Yorkshire will never be fooled again over promises to upgrade the A64 - GP Taylor

The prospect of an upgrade of this perilous road is a pipe dream, jam tomorrow promises from desperate politicians who say they will give the world, when in reality, do nothing.

You only have to look at the HS2 project to see what happens when a government says it will upgrade transport routes.

So, there is no wonder why I take the news that Keane Duncan has made it one of his key election pledges as he stands as the Conservatives’ candidate for the soon-to-be-appointed York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority (YNYCA) with a very large bucket of salt.

He said if elected he plans to use some of the £18m made available to the new Mayor to contribute towards the project and is hoping the rest of the £300m in estimated costs would be met by the Government.

In your dreams, Mr Duncan. Do you think we are that gullible?

This and the next Labour government will need the money to pay for the social security benefits for all the immigrants they are allowing in.

I will never believe anything a politician says about the A64 until I am driving along a newly constructed dual carriageway from York to Scarborough and I don’t include the Malton bypass.

If politicians really cared about residents and tourists, then the A64 would have been sorted out long ago.

Since the 1960s, the A64 has been in and out of the headlines. Successive MPs have promised and failed to provide anything. Ryedale and coastal residents no longer believe the road will ever be improved.

The poor state of the A64 has a detrimental effect on businesses. I am surprised the McCain factory in Scarborough hasn’t packed up and moved to Doncaster.

Never mind all the potential tourists who are put off making the journey having heard the horror stories of collisions, tail backs and hold ups.

One just has to think about sitting in a mile long queue at the traffic lights in Rillington to put anyone off coming to the coast.

I will now do anything not to drive on the A64 and head across the Wolds to Howden and the M18 if I travel south. It is quicker and a far more pleasant experience.

I read in this paper that on Monday, August 1, 1966, congestion on the A64 was first raised in Parliament by the late Michael Alison, MP. He told the Commons: “It is a problem which is not only of local significance but has regional and national repercussions.”

Since that time there have been 34 Secretaries of State for Transport and the A64 between York to Scarborough remains very much as it did in the 1960s.

Yet, the connection between London and the seaside town of Frinton is totally upgraded and a pleasure to drive. In fact, many of the roads from London to the coast have seen significant upgrading.

As usual, we in the North are ignored and left to battle a road that is dangerous and strangles the potential of the coastal economy.

Even if it is decided to upgrade the A64, I believe it will never happen. We have been in this situation many times before, only to have our hopes dashed as plans are suspended or cancelled.

Many people have waited a lifetime to see a proper, decent, and safe road between the coast and York, but many will be long dead before it happens.

I only wish that politicians could be just a little more honest with the public. Do they have to try to con us with the prospect of having our lives made better? We in Yorkshire are not fools and know when a politician is spinning a tale to get votes.

Yorkshire people have a long memory and anyone making promises about the A64 will be held to account.

Two years ago, a headline in this very newspaper read, ‘A64 seaside traffic misery could become thing of the past as plans to dual road progress’.

Similar headlines go back years and years and we all know it is not going to happen.

So, Mr Duncan will be held accountable on his promises to raise the £300m it will take to make this 50-year-old fantasy project a reality. The saying goes, fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. When it comes to the false promises over the A64, the people of Yorkshire will never be fooled again.

GP Taylor is a writer and broadcaster who lives in Yorkshire.