DEVON is set to lose £8-million from its road maintenance budget because a Government funding assessment says roads like the A386, from Roborough to Tavistock, cost half as much to repair as minor suburban estate roads.
Whitehall officials have changed the way they assess road maintenance spending needs, and have angered Devon County Council by declaring that principal roads in rural areas cost £2,070 per kilometre to repair each year, compared with £4,140 for minor town roads.
Councillors say that under the new system Devon will lose out financially to urban authorities because it has far fewer suburban estate roads.
They are warning the only way to bridge the gap is by raising council tax by four per cent.
Cllr David Morrish, environment portfolio holder, described the Government?s new assessment criteria as ?plain daft?.
He said: ?It really does beggar belief that civil servants seem to have no idea that with the largest road network in the country, Devon, must have one of the greatest needs.
?To say that it costs less to maintain a major road than a minor one in Devon is plain daft and is yet another example of large urban areas benefiting at the expense of rural counties.
?It makes me wonder whether these Whitehall analysts have ever visited or been on holiday in Devon. They need to get out from behind their desks and find out about life in a rural county.?
Devon, which has a road network of 12,658km, is one of eleven rural county councils appealing to the Government against the new spending assessment.
Councillors say another flaw in the way Whitehall analysts calculate spending needs is the measurement of traffic-flow. Only the flow on major roads is measured, and this is used to estimate traffic on the entire network.
Cllr Morrish added: ?How can using data from less than a tenth of the whole network be an accurate assessment of need of all the county?s roads?
?If these assessments go through, the council tax payers will yet again be asked to pick up the shortfall.
?The prospect of an £8-million hole in the county?s road maintenance budget as a result of the Government?s proposed funding settlement is a very serious blow.?