THREE North-East MPs yesterday held a "positive" meeting with a Government minister as part of efforts to secure almost £2.5m of transport funding for a busy commuter route hit by landslips.

Sedgefield MP Phil Wilson, Darlington MP Jenny Chapman and Bishop Auckland MP Helen Goodman met with Roads Minister Robert Goodwill over the future of the A67 at Carlbury, near Darlington.

A 385-metre section of embankment needs repairing following a landslip in February, and the cost of the work has been estimated at £3.9m by Darlington Borough Council.

The council and Northumbrian Water have offered £878,000 and £596,000 respectively towards the work, and the authority has applied to the Governments Pinch Point Fund for the rest of the money - £2.45m.

A total of £55m remains unallocated in the fund, but it is hugely oversubscribed with applications coming in from the across the country.

The three North-East MPs used yesterday's meeting with Mr Goodwill to stress the importance of the A67 to the region.

"I think it was a positive meeting," said Mr Wilson. "The minister knows the importance of the road.

"The local authority and Northumbrian Water are prepared to put in over a third of the total bill which is a requirement for the Pinch Point Fund.

"But it is a competition - there is £50m-55m in the fund but it has been three times oversubscribed.

"We will get a decision before Christmas or early in the New Year. If they are successful work will start in May 2014 and finish in April 2015."

Darlington Borough Council's cabinet agreed to provide its share of the match funding at a meeting yesterday.

Members also agreed to delegate the awarding of contracts for the work to director of place Richard Alty.

The A67 was closed for several months after the roadside embankment dropped 20cm and a one metre-deep crack opened up alongside the westbound carriageway.

A further slip, close to the original, was identified in April.

Geotechnical investigations and initial remedial work enabled the road to be reopened in July, with temporary traffic lights and a reduced speed limit of 30mph in place.