THE Government is being urged to release extra funding to pay for urgent repairs to flood-damaged infrastructure.

The cost of repairing roads and bridges after flash-floods hit North Yorkshire last month is now expected to exceed £5m.

North Yorkshire County Council highway officials said that if the Government did not provide additional money, existing road and bridge maintenance schemes would be delayed.

Sixty millimetres of rain fell in 30 minutes on June 19, mainly in the Thirsk and Helmsley areas of the county.

Vale of York MP Anne McIntosh called on the Government to help those affected by the floods.

The Tory MP is due to meet Elliott Morley, the Minister responsible for flooding, today.

Miss McIntosh said: "I will be requesting financial support for the agencies and individuals affected, particularly for roads and bridge repairs and to cover uninsured losses incurred by farmers and householders."

She is also calling for the Government to relax its Bellwin formula, the system the Government uses to determine how much money it will provide after disasters.

Senior councillors fear the cost of rebuilding infrastructure will not be covered under the current system.

In a report to councillors, Mike Moore, the county council's director of environmental services, said: "If no additional funding is forthcoming from central Government, the costs of repairs will be covered from existing carriageway and bridge maintenance budgets.

"Inevitably, this would mean that schemes already approved would be delayed."

Insurers have warned that the cost of the damage to private properties and businesses could be tens of millions of pounds.