Cabinet set to discuss £1.2 million highway improvements

Article date: July 8th 2025

Cabinet will be asked to approve the plans on the back of the Government announcement in December 2024 of highway maintenance funding as part of its Plan for Change.

The funding is not just for fixing potholes, but for resurfacing roads and cycleways, repairing broken pavements, maintaining bridges, tunnels, retaining walls, and other structures. The council manages 780km of roads, 73 signal junctions and their road markings, 170 highway bridges and structures, 23,900 street lights, 870 illuminated bollards, 3,160 illuminated signs and 44,000 gullies.

Councillor Kate Groucutt, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Business and Inclusive Growth said: "This extra funding worth more than £1.2 million in total from Government will go towards supporting preventative action for our highway network to reduce the risk of issues like potholes appearing.

"We know the highway network in St Helens Borough is the largest and most visible community asset that the council is responsible for. It is used daily by residents, businesses, and visitors to the borough, and it makes an important contribution to the council's wider priorities.

"Every pound that we invest in preventative maintenance such as surface dressing has the potential to save between £6 and £10 in rebuilding costs later. This plan that Cabinet will discuss outlines some key areas where we will look to carry out road surfacing works which we know through data we've seen will help reduce the risk of more costly repairs to things like potholes in the future."

The additional funding would complement the programmes already in place for improvement already agreed by Cabinet in the Highways Capital Programme 2023/27 approved in April 2023 and the Highways Infrastructure Asset Management Strategy approved in June 2022.

The plans will be discussed by Cabinet on Wednesday, 16 July at 4pm. Read the report here: Highways Improvement plans