WORK to repair road and rail bridges in York has fallen more than two years behind schedule, because of rising costs and a lack of cash, a council report has revealed.

Councillors attending City of York Council's planning and transport advisory board meeting next week will be told that a considerable backlog of work has built up on council-owned bridges, with transport officers advising the situation is only likely to get worse.

Some of the city's main bridges, including Ouse Bridge, Lendal Bridge and Clifton Bridge, need pressing work to repair waterproofing, parapets and drainage.

But council transport chief Councillor Ann Reid said that although repairs needed to be carried out, they were not urgent.

A report by Michael Tavener, the council's project manager for structures and drainage, reveals there has been an "under investment in the council's highway structures over a considerable time".

He wrote that the council has fallen behind its Local Transport Plan (LTP) schedule because of "actual costs being considerably in excess of the available budget".

He wrote: "The reason for this is that no funding was made available in advance of bidding for funding to carry out feasibility studies to determine scheme detail and costs."

The report reveals that the cost of work on the remaining bridges identified in the LTP as needing repairs had risen from an estimated £595,000 to a revised £1,575,000.

A further three road over rail bridges, at Companthorpe, Moor Lane and Severus Bridge, will also require work, but members will be told that Network Rail has indicated it will contribute to the cost of the Copmanthorpe repairs.

Work is not likely to start on these bridges until the next LTP period of 2006 to 2011.

Councillors at the November 3 meeting will be asked to allow the investigation of new funding, either through the LTP or from next year's budget.

They will also consider increasing the bridge maintenance allowance to £100,000 a year by reallocating cash from the highway maintenance budget.

Coun Reid said: "Clearly, the longer this work is left the more expensive it is going to get. In the end, it will be met by a movement of resources rather than through new money.

"There will be some delay, but there is a commitment to do this work, particularly from the safety aspect."

The city centre bridges which need work are: Haxby Road Bridge, Queen Street Bridge, Monk Bridge, Castle Mill Bridge, Rawcliffe Ings Bridge, Ouse Bridge, Lendal Bridge, Clifton Bridge.

Updated: 08:44 Friday, October 29, 2004