Annual Status and Options Report

2025-26

www.orkney.gov.uk

IMAGE: Cover photograph showing a rural road descending through grassy fields towards a coastal inlet and scattered buildings, with hills and water in the background. The Orkney Islands Council crest and the text “Annual Status and Options Report 2025-26” and “www.orkney.gov.uk” appear on the cover.

Contents

• Contents — 2
• Introduction — 3
• Summary — 4
• Status report — 5
  • Current assets — 5
  • Current road condition — 5
  • Customer contact — 6
  • Carriageway defects — 7
• Historical Investment — 8
• Options — 10
  • Option 1 – Maintain current budget - £1.78m for 2 years and revert to £1.28m from year 3 — 10
  • Option 2 – Steady state budget - £6.8m — 11
  • Option 3 – Maintain current budget for 5 years before recovering to existing condition — 12
• Options Summary — 14

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Introduction

This report presents a summary of the council’s carriageway assets as at December 2025 and complements the Roads Asset Management Plan (RAMP). It describes the current condition of the carriageway network using a Road Condition Indicator (RCI), which is calculated following the Scottish Road Maintenance Condition Survey (SRMCS) undertaken by external contractors on approximately 40% of the network on an annual basis. RCI indicates the percentage of the road network that requires maintenance. Orkney’s RCI is currently 26.97%, which means 26.97% of the network requires either Reconstruction, Resurfacing or Surface Dressing.

Status

Status is provided in terms of current condition, the output that is delivered and the standards being achieved.

Options

The report considers the following options:

• A continuance of current funding levels (£1.78m for the next 2 years and revert to £1.28m from year 3).
• The predicted cost of maintaining current standards (Steady state).
• Assessment of recovery costs after a continuation of current funding levels.

Please note that the budgets referred to in these options are a combination of Capital and Revenue surface treatments, encompassing Reconstruction, Resurfacing and Surface Dressing.

Long Term Forecasts and Impacts Risk

Road assets deteriorate slowly. The impact of a level of investment cannot be shown by looking at the next couple of years. The report includes 20-year forecasts to enable decisions to be taken with an understanding of their long-term implications.

To reflect continuing budgetary pressures the report contains an assessment of the impact for each option presented.

Summary

Although the road network has historically been amongst the best in Scotland, it’s now deteriorating at a rate far worse than ever anticipated. Customer reported defects are at an all-time high, and pothole repairs continue to exceed 1,000 each year. This is putting massive strain on the roads service and is severely impacting the ability to maintain other assets such as drainage.

As at December 2025 the steady state figure, to keep the road condition at the same level is £6.8million. The 2026-27 budget for planned carriageway works is £1.78million, which is less than 30% of what the network needs at this moment in time. For comparison the steady state in 2024 was £6.5million which clearly evidences the urgency to gain control of the network deterioration sooner rather than later.

All performance benchmarks indicate that the metaphorical cliff edge has now been passed. The network is deteriorating at a rate far in excess of the resources allocated to maintain it. Without significant investment in 2026 it is now expected that the steady state figure in 2031 will be £9million, and in 2036 exceed £11million.

IMAGE: Figure 1 is a map-style visualisation of 12.3% of the Orkney road network, representing 121 km requiring substantial restorative works within five years. The marked roads are distributed across the islands.

Figure 1 - visualisation of 12.3% of the network

Without intervention now, 12.3% of the network (121km) will require substantial restorative works within 5 years. To visualise, that would be the equivalent of every road on Sanday, Stronsay and Eday requiring reconstruction or resurfacing.

Status report

Current assets

Table 1 – Current Road Lengths as at 23 December 2025.

Current road condition

As at December 2025 it is estimated that approximately 26.97% of the network requires either reconstruction, resurfacing or surface dressing. In 2024/25 there were 1,010 carriageway defects identified, which would take 2 people approximately 29 weeks to repair.

This represents a significant reduction compared with the previous year, driven by the use of improved maintenance materials and a refined approach to managing defects. The introduction of more efficient and effective repair techniques has enabled the team to adopt a “find and fix” methodology. Rather than repairing only the defects identified through inspections, the team can now address all defects along a route in a single operation. These works are scheduled in the weeks leading up to routine safety inspections, with the aim of reducing the number of identified defects to zero. While defects will still occur, this approach allows them to be repaired before they become more costly and without the constraints of strict repair timescales.

In addition, the enhanced materials now being used provide far greater durability, resulting in significantly fewer repeat visits.

While this new approach is delivering early positive results, the overall rate of network deterioration remains severe, meaning these short-term gains are only a small offset against long-term decline. Addressing defects before they are formally identified can also obscure the true scale of the problem. A more reliable indicator of the network’s condition is the continued year-on-year rise in customer-reported defects.

IMAGE: Figure 2 is a pie chart titled “Road condition as at December 2025”. It shows Red at 2.98%, Amber at 23.99% and Green at 73.03%.

Figure 2 - Current road condition.

Customer contact

IMAGE: Figure 3 is a bar chart titled “Customer Reported Defects (Carriageway)” covering financial years 2012-13 to 2024-25, with a rising trendline. The approximate numbers of reports are: 2012-13, 85; 2013-14, 95; 2014-15, 80; 2015-16, 112; 2016-17, 95; 2017-18, 158; 2018-19, 145; 2019-20, 85; 2020-21, 192; 2021-22, 160; 2022-23, 188; 2023-24, 320; and 2024-25, 440. The chart indicates a substantial increase in customer-reported carriageway defects, reaching its highest level in 2024-25.

Figure 3 - Graph indicating carriageway reported defects.

Carriageway defects

IMAGE: Figure 4 is a bar chart titled “Carriageway Defects Identified” covering 2019/20 to 2024/25, with a rising trendline. The numbers of defects are approximately 800 in 2019/20, 1,000 in 2020/21, 1,500 in 2021/22, 1,350 in 2022/23, 2,350 in 2023/24 and 1,010 in 2024/25. The trendline rises overall despite the reduction in 2024/25.

Figure 4 - Graph indicating carriageway defects over the last 6 years.

Historical Investment

It takes a long time before degradation becomes visible. Therefore, the defects seen on the network today were set in motion years ago and this deterioration has snowballed with sustained underinvestment. Orkney consistently spends less than neighbouring authorities on planned maintenance and spent less than 15% of the national average in 2023-24.

IMAGE: Figure 5 is a line chart comparing planned maintenance spend per kilometre of total network length for Orkney, Shetland, Moray and the National Average from 2017-18 to 2023-24. Orkney’s spend is the lowest in every year, approximately £500 per kilometre in 2017-18, £1,050 in 2018-19, £1,000 in 2019-20, £500 in 2020-21, £1,300 in 2021-22, £1,100 in 2022-23 and £500 in 2023-24. The National Average is approximately £3,400, £4,200, £3,700, £2,700, £4,100, £4,300 and £3,700 respectively. Shetland and Moray remain above Orkney, with varying levels across the period.

Figure 5 - Planned maintenance spend comparison.

The only way to prevent further deterioration of the network is to meet the steady state budget. The longer this is left to grow, the less the value of investment will be. For example, spending £6.8million a year now will maintain the RCI at 26.97%. In 5 years-time the annual budget would need to be £9million to keep the RCI at 35.6%, whilst also dealing with 40% more defects.

IMAGE: Figure 6 is a line chart titled “Steady State versus Actual Spend”, comparing actual planned budget with steady state budget from 2018-19 to 2025-26. Actual planned budget is approximately £1.0m, £0.95m, £0.4m, £2.0m, £2.2m, £1.0m, £1.75m and £1.75m. The steady state budget is approximately £1.2m, £1.2m, £1.3m, £1.7m, £2.7m, £5.6m, £6.5m and £6.8m, showing the widening gap between actual and required spending.

Figure 6 – Steady state versus actual spend.

Options

Option 1 – Maintain current budget - £1.78m for 2 years and revert to £1.28m from year 3

IMAGE: Figure 7 is a stacked bar chart projecting the condition profile of all roads from 2024/26 to 2044/46 under Option 1. The chart categories are Green, Amber 2, Amber 1 and Red. The Green portion steadily decreases, while the Red and Amber portions increase over time, indicating progressive deterioration under the current budget.

Figure 7 – Option 1 condition projection.

Option Summary

The baseline option of a continuance of current funding levels is predicted to result in:

• Deterioration of measured condition. Estimated RCI by year 5 = 35.6%.
• Probable increase in 3rd party claims
• Probable reduction in customer satisfaction

Table 2 – Option 1 summary

What this means in practice

Immediate actions (2026/27)

• Unclassified roads will no longer be considered for resurfacing except in certain circumstances, such as bus routes.

By 2031

• RMMP reviewed – Inspection regime updated to focus solely on classified network.
• Resurfacing will only be considered on A-Class roads.
• Restrictions in place on more of the network. E.g. Weight limits/speed limits to limit damage to roads which are no longer being maintained. This would affect gritters, refuse vehicles, school buses, coaches etc.

By 2036

• The roads service will focus solely on A-class roads.
• Much of the network is no longer suitable for Surface Dressing.

Option 2 – Steady state budget - £6.8m

IMAGE: Figure 8 is a stacked bar chart projecting the condition profile of all roads from 2024/26 to 2044/46 under Option 2. The proportions of Green, Amber 2, Amber 1 and Red remain broadly stable throughout the period, showing continuation of the current road condition.

Figure 8 - Option 2 condition projection.

Option Summary

The steady state option is predicted to result in:

• Continuation of current road condition
• Estimated RCI by year 5 = 26.97%
• No probable change in level of successful 3rd party claims
• No probable change in customer satisfaction

Table 3 – Option 2 Summary

What this means in practice

By 2031

• No material changes from situation today.

By 2036

• No material changes from situation today.

Option 3 – Maintain current budget for 5 years before recovering to existing condition.

IMAGE: Figure 9 is a stacked bar chart projecting the condition profile of all roads from 2024/26 to 2044/46 under Option 3. The chart states: “Yrs 1 - 2 Maintain Current Budget (£1.78m)”, “Yrs 3 - 5 Revert to £1.28m” and “Years 6 - 20 Recovery to 2025 condition (£9.65m)”. The Red and Amber portions increase in the short term and then decrease, while the Green portion recovers towards the existing condition by year 20.

Figure 9 - Option 3 condition projection.

Option Summary

• Deterioration of measured condition in the short-term before recovering by year 20. Estimated RCI by year 5 = 35.6%
• Probable increase in 3rd party claims.
• Probable reduction in customer satisfaction.

Table 4 – Option 3 Summary

What this means in practice

Immediate actions (2026/27)

• Unclassified roads will no longer be considered for resurfacing except in certain circumstances, such as bus routes.

By 2031

• The RMMP reviewed – Inspection regime updated to focus solely on classified network.
• Resurfacing will only be considered on A-Class roads. Restrictions in place on more of the network. E.g. Weight limits/speed limits to limit damage to roads which are no longer being maintained. This would affect gritters, refuse vehicles, school buses, coaches etc.

By 2036

• Much of the road’s resource will be working on major surface treatment schemes. Routine works will take much longer to respond to.

Options Summary

The below summary aims to highlight not only the effect on overall carriageway condition, but also the impact to the human resource and their ability to address other network priorities. Given current staffing levels it is not possible to dedicate a squad to constantly repair defects. There is on average 2 people at any time working on defect repairs. On average a defect repair takes 1 hour, considering travel time, setting up Traffic Management and undertaking the actual repair. This clearly indicates how more staff time will be required on defects which in turn leads to less routine works taking place.

The summary also highlights the benefits of steady state funding in the long term.

Table 5 - Options summary