CASH-STRAPPED council chiefs need to find a whopping £26million to bring East Renfrewshire’s roads up to standard, the Barrhead News can reveal.

The shock figure is contained in a report, to be discussed by councillors this week, which shows a staggering 40 per cent of the area’s road network requires maintenance.

Much of the backlog is down to the condition of unclassified roads, which account for around 80 per cent of East Renfrewshire’s network.

According to the council report, almost half of all unclassified roads are in need of repairs.

Experts at a leading motoring organisation insist the council must face up to the massive maintenance bill as soon as possible – or face having to fork out even more cash in the years to come.

Neil Greig, director of policy and research at IAM RoadSmart, formerly the Institute of Advanced Motorists, told the News: “It’s going to get worse unless they address this, so they have to make difficult funding decisions.

“Traffic is going up but spending on roads is going down. If you keep putting it off, it will cost more in the long run,” he added.

The council report shows that A-class roads in East Renfrewshire were the best in Scotland last year, coming top out of 32 local government areas.

But the ageing condition of unclassified routes dragged East Renfrewshire down to 25th place overall.

The report states: “The considerable achievements on the classified network are clearly diminished by the figures for the unclassified network.

“The major issue facing the council is the backlog figure of £26.3million which is for carriageways alone.

“Clearly, simply adding £26.3million to the council’s general fund capital plan over the next few years is not a simplistic solution.

“This would require a further sum of around £3.25million over and above existing expenditure levels for around eight years.”

The local authority now plans to examine various options for funding road maintenance in the future.

At a meeting scheduled to take place tomorrow, councillors will be asked to allocate almost £5.7million for repairs to roads and footpaths in East Renfrewshire’s residential areas.

Meanwhile, the winter maintenance budget for gritting and snow clearance has been increased to £900,000.

East Renfrewshire is not alone in facing a big backlog in road repairs.

Mr Greig said the combined repair bill for all of Scotland’s local authorities is an eye-watering £1billion.

And figures from the Confederation of Scottish Local Authorities (CoSLA) show that spending on roads maintenance across the country dropped by 21 per cent in the past six years.

This represents a more-severe cut in spending than on the likes of parks and open spaces, which was down by 18 per cent, and leisure and cultural services, which have suffered a 12 per cent drop over the same period of time.

A CoSLA spokesman said: “Roads are a crucial part of Scotland’s infrastructure and a major driver of local economic performance.

“Given the impact of financial constraints on councils and the effect of Scotland’s weather, councils face huge challenges in maintaining local roads even before the impact of utility companies and other factors are taken into account.”

Would you like to have your say on the state of East Renfrewshire’s roads? If so, send an email to editorial@barrheadnews.co.uk.