Councils have warned they face a £400m reduction in local road maintenance budgets this year.

Analysis by the Local Government Association (LGA) reveals overall capital funding allocated to councils for local road maintenance will fall by 22% to £1.39bn in 2020/21.

The LGA said this lost funding could pay for more than 9.5 million road repairs – the equivalent to 64,000 repairs in each local council area.

Cllr David Renard, transport spokesperson for the LGA said: 'Councils are on the side of motorists, and are working hard to keep our roads safe and resilient, repairing potholes as quickly as they can. However, it would take £11bn and more than a decade for councils to clear the current local roads repair backlog, with the cancellation of important planned works risking extending this backlog further.

'With long-term and consistent investment in local road maintenance, councils can help government by embarking on the widespread improvement of our roads that is desperately needed, to the benefit of all road users up and down the country, including cyclists.'

The LGA said the Government's £2.5bn Pothole Repair Fund would go some way to tackle the backlog in repairs.