A COUNCIL facing a £300m roads maintenance backlog is set to spend £120,000 repairing unsurfaced and unclassified roads (UURs) which have been eroded by off-road vehicles.

The move would be a departure for North Yorkshire County Council, which has, historically, carried out limited maintenance on UURs, prioritising funding for the maintenance of the surfaced road network.

UURs are not included in the Government road repairs funding formula.

An officers’ report to its leading members states states that due partly to increasing recreational use of its UUR network by off-road vehicles, the estimated cost of maintenance required to bring the 730km UUR route network into sustainable condition is about £1.85m.

The report states: “In common with other recreational use of the highway network this has the potential to bring an economic benefit to local businesses that provide food and accommodation, in addition to tour operators, garages and specialist suppliers catering for off-road vehicles. Due to various factors, one of which being the vehicles effect upon the often loose surface of these routes, their deterioration, once begun, can accelerate rapidly.”