A BACKLOG of repairs to Glasgow’s roads would cost almost £100million to complete, it has emerged.

Emails between Glasgow City Council officers and elected members, which have been seen by the Glasgow Times, revealed that a one-off investment of £96m is required to bring the roads up to a “good standard”.

It came after councillors queried how much it would cost the local authority to rid the city of potholes which frequently blight city streets.

Staff confirmed it would be “impossible” to provide an exact figure for repair work as the number of potholes, as well as their depth, size and location, changes daily.

However, the email provides an insight into estimated figures of just how much cash is needed to eradicate the major bugbear for drivers in Glasgow.

The document reads: “Our current steady state figure for carriageways is £12.9m [per annum], which means this is what we need to spend each year in order to stand still – no decline or no improvement in road condition.

“If we want to reduce the number of potholes then we need to consistently spend more than £12.9m [per annum] on surfacing repairs, the more we spend above this figure the quicker road condition will improve and potholes will reduce.

“The current repair backlog figure for Glasgow is circa £96m and this one off investment would bring all the roads up to a “good “ standard. Further annual investment of circa £10.6m would be required to maintain the roads in this condition.”

It comes as a report put to councillors last month is around £20m short of what is needed to maintain the current road state.

As previously reported in the Glasgow Times, around £30m is needed to keep roads at, what is referred to as, “silver standard” however, only around £10m is currently spent on the matter.

Glasgow’s Labour group called the repair bill “unacceptable” and urged the council to find the cash to ensure Glasgow’s roads are pothole free.

A spokesman said: "The projected £96m figure highlights the cost of repairing every single defect on the city’s roads, regardless of how small that defect might be or how minimal an impact it might have on how a road is used.

“In Glasgow we take a risk-based approach to road maintenance, which ensures the network condition is assessed on an on-going basis, the most dangerous faults are treated as a priority and durable repairs are completed at the first time of asking.

“Investment in the network will fluctuate on a yearly basis and the extent to which repairs are required in any year is significantly determined by environmental factors such as frost, snow and rain.

“Our approach to road maintenance helps to keep the city’s road network in a fundamentally sound condition and safe for all road users.

“This approach also makes sure the condition of Glasgow’s roads is consistently better than roads across the rest of the country.”