SURREY County Council is hopeful it could be in line for extra road repair cash being given out by the Government as a reward to councils that give taxpayers value for money.

From next year, councils that prove they spend highways funding efficiently are set to get a bigger share of the country's £200m annual roads maintenance budget under plans recently launched by the Department for Transport (DfT).

Surrey County Council hopes it will benefit from this extra money, as it was highlighted as one of two good examples of an efficient roads authority when the DfT announced the proposals earlier this year.

The DfT report highlighted the county council's renegotiation of its contracts with suppliers that led to £16m in efficiency savings, better delivery and 10-year guarantees when roads are completely overhauled from scratch.

Earlier this month, the county council announced it would 'pause' non-urgent highway works to instead focus on tackling flood-affected roads.

John Furey, Surrey County Council's Cabinet member for highways, said: "Although it means a lot to us that the Department for Transport says we're efficient, it would mean even more to get extra funding as a result, because we have a minimum £12.5m flooded roads repair bill on top of our normal budget pressures.

"We hope that being singled out by the DfT indicates we could be in line for extra funding, allowing us to improve roads even more for our taxpayers."