Bypass for Yorkshire Dales town closer as care over archaeology pledged

North Yorkshire County Council yesterday approved a planning application for the long-awaited road scheme for the North Yorkshire market town of Bedale.

The bypass has been heralded as a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” and is seen as key to slashing traffic congestion and providing better access to the northern parts of the Dales.

But its proposed route would pass less than 330 yards from up to 120 historical buildings including Bedale Hall and the town’s Church of St Gregory, which are both Grade I listed.

The planned bypass would also cross the historic Dere Street Roman road, which connected York with Edinburgh, and a pre-submission study found up to 15 archaeological sites may be affected by the development.

But the county council’s executive member for highways, Coun Gareth Dadd, maintained every effort would be made to ensure the bypass did not impinge on the area’s heritage and any buried historical artefacts.

He added: “We are aware that there are sensitive sites in the locality, but everything will be done to protect the archaeology. There is clear evidence that the economic benefits of the bypass will outweigh the impact on the environment.

“The decision to grant planning permission is another major hurdle which has been overcome, but there is still a lot of work to do. The council is 100 per cent committed to the scheme, but we do need to make sure it falls within our budgets, especially in the current financial climate.

“The omens are good, but we will have to take into account any unexpected costs before we can say for certain whether the bypass will be built.”

The council’s planning and regulatory functions committee yesterday approved the application which had been drawn up by the authority itself. A detailed financial review will now be prepared before a tendering process early next year to sign up contractors.

A report will then go before the council’s executive in the early summer of next year when a final decision will be made over whether to push ahead with the scheme.

Both English Heritage and Hambleton District Council’s conservation experts raised concerns over the impact the bypass could have on Bedale’s conservation area, which includes more than 70 listed buildings, and the surrounding countryside.

While senior civil servants at County Hall acknowledged there would be “some harm” to the setting of listed buildings to the north of Bedale, they maintained there are “many other public benefits” that weigh heavily in favour of the proposed bypass.

The county council, which is battling to make £69m in savings amid the Government’s austerity drive, will have to find £6.5m to ensure the road improvements become a reality.

Ministers announced in December that it would provide £35.9m in funding – nearly 85 per cent of the projected overall cost of the bypass – leaving the council to foot the outstanding amount.

The bypass has been mooted since the mid-1990s, but the project has been blighted by a catalogue of delays and was put on hold in June 2010 after the 
coalition Government came to power.

The scheme would dramatically improve transport links to key destinations such as Wensleydale, and market towns including Leyburn and Hawes.

It is estimated the financial benefits outweigh the cost of the bypass by roughly six-to-one.

The bypass would run for just under three miles from Northallerton Road, on the eastern outskirts of Leeming Bar, to a new junction on the A684 near Bedale Golf Club.

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