CITY leaders have claimed extra money for repairing York roads damaged by winter weather is "a drop in the ocean" after their Government funding was confirmed.

York will receive £246,000 from the Department for Transport, which City of York Council's ruling Labour group said would make little difference to the amount of repairs which can be done across the city.

Coun Dafydd Williams, cabinet member for finance, said: "The award, though welcome, is anything but welcome when you've had to make savings of £74 million over five years - it is little more than 0.1 per cent of the funding awarded nationally and falls well short of the amount the Government has removed for roads spending in recent years.

"Clearly, we don't expect to see that money back, but something which would make a tangible difference would have been nice. Sadly that’s not the case, so I’m pleased that we’ve made a commitment of an extra £2.3 million for highways repairs iwhich will repair some of our worst affected roads. Set against this, the Government’s £246,000 is a drop in the ocean”.