THE cost of the backlog of repairs needed to roads and pavements in the Borders is estimated at a staggering £123m, it has been revealed.

Tweeddale West councillor Drummond Begg submitted an open question to a meeting of Scottish Borders Council on Thursday, August 29.

He asked for the estimated total costs of the backlog of repairs to roads and pavements across the region.

Mr Begg also asked how that figure compared to the actual spend on such works in the current financial year, 2024/25.

Mid Berwickshire councillor John Greenwell, the local authority’s executive director for roads development & maintenance, answered the question, saying: “The current road inspection process does not quantify the overall number of defects across the road network.

However, the rough order of magnitude to turn all red and amber sections of our road network to green is £123.215m.

“This is based on the Scottish Roads Condition Survey. The only comparison for spend is the budget for planned maintenance.

"The current projected spend for planned maintenance undertaking permanent road surface repairs for this financial year is £5.275m.”

Mr Begg said: “This really does give councillors a sense of the structural deficit that we actually have and it may be something we would wish to look at across a number of sectors before we make commitments going forward.

“This is a vast difference – £123m compared to the £5m we are actually going to be spending – and I don’t think, when we look at our year-on-year deficits, that we actually appreciate the structural deficit.”

In February it was revealed that the council had spent £9.6m on pothole repairs over the last three years – more than any other UK local authority.