Harrogate MP calls out region's Labour Mayor over multi-million pound roads budget

Raising the matter in Parliament, Tom Gordon MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough said Davd Skaith, The Mayor of York and North Yorkshire, “had redirected the money closer to his home patch in York”.

This, the MP added, “comes in the wake of the Government cutting the Rural Services Delivery Grant at the end of last year, which already amounted to a cut of £14.2 million.”

Mr Gordon asked the Minister for Transport whether he thought it was fair for the Mayor to reallocate £4 million in highways budget away from North Yorkshire.

“The Government’s response is just to pass the buck,” he said.

"It’s a double whammy of chronic underfunding from both the Minister and the Mayor.

"No longer recognising the additional costs of delivering services in sparsely populated areas and now adding insult to injury for people in rural North Yorkshire with a highways cut - how is that fair?”

The Minister responded that it is “up to local leaders to decide how to spend that”.

The Harrogate MP’s criticism comes after David Skaith, the Mayor of York and North Yorkshire, said he wanted to launch a “record investment” to maintain roads and boost active travel in York and North Yorkshire.

The Mayor said: “I know first-hand the impact that poorly maintained roads have, not just on drivers, but also on people walking, wheeling and cycling.

"That’s why, over the next four years, I’m proposing we invest nearly £300 million to fix our roads and tackle potholes.

"I’m also proposing a record £17.5 million investment to build and improve cycle routes, pavements and crossings.

"Creating a safer school run is at the heart of this plan.

"To support this, an extra £30million will go towards improving conditions around schools and funding schemes that protect everyone who uses our roads.

"I want to deliver record levels of investment to fix our roads and make them safer for everyone who uses them."