Today Lib Dem Councillors slammed Labour-controlled Durham County Council for refusing to double its highways spending by simply cutting 3p a mile from its staff and councillor’s generous mileage allowances.

Lib Dem County Councillors on Durham’s Unitary Authority are demanding that the “derisory” £2.76m council contribution to highways funding from Labour should be more than doubled.

The largest North East local authority already has an enormous back log in its highways and footpath repairs. It will receive a government grant of £11million for highways maintenance this year. However, despite having over £100million in reserves and an annual budget of more than £400m, the Labour-run authority plans to top up the £11million with just £2.76m from council funding.

Councillor Amanda Hopgood, Lib Dem group leader, said “We gave the Labour-controlled Council Cabinet plenty of notice when we suggested a tiny 3p a mile cut to the amount councillors and officers can claim for their car mileage allowance. The benefit would be huge and the loss to the councillors small. Yet Labour is refusing to heed our proposals.

The Lib Dem plan would allow an extra £3m to be invested in the coming year to improve footpaths and roads.

Councillor Mark Wilkes who has worked up proposals after discussions with officers says that he has been told that “the extra funding would make a significant dent into the council’s backlog of repairs.”

He said “I believe that the vast majority of the public in County Durham would support a reduction in councillors’ mileage claims to improve our roads and paths. The extra £3m we are proposing would, according to the Council’s own figures, allow us to resurface, repair or replace over 50 miles of footpaths and 19 miles of roads in the coming year. This would also boost the local economy, help to cut insurance claims and help regenerate run-down estates. We again urge Labour to reconsider their budget and to increase highways spending to a more realistic level.”

Councillor Owen Temple, Lib Dem deputy leader says that “further announcements on their budget will follow in the run-up to the budget setting day on February 26th.” The councillor for Consett North added that “the Lib Dems will put forward further positive alternatives to Labour’s plans. Our Budget will concentrate on freezing the council tax, helping the vulnerable and protecting frontline services like road repairs.”

Councillor Temple concluded “Labour seems unwilling to take the proper steps the public expect to get our local economy moving. We will not let Labour councillors get away with deceiving the public about funding when the council has £100m in reserves.”

At present councillors receive 48p a mile as a travel allowance whilst some officers receive even more. This compares to 25p for many in the health service and nothing for many private sector workers.

The government currently taxes all mileage claims over 45p a mile and the extra 3p Durham pays further adds to waste at the Council with the extra administrative costs.