Cheshire East unveils its highways works programme for 2022-23

Cheshire East Council has outlined its planned works programme for highways in 2022-23.

The authority identifies and prioritises what highways maintenance, repairs and improvements to do each year and allocates the available budget for work programmes in accordance with its asset management approach.

The programme is available on the council’s website. It can be viewed in two different ways:

• A full works programme, listed by street name which can be easily searched using the simple instructions on the webpage; and

• A list of works by theme, including the asset-based scoring method used to prioritise inclusion on this year’s work programme.

Each month the full works programme will be updated and re-issued to reflect progress to date or any changes to the delivery of the programme.

The council is responsible for 2,700 kilometres of highway and has a continuous programme of maintenance.

Cheshire East Council recently approved a new budget, which includes an additional £19m capital investment in planned highways maintenance over the next three years, funded by borrowing.

However, this investment by Cheshire East Council is set against the backdrop of a £3m cut in government funding for highways maintenance in 2020/21, and a freeze in government funding for the next three years at a time when inflation is at a 30-year high.

Highways’ funding is split into two areas – revenue and capital. Revenue comes from council tax and is used for day-to-day maintenance work. Capital funding is provided by central government grants and the councils own investment and delivers improvements to the road network.

For the 2022-23 financial year, the highways revenue budget is £10.987m and the capital budget is £22.793 million. However, the level of funding needed to stop the borough’s highways getting worse is estimated to be £28m a year for revenue activities and £27m for capital works.

View the full programmes and the scoring method for each in more detail here.