Communities will benefit from a £400,000 Surrey County Council fund to improve roads in their area and "make a visible difference" to local residents.

The county council has launched the Community Pride Fund to ensure better quality roads in towns and villages.

Every one of Surrey's 80 councillors is being given £5,000 to pay for work such as road repairs, footpath improvements, new signs and drain clearing.

They could also spend the money on cutting back trees, repairing verges or general work to spruce up a neighbourhood such as cleaning signs, removing fly posters or clearing shrub and vegetation.

Councillors can decide individually what to spend the funds on or have the option of pooling their money to complete larger schemes that cross divisional boundaries.

Ian Lake, Surrey County Council's Cabinet Member for Transport, said: "Local councillors are best placed to make decisions on issues affecting their communities and this £400,000 fund will make a visible difference to the lives of the people they represent.

"They regularly drive the roads in their neighbourhood and have the local knowledge to properly inform a decision. By giving councillors this money, we are giving local people more influence over decisions affecting their communities."

The scheme is being rolled out through the county council's 11 local committees over the coming months.

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