Priority One

Priority One - Changing the face of Essex’s road network

We are investing an additional £25 million into maintenance projects across every district, city and borough in Essex to tackle the issues that matter to you.

Worn roads and paths, overgrown vegetation, tired signage and faded lines all impacts the look and feel of our local area and how we feel about the place we live.  

Our home, and creating a nice place to be is, for many of us, our highest priority.

Priority One is our single largest additional investment into highways maintenance, with up to 180 schemes taking place across the county and enabling more crews to be out on our roads.

What works will be taking place?

Across our 5,000 miles of road network, our teams are out every day working to tackle critical maintenance projects, such as tackling potholes. It is important you continue to report any issues to us.

Priority One allows us to do more, focusing on road resurfacing, drain cleaning, repainting white lines, cutting back vegetation and repairing signs. Schemes will be taking place in every district and borough across the county with details below on upcoming works.

How your money is being invested into your highway network

Essex County Council is responsible for the local road network (with National Highways responsible for larger roads like the A12 and M11). We hope, in the future, to see your vehicle tax distributed back to local government so we can invest this into our roads, but this currently goes into central government funds.

So, funding for highways comes primarily from your council tax, as well as any additional funding made available by Government.

This year we have budgeted for £39 million for our annual resurfacing programme.

On top of this, we announced in February that £12 million of additional funding would be spent including £8 million for extra crews to prioritise repairs raised by local councillors and £2 million for Local Highways Panels to deliver large schemes, freeing up existing budgets for small schemes. Through strong financial management, we are now well placed to create a mid-year funding boost, with the £25 million Priority One campaign focussing on additional schemes across the county.

Upcoming works

We are working to identify schemes across the county. These are at different stages, some require permits to work on the road, some require design work to be undertaken and some are ready to go. The following provides the latest on the works coming up for the week commencing 07/10/2024. 

• Machine Surfacing on Rectory Road, Little Burstead. Due to start on 13/10/2024
• Machine Surfacing on Kings Road, Brentwood. Due to start on 15/10/2024
• Machine Surfacing on Gardiners Lane South, Basildon. Due to start on 18/10/2024

Works completed so far

So far 21 schemes have been completed through the Priority One campaign. A full list of these schemes can be seen in the table below.