Town told it will have to wait for bypass (From Gazette & Herald)

Town told it will have to wait for bypass

A CATALOGUE of ideas to help solve Pickering's acute traffic problems has been greeted with a mixed reception.

Residents put forward a list of suggestions of their own when they discussed North Yorkshire County Council highways department's transport strategy at a public meeting on Thursday.

But the packed Memorial Hall was told by county councillor Greg White, the chairman, that there was still no hope of Pickering achieving its long-held dream of a bypass.

"It is very unlikely that one will be built in my lifetime."

He added: "It would be sensible, but I cannot see it being funded."

The money, he said, would have to come from central government and he did not see it funding either a bypass or a rail link to Malton.

However, Pickering stood to get a share of £500,000 to £1 million funding over the next five years to carry out traffic schemes in the town, whereas a bypass would cost "tens of millions" said Coun White.

Other residents called for the traffic lights at the junction of The Ropery and the A170 to be replaced with a roundabout and for pedestrian crossings to be built at each side of the junction, near the doctor's surgery and the Over-60s' Club. They argued that the crossings and a roundabout would not cause the same delays as the traffic lights.

Tom Danks said the main problem in Pickering was the A170 and its long traffic queues.

He forecast that the situation would be made worse if some of the proposed highway schemes in the town centre were carried out and would "push" traffic down Hungate on the main road.

Other residents said they were against making Bridge Street one-way, or "cutting off" Smiddy Hill to traffic, while one said the strategy "seemed to be doing something on the cheap".

Mavis Jackson-Gould called for traffic lights to replace the roundabout at the Forest and Vale junction with the A169 roads to Malton, Whitby, and Scarborough.

"You can't get across the roundabout because it gets blocked with traffic," she added.

Coun White pledged: "I am not going to allow highway officers to railroad schemes through which don't have the support of the people of Pickering."

The 100-plus residents at the meeting gave the green light to proposals to carry out improvements for pedestrians in Pickering, including dropped kerbs, tactile paving, crossings and footpaths, and to the inter-connecting of bus services to make Pickering an interchange by making space available for buses to park in Eastgate. There were also calls for crossings in The Ropery and in Eastgate.

There was a mixed response to moves to create cycle routes and opposition to the closure of Anchorite Lane. But there was more support for narrowing of junctions at Outgang Lane and Middleton Road and 20mph limits outside schools.

Some wanted a roundabout at the junction of Middleton Road and the A170, and there was little support for "home zones" areas.

Coun Judy Dixon said she wanted to see more children cycling to school.

The meeting heard that speed humps and not rumble strips were needed in Goslipgate.

Residents backed calls for the traffic light system at The Ropery to be adjusted to give longer periods of "green lights" on the A170 to reduce congestion.

One of the key issues in the strategy, to have a trial of banning traffic in the Market Place on the Monday Market Days, also got a mixed re-action with demands being made for better policing of the present situation and complaints made that stall holders parked their vehicles behind their stalls.

One idea put forward was to give traders reduced permits to use the Eastgate park. Other people pointed out that Helmsley's market was flourishing because cars were not allowed in the Market Place on market days.

The meeting, called by councillors White and Ryedale council member Linda Cowling, was part of the public consultation on the proposed NYCC schemes before final decisions are made.

Coun White said: "This is a plan of a series of ideas which can be changed in the light of the consultations."

Updated: 12:20 Wednesday, October 19, 2005