£3m flooding bill for North Yorkshire (From Gazette & Herald)

£3m flooding bill for North Yorkshire

2:27pm Thursday 11th October 2012 in News

TAXPAYERS in North Yorkshire are set to be hit with a £3 million bill for repairs after floods which caused havoc across the region last month.

North Yorkshire County Council has confirmed the cost of repairs following heavy September rain is expected to run into seven figures after widespread damage to roads, and fear they will not succeed in a bid to claw back almost half the money from the Government due to rules being tightened.

The authority is already faced with making £69 million of savings amid Westminster funding reductions and is preparing an application for financial help in the wake of the floods from the Government’s Belwin Scheme, set up to help councils with funding following major emergencies. The flooding has meant at least one North Yorkshire bridge will have to be rebuilt.

“The council is obviously already faced with an extremely challenging financial situation, so an unexpected bill of £3 million is the last thing we needed,” said Coun John Watson, executive member for financial services.

“It is too early to say whether we will succeed with the application for funding under the Belwin Scheme, but the Government has tightened the rules for making claims and ours will be right on the threshold.”

City of York Council has not yet finalised its likely costs for repairs but said it was not expected to be above £442,000, which is the authority’s own threshold for making applications under the Belwin Scheme.