More help needed to fix 'broken' Cambridgeshire roads - MP
She wants the Government to "step up" to help with road repairs
A Cambridgeshire MP is calling for more Government support towards fixing the county's roads, which she's labelled as "broken".
Liberal Democrat Pippa Heylings made the claim as the county council faces an £800 million backlog in road maintenance, despite committing an extra £20m towards improvements this year.
"The roads are broken," Ms Heylings said.
"It's not sexy, but this is serious governance; it is doing the stuff people expect to be done, so it is so depressing that hasn't happened and we want this Government to step up to that now."
This year, Cambridgeshire County Council's agreed to spend £58m on improving local roads, such as resurfacing, preventative treatments, and upgrades to bridges, footpaths and cycle routes.
Councillor Alex Beckett - chair of the county council's highways and transport committee - said last year that the authority was "spending record amounts" on road improvements.
But the number of potholes seem to be increasing in many parts of the county, and still causing damage.
Grant Griffin - who manages Queen Adelaide Garage near Ely - told us he's seeing more vehicles damaged due to potholes.
While a petition to fix a pothole spanning several feet in Great Shelford has paid off, with highways engineers making repairs.
Roads 'like a pair of old trousers'
The Government's promised to invest £1.2 billion across the East of England to help councils make road improvements within the next four years.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said the Government has "put our money where our mouth is", and it's up to local authorities on how they wish to spend the funding.
Ms Heylings believes there has to be more financial support for councils, such as Cambridgeshire, whose leader has said could go bankrupt.
"It's like a pair of old trousers; you keep patching them but at some point, you've got to say you need a new pair of trousers," she added.
"Everybody knows it needs complete resurfacing and there is not (enough) money being given for resurfacing where it's needed.
"If you just get the same amount of money that wasn't spent on maintenance and you've got this massive backlog of where the road surfaces have completely deteriorated, you've got a problem."