PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
(24 February 2025)

Staffordshire County Council is the local highway authority for Newcastle-under-Lyme. For the 2024/25 financial year, the previous Government allocated Staffordshire County Council £28.935 million for local highway maintenance. For the 2025/26 financial year, this Government is providing Staffordshire County Council with £39.465 million, an increase of around £10.5 million, for local highway maintenance. Funding is not ring-fenced, and it is entirely a matter for Staffordshire County Council to determine how the money is best spent to improve its local highway network according to its needs and circumstances.

The Department advocates a risk-based whole life cycle asset management approach to local authority highways maintenance programmes. This considers all parts of the highway network, such as bridges, cycleways and lighting columns – not just the fixing of potholes.