Concern about next year's environment and economy budget, particularly the proposed reduction in highway maintenance, has been expressed by Devon County Councillors.

Members of the County Council's Environment and Economy Overview /Scrutiny Committee meeting yesterday (January 21) said road repairs were regarded as a top priority by residents and a cut of £1 million in the budget would prevent any progress being made on the backlog of repairs currently estimated at more than £140 million.

They also contested a proposal to put a total ban on traffic orders relating to small local issues such as new parking restrictions and speed limits. Members agreed that tackling such issues could make considerable differences to people's lives and recommended that money should be allocated for these through savings made elsewhere in the budget.

In addition Members asked for opportunities for further energy and efficiency savings in street lighting in future years to be investigated and for the reduction in funding for street light column replacement to be restored as soon as possible.

Committee chairman Cllr John Glanvill said the County Council faced a challenging task in keeping down Council Tax while trying to protect vital services.

'In surveys carried out by the Council, highway maintenance has consistently come out as a top priority and we Councillors know from personal experience that we get more complaints from residents about the state of the roads than any other issue,' he said.

The meeting was addressed by Executive Member for Environment Cllr David Morrish who said a good road infrastructure was also vital to the county's economy.

'Living within this budget will be painful but decisions have to be made on how the money should be spent. We have selected our priorities and know that these reflect what people want,' he said.

County Environment Director Edward Chorlton said the budget cut would have long term effects.

'If we don't spend money on the basics, the cost of future capital work will increase,' he said.

The Committee went through the proposed budget in detail and was told that the main effects would be: A reduction of £1 million on the amount forecast to be spent on highway maintenance - total budget £31 million.

A cut of £250,000 on spending on street lighting - total budget £4.2 million. This would mean a reduction in inspection frequency, replacement of individual columns and fittings rather than mass replacement and less painting of columns.

A reduction of £1.3 million in spending on waste disposal made possible by this year's budget being underspent because the growth in household waste has been lower than predicted. Although there may be a variety of reasons for this and the amounts do fluctuate year on year, it is likely that this significant reduction has been achieved because of increased public awareness of waste reduction and recycling, thanks to publicity and promotion such as Don't Let Devon Go to Waste campaign.

A cut of £100,000 in the traffic management budget would mean no new orders relating to small, local issues such as parking restrictions and speed limits. Only orders relating to strategies in the Local Transport Plan would continue.

An increase of £605,000 in the public transport budget to £3.1 million to meet the increased cost of operation. Over the past year tenders received for subsidised services have shown significant increases which is in line with the national trend. Operators costs have gone up as they provide better quality vehicles and pay higher wages. The increase would also compensate for the ending of Government funding of the Life in the Bus Lane initiative. This project in North Devon is designed to encourage more young people to use public transport.

In its recommendation to the Executive, which will have the final say on the Council's budgets at its meeting on Monday, February 9, the Committee expressed concern at the reduction in spending on highway maintenance and called on the Executive to press the Government to make its formula for the allocation of national funding for road maintenance more fair.

Members asked for opportunities for further energy and efficiency savings in street lighting in future years to be investigated and for the reduction in funding for street light column replacement to be restored as soon as possible.

Concern was also expressed about the reduction in funding for Public Rights of Way and the Committee called for £50,000 to be allocated for traffic orders relating to small local issues to be funded through savings elsewhere in the budget.

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