A BID for funding to build new roads to cope with extra housing has been delayed until June.

Martin Tett, the leader of Buckinghamshire County Council, said this morning that the delay was ‘disappointing’.

He said: “I find this today quite frankly frustrating and unacceptable.”

As well as roads, the £200 million bid also includes money for new schools, cycle paths, recycling centres, and reinforcing the electricity grid.

The council submitted the bid last month, and was expecting Homes England, a government body, to respond by the summer. The delay will likely mean more time before new infrastructure can be built.

Councillor Tett said: “I have written in quite strong terms to Homes England to draw attention to the fact this infrastructure is essential if the government actually wants the houses built and the infrastructure provided that will make this growth tolerable to our residents.”

A similar bid in Surrey was recently approved, according to Cllr Tett, who said: “The fact that the chancellor is one of their MPs, I’m sure is completely coincidental.”

Philip Hammond, the chancellor of the exchequer, is the MP for Runnymede and Weybridge in Surrey.

Cllr Patricia Birchley said: “Many residents of Buckinghamshire feel that the amount of growth that we have been asked to accept is quite overwhelming.

“We have got growth at the airports, we have got housing, we have got the East West Rail link, and we have got HS2. I’m afraid our roads simply haven’t kept up.

“I am sure we all support economic growth in the county, but until the roads are sorted out, surely that is counterproductive, and something we really need to get the government to focus on more clearly.”

Cllr Tett said: “I’m very aware that the county, particularly because of its proximity to London, and also the links to the west and the midlands, actually experiences very high levels of traffic.

“I have to be frank, that’s going to grow, because the government and the opposition are both very committed  to very high housing number growth.

“We are already delivering in exceptionally high numbers of new housing developments in the county and that’s resulting in more and more traffic on our roads.

“We are championing very strongly the principle of a bypass for example in Iver and link roads around Aylesbury. That’s why the housing infrastructure bid is so important.”