Over £45 million would be needed to get Norfolk’s road network up to the standard it was a decade ago, according to the council.

A report to go before members of the council’s infrastructure and development select committee, states there has been “a slight deterioration in the condition of bridges, footways and ‘A’ roads,” says the Eastern Daily Press.

Norfolk County Council said it would need to spend the amount to clear a backlog of maintenance and get roads up to the standard they were at in 2007 – with the figure having increased from £36.4m last year.

The current budget for repairs and maintenance is £59.2m, following a number of government announcements this year. The council says that National Highways and Transport network survey, where 3,300 Norfolk people, chosen at random to rate a range of highway and transportation services, led to the county being ranked first out of 28 county councils, including for condition of highways and highways maintenance.

Martin Wilby, Cabinet Member for Highways and Infrastructure, said: “We clearly recognise there has been a slight deterioration in our maintenance backlog. There are probably a few reasons for that and one would be the amount of funding we had received last year. But this year, we have had £22m from the government which is a significant increase.

“We are still in a fairly good place. Yes, we’ve had a slight increase in the cost of the backlog, but we are expecting that to come down.”