More than one in 10 Bracknell Forest roads need resurfacing as they have reached the end of their “useful life,” it has been revealed.

Councillor Guy Gillbe, responsible for roads at Bracknell Forest Council, said the council is fixing roads on a “worst-first basis.” But he added that no council can fix the “national pothole problem” without more government funding.

He said: “Currently over 11 per cent of our overall road network is in a condition which requires resurfacing as it has reached the end of its useful life. This figure matches the average for England and Wales.

“No local authority will be able to fix this problem unless supported adequately by government, and this is the message I seek to deliver at the highest level.”

Councillor Philip Thompson challenged councillor Gillbe on the state of Bracknell’s roads at a meeting on Wednesday, September 13.

He asked for an update on the council’s plans to repair the borough’s “many potholes” – which he said were “of great concern to many residents” – before winter.

Councillor Gillbe said the council does “all we can” to keep roads in Bracknell safe. But he said that, due to lack of funds, sometimes the council could only patch roads up when they need resurfacing.

He said: “Roads have a lifespan beyond which they require resurfacing, but this process is expensive and there are many candidate roads.

“Even with the additional Council funding provided, there is no alternative but to repair potholes in locations where our first choice would otherwise be to provide a whole new road surface. This is not unique to Bracknell Forest and all highway authorities face this reality.”

READ MORE: figures show growing Wokingham potholes problem

Councillor Gillbe said that he would push “at the highest level” for more support to repair roads. He added that rising costs meant that government funding had “not matched the demands” to repair ageing roads.

He said: “Councils receive annual grant funding for highway maintenance from central government but this has broadly remained at a static level for many years, if not a decade, and the scale of this funding has simply not matched the demands of the ageing infrastructure.

“And of course, this government grant is not provided solely for road maintenance, but also for meeting the needs of wider highway assets like street lighting, highway structures and drainage systems. Rising inflation has of course worsened this situation, with some construction materials having increased by over 35 per cent in the past 18 months.”

Councillor Gillbe also noted that Bracknell residents’ satisfaction with the condition of road surfaces was higher than average in the national highways and transport survey.

And he said the council had repaired an area equivalent to 15 football pitches over the past 11 months.