Durham and Lincolnshire have been named as the two top performing highways authorities in the country.
Roads minister Andrew Jones said the two authorities had scored highly against all 22 set criteria and, as a result, would receive the maximum incentive funding for 2016/17.
'I would urge other authorities to look closely at how Durham and Lincolnshire are running such an efficient operation,' he said.
'For those authorities which have not ranked as highly as they’d have liked my officials in the department stand ready to support them in learning from the best.'
The minister also published details of how the incentive funding for highways maintenance has been allocated, saying that every local authority that applied has received some money.
The incentive funding is allocated to highways authorities based on their performance, with the most inefficient councils receiving less cash. The Government says this will encourage authorities to make improvements, particularly as more than a quarter of funding will be allocated on the basis of competition or performance by 2019.
'Mr Jones said: 'Authorities that spend money on roads efficiently will be rewarded with extra funds to keep up the good work. While authorities with a history of inefficiency will receive comparatively less money. Over time, we expect that all authorities will improve.'
