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Call to spend Harrogate Station Gateway money in Skipton if scheme falls through

A councillor has said funding intended for Harrogate’s £11.2m Station Gateway should be spent in Skipton if the scheme falls through.

Last month, senior Conservative councillors in Northallerton agreed to consider different options to rescue Harrogate’s troubled transport project.

The most likely option for North Yorkshire Council is to focus on its less controversial aspects, which might include public realm improvements at Station Square and One Arch, in an attempt to deliver the scheme in some form.

But alternative options could also fail to win support and the council may decide to scrap it altogether.

Station Square

Rather than handing money back to government, Andy Brown, the Green Party councillor for Aire Valley told the council’s Skipton and Ripon planning committee this week the Harrogate money could be used to improve Skipton’s own £7.8m Station Gateway scheme.

Like Harrogate, it’s being paid for through the government’s Transforming Cities Fund but has proved far less controversial with the public than across the A59.

The planning committee met on Tuesday afternoon in Skipton to consider replacing a footbridge over the Leeds and Liverpool canal, which forms part of the Skipton Gateway proposals.

Councillors approved the replacement bridge but its design was strongly criticised as it does not offer ramped disabled access.

Cllr Brown queried if Harrogate Transforming Cities Fund money could be spent on the bridge to improve accessibility.

He said:

“We should be sending a message [to the council] that they seek every alternative source, including if the Harrogate scheme falls through, to achieve disabled access”.

A report prepared for the council’s Conservative-run executive in September confirmed that funding would be able to be transferred from the Harrogate scheme to Skipton or Selby with approval from the government.

It said:

“In principle, this funding may be able to be reallocated to either or both the Selby and Skipton Transforming Cities Fund projects in North Yorkshire. Written approval from the funder would be required which would be requested should this be necessary.

“The full business cases for these projects would have to justify any proposed reallocation in addition to agreement from the funder.”

North Yorkshire Council has said it will put forward its next steps for the Harrogate Station Gateway before November.

Site cleared ahead new road being built at A59 Kex Gill

Contractors have completed clearing an area alongside the A59 near Harrogate ahead of building a new three-mile stretch of road.

The A59 is a key link between Harrogate and Skipton.

But the section that includes Kex Gill has had a history of landslips, which has caused lengthy diversions for motorists and extra costs for the council.

Work on the £68.8 million project began in February and will see a new road built from Blubberhouses to just after Kex Gill.

The Department for Transport is providing £56.1m and the remaining funds are coming from North Yorkshire Council.

In an update, the council said the site has now been cleared, which has involved removing trees, and an access road is being built to allow builders to start work on the new road.

A stone wall has also been dismantled but will be reused as part of the scheme.
The council added the project will be finished in autumn 2025 after previously saying it would be in May of that year.

Karl Battersby, the council’s corporate director of environment, said:

“The £69 million Kex Gill realignment project is progressing in line with our programme. The site has been carefully cleared, and a construction access road is being built as part of the first phase of construction.

“The stone boundary wall has been carefully de- constructed and labelled to enable future re-instatement.

“The new road is scheduled to open in autumn 2025 and once complete will reduce road closures, congestion and delays on the A59, reducing the impact on the environment.”

The majority of the new road will be constructed without access to traffic, which means the existing road will remain open during construction.

Once open, the re-routed A59 is not likely to make journey times between Harrogate and Skipton any quicker but it will remove the risk of landslips.

The Kex Gill section runs through important habitats including a Site of Special
Scientific Interest.

The council said plans are in place to mitigate the impact on wildlife in the area that includes barn owls, bats, nightjars, wild game, toads and badgers.

Blubberhouses crash: lorry driver banned for being three times over limit

A lorry driver who lost control on the A59 at Blubberhouses on Tuesday was three times over the drink-drive limit.

Jacek Borowski, 51, from Poland lost control of his HGV heading down the hill.

His vehicle blocked the road completely for most of the day, causing significant disruption on the main route between Harrogate and Skipton.

Nobody else was involved or injured.

Blubberhouses collision driver banned April 2023

The lorry blocked the road for most of the day.

North Yorkshire Police said in a statement today Borowski had been banned within 24 hours of the incident. It added:

“Officers breathalysed the driver who blew 92 micrograms of alcohol in 100 milligrams of breath – almost three times the legal limit.

“He was remanded into custody immediately and put before York Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday 19 April where he pleaded guilty to driving over the prescribed limit and was disqualified from driving for 23 months.”

Concern over tree felling as part of Kex Gill reroute

Concern has been raised over tree felling as part of the £69 million Kex Gill realignment.

The project, which is North Yorkshire County Council’s most expensive and ambitious, will reroute a landslip-blighted road between Harrogate and Skipton.

As part of the scheme, the authority has started to clear woodland off the A59.

However, residents have raised concern that the move is “disproportionate” to the highways project.

Sheenagh Powell, who lives nearby, said the move was “distressing”.

She said:

“Hundreds of trees have already been felled which appears totally disproportionate to the scheme.

“The environmental impact is huge.”

However, county council officials have defended the move and said site clearance had been undertaken now to avoid the bird nesting season.

A spokesperson added:

“The stretch of the A59 at Kex Gill runs through important habitats including a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

“Plans are in place to mitigate the impact on wildlife in the area such as barn owls, bats, nightjars, wild game, toads and badgers.”

The A59 at Kex Gill, near Blubberhouses, is the main route between Harrogate and Skipton. Since 2000, the route has been closed 12 times following landslips.

Ministers at the Department for Transport gave the final go-ahead for the route last month.

The move will see the road rerouted to the west of Blubberhouses and is expected to be completed in May 2025.

The scheme has faced numerous delays and, following tender returns, the estimated cost of the scheme increased by £7.2 million to £68.8 million, which the council attributed to inflation affecting constructions costs.

The project will be funded by a £56.1 million grant from the Department for Transport, with the council covering the rest from its reserves.

A further £11 million has been factored into the budget to cover any issues with ground conditions or bad weather.

Kex Gill: A project seven years in the making

After being beset by delays and hiking in cost due to soaring inflation, the realignment of the A59 at Kex Gill is finally set to be built.

The project, which is North Yorkshire County Council’s most expensive and ambitious, will reroute a landslip-blighted road between Harrogate and Skipton.

For councillors and government officials, the route is a key east to west link.

As such, the money set aside – some £69 million – is justified and for ministers the deal they struck with the county council is seen as sensible financially.

Richard Holden, the roads minister in Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government, echoed the sentiment on a visit to Kex Gill this week.

The site on Thursday morning had yet to have a spade hit the ground, but Mr Holden was confident that in two years’ time it would be a justified expense.

He said:

“It’s an important route here between Skipton and Harrogate on a local level. But, actually, it’s more significant for the north of England really.

“I grew up in east Lancashire, the A59 goes all the way through to York. It is a really important road. It’s one which we want to see thrive and it is an important tourist route as well during the summer.

“It’s also important for heavy goods vehicles.”

(Left to right) Cllr Carl Les, leader of county council, Richard Holden, minister for roads, and Cllr Keane Duncan, executive councillor for highways.

Part of the reasoning behind the reroute is the number of landslips on the road.

According to council documents published in 2021, the cost to taxpayers for maintaining the road has been “increasing over the last ten-year period”.

Between October 2000 and May 2019, five landslides were recorded at the site and the retaining wall failed four times.

In January 2016, the road was closed for eight weeks and traffic diverted through Ilkley and Otley after heavy rain caused a landslide.

Meanwhile, an instability issue in May 2018 caused road closures for several months, which council officials said led to a “complex repair scheme” being carried out at a cost of £1.42 million.

Following numerous landslips and millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money spent on the A59, the county council decided in 2016 to do something about the problem.

How the new road will look

The reroute itself will see the existing road, which has blighted motorists for decades, returned back to moorland.

Richard Binks, head of major projects at the county council, explained that the scheme will be built in two phases.

The road to the west of Blubberhouses will be built first and include a climbing road at the junction near to Fewston reservoir car park.

The proposed reroute of the A59 at Kex Gill which has been proposed by North Yorkshire County Council.

The reroute of the A59 at Kex Gill which has been proposed by North Yorkshire County Council.

The second junction will be built at the bottom of what is now a single track road and will exit near to Kex Gill.

Mr Binks said the idea is to get the new road ready for traffic before moving cars from the existing A59 onto it.

He said:

“We want to build the new road first and then move traffic onto the new highway. Then we will focus on the old road to downgrade it and plant it up.”

Once the junctions are ready to be connected to the old road, temporary traffic lights will be put in place.

Meanwhile, as part of the realignment, new wetlands will be created near to one of the junctions and biodiversity will be returned to the moorland.

While it is unclear when the lights will be in place to connect the junctions, Mr Binks said it is expected the project will be nearing completion in summer 2025.

The council intends to enter into its contract with John Sisk & Son (Holdings) Ltd, which is an Irish civil engineering and construction company, in April to start the scheme.

Tackling inflation

One concern over the future of the scheme is the rate of inflation in the construction industry.

Mr Holden acknowledged that soaring costs were an issue, but remained confident that funding offered by the government was “sensible”.

The project will be funded by a £56.1 million grant from the Department for Transport, with the council covering the rest from its reserves.

Cllr Keane Duncan, executive councillor for highways at the county council, told the Stray Ferret that the authority had put “built in” funding into the contract to cover inflation.

The council has set aside £11 million to be factored into the budget to cover any issues with ground conditions or bad weather.

Cllr Duncan said:

“We have built in inflation, we know that that is a risk and that is something that is built into the contract.

“It is something that we are now hoping will not be an issue for us looking ahead.”

All major projects come with risks and barriers which need to be overcome.

But county council officials will take brief comfort that they can now finally put spades in the ground on the multi-million pound scheme before before tackling those hurdles over the next two years.

Minister ‘open’ to inflation funding discussions for A59 Kex Gill

Ministers are open to discussions over funding should a major realignment for the A59 at Kex Gill hit further inflationary pressures.

Richard Holden, the minister for roads, told the Stray Ferret that he believed the government had struck a “sensible deal” with North Yorkshire County Council for the £69 million scheme.

Mr Holden visited the Kex Gill site along with officials from the county council this morning.

It comes as the Department for Transport gave the final go-ahead for the project today, which will see the road rerouted.

The move comes as the project has been beset by delays and mounting costs due to inflation.

However, work now look sets to start in April on the scheme — three months after the council’s most recent anticipated start date.

When asked if the government would step in should the project face rising costs, Mr Holden said:

“We have done a sensible deal with them [the council], we did not want to sign anything before it was all ready.

“Obviously, there have been inflationary pressures across construction particularly the last few years.

“I hope we don’t need to get to that point, but I think we have got a good project team here who are going to keep costs under control working with National Highways.

“I think we are in a good place, but obviously discussions are always open when it comes to money.”

The project will be funded by a £56.1 million grant from the Department for Transport, with the council covering the rest from its reserves.

A further £11 million has been factored into the budget to cover any issues with ground conditions or bad weather.

The Kex Gill realignment site, which is set for construction.

Irish civil engineering and construction firm John Sisk & Son (Holdings) Ltd has been appointed to build the road.

Speaking following the announcement, Cllr Keane Duncan, executive councillor for highways, said:

“This is really the culmination of seven years worth of work to get to this stage.

“It’s very welcome that we are now able to proceed.”

The A59 at Kex Gill, near Blubberhouses, is the main route between Harrogate and Skipton. Since 2000, the route has been closed 12 times following landslips.

The estimated completion date for the scheme is May 2025.

Pictured above (left to right) council leader Cllr Carl Les, minister for roads Richard Holden, and Cllr Keane Duncan, executive councillor for highways.

Government gives final go-ahead for £69m Kex Gill reroute to start

The government has given the final go-ahead for work to start on a £69 million realignment of the A59 at Kex Gill.

Officials at the Department for Transport have signed off on North Yorkshire County Council’s business case, which will see the landslip-hit road re-routed west of Blubberhouses.

The move comes as the project has been beset by delays and mounting costs due to inflation.

However, work now look sets to start in April on the scheme — three months after the council’s most recent anticipated start date.

Richard Holden, the government’s roads minister, said:

“Making journeys safer, faster and more reliable for motorists to reduce travel times and help grow the economy is vital.

“The new route at Kex Gill will benefit businesses across the North of England and local towns and villages nearby by boosting economic growth, enhancing connectivity and putting an end to disruptive road closures.

“Investing in projects like this to provide long-term improvements shows how the government is committed to levelling up transport links with long-term sustainable solutions.”

The scheme has faced numerous delays and following tender returns, the estimated cost of the scheme increased by £7.2 million to £68.8 million, which the council attributed to inflation affecting constructions costs.

The project will be funded by a £56.1 million grant from the Department for Transport, with the council covering the rest from its reserves.

A further £11 million has been factored into the £68 million budget to cover any issues with ground conditions or bad weather.

The council had previously earmarked groundworks on the project to start in January, but was awaiting sign-off from government on a full business case.

Irish civil engineering and construction firm John Sisk & Son (Holdings) Ltd has been appointed to build the road.

Cllr Keane Duncan, the council’s executive member for highways, said:

“It is welcome news that the government has given us the final go-ahead to begin construction. The re-alignment of Kex Gill will undoubtedly be one of the council’s most ambitious ever highways projects.

“The A59 provides a very important east-west connection in North Yorkshire and is of national significance. We remain committed to completing the scheme as quickly as possible and in the most cost-effective way.”

The A59 at Kex Gill, near Blubberhouses, is the main route between Harrogate and Skipton. Since 2000, the route has been closed 12 times following landslips.

The estimated completion date for the scheme is May 2025.

£69m Kex Gill realignment beset by further delay

Work on a major realignment of the A59 at Kex Gill has been further delayed as the scheme awaits sign off from government.

North Yorkshire County Council had earmarked work on the scheme to finally start in January.

The project will see a diversion built west of Blubberhouses on a stretch of road blighted by a history of landslips.

The scheme has faced numerous delays and following tender returns, the estimated cost of the scheme increased by £7.2 million to £68.8 million, which the council attributes to inflation affecting constructions costs.

In a statement to full council next week, Cllr Keane Duncan, executive councillor for highways, will say:

“We are almost ready to begin construction work to realign Kex Gill, which is amongst the council’s biggest ever infrastructure projects.

“The council has awarded preferred bidder status to John Sisk & Son (Holdings) Ltd, a family-owned international civil engineering and construction contractor with a strong track record.

“We are in the final stages of completing land acquisition processes ahead of a decision on our full business case which was submitted to the Department for Transport in August.

“A decision is expected very soon to coincide with a planned start on site.”

The project is due to be funded by a £56.1 million grant from the Department for Transport, with the council covering the rest from its reserves.

A further £11 million has been factored into the £68 million budget to cover any issues with ground conditions or bad weather.

It comes as senior county council officials have warned about the risk involved with the authority’s major projects amid soaring inflation.

Gary Fielding, the council’s director for strategic resources, warned previously that the “burden of risk” for major projects, such as the realignment of the A59 at Kex Gill, will fall on the authority amid soaring inflation.

The A59 at Kex Gill, near Blubberhouses, is the main route between Harrogate and Skipton. Since 2000, the route has been closed 12 times following landslips.

The estimated completion date for the scheme is May 2025.

Work on £69m Kex Gill realignment delayed until January

Work on a £69 million plan to realign the A59 at Kex Gill has been delayed until January.

The project will see a diversion built west of Blubberhouses on a stretch of road blighted by a history of landslips

Despite hopes the scheme could start in December, the county council now says work is due to start in January.

A spokesperson for North Yorkshire County Council said the authority was awaiting full business case approval from the Department for Transport for the project.

They said:

“We are awaiting the decision by the Department for Transport to approve the scheme’s full business case. We are confident that approval will be given early in the New Year.

“We are, however, proposing to carry out some early ground works in January to ensure that the project remains on track.”

The authority awarded a £50.7 million to John Sisk & Son (Holdings) Ltd, an Irish civil engineering and construction firm, to build the scheme.

The project is due to be funded by a £56.1 million grant from the Department for Transport, with the council covering the rest from its reserves.

A further £11 million has been factored into the £68 million budget to cover any issues with ground conditions or bad weather.

It comes as senior county council officials have warned about the risk involved with the authority’s major projects amid soaring inflation.

The A59 at Kex Gill, near Blubberhouses, is the main route between Harrogate and Skipton. Since 2000, the route has been closed 12 times following landslips.

The estimated completion date for the scheme is May 2025.

North Blinds: The company that will pull out all the stops to help you find the perfect window covering

This story is sponsored by North Blinds.

With so many styles of blinds and shades to choose from, finding the right one for your needs can sometimes feel a little overwhelming.

However, using their vast knowledge and expertise, Lucas and his business partner Chris can help you find the perfect window covering.

Since launching their business, North Blinds, in 2018, the team have commissioned and installed thousands of blinds.

Their unrivalled customer service has earned them hundreds of five star ratings on review sites including Google and Trustpilot.

Personal approach

This is thanks to their personal face-to-face approach, which includes bringing their unique ‘mobile showroom’ to customers’ homes.

Lucas said:

“We bring the showroom to customers, so they don’t need to leave the comfort of their homes.

“We, as an independent family business, have got large collections of books of different swatches and types of blinds, so they can see what the actual material or fitting is going to look like against the wall or against the furniture.

“This really helps customers to find what they are looking for.

“We are always friendly and our free no-obligation consultations are carried out in a relaxed way. We keep the best interest of our customers at heart.”

Lucas, from North Blinds.

Lucas, Chris and the team personally offer advice on what blinds would be suitable for customers’ needs.

For example, a heavy wooden blind might not necessarily be suitable for a large window and a motorised blind might be a more preferable option for a skylight.

Lucas said:

“Using our expertise and our experience, we advise them so they get the results they want. Sometimes as a customer, you have something in mind but you don’t know the full range or what options you have. So we can help solve this.”

Lifetime guarantee

The company also offers a unique lifetime aftercare service. As well as a standard two-year warranty on all blinds, North Blinds stay on standby to help customers with any future issues.

Lucas said:

“Our lifetime aftercare helps you to keep your blinds in tip-top shape, even when they get accidentally damaged. So if your dog took too much of a liking to your bone print kitchen blinds, we will fix the damage for free. We only charge for replacement parts if needed. You can’t say fairer than that!

“We focus on the experience and the customer service so they feel they have got value for money. We want to take away all the stress of ordering blinds, fitting them and making sure they are ok.”

North Blinds is based in Skipton, however they offer their top-class service across the Harrogate district, including Knaresborough and Ripon.

The firm works with the best manufacturers to supply a complete range of blinds, including blackout blinds, motorised, ‘perfect fit’, pleated, Venetian, roller, day and night, conservatory, skylight Roman and vertical. As well as the huge variety window blinds on offer, the business also offers a wide range of curtains and shutters.

Lucas added:

“Customers expect excellent quality materials, a high-level of workmanship, professionalism and excellent customer service, and that’s exactly what we believe in too.”

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Personal approach

Lifetime guarantee

To book a free, no-obligation quote with the team at North Blinds, click here, or call 01423 434049.