OPINION: Once-in-a-generation opportunity - Don Mackenzie, North Yorkshire County Council executive for Highways

HIGHWAYS

So far this winter the weather has remained benign with just a few days of significant snow and ice, mainly on higher ground. Strong winds have caused disruption as named storms passed though the county, and our NY Highways teams have been engaged with the removal of hundreds of trees blown on to our roads.

Salt barns have been restocked, and salt bins and heaps across the highway network are being topped up when needed.

In addition to our £500,000 investment in 10 new weather stations and cameras, we now offer a gritter tracking service, available on the County Council’s website. Anyone planning to travel in bad weather can now access real-time information on road conditions throughout the county.

Our winter service is supplemented by a team of more than 100 farming contractors who stand ready to plough and grit when called upon.

MAJOR SCHEMES

Completion of the J47 scheme near Flaxby has been delayed by several weeks to spring. The scheme, valued at £10m, includes widening of the A1M slip roads, an additional lane on the A59 eastbound, full signalisation of the roundabout and upgrades to the A168 junction to the east of the roundabout. This investment anticipates increased traffic flows from substantial residential and commercial development along the A59 corridor.

The second major project on the A59 is at Kex Gill, between Harrogate and Skipton. Statutory processes are progressing well on the £61m scheme to realign the A59 Trans-Pennine route at Kex Gill. Funding is in place, arrangements to appoint a contractor are underway, and construction work will start as soon as possible.

TRANSFORMING CITIES FUND

The Executive decided unanimously that all three Gateway projects for Harrogate, Selby and Skipton should be progressed to detailed design and implementation. The schemes bring £42m worth of investment to the town centres, and provide a once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform the areas around bus and rail stations.

The projects are designed to provide better facilities for walking and cycling, encourage the use of trains and buses, upgrade surrounding public spaces, and boost local town centre economies.

BUS AND RAIL

The County Council has submitted a funding bid to the Government’s Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas (ZEBRA) scheme. Our business case proposes to convert the entire Harrogate Bus Company fleet to battery electric operation at a total cost of £20m. This would be paid for by our successful bid for £8m and a contribution of almost £12m from Harrogate Bus Company. We expect to receive a decision by the end of next month.

Rail travellers between Harrogate, Knaresborough and York have been enjoying a much-improved service since 12th December. The County Council-led £10m scheme to upgrade track and signals near Cattal has allowed train operator Northern to double the number of trains from one to two every hour in each direction. I also welcome the plan by Network Rail to upgrade the East Coast Main Line at Skelton Junction in such a way that trains to and from Harrogate will be able to access York Station much more easily by means of an additional track.

DIGITAL INFRASTRUCTURE

Phase 3 of the Superfast North Yorkshire project completes next month when all 14,239 properties in the £20m contract awarded to BT will have been connected to high quality broadband.

Phase 4 is already well underway, with Quickline Communications under contract to deliver a further 15,830 property connections. This contract is worth £14.5m and will use a mixture of full fibre and fixed wireless access technology.

By the end of the roll-out of Phase 4, we expect that about 98% of all domestic and business premises in North Yorkshire will have been connected to high quality broadband.

The County Council has also invested £15m in a county-wide Local Full Fibre Network connecting up over of 330 public buildings. This scheme completes next month. The network has provided the means to introduce public Wi-Fi into 18 market towns. Of those, 12 are already operational and in regular use by residents and visitors; the remaining six will be on-stream over the next few weeks.

UNFORTUNATE TIMING

Just a few weeks after the county council resurfaced the busy Leadhall Lane, a gas leak has meant that the road has had to be closed and excavated to carry out the repair. Northern Gas Networks expect to finish their work this week.