THE county council has revealed how it will spend £19 million from central government.

The Department for Transport (DfT) grant to Dorset Highways is among the largest awarded, reflecting its status as one of the 39 top performing highways authorities in England and Wales.

It includes £1m to tackle potholes, and the authority has earmarked carriageway repairs, upgrading signals and crossings and new traffic management schemes for the A350 and C13 as priorities for the funding.

"We’ve been working hard for the last two years to put in place a management strategy that would ensure we could demonstrate our assessment as a Band 3 authority," said Andrew Martin, service director for highways and emergency planning.

"We know that this money is not sufficient to address all the issues on our network but, by evaluating condition data and defect reports, we can deploy the different methods and techniques available to keep our most heavily trafficked roads, and those which support Dorset’s businesses, in a good condition for longer."

The authority has also bid for a further £1.6m from the DfT Challenge Fund to improve the condition of roads linking to rural businesses and key tourist areas.