asked the Minister for the Environment if he will divert money from national primary and national secondary roads to county roads during the next three years in view of the very bad state of the county roads; and if he will make a statement indicating the Government's intention as regards bringing county roads up to a good standard.
Written Answers. - County Road Standards.
69.
The primary responsibility for the planning, execution and financing of improvement and maintenance works on county roads rests with local authorities Expenditure on these works is financed from local authorities' own resources and may, in the case of county road improvements be supplemented by the annual block grant for roads paid by my Department. The manner in which the block grant is spent, including the extent to which it is to be applied to improvement works on county roads, is largely a matter for each local authority.
The road grants notified to local authorities for 1986 include a sum of £20.4 million which has been allocated by way of block grant. This is 21 per cent higher than the corresponding grant in 1985 which was in turn 10 per cent higher than the 1984 block grant. In addition, grant commitments totalling £3 million have been notified to county councils this year to finance improvement works on county roads used mainly for agriculture or forestry, in those parts of the country coming within the scope of the EC western package. This represents an increase of £1 million compared with 1985. In May 1985 it was announced that grants of up to 75 per cent of the cost would be paid towards the cost of approved improvement works on county road bridges.
In so far as local authority resources are concerned, the level of the 1986 rate support grant, when taken with the removal of supplementary welfare demands and the greater flexibility in the use of internal resources, is equivalent to an increase of 6¼ per cent relative to 1985.