Population growth is a major contributor to traffic congestion on the A1079, and possibly a factor in road traffic accident statistics.  The figures below show very high levels of house-building and population growth in the A1079 corridor, heavily concentrated on the market towns of Pocklington and Market Weighton.

The following assessment is based on data provided by East Riding of Yorkshire Council for the parishes along the A1079.  However it does not cover the York or Hull sections of the road.

House building in the A1079 corridor

In the period from 1989 to 2004 3,589 new homes were built in the East Riding section of the A1079 corridor, an average of 239 per year.  The East Riding Local Development Framework (LDF) envisages development continuing at a slightly lower level over the next period.

Of these 3,589, just under 30% were built in Pocklington, with a further 27% in Market Weighton.  In other words, 56% of all new house building in the A1079 corridor has occured in these 2 towns.  By any standard this is a very high population growth and will have placed significant demands on the local infrastructure and services.

The rest of the development has been scattered widely along the corridor, but the next 3 most significant developments are Walkington, Stamford Bridge, and Holme upon Spalding Moor.  An obvious implication of this is that population growth is heavily biased towards the northern end of the corridor.  This bears out the linkage established by the Dunnington survey, that house-building in East Yorkshire is directly linked to congestion at Grimston Bar.

Top 5 areas for housing development - 1989 - 2004

Housing development on the section from Kexby to Grimston Bar, comes under City of York Council.  The data is not directly comparable, but in the period 1991 - 2006 approximately 380 new houses have been built in this area, the vast majority in the settlements of Elvington and Dunnington which are therefore major growth areas and consistent with the growth rates in the East Riding section of the A1079.

However an interesting difference between East Riding and York local authorities is that York appear to have halted further major housing development along their stretch of the A1079 in 2000 - since then there have been less than 20 new houses.  In comparison, house-building in the East Riding section has continued throughout the 21st century.

Population Growth in the A1079 corridor

The following data is based on Census information 1991 and 2001.  Again, it only covers the East Riding section of the A1079.

Overall population growth between 1991 and 2001 was from 34,179 to 39,712 people, an increase of 16%, making this one of the fastest growing areas outside of London.  The breakdown of the figures once again shows that population growth in Pocklington and Market Weighton dwarfs the other areas, making up 46% of the total.

Top 5 areas for population growth - 1991 - 2001

We do not have figures for population growth in the York section of the A1079, but the substantial housing development in Dunnington and especially Elvington suggests growth rates comparable to the top 5 areas of the East Riding section.

Employment information

Figures are not directly comparable to the above since figures are collected based on wards rather than parishes, however In the period 1991 to 2002 the number of employees in the East Riding section of the A1079 corridor rose from 7,769 to 11,651.  This is an increase of 3,882 employees, or 50%.

No breakdown is available by area, although it is reasonable to assume that most of these employees will be living in Pocklington or Market Weighton.  This data is important because commuting to work is a major cause of congestion and many accidents occur in the rush hour.