CITY roads "will get worse" because the city council is cutting £1.2 million from its highways maintenance budget, says a leading councillor.

The saving, – £400,000 a year for three years – will reduce the number of streets the council can resurface, according to the Liberal Democrats.

It will also limit overtime for workers who fix the roads.

Council officers insist the savings will have little impact on road maintenance.

But Coun Gary Long, leader of the council's Liberal Democrat group, who spotted the cuts in the city council's budget, disagrees.

"I am confident the roads will get worse," he said. "They are reducing the resurfacing programme. The less roads they are resurfacing the more emergency potholes they have to fill, They get into a vicious circle with less and less money available for proper resurfacing work. This is a position they found themselves in a few years ago."

Coun Long said previously the city council had recognised the poor state of the roads and had reached a point where it was resurfacing at an appropriate rate.

However, he said: "A road surface is supposed to last about 25 years and a pavement 50 years. Recently, they got to the point where they were resurfacing at the proper rate. My concern is they will drop below a sensible rate. There is no way they will be clearing the backlog."

At a council meeting this week, the Lib Dems argued the Labour group should change its budget, reverse maintenance cuts and invest an extra £6 million to improve roads by abandoning plans to rebuild the Victoria Leisure Centre.

But city council managers insist they can maintain the existing service with reduced resources.

In a statement, the council said cuts would not affect work to fill potholes and mend other defects. The council says other sources of money would plug the financial gap and work would be reorganised to give better value for money. Changes to work patterns would also have limited effect.

The statement added: "Changing work arrangements will have minimal impact on frontline service delivery and will not affect essential repair works."

charles.walker@nottinghameveningpost.co.uk