§ Miss McIntoshTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what additional resources the Government will allocate to local authorities from 2003 following the Government's de-trunking programme. [136428]
§ Mr. HillDe-trunking of non-core routes will be phased over a number of years with the first significant transfers taking place in 2001–02. We are committed to ensuring a fair transfer of resources from the Highways Agency to local authorities, which will take on responsibility for de-trunked roads. Arrangements have been agreed with the Local Government Association for ensuring such a transfer takes place. This will involve the making of special grants for routine maintenance and issue of supplementary credit approvals for capital maintenance when the roads are actually transferred. These arrangements will operate pending the outcome of the review of local government finance for which options were set out in our green paper "Modernising Local Government Finance" published on 19 September.