Date published: 2025-04-17 | Category: Delivering for local residents, Roads, travel and transport, Streets and Highway Maintenance
Work to resurface 125,000m2 of highway across Bath and North East Somerset has begun.
The council has started its annual highway resurfacing programme for 2025-26 which will see 27 schemes completed this year. The full programme can be seen on the council’s website: https://www.bathnes.gov.uk/find-planned-street-works
The council has increased its investment into highway maintenance and is spending almost £10million in 2025/26, that’s £760,000 more than last year and £1.1million more than in 2023-24. Almost £5.1million will be spent resurfacing highways, with the remaining money going towards improvements to highway structures, street lighting, drainage and pedestrian footways. The council is spending £1.2million on footways this year, almost double what it spent in 2023-24 and £100,000 more than it did last year.
The programme should be completed by October, before colder and wetter weather makes resurfacing works more difficult. Works will be carried out by council contractor VolkerHighways.
Councillor Manda Rigby, Cabinet Member for Transport, said: “We’re working through another ambitious resurfacing programme for this year and thanks to the budget recently passed by the council, we’ll be investing even more money into improving both our highways and footways. As always, we will do what we can to minimise disruption when doing the work, nearby residents will be contacted directly before any works take place.”
Surveys and inspections carried out by the council’s highways team, along with reports made by residents through FixMyStreet, help identify and prioritise highways that need to be resurfaced and help form the programme each year.
Issues with highways and footways can be reported online via FixMyStreet, with reports by residents helping the council assess and repair hundreds of potholes each month, with a total of 6,341 potholes repaired in 2024.
As works take place the council will minimise disruption to the local traffic network where possible by avoiding working on key routes at peak times of year, working overnight when required, notifying residents before work beings in their area and placing advanced warning signs at each site. More information on upcoming roadworks and their details can be seen on one.network.
The council will be implementing Section 58 restrictions to each of the newly resurfaced roads which, under the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991, gives them greater control on protecting a road from any planned street works following any major surfacing works for a period of up to three years. Should works be required, the council can decide if it is in the best interest of stakeholders to allow the works and determine the most suitable reinstatement afterwards. Emergency works can and will still take place on protected roads. These notices can be seen on the council's website: https://www.bathnes.gov.uk/find-locations-covered-section-58-notice
Last year’s resurfacing programme saw the council complete 25 schemes, with almost 15km of highway resurfaced including Englishcombe Lane in Southdown, Combe Park in Weston and Chilcompton Road in Midsomer Norton. Footways across Bath & North East Somerset were also improved with 22 schemes completed.
Alongside annual programmes like resurfacing, the council will continue reactive repairs to the highway network. Problems with roads, pavements or parks can be reported on the council’s website: https://www.bathnes.gov.uk/report-it
ENDS