Cornwall highways model offers national blueprint as councils face mounting pressure on local roads

Across the country, local roads are under strain from aging infrastructure, climate damage, and long-term underinvestment, while public expectations for service and low-carbon innovation are growing.

The latest findings from the Asphalt Industry Alliance’s Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance (ALARM) survey estimate the national roads repair backlog has reached nearly £17 billion, highlighting the scale of the challenge facing councils and the urgent need for more sustainable delivery models.

Delivered through the Cormac Teckal model on behalf of Cornwall Council, the approach demonstrates how integrated, data-led, publicly owned delivery can strengthen network resilience, improve service performance, and accelerate low carbon innovation - while allowing authorities to retain strategic control of critical infrastructure.

Cornwall’s highway network - valued at approximately £14.6 billion - is one of the largest rural road systems in the country. It supports economic growth, tourism, access to services, emergency response, housing delivery, and the transition to low-carbon transport. Through its Teckal structure, the council retains ownership and strategic control while delivery is handled by a commercially operated, publicly owned company, providing long-term accountability, operational flexibility, and measurable public value.

The model demonstrates how local authorities can directly align service delivery with public policy goals, maintain transparent funding and performance reporting, integrate asset management and climate resilience, and capture social and economic value. It allows faster responses to changing network conditions; shifts focus from reactive to preventative maintenance and reinvests efficiencies back into frontline services and communities.

Cormac manages 7,300km of roads, hundreds of kilometres of footways and cycleways, nearly 4,500km of public rights of way, 90,000 drainage gullies, 1,500 bridges and structures. Coastal assets, and road safety systems are also managed through the integrated model.

Despite increasing severe weather across the UK, the model continues to deliver strong outcomes. Resident satisfaction is above the national average; the highways contract has generated £25 million in independently verified social value in two years. Benchmarking shows high performance for repair quality and response speed, with permanent first-time repairs prioritised wherever possible using advanced patching materials, and specialist machinery.

Annual highways spending is increasingly directed toward preventative treatments rather than late-stage reconstruction, protecting long-term asset value and reducing lifecycle costs. Early intervention programmes target roads at risk before failure, holding the proportion of roads in the worst condition broadly steady despite national deterioration trends.

The model also positions Cornwall at the forefront of low-carbon highways delivery through warm mix asphalt, increased recycled material use, trials of low-carbon binders and lignin, reduced verge cutting, wildflower programmes, drone and smart monitoring surveys, solar-powered road safety technology, and national decarbonisation partnerships.

Dominic Bostock, Managing Director of Cormac, said:

“Local roads across the country are under real strain from weather, funding pressure, and historic underinvestment. The Teckal model shows that councils do not have to choose between retaining strategic control and delivering services efficiently.

“By combining public ownership with commercial delivery discipline, the model allows authorities to protect critical infrastructure, innovate quickly, and reinvest efficiencies directly back into communities. With pressures on the national road network continuing to grow, this approach provides a practical blueprint that other councils could adopt and scale to strengthen resilience, deliver measurable public value, and modernise highways management without outsourcing risk or losing accountability.”

As the UK’s local road network faces mounting pressures, the Cornwall model offers a tested, replicable approach for councils looking to protect assets, support communities, and lead on low-carbon innovation.

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