Devon County Council has agreed its budget for the next financial year, and set out how services will be funded from April 2026.

Spending on highways maintenance will rise to £32.4m in 2026/27, an increase of £2m. The Council also agreed an additional £4m investment for highways maintenance over the next financial year.

This will pay for more road repairs, better drainage, clearing roadside gullies and protecting Devon’s road network.

This is all part of the Climate Change, Environment and Transport budget of £96.9m.

Additionally over the next five years, £546.1m in total will be invested in highways. This includes an extra £55m over five years for preventative maintenance.

Meandhle, more than £6.9m has been spent on road repairs across Devon so far this financial year, as the Devon County Council faces a surge in pothole reports, says Torbay Today.

New figures from Devon County Council reveal that 16,000 potholes across the county were logged in the first three weeks of January alone, a 74 per cent increase compared to the same period last year.

The backlog of repairs has also grown. By late January 2026, there were 2,671 assessed potholes awaiting repair, up from 1,479 a year ago.

While the spending figures cover the entire county, motorists in Exeter say the city’s network is struggling to cope.

(Picture: Mapillary)