Transport plan reveals crumbling state of North Yorkshire's roads

The poor state of large swathes of the county's vast roads network is revealed in draft transport plans published by North Yorkshire County Council.

It shows 27 per cent of the 4,000 kilometres of unclassified roads in the county need maintenance while seven per cent of the B and C road network, covering 3,400 kilometres, also needs work.

The document says: "The relatively poor condition of the minor road network tends to have a greater impact on the remoter, more sparsely populated rural areas of the County and is one of the contributing factors to the poorer economic performance in these areas."

The county has long complained that the Government funding it receives to maintain roads fails to recognise the challenges it faces in looking after a huge rural network

The stark problems facing North Yorkshire's roads is set out in a draft transport plan for the next 30 years which reveals the county's intention to prioritise tackling congestion in Harrogate and Knaresborough, Scarborough, Northallerton, Malton and Norton, Selby and Ripon.

It also warns that the county faces significant challenges in making sure areas such as the coast and parts of Craven and Ryedale are well connected to the transport network.

The draft plan says: "The scale of the problems means that solutions (such as upgrading roads to dual carriageway) are expensive costing tens or even hundreds of millions of pounds."

The public is being invited to comment on the draft transport plan before it is finalised.

County coun Don Mackenzie, the county council's executive member for highways and public transport, said: “North Yorkshire has one of the largest transport networks in the country, spread across a vast largely rural area.

“The wellbeing of our residents and the economic future of our region, of its towns, market towns and villages, of its industry, its tourism, its cultural and heritage development, all rely on transport networks that are fit for purpose.

"This new plan sets out that purpose and takes the long view as well as setting out short-term aims.”