YORK MP Hugh Bayley has called on council chiefs to reverse a decision to more than halve flood defence funding.

The Labour MP has written to City of York Council asking them to rethink their decision to cut funding they give to the Regional Flood Defence Committee from £35,500 to £14,500.

The reduction is mirrored by all other Yorkshire councils, which will be cutting their funding by a similar percentage.

The city council wrote to Mr Bayley last month "seeking assistance in lobbying the Government to ensure an adequate funding stream for future improvements".

This year's sum is part of £342,000 paid out by local councils across the Yorkshire region as part of a "top-up" levy raised through council tax payments.

The amount paid by all Yorkshire councils is falling by similar levels to York's contribution - last year they all paid out £832,000 in total.

North Yorkshire County Council's contribution has dropped from £115,000 to £47,500.

Yorkshire will get an estimated £35million from the Government for flood protection work, with the levy a voluntary additional contribution.

The levy amounts were decided at a Yorkshire Regional Flood Defence Committee regional flood defence meeting in January.

Mr Bayley said: "The decision of Yorkshire councils to cut funding for flood protection sends out the wrong message to the Government and to members of the public at a time when the risk of flooding appears to be worsening.

"I want to work with the City of York Council to get more resources to deal with floods in York, but when the council itself is cutting its spending on flood protection, it doesn't help me to make a strong case to Ministers to increase further the amount of Government funding for flood protection measures."

But the Liberal Democrat deputy leader of City of York Council, Andrew Waller, who is York and North Yorkshire's representative on the committee, said the Government was at fault for cutting the funding they get and the system needed to be reformed.

Coun Waller said: "It isn't for York Council on its own to make the decision, and if the Government hadn't cut the grant they provided to local authorities, there would be the same amount of money paid as last year.

"It is a very convoluted system, which I would be willing to work on with Mr Bayley and replace it with a fairer system."

Updated: 08:43 Monday, February 07, 2005