A DISTRICT council is being asked to pay out up to £1m to help secure flood defences for a market town.
Ryedale's Conservative MP John Greenway has written to the local authority asking for a share of its reserves to kick-start a fundraising campaign.
He hopes it will attract more money from Yorkshire Forward and the Environment Agency for the £6.7m scheme.
Ryedale District Council has reserves of between £7m and £9m.
Despite spending £700,000 designing the scheme, the Environment Agency shelved the project in 2004, blaming spiralling costs.
Now Mr Greenway has met campaigner Di Keal, part of the Pickering Flood Defence Group, to discuss a new plan.
They want to see the council's £1m matched by £1.5m from Yorkshire Forward. The regional development agency gave a similar sum for flood defences in Knottingley as part of redevelopment plans, setting a "clear precedent", they say.
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