Ministers have slashed the funding devolved to the Westcountry to spend on much-needed transport schemes.
The Department for Transport has decided to hold back around £20 million it was giving to Cornwall, Devon and Somerset for major local projects.
Council and business leaders in the region were yesterday bitterly disappointed, and feared the cash would be channelled to other parts of the country, despite the woeful transport system across the South West.
The coalition decided to reform transport spending by giving areas money, rather than a regional list being drawn up and bids submitted for a share of a Whitehall funding pot. Now ministers want to partially return to the old model, giving local transport bodies some cash and asking them to compete for the rest.
Devon and Somerset were in line for £40.6 million from 2015/16 to 2018/19, and Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly £13.3 million. Now the confirmed allocations will see Devon and Somerset receive £27.1 million and Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly get just £8.9 million.
Bert Biscoe, chairman of the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Transport Board, said: "With thousands of kilometres of roads, millions of tourists, a rural economy that relies on unclassified rural roads, the fastest-growing rail network in the UK, an airport which is revolutionising Cornish connectivity and ports that have populated the oceans for millennia, it's very disappointing to see such a minimal investment in developing transport infrastructure to support our future economy.
He added: "We will of course make the very best of what we have been given."
The Devon and Somerset board consists of delegates from Devon and Somerset county councils, Plymouth City Council and Torbay Council, as well as the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) for the two counties.
Tim Jones, chairman of the Devon and Somerset LEP, said: "It's hugely disappointing and there will be considerable frustration and anger. We were told we would have £40 million or thereabouts to spend, and the projects we wanted to do were 'must haves' rather than 'nice to haves'.
"And now we are being told it will be scaled back and will have to go through and expensive bidding process."
The cash was one element of around £12 billion being devolved to the regions following Lord Heseltine's local growth review. Transport Minster Norman Baker said the four-year allocations were one- third below the indicative numbers provided in January this year.
"This is within the range of scenarios that the department asked local boards to consider at that stage," he said.
