MORE than half-a-billion pounds are needed to bring the North-East’s uneven and potholed roles back into reasonable condition.

The staggering £553 million figure was revealed in the annual ALARM survey conducted by the Asphalt Industry Alliance, which represents companies producing the raw materials used in road construction and repair.

It surveyed local councils across the country and said in the North-East it would take highways authorities 13 years to clear the entire carriageway maintenance backlog that had built up.

Alan Mackenzie, chairman of the Asphalt Industry Alliance, said: “Our roads are deteriorating at a faster rate than they can be repaired and more significant problems for the future are building unseen below the surface.

“It is clear that there is still not enough money available to tackle the backlog of repairs needed to get our road network back into anything approaching a reasonable condition.”

Despite councils in the region facing large budget shortfalls, 327,256 potholes had been filled in over the past year, the Alliance said.

Meanwhile, £364,000 had been paid in compensation to road users who had come unstuck because of potholes, although that figure is likely to be higher since a minority of councils did not respond to the survey.

Liz Mayes, North-East regional director at the manufacturers’ employers’ organisation EEF, said newly elected regional mayors should be handed the cash to provide a “step change” in investment in road repairs.

She said: “Reliable and resilient local roads are key for productive local economies and these figures show a damaged network with a repair cost that is still stubbornly high.

“Investment in planned maintenance must step up a gear now or risk costing more in the future.”

Councillor Nigel Cooke, Stockton Borough Council’s cabinet member for regeneration and transport, said: “We carry out permanent fixes of potholes when undertaking repairs, with temporary repairs being used only when an urgent fix is needed in the interests of public safety.

“We would welcome any additional funding, but this would have to be put into the context of the overall £73 million reduction in Government funding we are facing.”

John Reed, head of technical services at Durham County Council, said: “We have an annual resurfacing programme to maintain the condition of the county’s roads and footpaths and to prevent potholes from forming.

“We also carry out highway safety inspections and reactive maintenance to repair potholes."

The council said like the "vast majority" of highways authorities it had a backlog of work.

It has a capital budget in 2016/17 of £17.8m for highways and a revenue budget of £8.1m for inspections and reactive and routine maintenance. 

Roads Minister Andrew Jones said: “Well-maintained roads are important to people in the North-East, which is why we have allocated more than £267 million for its councils to improve local roads over the next five years.

“This includes more than £3 million in 2016/17 from the Pothole Action Fund for the North-East to fix 58,000 potholes.”