Region's road surfaces among the worst in England

A report found the condition of major roads in the East of England "trailed" other regions

Road surfaces across the East of England are among the worst in the country, the transport watchdog says.

A report by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) found that the quality of major roads in Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, Essex and Bedfordshire were "consistently lower" than other parts of England.

It said the East "trailed" the national-level target by nearly 3%.

National Highways, which manages motorways and major A-roads, said it would continue to make improvements.

The ORR report found that 93.6% of major road surfaces in the East of England were rated as good, below the national target of 96.2%.

It acknowledged that while the region had a higher proportion of A-roads - which are harder to maintain - as well as more concrete roads which do not perform as well as asphalt, the area still "underperformed" even when these aspects were considered.

National Highways says it plans to spend more than £1bn on upgrading the region's roads

Factors that affect road surfaces include age, traffic load and material type.

Major roads are assessed on their ride quality, skid resistance and rutting.

The report did not look at other A-roads or minor roads which are the responsibility of councils.

'Hold to account'

Feras Alshaker, director of planning and performance at ORR said: "Our report is an important tool that we expect National Highways to use to understand the variations in the company's regions and share intelligence with road operators elsewhere to help ensure performance is maintained at a consistently high level.

"We will continue to hold National Highways to account, including on road surface condition."

The ORR said that National Highways had met its road surface condition performance target for the sixth year running.

Duncan Smith, National Highways executive director for operations added: "We regularly inspect our roads to help reduce the potential for potholes to form and we are meeting national targets designed to ensure our road surfaces are kept in a good condition."

National Highways said it planned to spend more than £1bn on road infrastructure projects in the East over the next few years, including redeveloping parts of the A47 between Great Yarmouth and Peterborough, increasing capacity on the A12 in Essex and upgrading a 10-mile section of the A428 between Bedford and Cambridge.