Town's road campaigners hope for boost from housing project

CAMPAIGNERS battling to stop heavy trucks thundering through a centuries-old market town hope its biggest ever housebuilidng scheme will open the door to massive road improvements.

Developers from Taylor Wimpey Ltd have submitted plans to Ryedale District Council to build up to 400 homes on 32 acres of land to the north of Broughton Road on the edge of Malton.

However, Broughton Road is the key to a long-running campaign to stop heavy trucks from Teesside thundering through Malton and Norton on their way to the Humber.

Broughton Road, which goes to Hovingham and Helmsley, is used by trucks from the North-East and at the moment all the traffic using the route has to go through Malton and Norton first.

The problem is that the HGV drivers have to leave the A64 at the existing Brambling Fields interchange. So for years there have been calls for a second link road to be built further down the A64 near Broughton Road to feed the traffic onto Beverley Road.

The aim of the long-running campaign is to get a slip road at each end of Malton so through traffic can bypass both communities completely.

Now the campaigners want assurances that the new housing scheme will not interfere with the new junction. They also want to investigate if the developers could help fund the new road layout under the terms of any planning consent.

The Wimpey scheme is being trumpeted as the biggest development Malton has ever seen.

Detailed plans, including the precise number of homes likely to be built, will be drawn up if the company gets outline consent for the proposals in the next few weeks.

But while town councillors have recommended it for approval they want Ryedale District Council to insist that it includes a long-awaited building of the link to help rid the town of its notorious traffic queues and congestion.

Town clerk Mike Skehan argued that if approval is given by the district council, it should be subject to the condition that it does not compromise the future building of an A64 junction.

He underlined that Malton residents, business and civic leaders, have previously said a bypass would help remove the long traffic queues that have plagued Malton for years.

Mayor Jason Fitzgerald-Smith said: "The development will have a major traffic impact on Malton. We should push for a junction to be built onto the A64 at Broughton Road.

"We could say yes to this scheme if the A64 junction is included," he added, and claimed that he believed the developers were well aware of the junction issue.

Meanwhile, town councillors in Helmsley are divided over whether a future strategy for the town should put jobs before its housing needs.

There have been calls by Coun Ken Claridge for more homes not only for the older generation, but for younger people.

Local Methodist Minister David Emerson is pressing for more accommodation for elderly people, which he maintains is badly needed in the community.

However, news that a developer is interested in building homes for older people and three possible sites are under consideration has received a mixed response from members.

Outline plans are also being drawn up for a mixed development of homes, work units, and light industry in the south-east corner of Helmsley near Storey Close.

Coun Martin Vander Weyer said that in the new policy on the future of Helmsley, drawn up by a town council working group, the land adjacent to the industrial estate, should be reserved for light industry.