The scrapping of the ring-fencing for most of the capital funding for local government is likely to hamper strategies to reduce road casualties, the Scottish Government has been warned.

The Scottish National Party’s administration placed the majority of the capital funding for councils into a single pot, worth £2.9bn over three years, to ‘provide local authorities with more flexibility in allocating resources’

Councils responding to the consultation on the country’s first road safety strategy attacked the scrapping of ring-fencing, with one arguing it could have ‘a significant effect on spending on road safety engineering’.

Nearly a fifth of those responding to the Scottish Government’s request for comments on its draft document also raised the issue of the need for road maintenance funding to be increased to improve safety.

Most of the 71% of consultees calling for a focus on engineering measures in the strategy stressed the condition of road networks increase accident risk.

One consultee warned that ‘a lack of proper maintenance can present drivers with many additional hazards, worn surfaces increasing skid risk, potholes, flooding from blocked drains, lack of gritting in winter and worn road markings and signs.’

However, ‘young drivers’ and ‘speed limits’ were the top two responses to the Scottish Government asking what the strategy’s priorities should be. The new strategy is due to be published over the autumn.