‘Major milestone’ as long-awaited relief road plans step up a gear

Secretary of State Justine Greening has signed off compulsory order orders so East Riding Council can press ahead with the purchase of land needed for the long-awaited Beverley Southern Relief Road.

It comes after three landowners withdrew their objections to the purchase of their land, avoiding the need for a public inquiry.

The plans aimed at steering away traffic from the town’s Minster have been in the offing for decades and getting full financial sign off should now be a formality.

The council is currently working on the final detailed design for the Beverley Integrated Transport Plan and preparing the specification and tender documents. Later this year they will be put out to tender, the returns analysed and a preferred tenderer decided early next year.

A £20.6m “full approval” bid will then be submitted to the Department for Transport, with the aim of beginning work next summer and completion in early 2015.

Constraints on spending have seen the plans reduced in scale with a park-and-ride scheme for 500 cars, along with access roads and a roundabout dropped from the proposals. Even the width of the carriageway was reduced from 30ft to 27ft, a saving in itself of around £1m, and the council increased its contribution to £6.6m.

East Riding Council’s leader Coun Steve Parnaby said: “This is a major milestone for the scheme and will allow the council to progress works behind the scenes so we are ready to begin on site next year. The road is something all sections of the local community have been campaigning for and will result in much needed improvements to traffic flows, relief of congestion, and a better quality of life for all.”