Our Local Highways Maintenance Transparency report that sets out Bexley’s highways maintenance activities has highlighted some of the successes that the Council has had over the past year and reaffirmed our continued commitment to repairing potholes with an overall budget of over £6.4m allocated by the Council for road and footway repairs in 2025 to 2026. 

Every Council is required by the Department for Transport to produce the report so that residents can see the progress that is being made in each borough.

The report shows that Bexley has less lengths of road in a bad condition than our neighbouring boroughs. In Bexley only 1% of our primary roads classed as A roads are rated red in comparison to 5% in Lewisham, 23% in Havering and 23% in Camden.

Similarly in Bexley of the roads rated as B and C class routes 3% were rated as needing maintenance compared with 8% in Lewisham, 26% in Havering and 18% in Camden.

Cllr Richard Diment, Bexley’s Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods said:

Although it is unfortunate that we do have potholes the facts show that Bexley’s roads are in a far better condition than those of our neighbours.  We’re proud of what we’re doing about our roads.”

The report also shows that on average over 65 major resurfacing and large patching projects take place across the Borough annually and over 2500 potholes are repaired on average annually. 

In Bexley we have a very robust inspection regime and have additional inspections by a highway technician for potholes reported by the public.

We do not have a limitless budget and like other local authorities use established professional criteria set by experienced road technicians to assess safety and prioritise urgency when potholes are reported.

If a pothole is 40mm deep and 200mm wide, it is classed as urgent and is made safe immediately, even if that means a temporary repair until a fuller repair can be organised. The non urgent ones can be 31 to 39mm in depth and could be of any width. These are repaired either through isolated minor repairs, large patch replacements, or more extensive resurfacing.  These extend the life of a wider section of the road but do take a few weeks to plan and fit in around other street works in the borough.

Potholes and other road maintenance issues can be reported on Fix My Street.

Read Bexley’s Local Highways Maintenance Transparency report