“Transparency only builds trust when it is clear, reliable and properly contextualised. Without that, headline ratings risk confusing the picture rather than improving it.”
Supporting Transparency — With the Right Foundations
The NHT Network supports the principle of transparency in local road maintenance and the need for information that helps the public and decision-makers understand how local highway networks are being managed.
However, the DfT Local Road Maintenance Ratings for 2025–26 should be treated with caution. As currently presented, the ratings are not sufficiently clear or accessible, and they do not provide a robust, reliable or comprehensive picture of local highway authority performance when viewed in isolation.
Limitations of Self-Reported, Unrefined Indicators
Data completeness and interpretation matter
The ratings are based on a limited set of self-reported indicators derived from unrefined questions. While useful as transparency inputs, these measures do not function as a comparative performance assessment. As a result, differences in data completeness, question interpretation and reporting practice influence outcomes, making it difficult for authorities and the public to understand what is really driving the ratings results.
More fundamentally snapshots without sufficient context or trend can obscure longer-term performance, investment cycles and network challenge. This limits the usefulness of the ratings for explaining outcomes or supporting improvement, and risks encouraging short-term responses rather than good long-term asset management.
These challenges are not new. They are well understood across the sector and have already been addressed through the NHT Cost, Quality and Customer (CQC) Efficiency Network. Developed collaboratively by Local Highways Authorities for Local Highway Authorities over more than a decade, CQC already provides a sector-owned, independently assured benchmarking framework that integrates cost, condition and customer insight; normalises performance for network context and demand; uses multi-year trends and; focuses on explanation and improvement, not league tables
A More Constructive Approach to Transparency
The NHT Network believes transparency reporting is most effective when it is interpreted through robust, established, contextual frameworks. We remain committed to support our membership through constructive engagement with the Department for Transport and the wider sector to support the development an approach that improves understanding, credibility and, ultimately, outcomes for road users.
Statement from Jon Munslow, NHT Chair
