COUNCILS have been ordered to hand back millions of pounds earmarked for transport improvements as part of Government spending cuts.

The axe has been wielded on £5.25m of funding for road safety schemes, bridges, bus lanes, walking and cycling projects and transport information schemes.

The cuts include £3.93m from Hampshire, £850,000 from Southampton and £470,000 from the Isle of Wight.

Details of the immediate reductions – to allocations made by the former Labour government for the current financial year – follows a decision to freeze all local transport schemes, pending a review, and slash local authority grants.

They come despite Prime Minister David Cameron’s pre-election promise to cut out only £6.2 billion of government “waste” if the Conservatives won, while protecting frontline services.

An emergency £100m to repair potholes – announced after the extreme winter weather – had been protected.