The backlog of road repairs in East Sussex will not be cleared by the end of the decade unless there is a huge injection of cash, a council watchdog has warned.

An internal scrutiny group says East Sussex County Council is not spending enough money to deal with the problem or to halt further deterioration of the highways network.

Councillors who have spent a year investigating the state of the county's roads said more than £40 million of catch-up maintenance is needed.

Their report, being put before councillors for the first time this morning, said the condition of main roads was below average and minor roads were very poor.

The report, which is mainly critical of the state of minor roads, said the authority did not appear to have a medium or long-term plan for upkeep.

Committee members also said it did not appear to be bidding effectively for government funds intended for maintenance.

Committee member Aubrey Vickers said the repair backlog was one of the most important problems the cash-strapped council faced.

Coun Vickers said: "It will be more costly in the long run if we do nothing. We are saying we need to deal with it straight away.

"There is no way in which we can do nothing, we are responsible for the roads and we have got to do something."

The Government wants all main councils to halt deterioration in their highway network by 2004 and clear any maintenance backlog by 2010.

The amount of money the council spends repairing its 1,900 miles of road each year has almost halved since 1991/92.

A large share of the £6.4 million being spent on repairs this year has been earmarked for minor roads.

The scrutiny report comes shortly before the council begins drawing up a new highway maintenance contract. The document is being considered by the authority's cross-party watchdog this morning and will later go before the ruling Cabinet.

The council is responsible for all roads in the county except trunk roads, controlled by the Highways Agency.