Malton and Norton A64 Junctions Action Group

COMMUNITY CALL FOR IMPROVED JUNCTIONS AT MALTON AND NORTON GETS BOOST FROM THE ROADS MINISTER

Local representatives who have been pressing for improved junctions on the A64 at Malton and Norton have taken their case to a Government Minister - and are encouraged by his response.

From left: Stewart Hurst, John Greenway MP, Stephen Ladyman MP, Lindsay Burr and Julian Rudd

Several members of the Junctions Action Group (JAG) – a partnership of local councils, road safety campaigners, landowners, emergency services and businesses, with the aim of improved junctions on the A64 at Malton and Norton – met with Dr Stephen Ladyman, Minister of State for Transport, on November 28th at the Department for Transport’s HQ in London.

Cllr Lindsay Burr, Leader of the JAG and Chairman of Ryedale District Council, Ryedale MP John Greenway, Julian Rudd (Forward Planning Manager, Ryedale District Council) and Stewart Hurst (Special Projects Manager, North Yorkshire County Council) met with the Minister and are hopeful that the government has taken on board the aims of the group.

“The meeting was very positive,” said Cllr Burr. “We explained to the Minister how our towns are being damaged by unnecessary congestion, and why all the relevant local groups have come together to form the JAG to press for urgent improvements.”

The Minister was given a presentation by officers from Ryedale and North Yorkshire Councils which explained how traffic was forced to travel through the centres of Malton and Norton because of the design of the junctions on the A64 around the towns . Mr. Hurst said, “we were able to make it very clear to the Minister that , as a result of the traffic modeling work undertaken as part of the preparation of the Traffic Management Strategy for Malton and Norton, 65% of all traffic passing through the towns could avoid the town centres if improvements to the junctions were implemented. This would allow the town centers to be improved and would allow beneficial redevelopments to take place, so strengthening the future role of Malton and Norton, in line with local and regional policies.”

“The Minister listened carefully and was clearly impressed by our willingness to pursue a partnership approach to solving this problem, involving local authorities and the Highways Agency, and to seek contributions from developers to cover some of the cost” said Julian Rudd. “He confirmed that the Highways Agency was already looking at the junctions at either end of the Malton by-pass. We were delighted when, at the close of the meeting, he asked the Highways Agency officers present to now prepare a submission for him on how to move forward with improvements to the Brambling Fields and Musley Bank junctions, making use of all available funding, including that from developer contributions.”

The JAG representatives found that the Minister was curious as to why the junctions had been created so as to only allow limited traffic movements and were lifted by his acknowledgement that improvements at both ends of the bypass would bring wide ranging benefits”

Comprehensive upgrading of the A64 between York and Scarborough was also discussed at the meeting with the Minister. He agreed to look at part-funding research to determine the likely environmental impacts of upgrading and how these could be minimized and mitigated against, which will also help to show the likely overall costs of the project. This is a necessary piece of work to help strengthen the case for wide scale upgrading of the route.

Note to Editors: For further information please contact Lindsay Burr on 079797 48366 or Julian Rudd on 01653 600666 ext 327.

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