St Helens welcomes rating under new DfT highways assessment - secures additional funding
St Helens Borough Council has welcomed the publication of the Department for Transport's (DfT) new national 'traffic light' ratings for local highway authorities, which assess how well councils maintain their local road network.
Article date: 20 January 2026
The annual ratings range from green (highest) through amber to red, and measure how well each local highway authority is maintaining its local roads and are based on three areas:
- the current condition of local roads
- how much each local highway authority is spending on maintaining its local roads
- how effectively each local highway authority follows best practice in highways maintenance - for example by using technologies to fix and prevent potholes more efficiently
A Green rating for capital investment in St Helens reflects the council's strong commitment to long-term, preventative maintenance and responsible use of funding. In 2025/2026 the council projected a capital spend of more than £8.2 million in DfT allocated funding.
Amber ratings for road condition and best practice give St Helens an overall Amber rating. The ratings reviewed data from financial years and their supporting scorecards are published on Gov.uk (source).
In 2024-2025, the council:
- Carried out more than 2,000 repairs to carriageway defects and potholes
- Resurfaced 6km of roads
- Delivered preventative highway maintenance treatments covering 26,000 square metres of road - the equivalent of nearly four football pitches
- Installed 1,900 new LED street lights
Councillor Kate Groucutt, Cabinet Member for Business & Inclusive Growth, said:
"We welcome this recognition of our investment and improvement efforts in local roads, and our progress towards improving road maintenance and asset management. The Green rating for capital investment is particularly encouraging and reflects our focus on sustainable, preventative approaches to maintaining the borough's highways.
"Our priority remains delivering safe, sustainable roads for residents and businesses, and we will continue to work with partners across the Liverpool City Region to maximise future funding opportunities."
In addition to the Combined Authority's City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement (CRSTS), the Liverpool City Region will receive £9.204 million in incentive funding for 2026/27. St Helens will work closely with Combined Authority partners to understand how this funding will be allocated and ensure the borough is well positioned to benefit.
This announcement follows confirmation that St Helens has secured the full 25 per cent incentive element of its 2025/26 Local Highways Maintenance funding, worth £0.3 million, after demonstrating compliance with national best practice criteria.