MONMOUTHSHIRE roads need £39 million spent on bringing them up to standard, or 44 per cent of the rural roads will soon revert to cart tracks, councillors have been warned.

Paul Frampton, the county's highways manager, told members of the environment select committee that 85 per cent of the county's road network is in need of treatment and of these 16 per cent of the county's A classified roads had zero life left in them.

The stark reality of the highways maintenance backlog was contained in a special report to the committee prepared by senior engineer Alan Slade. Chairman Cllr Val Smith pointed out that the road network was the public service used most frequently.

Cllr Bill Edwards described the present maintenance programme as 'putting a sticking plaster over the wounds'. But the council's highways cabinet member Cllr Giles Howard said although he liked the analogy he felt it was a case of trying to cover severed limbs, rather than wounds.

He said the council needs to lobby the National Assembly for extra funding to try and remedy the problem.

Cllr John Harrhy said officers had been warning of the desperate state of the roads for years, but it was a nationwide problem. "Our roads are a disgrace and there is transport using them that should never be on there, because the roads were made for horses and carts."

Mr Frampton said the roads were at their best in the early 1980s and had been deteriorating ever since. He added: "The problem is which roads do we protect - maybe we should start with all A and B roads."

Cllr Harrhy said he agreed because some roads only served one or two properties, and perhaps they should become green lanes.

Cllr Donald Spencer added: "The carve-up of Gwent County Council was done on a population basis rather than taking into account road lengths, so Monmouthshire started in a weak position."