Organisers were faced with a £2,000-plus bill to advertise road closures for the event and warned that this would put their charitable giving in doubt.

But Coun Carter has pledged that Leeds City Council will pick up the tab and he accused the police of going "over the top" in their zeal for health and safety.

For 17 years the race has run without incident.

But organisers have been told this year that Fartown and Littlemoor Road would have to close during the race.

Coun Carter has now intervened and said the cost of advertising would not fall on the organisers of the Pudsey 10k – or even the Otley 10k.

"The impression I have got is that the police have gone over the top," he said. "There is a fear of litigation that has scared everyone to death.

"But I am not prepared to see voluntary activities like this threatened because of overreaction to health and safety.

"Clearly, there are issues when people are running on a road and we want those to be properly addressed. That is fair enough. But there have been no problems with the Pudsey race in 17 years."

Graeme Tiffany, a committee member of Pudsey Pacers, who run the 10k event, said: "I am delighted to hear that the council will pay the bill.

"If we had had to do that, our capacity for charitable giving would have been in doubt. In the past we have supported Marie Curie Cancer Research.

"We were pretty furious about the impact this would have. To offset these costs, we would have had to raise the entry fee to runners from £7 to £12 or £13 and that wasn't on.

"I must say I am confused about the situation. I was told by police that it was the city council which was insisting on road closures, not the police.

"The truth is out there somewhere."

A North West Leeds police spokesman said: "The increasing popularity of events like the Pudsey race, along with a greater volume of traffic on all our roads, has brought us to the point where the safety of those involved and other road users was becoming something to be concerned about.

"We have worked closely with event organisers and various council departments to come to mutually-agreed solutions. In some cases, road closures such as those here are the only way in which safety can be significantly improved and these must be obtained via the highways department."