A senior councillor today vowed to press for extra Government cash to renovate an estimated 1,200 unadopted roads across the Bradford district.

Bradford Council receives many requests from residents to spend money improving potholed roads but it says it is not provided with Government money to meet them all.

Today, people living in the University area of the city centre described how their neighbourhood was let down by its messy back streets.

Families living in Sherbourne Road, Pemberton Drive and Merton Road say there are rats living in dirty, run down areas which are all unadopted roads.

They complain that although they have invested thousands of pounds in improving their homes and front gardens, the backs are a mess and dangerous for children.

They have sent a petition to Bradford Council and enlisted the help of their MP Marsha Singh but nothing has been done.

Mohammed Ayub, 45, a textile worker and father-of-five, has a front garden full of flowers but says he cannot allow his children to play in the back because of the hazardous and filthy conditions.

"We pay the same council tax as everybody else and I don't see why we should be at a disadvantage," he said."

Neighbour Kaduer Idris, who lives in Sherbourne Road with her husband Mohammed and five children, added: "We feel the council has got a lot of money but they don't choose to spend it here in our neighbourhood."

Bradford Council's executive member for environment, Councillor Anne Hawkesworth, said: "There are several hundred unadopted back streets throughout the district, and we get scores of requests each year for the council to make them up to modern standards, at public expense.

"There is no Government funding allocated to cover the adoption of unmade roads, and no statutory requirement for local authorities to do so. I intend to ask Bradford's five MPs to press for a special pot of regeneration money to be made available to cover the adoption of roads in future."