The money is on top of £8m in external funding allocated to the city by EMCCA for road maintenance for 2026/27, a 40% increase on last year.

A huge increase in the funding available to improve the state of the city’s roads, footpaths and public areas should have a visible impact in the next few months.  

Now that Nottingham City Council is in an improved financial position, with an extra £25million being invested into front-line services in 2026/27, the City Council is announcing that over £6million will be invested in fixing and improving our streets.  

We will spend this money over 2 years beginning immediately, with works being delivered as quickly and efficiently as possible. Nottingham City Council will be recruiting new team members to help complete this work.   

To improve our streets, roads and help mitigate flooding we will invest:  

• £4million to address potholes with road patching works 

• 1.5million for ‘grey to green routes’ – a project to replace areas of paving with sustainable planting, helping to reduce surface-water flood risk, improve climate resilience, create greener and more attractive streets 

• £400k to enhance trees – including lifting crowns, removing stumps and replanting where needed 

• £340k to deal with blocked drains – making sure any blocked drains or gullies are dealt with ahead of winter storms 

• £325k to clean and replace street signs 

• £210k for navigational signage in the city centre 

The goal of the £4million bulk of the funding will be targeted at highway repairs to address potholes, drainage defects and other issues with permanent repairs, reducing the impact of potholes on people around the city and improving the functioning and appearance of our streets for everyone. This is the first time that Nottingham City Council has been able to invest money of its own  

The £4million is on top of the £8million that the East Midlands Combined County Authority have allocated us for road maintenance in 2026/27 – capital funding which must go towards ‘whole street’ maintenance rather than targeting smaller problem areas. 

The goal of this £4million funding is to address potholes, drainage defects and other issues with permanent repairs, reducing the impact of potholes on people around the city and improving the functioning and appearance of our streets for everyone. 

Unlike the £8m road maintenance funding, this funding is revenue, giving the City Council more flexibility on what it can be spent on. That means we can carry out targeted highway repairs that can make a huge difference across the city. 

These pots of funding combined for road repairs means that Nottingham City Council will allocate more than £14million to fixing our roads before March 2027 – an all-time record level of investment. 

Nottingham City Council will also put into action the results of an ongoing trial using a new recycled material to fill road defects. Our Highways team have been trialling using Elastomac instead of asphalt. 

Elastomac is: 

• cheaper – from £50/m2 versus up to £100/m2 for “asphalt” type materials 

• More durable and longer lasting than temporary repairs  

• Faster – it can be ready for traffic within minutes, reducing disruption for road users. Traditional methods often require longer curing/compaction times.  

Nottingham City Council asks residents to report issues including potholes, blocked drains or other road or pavement issues to us via www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/roadproblems to help us identify issues. 

Councillor Patience Ifediora, Executive Member for Regional Development, Growth and Transport at Nottingham City Council, said: – We’re delivering for Nottingham and investing in what really matters to our residents after a challenging few years.” 

“We hear drivers, cyclists and pedestrians when they say that our roads and streets need to improve, and we’re working hard and allocating more money- including investing £4million ourselves for the first time – to make that happen.” 

 You can play your part by reporting any road issues and potholes to us as well as any blocked gullies, to help us build up a picture of what needs addressing where- together we can get it sorted.”