INCREASED Government funding will not be enough to tackle the backlog of repairs and maintenance on County Durham's roads.

The county council has been given £8.8m for the financial year 2001 to 2002 - £3.6m more than it got for the current period, but £11.5m short of the total it asked for.

The Government has given councils across the country ten years to improve the road network and Durham County Council says it has a backlog of work amounting to more than £72m.

Ministers also told the council that it would receive a further £9.1m in 2002 to 2003, and at least 75 per cent of that sum in the years up to 2006, the period covered by its local transport plan.

Council cabinet member Don Ross said that the funding announcement was "something of a bitter-sweet pill".

"We welcome the increased level of funding," said Coun Ross, "because it allows us to address the condition of our non-principal road network, where the roads are in the poorest state of repair, and also deal with the replacement of street lighting columns. But that has to be tinged with a degree of disappointment, in that we have received much less than other rural parts of the country.

"We are going to have a tough time meeting the Government's target to get our roads up to scratch within ten years." He added that other regions seemed to have done better than the North-East.

The Government will announce the outcome of other elements of the council's local transport plan bid next month.