Carlisle City Council has had to fork out almost £290,000 extra than it expected to deliver a new state-of-the-art cycle track.

The specialist circuit in Harraby - which cost a total of £1m - formally opened in January and has been hailed a huge success by the authority.

However, the project to build the track was hit by complications when it was discovered some of the ground surrounding the track wasn't suitable for heavy machinery.

Extra work was needed to make sure the project could be completed with the city council, as the accountable body, forced to stump up the extra money.

The authority's deputy chief executive Darren Crossley said the additional outlay was "necessary" to make sure the work got done as quickly as possible.

Once complete the final bill was at the centre of a dispute between the city council and contractors VMC with both sides claiming they were owed money from each other for the extra works.

A legal process has followed and independent adjudicators have ruled that the city council was not entitled to recover their claimed additional £235,000 in costs, while VMC was not entitled to the £109,000 it claimed.

Instead the the adjudicators ruled the city council owed an extra £34,023.

Mr Crossley said: "We have got a really good cycle track. This is not a dispute about the quality of work.

"It has been used by people at either end of the sporting spectrum.

"We're supporting the track to go from strength-to-strength and we have got good relationships with the sporting organisations there. It's proving to be a real success."

The council's ruling executive is now being asked to approve the final piece of the extra money - £38,000 - being taken from general funds and will make a decision at a meeting on Monday.

The previous installments have already been approved by the councillors.

The figures were revealed in a report detailing the project's final accounts which was prepared for senior councillors. No further money will be required, the report states.

The largest pot of funding came from British Cycling who contributed £680,000 with other contributions coming from Cumbria County Council and the Harraby Together We Can community group.