IT'S been labelled one of the bumpiest roads in Hampshire - and now it's causing an up and downer over when it will be repaired.

Hampshire MEP and prospective Lib Dem parliamentary candidate for Eastleigh Chris Huhne says major repairs to Twyford Road in Eastleigh have been put off following fresh cuts in Hampshire County Council's road repair programme.

The county says the route - which is one of the town's major feeders from the M3 motorway - had never been included for major maintenance in the 2005-6 list.

Mr Huhne, who has been campaigning for improvements in the potholed and patched Twyford Road for nearly two years, said the condition of the surface was now "deplorable" for such an important road.

"The surface of Twyford Road is now about as even as the Himalayas.

"It is astonishing that the county council is postponing work again when it admits that there is a clear and long-standing deterioration noted in the regular surveys.

"This is a false economy, as the longer the road is left the more expensive it will be to repair."

The parliamentary hopeful said the county's assistant director for the environment Alan Mills had written to him admitting his department had submitted plans for a complete reconstruction of parts of Twyford Road and resurfacing of the carriageway.

The letter added: "Recent announcements on the available highway maintenance funding for 2005-6 indicate that there will be substantial reductions in expenditure and, although final decisions on the contents of works programmes have yet to be made, it now looks unlikely that the major maintenance works on Twyford Road will be funded."

A county council spokesman told the Daily Echo tests had been carried out to measure the "structural integrity" of Twyford Road and the route had never been included in the programme for major maintenance in 2005-06.

She added that sections at the southern end of Twyford Road were in a worse condition and a special maintenance bid for resurfacing had been made.

"The budget has not yet been agreed for 2005-06, but provisionally these sections of Twyford Road could well be included for resurfacing in the next financial year."