THE abandoned Lendal Bridge trial cost York taxpayers three-quarters of a million pounds and the costs are still mounting up, The Press can reveal.

City of York Council bosses have admitted that setting up and running the unpopular experiment cost £760,000 of public money, and running a refund scheme for the £1.3 million in fines is racking up more bills.

The ruling Labour group has said that doing anything to tackle congestion was always going to cost money, but with the legal fight over the linked Coppergate scheme still going on some opposition councillors are worried about the final bill.

Conservative group leader Chris Steward said: "These figures show the true extent of Labour’s Lendal Bridge bodge and residents will quickly be able to see the bins they could have had emptied, potholes which could have been repaired or other services received if it hadn’t been for this incompetence.

"Although the numbers are likely to rise it must also be remembered that the cost of Lendal Bridge should also include the reputational damage and the costs of all officer time."

Liberal Democrat Cllr Ann Reid, her party's transport spokesman on the council, echoed his concerns about York's reputation, and added: “These figures begin to reveal the true cost of Labour’s botched Lendal Bridge trial. Money which could and should have been spent addressing road safety issues across the whole city has been wasted by Labour on this scheme.

"Along with the financial cost has also come a deep reputational cost as 55,000 motorists were wrongly fined. I am pleased that after a Liberal Democrat motion these motorists will at least be refunded."

And while the legal challenge to the Traffic Adjudicator's ruling is ongoing, she said her party was worried the final costs could get as high as £1 million.

The £760,000 bill has been spread over two financial years, and breaks down to:

• £155,568 capital costs for setting up the scheme and bringing in the cameras needed to catch drivers, paid for from dedicated Better Bus Area Funding and Local Transport Plan funding.

• £370,669 spent on processing the PCNs and another £156,952 admin including project management and publicity, which came from the council's revenue budget from 2013/14 and from underspending in other council departments.

• another £49,780 in legal fees, changing road signs and more enforcement costs in 2014/15.

• up until December 31 the council had spent £28,909 on processing refunds and those costs have come from the City and Environmental Services department's revenue budget in 2014/15.

Despite the costs, the council said it still finished 2013/14 with an underspend of £314,000, and the transport cabinet member Cllr David Levene said doing something to tackle congestion was always going to cost money.

“Once the decision was taken to repay those people fined, which opposition councillors wanted, there was always going to be a net cost for the Lendal Bridge trial. Some of the overall cost is funded by dedicated money through the Better Bus Areas Fund, while some is the cost of operating the trial, regardless of whether or not it was made permanent.

"We have to accept that if we are prepared to try bold ideas to tackle the congestion problem in the city, there will be a cost attached to that. The alternative is to simply accept heavy congestion as part of daily life in our city, something we will not do."