Essex has some of the worst roads in the country, according to a leading county councillor.
Rodney Bass, Essex County Council's portfolio holder for roads and transport, made the admission after a damning report by the Audit Commission into the state of the county's roads.
The report said Essex was failing to meet Government targets to reduce the number of road deaths by 2010, while describing its roads and pavements as "sub-standard and deteriorating".
The inspectors, who gave the county one star out of a possible three, also claimed the council needed to review its strategy in cutting the number of accidents.
Mr Bass claimed improvements were being made but admitted there was still much work to be done.
He said: "Although the report makes some recommendations, we are working on many of them already. I think we are getting better but they are still relatively bad compared to other parts of the country."
The portfolio holder claimed the commission's report - which praised the new congestion-busting A130 - was based on road-death and other statistics that were up to four years old.
Published Tuesday August 10, 2004
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