New Highways Treatments Introduced in North Yorkshire Amid Major Funding Shortfall

North Yorkshire Council is rolling out innovative road treatments to prevent potholes and stretch budgets after facing a multi-million-pound shortfall in highway maintenance funding.

North Yorkshire Council is deploying new methods to repair the county’s vast road network in a bid to counter increasing pressure on highways maintenance budgets.

For the first time this summer, highways teams are using innovative techniques to prevent potholes and defects from forming. The move comes as maintenance budgets face a severe squeeze from inflation, supply chain pressures, and an unexpected multi-million-pound shortfall over the next four years following changes to how funding is allocated through the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority.

North Yorkshire Council’s executive member for highways and transportation, Councillor Malcolm Taylor, said:

"We are looking at increasingly innovative ways to deliver our highways maintenance programmes, which is vital as we face major pressures on our budgets. Our highways teams are at the forefront of our efforts to make sure services are delivered as effectively and efficiently as possible.

While we are facing very significant financial challenges, we are committed to maintaining the county’s extensive networks of roads while offering the very best value for our taxpayers."

The new preventative measure, known as Reclamite, involves spraying a solution onto the carriageway to rejuvenate the asphalt. This stops cracks from opening up, which can eventually lead to potholes and further surface damage.

Each application extends the life of a road by five years, can be repeated, and helps reduce overall costs by as much as forty per cent compared to traditional resurfacing schemes. 

Provided by Roadtechs, the Reclamite process is also described as more environmentally friendly, dramatically reducing carbon dioxide emissions and waste while ensuring roads remain in better condition for longer.

The UK business manager at Roadtechs, Will Lewis, said:

"The treatment is a proven way of ensuring that disruption can be kept to a minimum while significantly extending the life of a road.

The Reclamite process is a more environmentally friendly solution to highways maintenance and significantly reduces the costs for councils. We are really pleased to be working with North Yorkshire Council and NY Highways to bring the benefits of the treatment to the road users in the county."

Despite significant financial pressures, the council is investing approximately £28 million on carriageway works across its 5,800 miles of roads in England's largest county. Other preventative measures include retexturing to prolong the lifespan of carriageways and inlay patching to repair defects, which reduces the need for return visits.

Officers are also working closely with the council’s highways company, NY Highways, to deliver repairs more efficiently using recycled materials.

However, the rising costs have been compounded by a reduction of at least £20 million for highways maintenance in the county over the next four financial years. This change was voted through in March during a meeting of the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority.

North Yorkshire Council is set to receive £63.8 million for highways maintenance in 2026/27, an increase from £57.8 million the previous year. But funding is projected to fall over the subsequent three years compared to what would have been received directly from the Department for Transport, with £4 million redirected to City of York Council.

The leader of North Yorkshire Council, Councillor Carl Les, said:

"The Government announced additional funding for highways maintenance, which is welcome, but we have had these benefits dramatically reduced by the decision to change the way funding is allocated.

Had the funding come directly to us like it used to for many years before it came through the mayor’s office, we would be at least £20 million better off.

We need to be clear that this will mean we simply can’t deliver as many highways maintenance programmes as we had hoped, and that will impact our communities and businesses across North Yorkshire.

Our highways teams are employing the very latest techniques and treatments, but this is only going a small way to countering such a significant reduction in funding."

Councillor Les and North Yorkshire Council’s deputy leader, Councillor Gareth Dadd, both voted against the funding changes at the combined authority meeting in Northallerton. However, the Mayor, David Skaith, alongside two councillors from City of York Council, voted in favour of the new allocations.