Council leaders are facing questions over the impact of growing numbers of electric cars and buses on the state of the county's roads.

The vehicles are significantly heavier than their petrol and diesel counterparts and have been blamed for the worsening conditions on many road surfaces.

Opposition councillors have been urging Norfolk County Council to investigate the issue, particularly following the introduction of electric buses in Norwich, to see if it needs to do more to protect carriageways.

However, Graham Plant, cabinet member at Conservative-controlled County Hall, has dismissed such questions and says he is "not concerned" about the issue.

Steve Morphew, who leads the Labour group on the council, said: "Electric buses are unreservedly a good thing but come with consequences. Preventative measures make sense.

"What makes no sense is that councillor Plant has made no assessment of the impact of heavier buses standing at other stops in the city or started planning for the consequences.

"It's not exactly rocket science and with a bit of foresight the costs and disruption could be minimised."

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First Bus recently increased its number of electric buses used in Norwich, bringing its total up from 59 to 70. This followed eight months of work on the bus company's Norwich Roundtree Way depot to enable it to take an all-electric commercial bus fleet.

However, Mr Plant said that assessing the impact of these vehicles was not among his priorities.

He said: "Prior to the advent of electric buses, we have experienced deformation at busier bus stops due to the static weight of the vehicles and their frequent use. We have used materials in St Stephens Street that provide greater resistance to general wear and tear of vehicle movements.

"The operation of electric buses is not a concern at present in terms of the maintenance of city roads and no additional funding has been set aside specifically for this." 

A national report into the deteriorating state of Britain's roads recently identified the increasing weight of vehicles - of which the growth of electric cars, vans and buses is a significant factor - as contributing to the problem.