Conwy needs to spend an extra £2m on its roads just to stop their condition deteriorating further.

The cash-strapped county has had to reduce investments in its 1,688km of roads from £1,500,000 in 2010/11 to £664,000 in the current financial year.

Welsh Government figures showed that Conwy has the highest proportion of A roads in a poor condition in North Wales in the last financial year.

When it came to B roads, Denbighshire was the only North Wales county with more in a poor condition than Conwy and, for minor routes, Wrexham was the only authority in a worse position.

The proportion of Conwy’s road network which was in poor condition in 2016/17 was 10 per cent.

Poor weather conditions in recent winters were blamed for making potholes worse in the county over the last two years.

A report before members of the finance resources scrutiny committee said there had been a big increase in the number of potholes recorded from April to June 2017.

May 2017 saw 250 such recordings, which was up from 125 from the same month in the previous year.

The report said: “A lack of investment in highway infrastructure will lead to further deterioration in condition, increased cost of reconstruction, repair and maintenance, an increase in successful claims against the authority and risk of failure to meet statutory duties.”

It was hoped that the council could maintain the roads in their current condition.

The report said: “Ideally, the authority would like to achieve a continuance of the current condition level – this is known as ‘steady state’.

“The level of capital investment required to achieve this position, which was calculated in 2016, was £2.6m per year.”

Councillors will be told that, if they carry on with the current level of investment, the number of roads in a poor condition will increase by 200 per cent over the next 20 years.

Investing £2m annually over the next 20 years would see the length of highway rated as poor remain the same, though there would be a significant decrease in sections of highway rated as good, but a £2.6m investment would maintain them in their current state, councillors heard.