Newcastle City Council carried out maintenance treatment on 0.8% of the city’s minor roads in the year to March 2026, one of 21 highway authorities in England below 1%, according to Department for Transport figures.
The England figure was 3.0%. North Tyneside also recorded 0.8%. The figures, in table RDC0321 published on 14 October 2026, cover strengthening, resurfacing and preservation work on B, C and unclassified roads between April 2025 and March 2026. Newcastle has 928 km of these roads, and all of the work recorded on them was resurfacing.
The council’s main roads tell a different story. Newcastle treated 11.8% of its 69 km of local A roads, against 6.9% across England.
Tyne and Wear
Elsewhere in Tyne and Wear, Gateshead and South Tyneside each treated 1.7% of their minor roads and Sunderland 1.5%. On A roads, South Tyneside and Sunderland each treated 3.3%, North Tyneside 3.1% and Gateshead 1.8%.
The councils below 1% were identified by GM Rides, a London private hire and airport transfer firm, in an analysis of the table sent to newsrooms on 20 October 2026. It found that 21 of the 152 highway authorities treated less than 1% of their minor roads, and 65 less than 2%. GM Rides said the England figure rose to 3.0% from 2.9% the year before, but remained below the 4.3% recorded in 2017.
What the figures do and do not show
The percentages measure the length of road treated as a share of the network. They do not take account of the width or depth of the work, are not a count of pothole repairs, and do not on their own show the condition of the roads or how much work was needed. Councils can revise the figures the following year.