A1 – What we are responsible for maintaining

A1 – What we are responsible for maintaining

Bexley is responsible for maintaining the following key highway assets:

• carriageways – 545km (339 miles)
• footways –768km (477 miles)
• road gullies - Over 23,000, which collect rainwater from the highway surface and discharge it into Thames Water sewers, local watercourses, soakaways, or underground storage systems.
• street lights - Over 19,500, all equipped with energy-efficient LED units, designed to provide appropriate lighting levels based on the classification of the road or footpath.
• highway structures - 174 highway structures, including 55 bridges, 16 subways, 35 footbridges, 10 culverts, and 58 retaining walls. These structures support the safe movement of vehicles and pedestrians over or under roads, railways, and rivers.

The key challenges in maintaining Bexley’s highway network are the availability of road space, the impact of utility works and adverse weather conditions.

Bexley is benefiting from a significant programme of utility improvement and upgrade works across the borough. While these works provide long-term benefits, they can take considerable time to complete and cause significant traffic disruption. Urgent highway repairs can still be undertaken where necessary to maintain safety, but larger planned resurfacing schemes can be more difficult to deliver where utility works are also planned. Effective coordination is therefore essential to minimise newly resurfaced roads being excavated shortly afterwards, while allowing utility companies to deliver essential improvements.

Adverse weather, including ice, snow and prolonged rainfall, can also accelerate highway deterioration. The effects may not become apparent immediately and can lead to increased defects and maintenance requirements over subsequent months and years.

A2 – Road conditions in London Borough of Bexley

A2.1. A roads (80km)

A2.2. B and C roads (40km)

A2.3. U roads (451km)

Councils use road condition surveys to assess the state of their roads. The results are grouped into three categories:

• Green – the road is in good condition and no further investigation or treatment is required
• Amber – the road may need maintenance soon
• Red – the road is in poor condition and should be considered for maintenance

The published official statistics for road condition include more detail about the methodology, timing and coverage of this data

A2.4. - Additional information on carriageway condition

Due to the relatively small size of Bexley’s A, B and C road network, small changes in road length and condition can result in notable percentage variations between condition categories. A 1% change equates to only around 800m of A-road and 400m of B and C roads. Percentage changes should therefore be considered in the context of the network involved.

A3 – What we are doing about potholes and other road defects

A3.1. – What is a pothole?

Whilst there is no national definition of the size of a defect that constitutes a pothole, Bexley has established its own defect thresholds and response times in line with a national maintenance Code of Practice. The key pothole thresholds are summarised in the image below. Priority 1 defects are treated immediately (including through a make-safe repair where necessary), while Priority 2 defects are permanently repaired within 90 days or held over for a planned works scheme due to be carried out.

A priority 1 pothole repair must have a width of at least 200mm with a depth of at least 40mm.

Priority 2 repair must be of a depth between 31mm and 39mm.

A3.2. – What we are doing to tackle potholes

In 2025/26, Bexley treated over 4,400 potholes through a combination of reactive repairs and planned resurfacing and reconstruction works.

Each year, the Council develops a programme of around 30 roads where clusters of defects and potholes are developing but do not yet require urgent reactive treatment. This preventative programme is supplemented by large patch repairs during the year, responding to areas of deterioration as they arise. This approach helps address emerging problems before they become more severe, although such works require greater planning and road space management.

Reactive repairs provide a quicker response to potholes that meet Bexley’s intervention thresholds. Priority 1 defects are treated immediately, often through a make-safe repair to keep the network operational. A permanent repair is normally undertaken once appropriate traffic management can be arranged. In some cases, the make-safe repair may remain in place where planned Council or utility works are scheduled on the same road, avoiding unnecessary repeat works.

A3.3. How members of public can report potholes and other highway defects

Potholes and other highway defects can be reported online through FixMyStreet, either via the Council’s website, or the national FixMyStreet service. The Council’s version guides users through the reporting process and provides information on relevant intervention thresholds and response times. Alternative reporting methods remain available, including by telephone, email or post to the Council’s Civic Offices.

A3.4. What happens after a pothole is reported

Reports received during office hours are triaged and allocated to the appropriate highway technician via their handheld device, followed by a direct call to ensure prompt attendance and maintain road user safety. Out-of-hours reports are referred to the Council’s appointed service provider, who alerts the on-call highway technician to assess and address the issue. Following inspection and any necessary treatment, the customer is informed of the outcome, and a summary is published online for transparency and future reference.

A4 – What we spend to maintain the highway network and where the funding is coming from

A4.1. – Spending on highways maintenance

A4.2 – Where our funding for highways maintenance comes from

A5 – Our maintenance plans for this year

A5.1 – Our plans for highways maintenance for 2026-27

During 2026/27, our extensive maintenance programme, based on condition assessments and priority, looks to treat the following:

• 54 individual structural carriageway treatment schemes (covering resurfacing and reconstruction/strengthening works)
• Approximately 13,400m of carriageways treated, resolving potholes and other forms of defect.
• No footway reconstruction schemes currently planned, however isolated minor works to be undertaken throughout the year so as to maintain pedestrian safety. These works could consist of full footway reconstruction based on identified need.

See locations provided within the weblink below at A5.2

The programme may change due to ongoing monitoring and changing priorities. Small areas of footway may receive reconstruction to facilitate the carriageway works.

A5.2 - Full list of planned carriageway and footway works

Below is a copy of our current/expected programme of planned works for 2026/27, along with a link to the online version that will be updated, as necessary, during the year.

Find more information on roadworks and street works

A5.3 – How decisions are made on our maintenance plans

Our annual maintenance programme is developed using a combination of AI powered defect recognition surveys undertaken in accordance with the principles of PAS 2161, our adopted walked inspection regime, analysis of reactive repair hotspots, customer reports and local technician knowledge. This information is reviewed by the highways management team to identify and prioritise locations requiring resurfacing/reconstruction works. This continues during the year to develop a programme of large patch replacements to respond to changing circumstances