Surveys and inspections

Condition surveys

Condition surveys are the main way of deciding whether a road or footway needs maintenance.

The council assesses the condition of roads with a visual survey. Roads are given a score based on different factors, including how many defects there are.

Surveys of borough principal roads

TfL does annual condition surveys of the principal road network. They share the results of these surveys with us in November.

We use this information – along with the results of council officers’ inspections – to seek funding from TfL.

Officers’ inspections

Council officers regularly inspect highways to check if they need maintenance.

The officer will advise on whether maintenance work could be included in a future work programme.

When an officer identifies a potential project, an engineer visits the site to do a final assessment before the work is added to a list for prioritisation.

What we consider

Defects and safety are the most important things when we plan what maintenance work to do.

If a road or footway is safe to use, we will not prioritise it just because:

• it looks bad – for example, a cracked or patched footway that does not have any trip hazards
• it's a long time since it was last resurfaced – the lifespan of a road or footway varies depending on things like vehicle damage, weather or tree roots