Cash available to keep Flintshire’s roads in good condition has been slashed by more than 75 per cent.

Flintshire Council has only received capital funding of £600,000 for all planned highway maintenance operations across all assets in 2017/18, representing a 78 per cent decrease on the authority’s calculated £2.7m spend to achieve a “steady state”.

A report put to councillors ahead of the environment overview and scrutiny committee next week detailed how a spend of more than £2m would only maintain the condition of carriageways in the county and in “the current financial climate this position is not possible to invest at this level”.

The £600,000 investment would be spread across all assets including more than 1,000km of carriageways, footways, street lighting, bridges, culverts and retaining walls, subways, gullies, traffic signals, signs and bollards and road markings.

The report, by Steve Jones, chief officer for Streetscene and transportation, said investment in the highway network has been a priority for the council over the past five years and independent data, arranged by Welsh Government “ranks Flintshire’s highways as the best maintained in Wales”.

Mr Jones added: “This is measured by the condition of the classified network however this position can very quickly worsen, particularly after a severe winter period.

“As difficult decisions on the reducing finances available to the council have been made, due to the period of austerity in recent years, the level of investment has reduced and this has impacted significantly on road condition and led to an increasing backlog of deteriorating roads across the network, notably unclassified roads in both urban, and particularly, rural areas.”

Mr Jones’ report also highlighted how pothole repairs are an “effective option to immediately deal with defects on the network”.

He added: “Potholes are most prevalent during the winter period and this coincides with the time of year when it is least suitable to undertake structural maintenance work, such as patching and resurfacing work.

“Therefore pothole work is often the only option to remove the hazard and in many cases, even if the repair is undertaken as effectively as possible, the repair often fails and a repeat visit is required.”

The cost of pothole repairs to the authority can be averaged to around £4,000 per week.

The service operates for eight months of the year at a cost of £128,000.

A single road could cost up to £20,000 to patch and up to £100,000 to resurface depending on the size and location of the road.

The chief officer adds: “The more that is invested in resurfacing and full patching operations, the less potholes will form and therefore less will be spent on reactive pot hole filling.

“If the potholes are not filled then the council is liable for third party claims and this expenditure further reduces the funding available for resurfacing.”