Roads play a vital role in keeping people moving safely across the region - Carl Les
Not long after I became leader we completed the Bedale relief road, not a bypass, but certainly to the relief of the residents of Bedale and especially Aiskew, and the thousands of motorists using the A684 up into the Dales who queued each year at White Bear Corner in Bedale.
A well known congestion spot with a staggered crossroads that led to numerous minor collisions, fortunately rarely causing serious personal injury. This was funded by North Yorkshire County Council and a government grant approved and delivered through the collective decision-making of local authorities in West Yorkshire meeting to discuss the priority of highway schemes in our part of the region. An early, if a bit clunky, form of devolution.
On my way to the official opening I was privileged to be allowed to drive down the yet to be opened road, the first member of the council to do so. Driving along it now, it looks and feels as if the road has always been there, and it is serving its purpose, a relief road not a bypass, taking through traffic away from the town centre, but still allowing shoppers, local and tourists, to access the facilities in town.
I had the same privilege this week when at 10pm on the night we opened the new Kex Gill road in the early hours of the morning, I was able to follow a little convoy of a pick-up and a white liner truck as they finished off the necessary paint work prior to letting traffic start to use the route.
The surface is supersmooth as you would expect, and even in the dark the dry stone walling looked imposing in the car lights, and the view across to the lights of Harrogate was attractive.
I drove that way in daylight later in the week visiting my go to cheese shop at Settle, and the project is impressive. If the view from Sutton Bank is North Yorkshire's finest, in James Herriot’s opinion, then this one could be a worthy second.
The old road suffered considerably from landslips leading to many road closures, dreadful delays on detours through Otley and Ilkley, and high cost repairs as we sought to stabilise the hill side. 15 landslips in 15 years has resulted in £6m of repairs. This is the largest highways project the council has ever undertaken, funded only in part by government grant and the balance by council tax payers. There is an argument that as a large benefit of this trans-Pennine trunk route is to through traffic so it should have been fully-funded by central government. As soon as the M62 closes, as it does all too frequently, there is an increased flow on this route, one of the trio of major cross Pennine roads, M62, A59 and A66, that can handle all types of traffic.
The 4.2 kilometres has been constructed in hostile topography and often adverse weather conditions. The majority of the work is now complete, with only tie-ins at each end, and off road landscaping has to be finished.
12,700 native trees have been planted along with wildflower leys, biodiversity measures support local wildlife, and there are balancing ponds and other habitat creation sites. We will provide a route for walkers, cyclists and horse riding on the former road which will be dug up for a natural surface.
We continue to analyse the implications of ‘Rewiring the State’, made complicated by the fact that the details will only be revealed at Budget time, and more complicated as each week the Prime Minister announces further powers and responsibilities for Mayors and MCAs.
Most appear to require the MCA to recruit more staff, even though within the MCA the constituent authorities already have teams dealing with the issues.
The latest announcement concerns planning, and the ability of Mayors to call in major planning decisions undoubtedly to deliver a “presumption to approve”.
In a future piece I will come back to this, including the debate about any democratic deficit of the Mayor overriding the decisions of locally elected planning committees.
My key point today however is that a Mayor will need a team of qualified planning officers, unless they are prepared to run the risk of a decision being made by one person within a small coterie of largely political advice and the subsequent potential for judicial review.
This in itself will perpetuate the problem of slowness in the system which the changes are being introduced to change. Be careful what you wish for. Plus there is already a serious shortage of planning officers in the country. Adding another layer will also add to the shortage.
Dreadful news from Nepal. As the Prime Minister rightly says, Nepal and especially her young men, many of whom have passed through Catterick Garrison which I was proud to represent when I first started at North Yorkshire County Council, has stood by the UK in our hours of need and it is right that we stand by them now in face of the terrible power of nature.
Coun Carl Les is the Leader of North Yorkshire Council.