Mayor of Greater Manchester Bev Craig has launched a new £60 million Pothole Fund to repair roads and pavements across all ten boroughs of the city-region, delivering on a key commitment from her mayoral campaign.
The investment will support repairs and resurfacing across more than one million square metres of highway — equivalent to around 125 kilometres of road — as Greater Manchester steps up efforts to tackle potholes and deteriorating surfaces.
Announcing the fund, Craig said:
“I’ve launched a new £60 million Pothole Fund to keep roads and pavements across Greater Manchester safe and well maintained.”
She added that the funding would mean “more resurfacing, safer streets and fewer costly repairs in the future”, helping people get around more easily regardless of how they travel.
The money will be shared between Greater Manchester’s ten councils, with allocations determined by an agreed formula reflecting local road networks. Manchester and Wigan will receive the largest individual allocations, at around £8.2 million each, while every borough will benefit.
The fund is intended not only to repair existing potholes but to allow councils to resurface roads and pavements before they deteriorate further — reducing the need for more expensive repairs later.
Around 2.5 billion journeys are made on Greater Manchester’s roads every year by motorists, buses, cyclists, pedestrians and other road users, making the condition of the highway network a major issue for communities and the regional economy.
The £60 million comes from Greater Manchester’s transport budget and represents more than the ten councils collectively receive from central government in a typical year for highways maintenance.
Craig made improving roads and ensuring pavements are safe one of her commitments when campaigning to succeed Andy Burnham as Mayor of Greater Manchester.
Speaking as resurfacing work began in Eccles, she said the condition of local roads had been repeatedly raised by residents across the city-region and stressed that the investment would give councils additional resources to make sustained improvements.
The initiative forms part of the Labour mayor’s wider focus on improving everyday transport infrastructure alongside the continued development of Greater Manchester’s Bee Network.
For residents, the investment is designed to deliver a visible improvement to local streets while making journeys safer and more reliable for drivers, bus passengers, cyclists and pedestrians alike.
