided above regarding the funding available, it is not possible to carry out full length repairs on all roads that require it, and patching is necessary in some circumstances, however higher category roads receive higher prioritisation rankings for more significant works. Details of how we prioritise works can be found at; Capital Prioritisation Policy

3. What oversight mechanisms exists to ensure maintenance work is completed to a satisfactory standard?

Completed work is overseen and checked by the Council’s Officer teams and results discussed with our contractors. The checks undertaken take different forms depending on the type of work.

For example:

Routine and Reactive work like pothole repairs and cleaning gullies are mainly investigated through a mixture of desktop samples, post work site visits and some “live” checks whilst work is being carried out. A series of (timestamped) data including photos is captured during the work being carried out – this allows easy access to carry out desktop analysis of repairs and completed work enabling a much greater volume of sampling compared to relying solely on in person inspections.

Planned work of shorter duration is checked on completion to ensure the work has been carried out as expected. Planned work of longer duration is checked on completion but also during the construction phase allowing assurance throughout the work and early intervention if needed. Other monitoring of work takes place including by the Council’s Streetworks Inspection team to monitor compliance with Permits, and by the contractors Supervisors and Managers to ensure jobs are being completed to instruction and to carry out Health and Safety Inspections to ensure that both the workforce and the travelling public are being kept safe throughout the works.

The Council’s laboratory team which are UKAS accredited carry out a wide range of sample tests and technical inspections before, during and after work completion to ensure both the materials being used and the methods of application meet the required standards.

I have included a link to our Horizon programme below. Operation Horizon is our strategic investment programme for highway maintenance. It outlines planned works across various infrastructure assets, including roads, footways, drainage systems, traffic signals, and bridges. The accompanying map illustrates the maintenance activities proposed for Surrey over the forthcoming year. Please note that, as the scheduling of these works is still under development, specific dates are currently unavailable. Horizon – highway maintenance investment programme - Surrey County Council

I hope the above information is of some assistance and thank you again for contacting me about this.

Kind regards,

Matt Furniss