Cuts hit transport and education in North Yorkshire

Transport and education in North Yorkshire will be hit by reductions in government funding, according to local councils.

The forecast comes after the government announced a £10.8m reduction in funds for North Yorkshire County Council and £2.79m for City of York Council.

More than £7m of cutbacks at the county council relate to highways and transportation.

In York, nearly £1m relates to funding of children's services.

The government has announced that more than £1.6bn will be axed from local authorities in a bid to reduce the country's £178bn deficit.

Richard Flinton, chief executive of North Yorkshire County Council, said the areas most affected would be transport and grants supporting children's services.

He said the cuts to highways and transportation represented a reduction of more than 50% in the amount the government contributed to those schemes.

He said a number of road improvement schemes were now under threat and the Bedale and Leeming Bar bypass project had been put on hold.

Kersten England, chief executive at City of York Council, said it was not possible for the cuts not to impact the authority.

She said £900,000 of the cuts related to funding of children's services but gave assurances that core funding for schools was safe.

She added: "The council will look into how it can best deal with the loss of funding while still maintaining priority services to the citizens of York."