The amount of money spent on road maintenance in Bolton could be slashed as part of council cutbacks.

Town hall bosses plan to slice £196,000 from its budget for road repair schemes and is axing two jobs to save a further £80,000.

A report by the council officer's responsible for the roads said the cutbacks would "result in an ongoing degradation of the borough's streets and roads".

The news follows a report by the Asphalt Industry Alliance, which warned local authorities across England that they were under-investing in roads and could see increased insurance claims for cars damaged by potholes.

The proposed savings are part of a £2.1 million package of cuts to Bolton Council's environmental services budget.

The council also plans to pull finance from a National Road Safety Initiative Scheme when Government funding, which this year amounted to £200,000, runs out next month.

Opposition councillors and campaigners have reacted furiously to the news and have pointed to new figures that reveal the number of people killed on Bolton's roads doubled from seven in 2005 to 14 last year.

A spokeswoman for road safety campaign group Brake said: "It is horrific that the number of deaths on Bolton's roads doubled last year.

"That should be a wake-up call to the council to start investing more money in road safety measures.

"To spend less seems absolutely absurd, this has to be seen as a priority."

Bolton Council also plans to lose a road safety officer post even though it says it "would increase the risk of the authority not achieving necessary improvements in casualty reduction."

Hugh German, of the Bolton Institute of Advanced Motorists, said: "This will undermine a lot of hard work being done in the council's highways department on road safety."

Cllr John Walsh, Conservative spokesman for environmental services, said: "The council is not even hiding the fact these plans will cut deep into the service being provided.

"If you put these together at a time when Bolton has a very high accident record it flies in the face of the council's claim to care for the community."

But Cllr Elaine Sherrington, deputy environmental services spokesperson, said: "These are just proposals. We are committed to improving road safety. If the Conservatives were really bothered about reducing accidents why did they not back our safety schemes at Crompton Way and Deane Church Lane this week?"

A council spokesman said no compulsory job losses were anticipated - cuts would instead be made by leaving vacant posts empty, voluntary redundancies and re-deployment.