Almost £700,000 has been awarded to a road safety panel which failed to spend £120,000 of its budget last year.

In January, it emerged that the Epping Forest Local Highways Panel’s money – intended for road safety measures and traffic management schemes – was returned to Essex County Council after it was not used.

The money was allocated for spending but was not used after Essex Highways, the department that looks after road maintenance in the county, failed to complete work and funds were re-allocated out of the district.

Yesterday (August 25), the county council announced it is granting £699,550 to the Local Highways Panel for 2015/16.

Schemes that could benefit from the funding include casualty reduction measures in A113 Stanford Rivers Road, new road signs in A1168 Chigwell Lane and a replacement bus shelter in Highbridge Street, Waltham Abbey.

After the revelation that funds were not spent, there were concerns that the panel would no longer be awarded money from the county council, and the panel’s chairman councillor John Knapman called for an overspend to ensure all of the budget is used in the district.

In January the news of the unspent money was met with “disgust” in Sewardstone Road, Waltham Abbey, where people have repeatedly called for extra safety measures, especially after a fatal accident last November.

Residents said their requests had been ignored, despite the surplus funds.

At the time, resident Sarah-Jane McNulty said: “We on Sewardstone Road always seem to be forgotten.

“I have personally complained about the situation to which nothing has been done.

“[The council] do not seem interested.”