A COUNTY council’s manner of dealing with highways issues has been branded “autocratic” in a stinging new report.

The critical report, published by a Braintree Council committee, examines the role of Essex County Council’s highways department across the district.

It claims “the willingness to engage and provide effective actions or responses has deteriorated substantially over the last few years.’

The report also says residents who try to contact Essex Highways are left "disappointed as they feel they don't get any meaningful response" and called on the body to improve its online systems.

At a full council meeting on Monday night, Councillor Phil Barlow spoke about the relationship between highways and planning applications, and said a recommendation would be made for closer communication on planning.

Mr Barlow, who presented the report, said: “I don’t think that we’re ever convinced that the elements that are used in coming to highways officers conclusions about the capacity of our roads is robust enough.

“There was a lot of sympathy with the planning members here to some of the detailed points that were made by objectors about the Gimsons application and its impact on Maldon Road.

“However, as we are not a recognised highways body, we must take the advice of our highways colleagues and not raise any objections or refusals on those grounds.”

The report also calls on highways to take a more localised approach when it comes to discussing section 106 money with developers.

District and Witham North county councillor, James Abbott, said: “Some things have improved in highways and some things haven’t and some things have gone backwards – it’s a bit of a mixed picture.”

He added: “All of these things are being looked at but it’s just as frustrating for county members as it is for district and parish members.

“I think we’ve got a long way to go.”

Essex County Council highways boss, Kevin Bentley, said: "It is important to note that I have put into place a very robust system where county councillors are able to get answers to queries, have a personal dialogue with Highways officers and ensure they are briefed and their questions facilitated better than ever before.

"Therefore, I would urge district councillors to work closely with their county colleagues to speed up answers to any issues they have.

"I certainly don’t accept that Essex County Council is autocratic and I personally work very hard to ensure we work in partnership with our district and parish councils.

"In fact we have launched a devolution pilot with a number of parish councils which is one of the first of its kind in the country.

"I intend to extend this to district councils so we devolve decision making as close to local people as possible.

"As a result of this report I will be talking to the leader and deputy leader of Braintree District Council, who are both county councillors, to seek their views."