Parties clash over road scheme as county faces cuts to services

Opposition councillors at North Yorkshire County Council have voiced grave concerns over the decision to submit blueprints for the multi-million-pound Bedale Aiskew and Leeming Bar Bypass in a bid to secure funding from the Department for Transport.

Members of the council’s Conservative administration are adamant the bypass is vital to ease congestion, although the project has already been beset by a series of delays.

Liberal Democrat councillors have claimed that any more delays will leave taxpayers lumbered with millions of pounds of debt at a time when the authority is faced with massive cuts.

The leader of the Liberal Democrat group, Bill Hoult, has been a long-term critic of the proposed bypass, which is expected to cost more than £50m if it goes ahead.

He said: “Anyone reading the report by the officers will be astounded by the decision, as once committed the council will have no chance to alter the scheme.

“At a time when we are making cuts to essential services like libraries, social services and grants to voluntary bodies, there is no justification for spending hard-earned taxpayer’s money on ‘prestige’ schemes such as this.”

Coun Hoult claimed the project’s initial costs which were predicted to be £25m have now doubled in only four years.

He also raised concerns over the Government’s decision to dramatically reduce its financial support to any schemes that over-run initial budget predictions.

The construction of the scheme will not start until 2014 and the council has allowed for inflation of 2.7 per cent each year.

Council officers have admitted that a variation of the inflation rate by one per cent would add a further £2.8m to the costs.

Coun Hoult added: “An inflation rate of only 2.7 per cent is wildly optimistic in view of the current unstable market.

“In addition, it is highly likely that the scheme will go to a public inquiry that will delay the construction even further.

“Liberal Democrat members hope that the Tory executive will think again about this extremely risky project and not put council taxpayer’s money at risk.”

The county council is battling to slash expenditure to counter cuts in Government funding and is faced with having to make £69m in savings across its services.

But the council’s executive member for highways, Coun Gareth Dadd, launched a staunch defence of the bypass scheme and maintained it was being funded by capital expenditure – rather than the revenue budgets which are having to be slashed back.

He added: “We recognise that the Government wants a level of certainty about how much it will have to finance the scheme, but we have attempted to reduce the risk of costs rising.

“Obviously a scheme of this size may well experience some delays, but we believe it is vital for North Yorkshire. We are not in the business of making populist comments to spark unwarranted fears which the Liberal Democrats seem intent on doing.”

The Yorkshire Post revealed last month that the council’s executive had agreed to submit the bypass plans to the Department for Transport to try to secure funding.

The Government would provide the bulk of the funding, with the county council contributing about £7m.

The bid now joins about 45 other schemes nationwide – including park-and-ride projects in York and two new railway stations in Leeds – competing for a share of £600m funding which the Government is set allocate by December.

Plans for the A684 bypass were first mooted in the mid-1990s and were put on hold in June last year when the coalition Government came to power.

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