Councillors want more funding for roads and transport despite a £10 million handout by the Government.

East Sussex County Council has welcomed the increased funds for next year but says it needs more to carry out its full programme of works under the Local Transport Plan.

More than half of the £10 million is to be spent on road maintenance alone with another £4 million on schemes such as bus lanes, cycle routes and traffic calming.

The remaining £1 million has been allocated to work on the A22 new route schemes in conjunction with the Polegate bypass which is already under construction.

Kathryn Field, lead cabinet member for transport on the county council, said the authority was delighted with the funding.

She said: "It's excellent news for the county and is a reflection of the hard work put into developing the Local Transport Plan by the county and its partners in a time of scarce resources.

"However, whilst there is increased funding for maintenance within the settlement, there is a serious backlog to be addressed which has been exacerbated by the recent floods.

"Further funding needs to be found to tackle this"

Other schemes in need of cash include the port access road to Newhaven and the long awaited Hastings bypass.

The highways authority has final decision on which schemes will get priority from the funds.

District and borough councils across East Sussex contributed to the county's Local Transport plan.

The document sets out a blueprint for the furtur of road-building and public transport in the area.

Sussex will receive more than £124 million for local transport over the next five years under the Government's plans set out by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott on Thursday.

West Sussex will get £54.5 million ( a large proportion of which will go to fund the Fastway bus service between Crawley and Gatwick Airport), while £44.7million has been pledged to East Sussex. Brighton and Hove will get £25 million.