The Government has announced new help for repairing roads in North Yorkshire and the North-East hit by last winter's floods.

Local authorities will get more than £1.6m, with the lion's share - £1.25m - going to North Yorkshire, where roads had the worst damage. Redcar and Cleveland will get £195,000, Northumberland £100,000 and Hartlepool £66,000.

It is part of a £23m package to compensate English councils for the extra cost of repairing flood-hit roads. It represents a partial climbdown by ministers after they first offered £12m in May, and local authorities then produced final increased costs.

The new help is only one element of what is needed to protect the areas against future floods. An official report recently said flood defences in the North-East and North Yorkshire during last November's storms were in a poorer state than in any other region.

The National Audit Office said more than 11 per cent were either ''poor'' or ''very poor'', compared with the national average of just over 4.5 per cent. Only 14.3 per cent were in ''good'' condition, compared with 57pc nationally.

In the first 14 days of November, the two regions had what would normally be two months' rainfall, with about 2,500 properties flooded.