ROAD repair bills in York have run hundreds of thousands of pounds over budget.

Senior city councillors will on Tuesday be asked to approve the release of £340,000 from contingency funds to cover the extra costs.

Increased winter maintenance costs in 2002/2003 will swallow up £100,000, with the other £240,000 going on increased highway maintenance costs in the current financial year.

A total of £5,423,930 was allocated for spending on highways maintenance in York between April 2002 and April 2003, with the same recommended for allocation in the current financial year.

Last year's £5.4m included nearly £3m on general road maintenance, more than £300,000 on winter maintenance and almost £450,000 on traffic management, such as traffic light and CCTV system maintenance.

A report to the executive says that a residents' opinion survey showed a slight drop in the level of public satisfaction for footpaths and roads, down two per cent and five per cent each.

It says the highways telephone hotline continued to be a success over the last year, with 5249 calls made to it.

Of those, 27 per cent, about 1,500, resulted in an order being made with a contractor to carry out repair work.

A works programme that saw a heavy duty slurry seal added to four York streets to try to stop road deterioration and save money was hailed a success.

Ray Chaplin, the council's acting head of highway infrastructure, said use of the slurry would be monitored over this year, and it may be used again if its success continues.

Mr Chaplin also said work to re-pave heavily-used pedestrian areas in the city centre had proved a success, with accidents and complaints from the public all reduced.

A new method of footpath resurfacing, which used infra-red technology had been scrapped.

It was slow and disruptive, and more expensive than traditional techniques, Mr Chaplin said.

Tuesday's executive meeting will be the first for the new-look City of York Council.

Updated: 10:55 Wednesday, May 28, 2003