LEADERS at Gloucestershire County Council have defended a decision to reject a proposal to spend more on road repairs.

Liberal Democrats at the authority had proposed using an extra £5.3 million from the council’s reserves to invest in the county’s highway network.

The amount would have been five per cent of the council’s £106 million reserves but the notion was rejected by Gloucestershire County Council’s full council.

At the moment Gloucestershire County Council’s budget allocates £14.5 million to road repairs.

Cllr Mark Hawthorne, leader of Gloucestershire County Council, said the £5 million would have been taken from a £17 million pot of money within the council’s reserves, that has been saved to pay for redundancies and other costs – as well as to protect council services.

Cllr Hawthorne said: "Lib Dems in Westminster are making massive cuts to the grant that Gloucestershire County Council receives, whilst Lib Dems in Gloucestershire try to cut the money we’ve saved to let us do so. "I want to spend more money on Gloucestershire’s roads - but we can’t do it by bankrupting the council, or forcing up council tax instead. This is a barking mad political smash and grab raid - I’m pleased the council rejected it."

However, the Liberal Deomcrat group at the county council has accused the Conservative leadership of hoarding money.

Liberal Democrat leader Cllr Jeremy Hilton said: "The Tories are hoarding money whilst our roads fall apart. The number of potholes on Gloucestershire’s roads is a disgrace and we should invest now in repairing our roads.

"The council has a bucket load of cash in its vaults - £106 million to be precise. A small proportion of these reserves invested in the county’s roads would make a big difference. Investing this spare cash now would save jobs, help suppliers and improve our roads."