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16
Jan
Kex Gill snow excuse branded ‘pathetic’ by resident
A resident whose home overlooks the A59 near Kex Gill has branded North Yorkshire Council’s response to the latest road closure as “pathetic”.
The road, which is the main route connecting Harrogate and Skipton, closed suddenly on January 1 following a landslip at Kex Gill. Repair work is due to start today (January 16) and finish on January 29.
The council said in a Kex Gill update email to residents this week a snow drift “has unfortunately impacted the start of works”. It added “work will start as soon as it is safe to do so”.
A photo showing the site, which we have reproduced for the main image of this article, accompanied the email.
Alistair Young, who has followed the Kex Gill saga closely, contacted the Stray Ferret to dispute the claims.
He said:
They say that the closed road has now suffered a snow drift but all I see is snow piled up from a snow plough. And now we have a contractor on site to re-assess the landslip. They had four days — January 1 to 4 — pre-snow, to assess the landslip and plan the repair.
We lost a total of 14 days before they even assessed the landslip. It is pathetic.
The landslip at Kex Gill.
When the road closed at Kex Gill on February 2 last year due to a previous landslip, the council blamed heavy rain for work not getting underway for more than a month. It reopened on June 22.
Karl Battersby, the council’s corporate director of environment, told business leaders in Harrogate this week the latest repair was expected to be carried out “within a week”.
New drainage
The council has appointed Harrogate firm HACS to carry out the work for an undisclosed fee. It will install new drainage as well as remove debris as part of the project.
A £68.8 million project to realign four kilometres of the A59 is taking place near the old road.
The council hopes this will put an end to frequent road closures caused by 14 landskips in 20 years.
The Department for Transport is contributing £56.1 million towards the project; the council is funding the remaining £12.7 million.
Besides the construction of a two-way, single-lane carriageway, the scheme also involves the creation of bridleways and footpaths and 4km of natural stone walls as well as the diversion of Hall Beck
The project is set to be completed by June 2026.
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