It’s doubly disappointing that upgrades to the A64 have been knocked back once again - Carl Les

I travelled up to attend a meeting about traffic congestion in the Catterick garrison area, particularly on the A6136 road in from the A1(M), following a petition handed to both myself as leader of North Yorkshire Council (NYC) and the Mayor by the local Member.

Rishi offered to host a roundtable discussion about it with NYC, the garrison commander and the Mayor's office. They did not attend but as a member of the Mayoral Combined Authority I will feed in our discussions.

The area around the garrison is set to grow substantially with planning applications submitted for 1,200 or so houses. With the government demanding over 4,200 houses per year in NY there may well be more.

When first elected to North Yorkshire County Council in 1997 I represented the entire garrison area which was growing then and soon was divided into different electoral areas. I reflected on this as I drove to garrison HQ relocated because of the under construction Integrated Care Campus, a joint development between MoD and NHS, a very visible sign of progress, health care for both military and civilian populations, when started the largest NHS project in the North. My reflection though was more about changes that have dimmed with time. Before 2000 there were no big shop supermarkets, no retail centre with multiple stores, no cinema, no hotel, no aquasports, no fast food drive-thrus. A collection of parishes making a town, but with no town centre.

The other engagement was about Rishi launching the campaign to make the Coast to Coast, the Wainwright Way, into a national trail a decade or so ago. I remember sitting with him on a bench in Reeth for the publicity shot, and I was able to put the weight of support of the County Council behind it.

This day the official launch was happening in Reeth and Rishi was on his way to it. Unfortunately I wasn't invited and by the time I learnt about it the diary was already committed.

The Chairman of NYC, Cllr George Jabbour was invited so the Council was represented. George had walked the trail last summer and many councillors, myself included, had sponsored the excellent trail guide and passport as well as NYC strongly supporting the upgrade. A great result which will bring more sustainable tourism to NY.

Hugely disappointing news this week was that the A64 will not be considered for its upgrade for five years at least. Cost is quoted as a factor as if that is something new but that has always been the case, and we had high hopes that the new interpretation of the Treasury’s Green Book which redefines cost to benefit would allow the scheme to be viewed more favourably.

Now the loss of woodland is introduced as some new consideration, but although that is regrettable there is no ancient forest that dualling would cleave through and destroy. Looking at new road schemes such as the A1(M) upgrade mitigation schemes are highly visible and add far more than they take away.

It's now back in the hands of local leaders, to “work with us”, says the Minister, so that's the Mayor of York & North Yorkshire, myself and a small distance from the Hopgrove junction to the City of York boundary.

North Yorkshire Council doesn’t have the funds especially following the financial hits we have taken in the last two years, with more to come as we struggle to repair our major and minor roads with less of the Prime Minister’s welcome road repair fund coming to us than we expected.

This localism idea is a fudge, a challenge set up to fail. Previous governments of all colours haven't delivered on this, it should have been done in the 60s when projects all over the country were being done including the A1 and A19 and a hyperbolic promise recently was just that, hyperbole.

Our Labour Mayor said last week that “if we had the money we would do it” but in this new world of devolution, Labour Mayors have the ear of the Labour government so it is doubly disappointing that we have been knocked back once again.

More bus services and rail services will help some travellers, but not all, and not businesses to get their goods to market, or persuade businesses to invest as business relies on good connectivity to grow.

Visitors want the flexibility to travel when they want to a coast which is not a single destination. Persuading people to travel green by electric cars or public transport is laudable, but they still need good and safe roads.

Coun Carl Les is the leader of North Yorkshire Council.