£50m!

A report has revealed how up to £50m would need to be spent over the next ten years to bring them fully up to scratch.

It follows years of underfunding as statistics disclosed that civic leaders spend a third less on road maintenance annually compared to other similar councils in the country.

business leaders have warned the neglect is blighting Southampton's economic progress.

In a report to Southampton City Council, inspectors rated the city's highways maintenance service as poor, and now council chiefs have to decide how much cash they can splash out on repairs.

The state of roads across the city will come under the microscope at tomorrow's Environment and Transport Scrutiny Panel meeting.

The council spent about £5m on highways last year but would need to more than double the figure to provide full maintenance.

Earlier this year it was revealed Southampton has one of the worst rush hour congestion problems in the country, with the average speed for drivers being 16.7 mph.

Long-suffering motorists have to face a seemingly endless onslaught of roadworks, including the Mountbatten Way saga where cones were laid out and a lane closed for more than two years.

Catherine Wright from Southampton and Fareham's Chamber of Commerce said: "Transport and the transport infrastructure is a critical issue for local business.

"We feel that the state of transport and congestion and the infrastructure is damaging productivity for the city's businesses as well as disadvantaging business start-ups.

"The underspend on road maintenance is a national scandal. The local authority is to be commended for the transparency of the report where they say that this is a situation which can go on.

"The report also challenges local people to say where they would like money to be spent.

"It is a critical issue and we have to address it."

AA bosses warned that unless city transport bosses tackle a huge backlog of repairs, the city's fragile transport infrastructure could grind to a halt.

Head of roads Paul Watters said that not spending money on the city's roads would cost city transport bosses more in the long run.

He added: "If you defer road maintenance it can cost you up to ten times more to repair roads."

The scrutiny panel report said the council had three approaches to tackle future maintenance - manage the decline, stop the rot or fully maintain roads.

It added about £3m more every year would be needed to stop the rot, while an extra £6.5m would be required for comprehensive maintenance.

It said: "The spend per head of population on highways maintenance in the city is about 34 per cent less than the average unitary authority in England and Wales, and about 25 per cent less than our comparator group.

"It should be noted that the average is not a desirable target - everyone is underfunding but we are doing it more than others."

The report also revealed more than half the city's street lights are over 30 years old - double the national average of 27 per cent.

Party leaders have their say

Southampton City Council leader, Councillor Adrian Vinson blamed 19 years of Labour rule for the state of the city's roads.

He said: "Certainly our roads and pavements are in a very poor condition due to 19 years of neglect under the previous administration.

"They are one of the things that let our city down and one of the things that need to be addressed with some urgency."

Labour group leader Councillor June Bridle said: "It is fair to say that with local authorities it is very difficult to decide priorities but we can't ignore the condition of our roads. We do so at our peril.

"If people like the Chamber and the AA are saying road maintenance is a priority then the Liberal Democrats should be listening. You have to take these issues seriously and that means putting your money where your mouth is."

Conservative group deputy leader Councillor Royston Smith added that he suspected the Liberal Democrats were concentrating on signage and street furniture to attempt to gain a second term in office.

He said: "They spent all these years promising to deliver and now they are finding they can't deliver anything like what they thought they could."