A WHOPPING £3.145 million of your money is being spent on a highways project in Taunton - but you're not supposed to know what it's for.

The spending was hidden in a council report outlining a number of highways projects around the county, although it is the only one where details aren't forthcoming.

The "thick cloak of secrecy" over the cash for 'unfinished infrastructure works' has been slammed by a county councillor, who believes it is for the Northern Inner Distributor Road, due to be completed later this year.

However, the council could not confirm whether this was the case, and refused to disclose what the millions were for.

County Hall bosses have already declined to reveal why the road running from Staplegrove Road at Chip Lane to Priory Avenue has been plagued with delays, in particular issues surrounding the recently removed former rail bridge.

Independent Cllr Mike Rigby received short shrift when he twice asked for an explanation at yesterday's Cabinet meeting.

He told the County Gazette: "I'd spotted that the council was looking to waive through spending of more than £3 million on 'unfinished infrastructure works' with no detail as to what it was for.

"This is very unusual. I attended cabinet to ask the administration what the money was for. They refused to answer, which is even stranger.

"The suspicion is that they have overspent £3 million on the grossly-delayed NIDR and, like everything else associated with this project, it's shrouded in a thick cloak of secrecy.

"It's public money and they won't even tell councillors what they are spending it on. It's completely unacceptable. What are they hiding?"

The council has also previously refused to reveal the reasons for several months' delay in removing the disused rail bridge over Station Road.

A county council spokesman said: “We cannot comment beyond the statement made in cabinet by the cabinet member (Cllr Harvey Siggs).

“At the end of the financial year we have to estimate the potential costs for all projects underway. This is purely an estimate and that is what this figure in the report relates to.”

Dia Chakravarty, political director at the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "Local residents who are paying for this will be furious at the council's refusal to answer questions.

"Hard-pressed families already struggling with rising bills will want to know how this already massively expensive project could've possibly got so out of hand that they're now facing a bill of an extra £3 million.

"Every penny needs to be accounted for and the council needs to come clean."