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Local Highways Transparency Report
Read our full Highways Transparency Report for 2026 here.
In 2025, the Department for Transport (DfT) introduced a new requirement for all local highway authorities to publish an annual report detailing how they manage, fund and deliver highway maintenance activities.
This initiative follows recommendations made in a 2024 National Audit Office report on the condition and maintenance of local roads in England. It aims to provide greater transparency and consistency in how highway authorities operate, while helping both central and local government better understand the condition of the road network.
For Milton Keynes, this reporting process offers an opportunity to demonstrate how highway maintenance is managed and delivered. It also enables comparison with authorities across the country through national benchmarking, helping to identify best practice, drive innovation, improve efficiency and support higher standards of service for residents and road users.
The report includes:
- the extent of our highway network,
- how much we spend on maintenance, and how it is funded,
- how we balance preventative and reactive maintenance, including pothole repairs,
- overall condition of local roads,
- future plans, both this year and in future,
- innovation, efficiency and best practice, including climate change adaptation.
Our Decision Making Process
As the Highways Authority for Milton Keynes, we are bound by legislation set out by the government on how we repair, maintain and inspect all our assets. Along with our statutory duties, we also use industry-led Codes of Practice to ensure that decisions are consistent, transparent, evidence-based, and proportionate. By applying established guidance, including the principles set out within the Well-managed Highway Infrastructure Code of Practice, we assess risks, prioritise resources, and determine the most appropriate course of action to maintain a safe and serviceable highway network.
This approach enables us to balance public safety, network resilience, customer expectations, and available resources, while ensuring that decisions are defensible, compliant, and aligned with best practice. The use of Codes of Practice provides a structured framework for making informed decisions, supporting accountability and continuous improvement across all areas of highway management.
Copies of our Codes of Practice by area are listed below:
- Road, Redways and Footways
- Road Markings
- Electrical Maintenance
- Traffic Signals
- Drainage Maintenance
- Permit Schemes
- Inspections
Highways Infrastructure Management Framework
The effective management of highway infrastructure requires a clear link between strategic objectives, policy direction, and day-to-day delivery. The Highways Infrastructure Strategy, Highways Infrastructure Policy, and Highways Asset Management Plans together provide the framework for managing the highway network in a consistent, sustainable, and evidence-based manner.
The Highways Infrastructure Asset Management Policy provides the principles and governance that underpin decision-making. It promotes a risk-based and data-led approach, ensuring that resources are directed where they provide the greatest benefit while meeting statutory obligations and aligning with recognised industry best practice and relevant Codes of Practice.
The Highways Infrastructure Asset Management Strategy sets out the long-term vision and priorities for the network, ensuring that investment decisions support organisational objectives, community needs, economic growth, environmental responsibilities, and network resilience. It defines the outcomes we aim to achieve and the approach we will take to deliver them.
The Highways Infrastructure Asset Management Plan translate the strategic vision and policy commitments into practical actions. They set out how individual highway assets will be managed throughout their lifecycle, including inspection, maintenance, renewal, and investment priorities.
Together, these documents support a structured asset management approach that enables informed decision-making, efficient use of resources, and continuous improvement in service delivery. They help ensure that the highway network remains safe, reliable, and resilient while providing transparency, accountability, and value for money for residents, businesses, and stakeholders.
How we manage our highways assets
We are committed to delivering a modern, efficient and resilient highway network by combining industry best practice with innovative approaches to asset management.
The Council has key objectives and targets relating to sustainability and reducing carbon emissions, and these aims are embedded within our asset management approach.
Our approach and methods are set out in our Highways Asset Performance Framework
By combining data-driven decision-making, trialling new technologies and learning from successful initiatives across the sector, we aim to get best value from our budget and investment, improve network condition and provide a safe, reliable service for all highway users. Continuous improvement, collaboration and innovation are central to our approach, helping us meet current challenges while planning effectively for the future.
Find out more about what we are doing in these key areas below:
Resilience
Highway resilience is essential to keeping Milton Keynes moving safely and efficiently. As the city continues to grow and the impacts of severe weather, increasing traffic levels and ageing infrastructure place greater demands on the network, Milton Keynes City Council is focused on building a resilient highway asset base that can adapt to future challenges. Through planned maintenance, risk-based decision-making and investment in long-term asset management, we work to ensure our roads, footways, structures and drainage systems remain reliable, sustainable and capable of supporting residents, businesses and visitors both now and in the future.
Our Highways Resilience Network Plan may be viewed here
We've also created a flooding hotspot map to show the areas where we receive the highest reports of flooded properties or gardens. This helps us to divert our limited resources where they are needed most to help prevent the impact of flooding which is occurring more regularly following heavy downpours.
Innovation
Innovation plays a vital role in ensuring Milton Keynes’ highway network remains safe, efficient and ready to meet future demands. We are exploring new technologies, materials and ways of working to improve highway maintenance and asset management.
Our Highways Inspectors have been using Artificial Intelligence (AI) as part of their statutory driven inspections for some time, helping to provide us with detailed surface condition data which is used to plan future surfacing programmes.
Decarbonisation
Decarbonising the highway network is a key part of Milton Keynes City Council’s commitment to achieving a more sustainable future. Through our asset management approach, we aim to support the city’s wider net zero ambitions while continuing to deliver a safe, reliable and efficient transport network for residents, businesses and visitors.
Our LED streetlight upgrade has reduced our energy usage significantly and this type of lantern requires less maintenance than the older, sodium ones.
Case Studies
The different case studies below provide more details on how we are putting the above three objectives into practice.
Protecting Traffic Signal Infrastructure during Heatwaves
Roadmender Elastomac - defect repairs
Drone survey usage during emergencies
Robopass - allowing robots to be used in public spaces
Previous year's Transparency Reports