SUBSTANDARD roads across Cumbria would cost hundreds of millions to bring up to scratch.

Figures from Cumbria County Council reveal the authority faces a £250 million repair bill to bring the entire 7,700km highway network of roads, bridges, footways, cycleways, drainage and street lighting to a 'reasonable standard'.

But with only £141m forecast to be spent on maintenance over the next six years, the shortfall of more than £100m could grow as the roads continue to deteriorate - with the added potential for bad weather to wreak further havoc.

Cumbria County Councillor Stan Collins, chair of the highways and transportation group for South Lakeland, told the Gazette the county needed a fair share of funding from government in order to tackle the problem.

"The most important thing is we're not getting the money we need in order to keep the roads up to a decent standard," he said. "There are ways we can improve the roads and one of those is making sure utility companies and contractors restore the highways to a proper standard.

"We should be making sure they do repairs properly and we should be allowed to enforce the same standard as the highway authority."

He added a highways strategy for South Lakeland had been drawn up and for the moment it was vital to 'stick with the bare essentials'.

"We need to make sure we keep water off the road, that they are at a decent running standard and we tackle safety problems," he said.

Furness MP John Woodcock has also spoken out on the state of the county's roads.

“The massive reduction to CCC's core revenue grant is impacting on every branch of services and highways is no exception," he said. "Roads that are manifestly in need of improvements instead face further deterioration."

Stating the A595 as a 'prime example', Mr Woodcock said he was exploring new ways of securing funding for a feasibility study in a bid to improve safety.

And Westmorland and Lonsdale MP Tim Farron said residents had mentioned 'time after time' the poor state of the county's roads.

"We need to bid for a major slice of funding that will allow us to fix our roads properly," he said. "I think people pay enough tax for their cars; the least they deserve is decent roads, not roads strewn with potholes."

A CCC spokesperson said: "Cumbria has been given an indicative allocation of £141.354m for highways maintenance over the next six years by the government.

"While this funding is welcome and helps us plan our maintenance programme for the rest of the decade, we estimate it won’t be sufficient to deal with the current maintenance backlog or the additional repairs required as the network continues to deteriorate over the next six years.”