Surface dressing work on Britain’s local roads, which is proven to prevent potholes forming, increased by 15% in 2025, new data reveals.
The RAC has seen the figures from the Road Emulsion Association (REA), and they show that around 44.4 million square metres of surface dressing was applied over the April-to-September preventative maintenance season, compared to 38.5 million in 2024. This is enough to treat the equivalent of around 4,340 miles of road.
This year’s manufacturing, sale, and use of bitumen emulsions for surface dressing were also up 25% on 2023 (35.3m square metres), the year that saw the lowest reported volume since records began in 1978.
However, while the increase in 2025 will be welcomed, volumes are still 32% below the amount applied in 2012 (64.4m square metres).
The RAC recently reported that the number of pothole-related incidents its patrols attended increased by 25% between July and September, compared to the same period last year, so the increase in surface dressing work is more than timely. During the 12 months to the end of September 2025, drivers were direct victims of potholes on a total of 25,758 occasions – an 11% year on year rise.
RAC head of policy, Simon Williams, said: “We welcome more local highway authorities carrying out surface dressing work, as this is proven to extend the life of roads by 10 to 15 years by sealing cracks and stopping water getting in and, ultimately, stopping surfaces breaking down.
“We hope even more surface dressing will be carried out going forwards as the Government is on board with the preventative maintenance message that the RAC, REA and the Road Surface Treatments Association have been advocating,” said Williams.
However, half of local highway authorities in England did not use any form of preventative maintenance on their A roads in the 2023/24 financial year, according to government road condition data.
