Shortage of cash may foil scheme to cut congestion

A LONG-awaited park and ride scheme designed to cut car use in one of Yorkshire’s most congested cities faces being scaled back or scrapped altogether unless the cash-strapped local authority steps in to fill a huge funding gap.

York Council will decide next week how to proceed with its £27m plan to build three new park and ride sites around the edge of the city, which was approved by the previous Government but then put on hold by the Coalition following the General Election.

The Department for Transport (DfT) has since made it clear that limited funding will be available for new transport projects, and yesterday a report by the council’s own transport officers revealed feedback from the Government earlier this summer was “very unfavourable” towards the scheme as its costs continue to rise.

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The council now faces having to increase its own contribution from £3.7m to nearly £10m to stand any chance of receiving approval for the project.

The only alternative is to drop one of the three park and ride sites altogether – although even then, officers believe the council will have to agree to contribute an extra £3m to give the scheme any hope of approval.

“It is very disappointing,” commented the council’s Cabinet member for city strategy, Coun Dave Merrett.

“The last Government actually approved this scheme, yet we’re having to go back and look at it again – and it’s now looking increasingly difficult.

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“This is basically a scheme for three park and ride sites and a new roundabout, so there’s not much you can do in terms of cutting costs except to not go ahead with one of the sites.”

Under the original proposals, the existing, over-subscribed Askham Bar park and ride site would be replaced with a larger facility, and two new sites would be created on the A59 near Poppleton and on Wigginton Road at Clifton Moor.

New bus priority measures would also be put in place, and a major upgrade to the A59/A1237 Outer Ring Road roundabout carried out.

Following the feedback from the DfT, the council’s Cabinet will next week decide whether to push ahead with the scheme as it stands – putting forward an extra £6m – or dropping either the Askham Bar or Clifton Moor park and ride sites for the foreseeable future.

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Coun Merrett said the decision would be “difficult” and that the authority would wait for all available information from its officers before making a final decision on its submission to Government.

He said the council’s reserves were already at their minimum level, but that some extra money could become available through a Government plan to give councils grants for building new homes.

Alternatively, the council may borrow the required millions – although services would then have to be cut elsewhere to cover the £500,000-a-year repayments.

Other proposed transport projects are now facing a similar squeeze as they submit their own final bids ahead of a Government decision later this year.

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There are 10 other schemes around the region hoping to be approved. They include the Leeds trolleybus scheme, major road improvements between the Humber Bridge and Beverley and an upgrade to the Sheffield supertram network.