Paul West, cabinet member for operational highways, said: “That £10m delivered much welcomed resurfacing ahead of time, but we have now been unfairly penalised for it.
“We fully support transparency in the reporting of highway maintenance performance, but transparency can only be meaningful if the data being published is accurate.”
He added the council had demonstrated to the government in a meeting on Monday where it had “gone wrong” and called for it to correct the rating.
The DfT previously said the council had not spent its full capital grant for highways maintenance, spending only £36.4m of £43.7m in 2025-26.
It said any suggestion it had mishandled or ignored data was “categorically untrue”.
The DfT has been approached for further comment.