Councillors are being urged to back a reduced £27,000 package of measures to repair roads and paths in Keighley and Ilkley amid a warning that some essential repairs will not be carried out.

By agreeing the programme they hope to reduce the numbers of claims by people tripping on uneven pavements or damaging cars on potholed roads and then billing Bradford Council for injury compensation.

However, a report to the Council’s Keighley Area Committee warns that a scheme of works drawn up for ten areas in Keighley, Ilkley and the Worth Valley is too expensive and will have to be scrapped after the budget for road maintenance was almost halved from £50,000 last year.

The report states: “A lack of sustained, programmed and effective local highway maintenance will result in deterioration of the network, leading to an increase in footway and carriageway defects over time. This is likely to lead to an increase in successful compensation claims against the Council and therefore impact on the Council’s insurance premium.”

The committee had drawn up a list of priorities, including repairs to paths in Ilkley, Addingham , Silsden , Oakworth and Keighley, totalling £52,500.

However, the report recommends that the committee “rejects some or all of the recommended schemes” and replaces it with a list of schemes which comes within the £27,000 budget.

The report states that the Council’s repairs budget has been “reduced significantly” from a high of £500,000 in 2010/11 to £125,000 in 2012/13 which has been shared equally between Bradford's five parliamentary constituencies. Two of the other area committees, Bradford East and South, have already agreed works programmes within the budget. Shipley and Bradford West area committees, as well as Keighley, will discuss proposals for their constituencies later this week.

In July, Bradford Council revealed it faced a £30 million bill to bring the district’s road surfaces up to scratch.

Keighley Area Committee will discuss schemes at its meeting in Keighley Town Hall on Thursday at 6pm.