YORK is facing tougher competition from rival cities in its bid to win millions of pounds of Government funding for a vital congestion-busting scheme.

City of York Council is set to submit its application for a share of about £600 million of Westminster funding for the first phase of the Access York scheme, aimed at building three new Park&Ride sites.

The facilities near the A59 at Poppleton, at Clifton Moor and as a replacement for the existing Askham Bar site are considered crucial to reducing traffic levels in York, which missed out on a £23 million Government grant last year due to cash cuts.

The council’s final bid will be handed in at the start of September, subject to approval by its cabinet, and the authority has renewed its appeal for support from residents and businesses after learning the number of schemes in the running for Department for Transport funding has now doubled from the original expectations, while the pot of available cash remains the same.

Access York, which is being backed by The Press Get York Moving campaign, last week received an extra £203,000 through a revised budget drawn up by the council’s new Labour rulers, meaning the authority will now contribute £500,000 over two years.

The city last week also secured £4.65 million in Government cash for sustainable transport schemes, such as encouraging walking, cycling and public transport. Council leader James Alexander and the authority’s cabinet member for city strategy, Coun Dave Merrett, were today meeting Norman Baker, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Transport, to celebrate the success of that bid.

Coun Merrett said: “Schemes across the country are bidding for approximately £600 million of Government funding. It is extremely important for the success of this bid that we have the support of local communities and businesses for this bid, so we can hopefully celebrate the same success we have just achieved with funding from the Local Sustainable Transport Fund.”

A decision on which schemes win DfT funding will be made by the end of the year. If York succeeds, the new Park&Ride sites could be operational by mid-2014.