A call has been made for a major shake-up in how decisions on traffic schemes and maintenance of Norfolk's roads are made.
Norfolk County Council currently has the responsibility for deciding what money is spent on roads - and where.
But the Conservative-controlled council is being urged to set up joint committees with the seven district councils, so county and district councillors are given devolved and delegated powers over decisions.
Labour county and district councillors want to see the change, saying the state of the county's roads kept cropping up during this month's district council elections.
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However, Conservative council leaders said the authority's constitution would not allow such a change and that there is already good working between County Hall, district and parish councils when it comes to road projects.
If Labour's proposal were to be agreed, it would hark back to the years when there was agreement between Norfolk County Council and Norwich City Council over highways and traffic work.
From the 1970s until 2020, County Hall delegated authority to the city council for work, including over pot-holes, highway improvements and maintenance and civil parking enforcement, before county Conservatives ended the agreement.
Norwich City Council Labour group leader Mike Stonard, who is expected to become the new leader at City Hall next week, said: "For decades we had a joint agreement on roads, street trees and verge maintenance that worked well until the Conservatives ended it.
"Since then there have been endless complaints about reduced maintenance and the shabby state of areas we were once proud of.
"Since we have been excluded from decisions every scheme is late, controversial or criticised as wasting money. Joint working makes so much more sense."
Labour leaders and councillors in Breckland, Great Yarmouth, Broadland and South Norfolk have also backed the call.
Labour county councillor Terry Jermy, who leads the Labour group on Breckland council, said: "Although strategic transport decisions need central oversight, top-down imposition of local traffic schemes fails to take account of local conditions, local priorities and local people.
"On the doorsteps across the county in the recent elections residents told us Norfolk County Council was out of touch, didn’t listen, wasted money and left them feeling ignored.
"The state of the roads and the insensitive way new local traffic ideas are communicated leaves people fearful of the consequences instead of feeling part of improving their community."
The county Labour group intends to present its proposals in a motion to full council in July.
But Graham Plant, the council's cabinet member for highways, infrastructure and transport, suggested the suggestion is likely to get short shrift.
He said: "The county council's constitution does not allow the delegation of highways powers. The arrangement we used to have with Norwich was a unique one.
"When we have to make savings across budgets, we could not have all these different arrangements with various other councils.
"If our children's services department or adult social care overspends then that money needs to come from somewhere else to keep them on an even keel, so we need that overall oversight on what money is being spent."
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Mr Plant said the council already worked closely with district councils and parish councils over transport schemes.
He said councillors were able to use local member budgets on road schemes and the parish partnerships scheme has seen millions spent on improvements.
He added: "I just don't see how what they are proposing would work. We've got 400 or so parish councils and seven district councils as our partners already.
"We work closely with them to get projects through and we do communicate with them."
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