Commercial competition should not trump local concerns over Kirby Hill Motorway Service Area - Yorkshire Post Letters

North Yorkshire Council appears to think that it can bring an end to the long-running fiasco of proposed Motorway Service Areas on the A1(M) by simply approving all proposals.

In this matter, the new council's planning officers have shown themselves to be a bunch of 'yes men', ever-willing to do the bidding of developers and dismissive of the views of the people who pay their wages.

For 25 years Harrogate Borough Council refused permission for an inappropriate MSA at Kirby Hill, citing very strong planning reasons that are supported by over 5,000 local people represented by Kirby Hill RAMS (Residents Against Motorway Services).

One of the first decisions the new North Yorkshire Council Strategic Planning Committee took was to overturn this and approve the Kirby Hill scheme. If officers' recommendations to approve the Catterick and Barton Park MSAs are now also accepted, there will be five consented MSAs on the 60-mile stretch of the A1 that runs through the county: at Wetherby, Kirby Hill, Leeming Bar, Catterick and Scotch Corner/Barton Park.

This is gross over-provision. Only three MSAs are required to meet the Government's 28-mile spacing policy: at Wetherby, Leeming Bar and Scotch Corner/Barton Park.

We are told that the reason our council is giving vast swathes of high-quality North Yorkshire countryside to be concreted over, when there is no need and no policy support, is to ‘increase choice’. The three sites that meet the need in spacing terms are all owned by Moto. The 'infill' Kirby Hill and Catterick schemes are promoted by Moto's competitors.

The planning justification for any new MSA approval is road safety. Planners must not recommend approval of schemes justified only by a desire to increase commercial competition.

Catterick and Kirby Hill (which currently only has outline consent) are unnecessary MSA schemes which should be blocked, while Moto is encouraged and supported to develop the other three sites. This is the best strategic solution for MSA provision on the A1(M) in North Yorkshire.