Conservatives in York have welcomed last night’s decision of City of York Council Planning Committee to approve the A1237’s dualling from around 200 metres west of the A19 junction to the Hopgrove roundabout. The decision was unanimous and assuming it is approved by the Secertary of State will see the biggest change in traffic in York in decades. As well as just over 5km of road dualling (in both directions), the plans will see two overbridges and six underpasses. The scheme will be part funded by City of York Council, part by the Combined Authority and the majority will come from the government, after years of lobbying from Julian Sturdy MP.
Cllr Martin Rowley, Deputy Leader of the Conservative Group said ‘Whether Julian Sturdy MP or us as the York Council Group we have long campaigned for the dualling of York’s Northern Ring Road and it is great to see it finally moving forward. Realistically the road should have been dualled when it was first built in the 1980s and we still wish to see the full stretch done, but this will be a huge reliever of congestion on the A1237 and should also reduce traffic in the city centre. It is great that government funding has finally enabled the road improvements to progress and this will be a vital boost to York’s economy.
Cllr Rowley continued ‘We are very aware that building and extending roads is only part of the transport solution and that much more must be done on Active Travel and encouraging walking, cycling and public transport. Like many, we feel the council side of Active Travel was not what it could have been on the dualling application and we will be pressing the council to go much further, whether an additional underpass on the Ring Road or in the much broader city transport issues’.
