WORK to improve highways and public transport in Darlington has been given a multi-million pound boost, council officials revealed yesterday.

Darlington Borough Council has received £3.7m from the Government to carry out a series of improvements over several years.

The local transport plan settlement was part of a national allocation to local authorities of about £1.9bn made by the Department of Transport.

It will be used to create safer routes to school, new road safety measures and a host of other initiatives.

About £1.6m has already been set aside for spending on highways and pavement maintenance in the coming year.

The remaining £2.1m is to be spent improving integrated transport across the borough, with schemes for town centre access and bus improvements scheduled.

Council officials said that the work would include radical changes to the North Road area, with measures to ease congestion and cut journey times.

There would be similar improvements in Yarm Road, with a public consultation about any plans expected in the first half of next year.

Improvements would also be made to West Auckland Road, Brinkburn Road, Grange Road and Whinfield Road.

North Road has already been the subject of a public consultation exercise, which sparked anger among some home-owners and traders.

Many felt that altering bus lanes and junctions could do more damage than good.

Councillor Nick Wallis, the council's cabinet member for highways and transport, welcomed the cash injection.

He said: "The results of various inspections we have undergone recently demonstrate that we have made significant improvements to Darlington's highways and traffic infrastructure.

"Our target is to improve still further and this generous settlement from the Government will enable us to do that."

The Darlington authority also received a £194,000 bonus for achieving its local transport plan targets.

The plans were submitted in 2000 by all local authorities in England. They contained integrated transport strategies for each area and a programme of improvement measures from 2001 to 2006.