Works to improve A64 to be speeded up

The memorandum of understanding also brings the York, North Yorkshire and East Riding Local Enterprise Partnership and the North Yorkshire Local Transport Body - which decides how some Government funding is spent in the area - to the partnership.

It commits the partners to improvements on the A64 between the Hopgrove roundabout north east of York and the Musham Bank roundabout south west of Scarborough.

But it also suggests that work should go into upgrading sections of the A1237 and A1079, which link with the A64 to the east of York.

The agreement is the latest in a series of recent steps aimed at improving the A64 which is one of the principal routes through North Yorkshire and connects the coast to Leeds and York.

Councils in the area have already asked for £50 million from the Government’s Local Growth Fund - designed to help local economies - to help pay for a series of schemes along the route.

North Yorkshire, Ryedale, Scarborough and York Councils are behind the bid which, if approved, would support the widening of the road at pinch points and in some cases additional duelling.

The Government is expected to make a final decision on Local Growth Fund bids in July,

If money was secured for the A64 the scheme of improvements would be carried out over a period of six years.

The campaign to improve the A64 was given fresh impetus in January when Prime Minister David Cameron admitted the quality and capacity of Yorkshire’s roads was a “major issue”.

He was responding to a question about the state of the A64 from Thirsk and Malton MP Anne McIntosh.

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