by political editor Paul Francis

County road chiefs are set to spend an extra £6m to try to halt a growing backlog of repairs and improvements needed on Kent's roads.

KCC is expected to use almost half of a £12.5m underspend in last year's budget to try to stem a repair backlog caused mainly by bad weather.

The council is responsible for about 4,000 miles of roads - one of the largest networks in the country and spends about £90m each year looking after them.

Successive bad winters saw extensive pothole damage across Kent and despite major investment which has seen millions spent on repairs, many roads remain in need of improvement.

KCC has estimated it would need to spend as much as £250m to tackle its total backlog of repairs.

Cllr Bryan Sweetland (Con), cabinet member for roads, said the extra money was good news.

"It is a decent sum to be able to spend on top of what we already do. Another £6m means we are investing in our assets and helping stop deterioration. Of course, it would be better if we had more money but it is still pretty reasonable."

The money is likely to be spent on resurfacing stretches of damaged roads and pavements but as yet, no detailed programme for work has been drawn up.

As part of its strategy to deal with a huge increase in repairs needed, KCC launched a "find and fix" campaign in 2010, under which 31,000 potholes were repaired.

That campaign was extended last year, with the help of a government grant of £2.5m.

The plan for the extra money is expected to be given the green light at a cabinet meeting tomorrow.

A report by the Department for Transport published this week has revealed that across the country, the state of roads maintained by councils has remained broadly unchanged since 2006-07.