THE battle to tackle road congestion and improve public transport in Kent has received a cash boost of nearly £17million.

Kent has emerged as the biggest winner in a Government cash handout to local authorities to help them develop schemes to improve traffic blackspots, invest in public transport schemes and make roads safer.

Kent County Council is to get £16.9million to spend between 2006 and 2011 after originally being told it could only expect about £6.6million as its share of money for its Local Transport Plan - representing an increase of 154 per cent.

It is the biggest allocation made to any county council and has been described as "extraordinarily good news" by transport chiefs.

Around 30 per cent of the money will be spent on public transport schemes with a further 20 per cent allocated for road safety and 25 per cent for tackling congestion and pollution.

The money excludes the £5million Kent is to get for major transport schemes.

Pete Raine, KCC’s strategic director for planning, said: "This is an extraordinarily good result for Kent. For a change, I am looking forward to working with a budget that will help us tackle congestion and pollution."

Kent secured its increase because of its large population, relatively high accident rates and because so many people use public transport.