SURREY could miss out on millions of pounds set aside by Central Government for repairs to the road network after the Chancellor, George Osborne announced a new dedicated roads fund in the summer Budget, it has been warned.

According to Surrey County Council, the small print of the Budget indicates the new fund - using ring fenced money coming directly from vehicle excise duty - will only be spent on motorways and major A roads managed by Highways England, which account for just 100 miles of road in the county.

As a consequence, the council believes most of the roads Surrey residents and businesses use every day won’t see any benefits, even though there are significantly more miles driven on them than those earmarked for the cash.

John Furey, Surrey’s cabinet member for highways said: “If this isn’t changed it will mean that more than 3,300 miles of roads in Surrey won’t see an extra penny from this fund despite local drivers already contributing around £80 million more every year in vehicle excise duty than they ever get back in funding for the county’s roads – the people of Surrey deserve better.”

Central Government pays Surrey around £20 million annually to manage the county’s roads network but Mr Furey believes this figure needs to double if the council is going to be able to maintain and improve Surrey’s roads.

He continued: “Government funding for our roads is dropping by about £1m annually despite the number of miles driven on them every year rising by 100 million since 2010. So far we’ve managed to cover this with savings – while also working on a five year programme to completely resurface 300 miles of road most in need of repair – but this can’t go on.”

The council has previously called for the Government to change its funding formula to recognise road usage rather than simply how many miles of road a council manages. While other parts of the country have more miles of road than Surrey, the county has one of the busiest networks outside London.