A new report has revealed the cost to repair Liverpool's highways network is valued at £439 million.

The document states there are around 14,000 carriageway repairs outstanding that have not been able to be repaired within the 25-day target, with an additional 20,000 footway repairs also logged in the system.

City Mayor Joe Anderson has now written a letter to Transport Secretary Chris Grayling, asking him to urgently review the council's funding allocation from the Government. Currently, the Government provides £4.3m per year to carry out repairs.

The letter states: "After years of neglect under a previous administration which had caused a huge backlog of highway repairs, in 2014 I agreed an £80million investment package to address the issue. The city council has since made a further investment of £8million and worked with the private sector to lever in another £16million. The frustration is that, despite this level of investment, the city's backlog sits at a staggering £440million which would be the cost to fix the potholes and bring the roads up to standard.

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"An even greater frustration for me however is the fact that the government's contribution from DfT towards maintenance since 2014 is just £17.6million, barely scratching the surface of the problem. The city council has been pro-active in identifying funding but it is a stark reality that the government's contribution is 5 times less than what we've put in locally.

"I would ask that you urgently review the council's current funding allocation received through DfT given the scale of the problem we face. My fears that a pothole will imminently cause a death on the roads are real and I wish to alert you and your officials to the seriousness of the situation."

(LM/MH)