The government has made a concerted effort to publicise its future transport plans in the last few weeks and this has inevitably divided opinion.

Some local councils are unhappy that their particular area has not been allocated as much road and rail funding as other parts of the country.

Tudor Evans of Plymouth City Council is aggrieved that projects in the south-east of England are set to receive three times as much money as the south-west conurbation.

He told the Plymouth Herald the city is the biggest in England without a direct link to the strategic rail network and this is unacceptable.

"You would have thought that the 15th largest city, with the fifth largest university, a Royal Naval Base and Dockyard and a Continental ferry port would already be on the national strategic network," he was quoted as saying.

Mr Evans thinks the proposed High Speed 2 rail project, which will provide fast services between London and cities in the Midlands and the north of England, will only leave Plymouth even further behind.