MORE than 1,000 miles of Cheshire’s roads are deteriorating to an unacceptable level due to lack of central funding, a council committee has concluded.

ŠA report by the Highways Maintenance Scrutiny Task Group, set up to reviewŠ the state of the road network, said around £20m a yearŠneeds to be spent over the next five years toŠremedy the situation.

ŠThe main area of current concern is class C and Unclassified roads, which make up 79% of West Cheshire’s total highway network.

ŠEnvironment executive member Cllr Neil Ritchie said he fully accepts the findings.

ŠHe said: “This authority is no different to every other authorityŠin the country inŠlacking adequate fundsŠfor the upkeep of its roads and also wondering how it is going to beŠaffected by the Government’sŠ projectedŠspending cuts.”

Š The committee found that total customer enquiries on highways issues across west Cheshire rose from 12,832Šin 2006-7 to 35,470 inŠ2008-9, and pot hole enquiriesŠincreased from 1,045 to1,831 during the same period.

ŠThe six-member Task Force will presentŠ a final report, to include areas for improvement, to the Executive in March 2010.