MP calls for fast road to coast as fears grow for regeneration

The campaign to upgrade the A64 between York and Scarborough has repeatedly fallen victim to funding shortages as previous governments gave other schemes greater priority.

But concerns are now growing that seaside town regeneration is being jeopardised by inadequate links to the coast.

However, the bid to improve the A64 will be raised in the House of Commons tomorrow morning during the Department for Transport's question time.

The MP for Thirsk and Malton, Anne McIntosh, has tabled a question calling on a Government commitment to prioritise the A64 scheme to boost road safety and help the regeneration of Yorkshire's coastal communities.

Miss McIntosh conceded that the Government's attempts to cut public spending would significantly hit such schemes.

But she added: "The A64 should be a priority road and any improvements would be of benefit to not just North Yorkshire, but the region as a whole.

"It ticks all the right boxes – helping prevent congestion, a green agenda and improving road safety as well as the economic benefits of providing a better road network to the Yorkshire coast."

The ideal would be dual carriageway for the 35 miles between York and Scarborough, although this could cost 500m.

The Yorkshire Post revealed in March that a study was being commissioned by councils, the Highways Agency and regional development agency, Yorkshire Forward, to pinpoint some of worst accident and traffic congestion blackspots between York and the coast.

The research is looking at improving connections between Scarborough, York and other other main transport links – including the A1 and the East Coast main railway line.

It is hoped that the study will help secure funding by identifying individual schemes, such as a bypass for the village of Rillington, near Malton, which was mooted as long ago as 1939.

The Rillington Bypass Committee is writing to MPs including Miss McIntosh, Scarborough and Whitby MP Robert Goodwill and York's two MPs, Hugh Bayley and Julian Sturdy, to re-ignite the push for road improvements.

Committee member Alan Robinson has lived in Rillington for 28 years on the village's main road where there have been two fatalities, seven serious injuries and 27 other injuries in crashes in the last decade.

Studies have found that as many as 15,000 vehicles go through the village every day.

Mr Robinson, 63, a retired teacher who lives with his wife, Bea, said: "To have a bypass in Rillington would change so many people's lives – a lot of the villagers are scared to walk along the side of the A64.

"We are pushing for the bypass for Rillington, but the whole stretch of the A64 between York and Scarborough needs to be looked at. It is such an important route, and one that needs major investment."

Scarborough councillors will get an update on Monday about the A64 transport corridor study, before a draft report is published in September.

Scarborough Borough Council's portfolio holder for highways and transport, Councillor Andrew Backhouse, said: "We need to push ahead with the programme of improvements that have been talked about for so long, but have never actually been realised.

"There have been some improvements, but we want to get the job finished and ultimately see a dual carriageway between York and Scarborough."

The Department for Transport said yesterday that it will decide which schemes to fund once the Government's spending review is complete in the autumn.