A NEW sign warning motorists of crumbling roads the county council can no longer afford to mend has gone up in Oxfordshire.

The sign, on a minor road near the village of Wootton, north of Woodstock, will be followed by about a dozen more Danger: Failed Road signs around the county over the next two weeks.

The desperate measure follows a series of spending cuts on road maintenance by cash-strapped Oxfordshire County Council.

County area engineer Colin Carritt confirmed that more signs would be going up in the next fortnight and added: "In the past few years we have been trying to spread what funds we have across all the roads, and there was a danger that all the roads would end up suffering.

"Now we are saying we must protect the main roads - even if it means leaving the minor roads."

The cuts - totalling nearly £5m over the past four years - could put motorists' lives at risk, county director of environmental services David Young has warned.

He said: "Highways maintenance is a prime example of a service that cannot be cut off.

"There is a statutory duty to maintain highways, and although the standards are not defined by statute, we can be sued for being negligent."

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