From mid April councils will start to receive their share of the government’s £1.6bn highway maintenance funding, including an extra £500m – enough to fill 7 million potholes a year.

But to get the full amount, all councils in England must from today publish annual progress reports on their pothole filling.

Local authorities who fail to meet these strict conditions will see 25% of the uplift (£125m in total) withheld.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer has made fixing roads a personal issue.

He said: “British people are bored of seeing their politicians aimlessly pointing at potholes with no real plan to fix them. That ends with us.

“We’ve done our part by handing councils the cash and certainty they need – now it’s up to them to get on with the job, put that money to use and prove they’re delivering for their communities.”

Councils must now publish reports on their websites by 30 June 2025, detailing how much they are spending, how many potholes they have filled, what percentage of their roads are in what condition, and how they are minimising streetworks disruption.

They will also be required to show how they are spending more on long-term preventative maintenance programmes and that they have robust plans for the wetter winters the country is experiencing – making potholes worse.

The government also confirmed £4.8bn of funding for 2025/6 for National Highways to deliver critical road schemes and maintain motorways and major A-roads.

The £4.8bn includes £1.3bn to keep the network in good repair, £1.8 bn for National Highways’ daily operations and £1.3bn for essential improvement schemes.