Note of a meeting between Greg Knight MP, Graham Stuart MP and East Riding of Yorkshire Council (ERYC)
Held 2nd February 2007 at County Hall, Beverley

In attendance:

Greg Knight MP
Graham Stuart MP
Councillor Symon Fraser, Portfolio holder
Councillor John Cox
Councillor David Rudd
Paul Belotti, Head of Community and Sustainable Development
Ian Burnett, Team Leader of the Transport Policy team
Andy Arundel, Assistant Principal Engineer
Grahame Hicks, Action Access A1079 (note taker)

Note: Although I have tried to be as accurate as I can be regarding the technical issues described, the situation is complex and inaccuracies may exist. Any views expressed, particularly on policy, I mine alone.

The meeting focussed on financial considerations.

ERYC currently has a list of transport projects that are either under way or are in the pipeline. Projects for Beverley and Bridlington’s integrated transport plan Major Scheme Bids (MSB) have achieved Programme Entry Status from the Regional Transport Board. This means that ERYC can now work with the Department of Transport to achieve conditional an then final approval.

Upgrading of the A1079 is top of the list for projects that still need to be assessed in order to decide whether the project is feasible and, if so, to work up a Major Scheme Bid.

To put things into perspective, ERYC are preparing a MSB for the A164 that has come in at about £8 million. This MSB will then have to got to the Regional Transport Bid to push for Programme Entry Status. The Leeds super tram bid was approx £500 million. A cut and cover bid for Castle Street in Hull is approx £200 million. ERYC have estimated that it could cost about £100 million to dual the A1079 for a section that would by-pass Shiptonthorpe and terminate west of Pocklington. This includes access roundabouts. By my extrapolation, therefore, full dualling from Dunswell to Grimston Bar would come in at roughly the cost of the Leeds super tram if a bid were to be put in now.

The Leeds super tram bid failed. Leeds has identified an alternative scheme that could come in at £300 million.

It will take at least 10 years to work up a bid because all the compulsory purchases have to be in place, the surveys done, the environmental impacts assessed etc East Riding has a good record of securing bid money because all the homework is done first. As an example of this, ERYC is looking into safeguarding the land for the upgrade so that it cannot be developed. The cost of setting up a MSB runs into millions of pounds. This is ratepayers’ money and therefore the bid has to be almost certain of approval.

From my perspective, it is frustrating that other authorities are seeking huge MSBs to gloss up existing services while our upgrading is vital for safety, social and economic welfare of the area. The group may be able to build up statistics on this that might help the argument.

It is important that York and Hull are on side. Hull is not a problem in this, but in my opinionYork is not interested in roads outside the Park and Ride ring. The MPs were asked to encourage the York MP to come on board. In some ways it might be useful for us that York don’t take an interest in outer access roads. In that regard there is no competition from, say, the A57. If we can focus them on our side of the City, it might just be possible that they can be made to see this as a one-off. The group must get their York City Councillors on board. This is vital. Pressure needs to come from all sides.

It is my understanding that Paul Belotti said it was the plan to encourage business to move into the area in order to improve sustainability and reduce the need for commuting. It may be useful for a survey of the businesses in the area to be carried out in order to identify commuting patterns. Is this something the parish councils can help out with?

The petitions were handed over to Greg Knight. We need to keep the petitions going if we can. If we have a 10 year lead time then we need to keep the pressure up.

It was, I think, a good, full and frank meeting. There were a few heated exchanges but the reality is that everyone is singing from the same hymn sheet and suffering the same frustrations. I get the impression that ERYC is fully behind what we wish to achieve, even if achieving it is going to be very hard. Symon Fraser, Ian Burnett and Andy Arundel are more than happy to attend meetings to keep the group informed on progress (obviously not every meeting). I suspect that Paul Belotti would also come and explain his remit etc.

The campaign must continue. Pressure must be applied wherever it can be. We cannot allow our MPs and Councillors to be left isolated because we appear to dry up. Quite the opposite. They can achieve much more if they have our arguments and input behind them.