AROUND 258 miles of the county's roads need long-term permanent work to prevent further deterioration, Herefordshire Council has warned.

The council says that more than £2.25million worth of flood damage has been caused to the roads and have applied for government funding to support it.

It adds that it has already spent more than £1.4million on flood damage repairs in the past three months alone and plans to fast-track urgent repairs to some of the county's most severely damaged roads.

Of the 258 miles that need long-term permanent work, 21 are on A-roads.

The government has committed to provide an additional £2.4million over the next two years for Herefordshire's road maintenance programme, with Herefordshire Council planning to bring forward £1.5million of the funding.

The programme of maintenance works for the coming year is based on sureys of road conditions with investment targeted at the roads that present the greatest risk.

Details of the programme are due to be announced next month and motorists will be kept informed of where the works will be taking place.

"We are aware that this is a major concern to local peopel and we are investigating ways to address this," said Councillor Graham Powell, cabinet member for infrastructure and education.

"If we had the cash to carry out the maintenance work needed, the cycle of repairing defects and potholes could be broken.

"This will require a multi-million pound investment and we simply don't have enough money available now to carry out all the work required.

"But, if we carry out permanent, long-term work at locations presenting the greatest risk to our communities now, it will reduce the need for more costly, short-term, reactive repairs at a later date.

"Therefore, the third part of the plan forms part of the re-procurement of our highways contract.

"We are looking at ways to work with the private sector to help address this long-term problem by investing in the network to reduce future maintenance costs."