A council that has spent more than £700,000 compensating people who have tripped on pavements should spend more on improvements, an MP has said.
Norman Baker, the Liberal Democrat MP for Lewes, discovered the figure was spent by East Sussex County Council over the past five years.
Following a Freedom of Information request, Mr Baker said 536 claims had been made against the council in total.
The council said it already spends more than £2m a year maintaining pavements.
A spokesman said during last winter it also provided a further £250,000 to deal with the problems caused by the extreme weather.
In a statement, he said the compensation figure of £704,511 over five years worked out at an average of just over £140,000 per year.
"We are satisfied we have a very firm approach to dealing with compensation.
"All claims are fully investigated and anyone seeking compensation has to provide evidence to support their claims - in fact, we only pay out on legally valid claims and reject the majority," the spokesman added.
But Mr Baker said the "huge compensation claims" were unacceptable in the current economic climate.
"Instead of forking out such huge sums on compensation, East Sussex County Council should have spent the money on preventing these problems from happening in the first place by improving pavements.
"The council must now invest in improving pavements for the benefit of everyone," he said.
"If it ignores the problem, it will simply be left facing more compensation claims further down the line, and ultimately, it will be the taxpayer who has to pick up the bill."
