Concerns raised over plans for walking and cycling networks across North Yorkshire

Leading members of North Yorkshire County Council are set to consider approving a series of routes to prioritise for transformative schemes to encourage and enable walking and cycling in Northallerton and Skipton.

The council has developed or is also planning to create blueprints for walking and cycling networks in Harrogate and Knaresborough, Scarborough, Selby, Tadcaster and Sherburn-in-Elmet, Malton and Norton, and Catterick and Catterick Garrison.

The latest strategies feature four walking and cycling "corridors" for Northallerton and Skipton, which the council said had been based on the routes most likely to attract government grants or funding from property developers, along with the corridors with the greatest propensity for walking and cycling.

Proposed routes include from Skipton town centre, a route from central Skipton to Snaygill Industrial Estate, a route from Snaygill to Cross Hills and another from Gargrave railway station to Scapa Healthcare. In Northallerton, planned priorities include from Brompton, the south-east and south of the town to the town centre and to Standard Way Industrial Estate, off Darlington Road.

The council says the strategies will be used to help attract funding from the Government and property developers when it becomes available, but it is hoped some of the main barriers to cycling and walking in the town will get tackled in the next few years.

Opposition councillors said the proposed walking and cycling plans would leave many areas of the county behind.

Independent group leader Councillor Stuart Parsons said: "All the council is doing with these plans is enabling walking and cycling in limited spaces. This is not benefitting everybody, just those living in the chosen locations. The council should be looking to set up connections between communities so everyone can take advantage of them.

"The council talks about connectivity being vital for business, but connectivity for walkers, cyclists and residents is equally important for their mental health and wellbeing. You can't just select the most populated areas of the county and abandon all the rest."

Liberal Democrat councillor Bryn Griffiths said both the county council and the Government needed to look at how schemes in rural areas and smaller towns could be funded. He highlighted how plans for a walking and cycling link between Stokesley and Great Ayton had been in place for several years, but no funding had been available.

Coun Griffiths said: "People in rural market towns are being left out on a limb."