More than £8 million will be spent on making the streets of Brighton & Hove better, safer and smoother over the next year.

Councillors will be presented with a report at Cabinet next week that sets out our plans for improving roads, pavements and other transport infrastructure.

They’ll also be asked to agree the planned maintenance programme for the next 12 months.

Brighton & Hove has over 390 miles of roads and cycle lanes and 750 miles of pavement. Every year the council receives funding from the government for transport schemes.

The Local Transport Plan 2025/26 sets out how the £8.366 million the council received this year will be spent.

While the plan sets out the council’s work over the next 12 months, it will run alongside a wider programme, which includes our Bus Service Improvement Plan, Active Travel funding and £6.5 being spent on streetlighting and infrastructure projects – totalling almost £20 million.

The council said it will #be taking a strategic approach’ to tackle the maintenance backlog caused by years of underinvestment.

The £2.1 million reactive maintenance funding will look to address the most serious potholes first, while also taking a longer-term approach to help to prevent potholes forming in the first place, it said.

It costs approximately £200 per square metre to repair a pothole, compared with £10 per square metre to carry out maintenance and prevent them from happening in the first place.

As well as tackling the condition of the road network, the council will also be working to make the roads safer, accessible and encourage more active and sustainable travel.

£1.2 million will help to deliver the city’s Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan, including active travel schemes on the A23 and the A259 seafront road.

Brighton Council will also be investing £125,000 into its popular Beryl BTN Bikes and cycle parking.

£325,000 will be spent on its School Streets and Safer, Better Streets schemes, making our roads, crossings and junctions safer, especially outside schools. Another £75,000 will be used to reduce collisions in the city.

£200,000 will make Brighton streets more accessible, with more dropped kerbs and improving public rights of way.

Councillor Trevor Muten, Cabinet member for Transport, Parking and Public Realm, said: “Tackling potholes and improving our roads is a key priority for this council.

“We’ve had many years of underinvestment, which has led to a huge backlog in repairs and maintenance. The condition of our road surfaces is unacceptable, but this plan will see us prioritise the areas most in need of improvement over the next 12 months.

“I welcome the large increase in grant funding for road maintenance announced by central government. This means Brighton & Hove has up to £1.6 million more this year compared with last year to spend on roads, pavements and other highway assets, and we’ll continue to ask for more.

“While we’re fixing problem areas, we’ll also be investing in the future. We’ll be making roads and junctions safer, especially those outside our schools, improving accessibility and creating infrastructure to encourage more people to make active and sustainable travel choices.

“We’re updating our reactive highways maintenance policy and ensuring our reporting is open to all. This means we’ll be a more responsive council, where residents can more easily see the action we’ve taken to improve our roads and pathways across the city.

“With more, we can do more.”