Road safety projects among the casualties as transport axe falls

North Lincolnshire Council said the Government had cut 1.2m from the authority's local transport plan, hitting 13 separate schemes across the borough.

The money had been earmarked to improve road safety, maintain roads, footways and bridges, and improve public transport.

The projects have been shelved for at least a year but may be delayed indefinitely if more cuts are announced, the council warned.

The Government has also cut 95,000 from the council's road safety partnership, which the authority uses to help fund road safety initiatives across the Humber region.

Coun Bernard Regan, cabinet member for highways, planning and energy, said: "We have taken a huge cut to our local transport plan funding.

"Nobody could have foreseen this coming, and the last thing we need is to have to put off projects until next year.

"But we have been left with no choice. We are where we are, and it has been a difficult task deciding which schemes will now not go ahead as planned.

"After careful analysis, schemes have been selected that are felt to be suitable for deferral on the grounds of present progress, minimal safety impact and other considerations."

Government cuts are being felt on both banks of the Humber and last week it emerged that millions of pounds of urban regeneration projects in Hull had been suspended.

City regeneration agency Gateway said it had lost 4.5m of the 28m grant it was expecting for 2010-11.

The shortfall means a halt on plans to buy and demolish about 140 properties in Anlaby Road and Hawthorn Avenue; improve 167 houses in the Stirling Street area and in St George's Grove; carry out street-scene improvements in Hessle Road, Hawthorn Avenue South, Alliance Avenue, De La Pole Avenue, Edinburgh Street, Glasgow Street and Somerset Street; and clear sub-standard properties in the Bilton Grove and Mappleton Grove areas of Preston Road.

Hull Council said it would seek alternative sources of funding for some of the schemes.