A HUGE £1.5 billion transport fund handed to the city of Manchester could have solved all the major road problems in the whole of the South West, it was claimed last night.

Critics said the award was further proof of neglect of the Westcountry, where jams on key routes to the region risk stifling the economy, particularly its popularity as a tourist destination.

Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly this week announced the money would go to the city as part of a charging scheme to cut congestion.

She warned 30,000 future jobs in the area were believed to be at risk if traffic problems there were not resolved through the project worth a total of £2.8 billion, adding: “Greater Manchester's proposals demonstrate their determination to develop innovative approaches to tackling congestion for the benefit of the economy and the mobility of people living in the city region.”

But last night the Devon and Cornwall Business Council said the same amount of Government funding could pay to cut congestion on the holiday route past Stonehenge and create the Kingskerswell bypass to getting traffic moving in Torbay.

The money could also be spent on dualling the A303 between Ilminster and Honiton, described as the “second artery” into the Westcountry alongside the M5.

“The second artery is agreed by everyone to be key to sustaining the whole of the South West tourism economy,” said chairman Tim Jones.

“The whole of the South West road agenda would be put right through that one grant allocation.

“It is back to the point the WMN has been saying about the difference between Labour areas and the rest of the country. One city is getting one transport grant which would actually serve all of the road schemes in the South West for five million people.”

He added that, while the population of Manchester was predicted to decline, the South West is likely to rise by one million in the next 10-15 years.

“But we are not seeing the investment in our infrastructure to support that,” he said.

According to the business council's figures, a road tunnel at Stonehenge would cost £165 million, the Kingskerswell bypass £450 million and the dualling of the Honiton to Ilminster route £390 million.

“On the basis of that, you could do the job and still get change,” he said.

The Manchester scheme would create a peak-hour congestion charge, based on a city centre and an outer ring road band, along with 22 miles of new Metrolink routes as well as improved bus, rail and cycling facilities.

The South West regional transport strategy says that dualling of the stretch of the A303 providing a second route for holidaymakers and hauliers into the region is a “prime requirement” in the goal of stimulating economic activity and crucial to “maintaining the competitiveness” of the region.

As an indication of the impact of congestion on the region's roads, last year some 675 hours were lost on the A303/A30 between Exeter and Amesbury by drivers stuck in jams.

According to figures compiled by the WMN in April, drivers on Westcountry roads wasted a total of five million hours stuck in traffic last year.