Council's £2.6m repairs backlog

And the cost is likely to rise still further as more surveys are completed, Arun's cabinet members heard on Monday.

Information received so far shows that, based on the floorspace of buildings, 57 per cent of council premises are in poor or bad condition.

Four out of 10 properties need urgent or essential repairs. The figures do not include council housing, which is surveyed separately.

Officers have drawn up a five-year programme to tackle the repairs backlog.

It will be funded by cash from departments' existing maintenance budgets, with additional amounts of 200,000 this year and 250,000 next year coming from other sources in the council coffers.

An officer's report to the cabinet said that, in contrast to Audit Commission targets suggesting 70 per cent of maintenance should be planned and 30 per cent reactive such as storm damage or other emergencies Arun's record was 30 per cent planned and 70 per cent reactive.

The 2,663,000 backlog, the report added, reflected the impact on maintenance of spending decisions taken by the council over the past 10 to 15 years.

Roger Elkins, cabinet member for community safety, said the survey results highlighted the importance of maintaining properties to avoid additional expenditure later.

The 500,000 planned maintenance budget for this year includes 9,500 to be spent on the roof of the Windmill theatre/cinema at Littlehampton.