Pothole repairs on the main road through Sidford and detailed designs to replace Alma Bridge feature in a £51.4million capital programme for 2017/18.

The Department for Transport cash will also allow Devon County Council (DCC) to keep highways and footways safe and to improve their drainage.

The A3052 in Sidford features in a £9.8million maintenance programme that focuses on roads with a large number of potholes and structural defects.

Some £100,000 has been allocated for the work in Church Street and High Street.

Funding has also been set aside for detailed design and, subject to approval, start of construction of a replacement for Alma Bridge, which was damaged in 2012.

Some £45,000 has been allocated for assessment and there is a further £250,000 for construction.

But a report to DCC’s cabinet says the Government award ‘provides insufficient capital funding to meet all network maintenance needs’.

C roads and unclassified roads make up 87 per cent of Devon’s 8,000-mile highways network, and the report also says almost a quarter of them need immediate maintenance.