THURROCK Council has been given a red card by the government for its failure to exhibit 'best practice' when dealing with road repairs.

The new ratings - the first of their kind - grade authorities in the East of England as red, amber or green based on current road condition and how effectively they are spending the Government's £1.2 billion funding to fix potholes and invest in long term measures to maintain roads.

Overall Thurrock Council has been rated amber for its highways service. The condition of local roads and footpaths is amber, while its 'spending' scorecard is green but a major failing is in best practice where it is rated red.

The grading system offers a three-colour rating on each of the three categories

• the current condition of local roads
• how much each local highway authority is spending on maintaining its local roads
• how effectively each local highway authority follows best practice in highways maintenance - for example by using technologies to fix and prevent potholes more efficiently

A further explanation of the ratings and a nationwide performance table can be found via this link.  

There are just 16 green-rated authorities – one of which is Essex. With an overarching amber rating, Thurrock is among 125 councils that are judged to show some positive qualities but there is room for improvement in individual areas. 13 get a full red rating.

Those that scored Green, like Essex, were able to demonstrate they are following best practice such as investing in more long-term preventative measures rather than just patching up potholes, while also maintaining good road conditions and investing significantly into improving local roads.

'Amber' ranked LHAs showed some of these qualities with room for improvement in individual areas, while those rated 'red' are not yet meeting the expected standards in one or several areas measured by the ratings such as the current state of the roads, their plans for preventing potholes or investment into maintaining their local roads more widely. 

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Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said: "For too long drivers have paid the price because our roads were left to deteriorate. I have heard time and again their frustration on footing the bill because they hit a pothole – money they should never have to spend in the first place.

"We've put our money where our mouth is, increasing the funding in the East of England with £1.2 billion to fix roads and given them the long-term certainty they have been asking for. Now it's over to them to spend the money wisely, and for the first time we are making sure the public can see how well local highway authorities are doing in delivering the improvements they want to see in their local area.