Despite the government committing £45 million for road repairs in Leeds and a further £22.3 million for Wakefield, local councils have said that the funding will be insufficient to keep their roads in good condition.

A spokesman for Leeds City Council said: “Recent hard winters combined with decades of underfunding have left Leeds with a combined maintenance backlog of around £135 million.”

Wakefield City councillor David Dagger, cabinet member for transportation and highways, said the funding would allow for important maintenance work, but not “any significant improvement”.

The backlog of repairs in Wakefield is believed to be approximately £68 million. The Local Government Association, which represents councils, suggested that the overall cost of repairing the UK’s roads to an acceptable standard could be as much as £12 billion, and would take over a decade.

Chairman of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority and leader of Wakefield City Council Peter Box said he was “disappointed” that the new funding seemed to have come at the expense of local council budgets.