£50m a year needed to repair county roads

The council said there had been a 45% increase in pothole repairs in the space of a year

More than £50m a year is needed to keep all the roads in Suffolk at "optimal condition", a council claims.

A report from Suffolk County Council showed the £17.78m average investment into road surfacing over the last six years was only 35% of the £50.4m needed.

However, it suggested that the number of roads in the worst condition had reduced in the last 10 years.

Councillor Paul West, cabinet member for highways, said he would be happy to write to the government asking for more funding but was "realistic" about the chances of bridging the gap.

The council has had to focus its resources on preventative surface treatments which it said could prove more expensive in the longer term.

"In the medium-term this is sustainable, but at a time in the future there will be a greater proportion of roads in Suffolk that will require the preventative surface treatment to be removed and a machine surface installed," the report said.

New machines have been trialled to try and find better fixes for potholes

In the next financial year, the council is expecting £37.3m in government funding, a £7m boost to this year’s £30.6m, which the report states is "a welcome increase" - despite being short of the optimal amount needed for the county.

Although the report found the overall condition of Suffolk’s roads to be improving, with the condition across all road types improving since 2012, partly thanks to a £21m council investment between 2017 and 2021, it was unclear what the picture would look like once more resurfacing was needed.

The report added: "As current and projected budget levels do not provide the level of funding required for optimal road conditions in Suffolk, there will continue to be road defects across Suffolk’s roads.

"The combination of alternative defect repair solutions and employing new technology will continue to contribute to Suffolk Highways making the most of the available funding for road maintenance in Suffolk and provide the best possible condition of Suffolk’s roads for our communities."