by political editor Paul Francis

Kent is to pump more than £1 million more into fixing roads that have been damaged in what road chiefs say is the worst winter in decades.

The news comes as it emerged that Kent County Council has already used as much salt in a fortnight to keep roads cleared as it would normally use over the entire winter.

Kent County Council said that some 13,500 tonnes of salt had been used to keep roads clear so far – the same as it would expect to use in a whole year.

Cllr Nick Chard (Con), KCC cabinet member for highways, said fresh stocks of salt were expected to be supplied this week.

The authority announced on Mondayit intends to spend an additional £1 million on top of its existing budget to fix potholes, with roads chiefs predicting the prolonged spell of snow and ice will cause extensive damage across the county’s 5,000-miles of road.

Council leader Paul Carter (Con) said extra cash would be provided to help fix damaged roads. He also promised there would be a full report into how all of the county’s public services in Kent had dealt with the bout of wintry weather.

Speaking at KCC’s cabinet meeting on Monday he said: “We know when the snow disappears we are going to see a massive amount of deterioration and degradation in our roads. We should now start planning to put additional money, whatever is necessary, and at least £1 million, and get the roads repaired across all districts."

Meanwhile, cabinet member for highways, Cllr Nick Chard said: “This has been a quite abnormal winter. In any normal year, we would use about 13,500 tonnes of salt and we have already used that. The priority has been to keep the main routes clear and we have been able to do that. We have replenished salt stocks and are expecting more this week.”

But he repeated the authority had not done as much as it should in the week before Christmas when it came to treating pavements in town centres, saying that lessons had been learned.

The news comes as KCC chief executive Peter Gilroy defended the decision to place the army on stand by at the weekend to help deliver services to vulnerable people. Forecasts of further snow appeared to have been misplaced.

He told the cabinet meeting: “I agreed we should invoke the Civil Emergencies Act which meant the military could come into play. I do think that was the right decision and I supported our police colleagues in making that decision.”