We would like to respond to the questions raised about the Action Access A1079 campaign in the Pocklington Post (1st March 2007) by Pocklington Town Councillor Richard Bryon. We hope the following information addresses Cllr Bryon's points.

1. Reducing traffic numbers on the A1079 at peak times

We agree with Cllr Bryon that reducing traffic would be a good thing.

However Cllr Bryon may be interested to know that the A1079 corridor has the fastest population growth rate in the UK outside of London. Pocklington grew by 23% in the 10 years to 2001 and the East Riding local development framework sets similar growth targets for the period to 2010. Market Weighton grew by 16% in the same period. Interestingly, York city council halted housing development on their side of the A1079 corridor, and very few new houses have been built there since 2001. Whilst it remains central government and local authority policy to build more and more houses in this area, without making any investment in the road infrastructure, traffic numbers, congestion, and accidents will continue to increase.

At Action Access A1079 we think central government and the local authorities have a simple choice. If they want to carry on building more houses they must invest in the A1079 (and other local infrastructure). If they don't want to make this kind of strategic investment, then they have to stop building houses. In short, we are calling on central government and the local authorities to introduce a sustainable development plan for the A1079 corridor.

On a related point, we are delighted that East Riding council has come out in opposition to government plans to introduce congestion charging. It is clearly not right to make road users pay for congestion which has been caused not by "unnecessary" journeys but by central government policy of forcing house-building targets on local authorities without providing the money to pay for upgrades to the road infrastructure.

2. Subsidising bus services

Bus services also need to use the A1079 and their effectiveness is already reduced by congestion. Motorists already pay £40bn in petrol taxes annually, and we have mixed views about whether further subsidising of public transport (whether bus or rail) is a step too far.

3. Introducing car-sharing

We would welcome proposals from the 3 local authorities involved in the A1079 on ways to encourage car-sharing.

We will shortly be introducing a questionnaire to try to establish where A1079 users travel from and to.

4. Park and Ride on the Dunnington side of Grimston Bar roundabout

We sympathise with Cllr Bryon's view that York City Council probably built the Grimston Bar park and ride on the wrong side of the Grimston Bar roundabout. It certainly appears to be a significant cause of the serious congestion in the area. We think that re-development of the A1079 in the Grimston Bar area could include an opportunity for the park and ride to be re-located, and are very keen to get together with York and East Riding councils to pursue this.

5. Re-opening the Beverley to York railway

We think it is very unlikely that the proposed railway will make any impact on the safety and congestion issues faced daily by users of the A1079, let alone in 15 or 20 years time. In the absence of costs it is impossible to know if the railway would offer better value than development the A1079 - although in general terms the Treasury has long favoured road over rail because it has a better return on investment profile. That said, we share many of the aims of the railway group, because fundamentally we have a common problem - how to deal with the unsustainable development policies being imposed on the area.

Incidentally, research by Dunnington Parish Council shows that a high proportion of vehicles coming from the A1079 to Grimston Bar in the mornings do not go into York - they turn left and head towards West Yorkshire. This is one of many reasons why a railway to York might not be the best solution to the problems facing our area.

In conclusion we agree with Cllr Bryon that reducing traffic is one of the solutions to the congestion and safety problems on the A1079. But whilst it remains government and regional policy to force more house-building into the area, it is naieve to think that traffic can be reduced by any of the measures he has proposed, and the only alternative is to make a strategic investment in the A1079.