Local authorities need more than £10 billion to get their roads back into reasonable condition, according to a report today.

The shortfall in the highway maintenance budget received from central Government by England and Wales councils has amounted to £895 million, 12 per cent up on last year, the report from the Asphalt Industry Alliance said.

The total number of potholes filled in 2010 to 2011 reached more than 2.2 million, a 59 per cent increase on 2009 to 2010, the AIA added.

Shropshire Council and Telford & Wrekin Council today said figures were not available for their areas but both said a lot of work had been done to potholes.

According to highways engineers nationally, one in five local roads in England were in poor condition with the figure for London being 25 per cent. In addition, 17 per cent of Welsh local roads were in a poor condition.

Asked to predict the level of one-off investment need- ed to get their roads back into reasonable condition, local authorities in England and Wales claimed £10.65 billion would be required, an increase of £1.15 billion on last year’s estimate.

The estimated time for clearing the backlog for English councils excluding London was 11 years, while for London it was nine years and for Welsh councils it was 14 years. The Government has announced an extra £200 million for potholes.

A Telford & Wrekin Council spokesman said: “We have put significant res- ources into repairing potholes on roads across the borough and this has resulted in considerable improvements to the state of our highways.

“However, we do acknowledge that our roads still require significant investment over and above what has already been done and £660,000 we are getting from the Government will obviously help us to achieve that. We are currently drawing up a target list.”

Bob Ellis, Shropshire Cou- ncil’s head of environmental maintenance, said­: “The recent announcement of £3.6 million of additional funding is very welcome, and will allow us to carry out much needed repairs.”

By John Kirk