Main roads in Brighton and Hove are in a poorer state than anywhere else in England, new government figures show.
More than one in six A roads in the city – 17 per cent – are classified as red, meaning they should have been considered for maintenance.
The figures, released today by the Department for Transport, say that 27 per cent more are classified as amber.
This is a rise on the figures for 2025, which were 14 per cent red and 33 per cent amber respectively.
In 2024, the figures were 18 per cent red and 26 per cent amber, and in 2023 6 per cent red and 38 per cent amber.
The figures refer to the amount of road length in each local authority area, not the number of roads.
Some 45% of councils across England reported an increase between 2024 and 2026 in the proportion of ‘A’ road classed as red.
A total of 147 authorities reported data on the condition of A roads for both the years ending March 2024 and March 2026.
Of the 147, 66 (45%) saw a rise across this period in the proportion of A road categorised as red, while 53 (36%) saw no change and 28 (19%) saw a drop.
Nottingham reported the second highest proportion, at 15%, followed by Brent in London (14%) and Salford and North Tyneside (both 13%).
Not all councils use the same type of equipment for carrying out surveys of road conditions, the DfT said.
This means the method for categorising a road surface as red, or poor, may vary between areas.
The data for A roads includes stretches of motorway managed by local authorities.
Councillor Jacob Taylor responded: “Brighton abd Hove uses a different methodology for monitoring roads – and the government directly states that these numbers cannot be compared to other local authorities.
“In the year that the council switched to new monitoring, our percentage of roads reported as “Red” trebled.
“A few reasonable assumptions would suggest that far from having the “worst main roads in England”, Brighton and Hove is probably better than the national average in terms of road condition.”
15 years of Labour Council neglect.
14 years of Tory cuts dim low
Brighton council found no shortage of money for building cycling lanes that benefit less than 0.2 percent of the population, not too mention countless other vanity projects, including a lift to nowhere
The more people who cycle in the city for all or some of their journeys, the less damage there will be to the roads. Cycles do not damage the roads
Because they have cycle lanes, not roads. Maybe look after the cycle lanes that already exist and make them safer for pedestrians by simply signing and repainting “Give Way” (seafront/level)? The council has backing for cycle lanes, Preston Park cycle lane fiasco was nearly £1m, just because they have financial input from others doesn’t mean it should be wasted. Brighton is a city, it needs roads to service it, vanity projects alone will just continue to fail.
Because the Transport Dept pish all the budget away on unused cycle lanes
Not surprising reall to bothered about cycle lanes the road outside the Hospital they are building has a sink hole which is getting biger manhole cover is dangerous yet we are supposed to drive over it its a major accident waiting to happen but this woke pathetic Labour concil have to have their cycle lanes which are empty in the winter and their new super duper red routs which they voted for behind closed doors again but then i suppose if there is a multi car pile up at least its right outside the hospital
This is the council who want to spread their influence over Saltdean and Peacehaven. No thanks
The worst roads in England & a Labour Council with one of the lowest payouts for damages submitted by residents in the country from pothole claims.
Well the payout issue should be applauded however the state of the roads is lamentable. If only we hadn’t had 15 years of Tory government cuts (aided by the Lib-Dems) and austerity alongside ridiculous strictures that designate spending and limit budgets.
… If only the council had spent the money given for roads on roads!
Too much money wasted by the cou. Cil on absurd liberal projects.
B&H council has one of the highest levels of income from parking fees in the country. There is no excuse for the roads not to be well maintained. Successive councils have used this windfall that many other councils would love to have, on other transport projects not core road maintenance. There is no excuse. Even if the focus of the B&H Transport Team is on cycling (as many other comments state), potholes cause serious damage and injury to cyclists. What is an inconvenience, possibly damaged tyres/wheels, to a car driver is an injury to cyclists and motorcyclists. Potholes are something all transport users agree on, so why hasn’t the council, flush with one of the highest parking excesses in the country, over £20m per year, not fixed this year after year?
Could not have said it better – cyclists and now rental e scooters use the road too, potholes can be incredibly dangerous for these users. More of the huge parking revenue must be spent on this rather than as we find next week another ‘Local Cycling Walking Infrastructure Plan’. Fix what you have right now before you even attempt to improve upon it.
Wonder what the ratio is of potholes to cycle lanes? Or useless Councillors to councils? Also poor roads wont impact the leader and deputy leader as they fly everywhere in Brighton on their “cloud or importance”..
Too busy spending a fortune on vanity projects like Valley Gardens. If they diverted a fraction of the money they throw at cycle lanes towards road repiars, this wouldn’t even be an issue, but Trevor Muten is too busy cozying up to his buddies in Bricycles……
Oh, what an extraordinary little spectacle!
One reads that Brighton and Hove’s main roads are in a rather sorry state, with 17% classified as poor and a further 27% as amber. One might reasonably expect a discussion about repairing them.
But no! Far more pressing, it seems, is the question of whether the journalist has correctly interpreted the footnotes of a government spreadsheet.
I see that the less young Councillor Jacob (and, alas, less well-attired, though one must resist the temptation to confuse a lack of sartorial elegance with a lack of intellectual distinction) has taken to Facebook to declare the reporting “completely false”, offer lessons in spreadsheet interpretation to a fellow councillor, and engage in a rather public disagreement with the journalist concerned. How terribly modern. In my day, one corresponded with the editor. One did not conduct a running seminar on statistical methodology in the village square.
And then there is the rather curious matter of the journalist herself.
One reads that the councillor repeatedly copied her male co-editor into correspondence challenging her work, even after she expressly asked him not to. Apparently, the same courtesy of involving both editors was not extended when corresponding with the gentleman.
Now, I would never rush to accuse anyone of misogyny. Such conclusions require evidence, not merely suspicion. But one does wonder why a professional woman, herself a co-owner and co-editor of the publication, should apparently require the supervision of a male colleague before her correspondence is considered complete.
Perhaps there is a perfectly innocent explanation. I should be fascinated to hear it.
How very twenty-first century. And how remarkably nineteenth-century.
Of course, the distinction between different road inspection methods is perfectly legitimate. But one does wonder whether quite so much energy devoted to correcting the headline might be better directed towards correcting the highways.
The motorist whose suspension has just disappeared into a crater on the Lewes Road is unlikely to be greatly comforted by the news that the council uses particularly sophisticated equipment to measure it.
Still, how reassuring to know that while the roads may be falling apart, the footnotes are receiving such vigorous attention.
One can only hope that the council applies quite the same enthusiasm to filling potholes as its representatives apparently do to filling Facebook comment sections.
Bully boy diddums has a nasty habit of throwing his toys out of the pram when anyone challenges him or his view of reality. He wants to get help for those anger management issues. And ill-disguised misogyny. He’s a bean counter and a disastrous one at that. But he doesn’t care. It’s all about his next job and spending money like water to put projects on HIS CV irrespective of the financial and human cost to Brighton and Hove.