A CITY working to recover from devastating floods is set to be hit with an increase in its landfill tax bill following mountains of wrecked goods being thrown out.

City of York Council will have to pay £17,000 for the 210 tonnes of waste it collected by January 20 from skips it provided in affected neighbourhoods following the December deluge.

It is understood many residents and businesses took their ruined possessions to council-run waste centres, so the landfill tax bill will be higher.

Local Government Association figures show councils across the country will pay as much as £2.25m in extra landfill tax after 16,500 tonnes of waste was thrown away from flooded properties.

It said an average of 1.66 tonnes of household goods and freezer waste was collected from each flooded home or businesses.

It said authorities in Cumbria and Yorkshire needed extra financial help to rebuild things like damaged roads and flooding, and it has called for the Government to apply for European Union solidarity funding to help in the recovery.

An association spokesman said: "Councils have been pulling out all the stops to help businesses and households that have been ravaged by the floods.

"We are calling on Government to allow councils to keep all of this landfill tax. This money could make a major difference in helping councils to continue their sterling work with the massive clear-up and returning households and businesses to normality."