North Yorkshire Council

Transport, Economy, Environment and Enterprise Overview and Scrutiny Committee

22 October 2025

Notice of Motion on Dualling of the A64

Report of the Assistant Chief Executive (Legal and Democratic Services).

1.0 PURPOSE OF REPORT

1.1 For the Transport, Economy, Environment and Enterprise Overview and Scrutiny Committee to consider and formulate a response to the Notice of Motion on Dualling of the A64, in order to report back its recommendations to Full Council at its meeting on 12 November 2025.

2.0 BACKGROUND

2.1 At the Full Council meeting on 16 July 2025 a Notice of Motion proposed by Cllr Keane Duncan (and seconded by Cllr Derek Bastiman) stated:

This council:

- Reiterates its support for the dualling of the A64;

- Agrees to write to the Mayor of York & North Yorkshire and the Members of Parliament for York Outer, Thirsk & Malton and Scarborough & Whitby requesting confirmation of their support for this essential upgrade;

- Commits to working on a cross-party basis with national and local political representatives to secure this essential upgrade at long last.

2.2 At Full Council, three Notices of Motions were received, and it was decided by the Chair that they would all be referred to the Scrutiny Board for further consideration and to be allocated to the appropriate Overview and Scrutiny Committee, with the intention of recommendations being brought back to the next meeting of full Council in November 2025.

2.3 On 15 August 2025, the Scrutiny Board considered this motion, and it was agreed that it should be considered by the Transport, Economy, Environment and Enterprise Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

3.0 A64 DUALLING

3.1 The A64 road dualling project has been a long standing priority for local communities and stakeholders for many years. The existing road between York and Scarborough is a major source of congestion and safety concerns, during peak travel times and holiday periods. In particular, there tend to be traffic tailbacks during busy periods where the carriageway merges from dual to single lane. The route is a vital strategic corridor linking York to Malton and on to the East Coast, and its limitations are seen as a barrier to investment, productivity and regional economic growth in the area.

3.2 Back in 2021/2022, three Hopgrove dualling options were proposed for further development as part of a public consultation by National Highways. These were:

1. Option A: Online dual carriageway improvement. Utilises the existing alignment of the A64 dualling the existing single carriageway from a point 500m north of Hopgrove Roundabout to the Jinnah Restaurant.

2. Option C: Offline dual carriageway improvement to the northwest of the existing alignment, crossing the existing alignment then re-joining the A64 at the Jinnah Restaurant.

3. Option D: Offline dual carriageway improvement to the northwest of the existing alignment, joining the A64 briefly close to Scotchmans junction then re-joining the A64 at the Jinnah Restaurant.

3.3 In Autumn 2023, as part of an update by National Highways to this committee, it was explained that a value engineering study was taking place on ‘Option D’ of the A64 Hopgrove to Barton-le Willows dualling scheme to reduce costs. It was explained at the meeting that the study aimed to reduce the number and simplify the layout of proposed junctions, with changes including removing grade separated junctions, and adding in footbridges and on-/off-slips. Walking and cycling measures and provision for utilities were also reviewed to ensure the most efficient provision. During this study, it was advised that Natural England had confirmed that areas of woodland impacted by some of the proposals met the criteria to be classed as ‘ancient woodland’, and therefore any further work on this project would need to consider the best way to avoid those. At the TEEE O&S meeting it was explained that savings were achieved from the value engineering work, but the value for money ratio on the project remained low.

3.4 In March 2025, the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority published a Strategic Transport Framework, which includes reference to the A64 as a growth transport corridor, but does not reference the dualling project directly. The Combined Authority report also instructed officers to commence work on a Local Transport Plan for the York and North Yorkshire region. Work to develop a draft plan ready for public consultation in early 2026 is ongoing.

3.6 Despite lobbying efforts to get the Government to commit to the dualling of the A64 at Hopgrove to Barton le Willows, the scheme was not included in the oral statement to Parliament titled ‘Transforming the UK’s road and rail networks’[1] or in the recently published draft Roads Investment Strategy (RIS) 3[2].

3.7 In the preparation of this report, National Highways have provided the following update on the A64 Hopgrove to Barton-le-Willows scheme to inform committee members:

The A64 Hopgrove to Barton-le-Willows scheme is one of more than 30 schemes identified by National Highways and the Department for Transport (DfT) at the start of the Road Investment Strategy (2020-2025) for potential delivery in future RIS periods (2030 onwards). As part of this work, each scheme is evaluated against a range of criteria. These include strategic fit, safety, value for money, deliverability, environment and stakeholder views.

We completed most of Stage 2 (Options Selection) on the A64 Hopgrove scheme, which included carrying out a public consultation in 2022 on three potential improvement options. More information on this consultation can be found on our Citizen Space platform https://nationalhighways.citizenspace.com/he/a64-hopgrove/. For reference, most of our major projects typically go through eight stages, including stage 0.

We found our emerging options in Stage 2 were high in cost and assessed as having low value for money. To try and identify ways to reduce cost, we carried out a value engineering study on Option D (the most popular option at consultation - a new dual carriageway running northwest in parallel with the current A64, re-joining around the Scotchman Lane Junction before separating and re-joining approximately 1km south of the Steelmore Lane Junction, with the current A64 becoming a local access road). While we found elements of the design that could be altered, the changes would have required additional changes elsewhere on the route and therefore we were unable to find reasonable savings, so the overall scheme costs remained high with low value for money.

The findings of our work were shared with DfT in 2023 and no further technical work has taken place on the scheme since. The final decision on schemes rests with government.

It’s important to note that all schemes in the pipeline programme remain uncommitted, with no guarantee they’ll be taken forward into construction. The status of the pipeline schemes is expected to be confirmed as part of the next Road Investment Strategy (2026-2031) which is scheduled to be published in March of next year.

4.0 AMENDMENTS RECEIVED

4.1 Following the publication of the agenda papers for Full Council back in July, two proposed amendments to the motion text were submitted to Democratic Services, but following the Chair’s decision to send the motion to Scrutiny Board, these were unable to be tabled at the meeting for further consideration.

4.2 In preparing for this Transport, Economy, Environment and Enterprise Overview and Scrutiny (TEEE O&S) Committee meeting, the councillors who submitted the two proposed amendments were contacted and indicated that they wished for both of these to be considered as part of the TEEE O&S discussion.

4.3 Submitted Amendment 1 (from Councillor Liz Colling, Labour)

This council:

- Reiterates its support ~~for the dualling of the A64~~ for a wider sustainable transport plan for North Yorkshire which may include dualling of the A64;

- Commits to working on a cross-party basis with national and local political representatives ~~to secure this essential upgrade at long last~~ to support this strategic direction.

4.4 Submitted Amendment 2 (from Councillor Steve Mason, Liberal Democrat and Liberal)

This council:

- ~~Reiterates~~ ~~its~~ support ~~for~~ the dualling of the A64, first to Malton and then Scarborough, subject to a positive cost / benefit analysis;

- Commits to working on a cross-party basis with national and local political representatives to secure this essential upgrade at long last.

5.0 OPTIONS

5.1 The initial consideration for the Committee on this issue is that given the update from National Highways, that “the status of the pipeline schemes is expected to be confirmed as part of the next Road Investment Strategy (2026-2031) which is scheduled to be published in March of next year”, whether the proposed actions for the Council set out in the motion text or the submitted amendments would be seen as the right way forward when considered at Full Council in November.

5.2 It should be noted there is also the option for the committee to consider recommending to Full Council an alternative course of action to that proposed in the motion text if it saw fit, such as to form a working group to explore the issue in detail.

5.3 However, if the Committee is keen to recommend that action(s) be taken by the Council, then the debate can go on to consider if the motion text as submitted or the amendments put forward is the right wording to deliver action on the A64 as part of any recommendations back to Full Council.

6.0 CHANGE TO MANAGEMENT OF MOTIONS AT FULL COUNCIL

6.1 In considering the motion text to be agreed, committee members should be aware of the recent amendment to the Constitution concerning changes to how the management of motions referred back to Council from Overview and Scrutiny are dealt with.

6.2 The Constitution now states that: “When the Executive or a committee reports back on a motion with its recommendations, the Executive’s or committee’s recommendations become the substantive motion before the relevant decision-making body for voting upon. One Member may speak for 3 minutes to introduce the findings and recommendation of the Executive or committee and the mover or seconder of the original motion may speak for 3 minutes to either oppose or agree the recommendation. There will be no moving of amendments in relation to, questions upon or any other discussion of or questions on the motion prior to the vote upon it.

6.3 This means it is key that the recommendations back to Full Council clearly reflect the debate and agreed position of TEEE O&S, to send a motion text back to Full Council in November to go straight to the vote on without further amendments, questions upon or discussion.

7.0 FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

7.1 There are no direct financial implications resulting from the motion text as submitted, as it advocates reiterating support as a Council and writing correspondence to elected representatives. It should be noted any final decision on schemes rests with government.

8.0 LEGAL IMPLICATIONS

8.1 There are no direct legal implications resulting from the motion text as submitted, as it advocates reiterating support as a Council and writing correspondence to elected representatives.

9.0 EQUALITIES IMPLICATIONS

9.1 There are no direct equalities implications resulting from the motion text put forward as submitted.

10.0 CLIMATE CHANGE IMPLICATIONS

10.1 There are no direct climate change implications resulting from the motion text as submitted, as it advocates reiterating support as a Council and writing correspondence to elected representatives.

10.2 Any project put forward by National Highways would be subject to their own technical and impact assessments.

11.0 CONCLUSIONS

11.1 For the Transport, Economy, Environment and Enterprise Overview and Scrutiny Committee to agree on recommendations to send to the Full Council meeting on 12 November 2025 on the A64 dualling motion.

11.0

11.1

RECOMMENDATIONS

For the TEEE O&S Committee to

i) note the update on the A64 Hopgrove to Barton le Willows dualling scheme from National Highways

ii) formulate a response on the motion text to report back its recommendations to be considered by Full Council on 12 November 2025.

Appendices:

Appendix A – Copy of Motion Received and Submitted Amendments

BACKGROUND DOCUMENTS: None

Barry Khan

Assistant Chief Executive, Legal and Democratic Services

County Hall

Northallerton

October 2025

Report Author – Will Baines, Senior Scrutiny Officer

Note: Members are invited to contact the author in advance of the meeting with any detailed queries or questions.

[2] Draft Road Investment Strategy 3 (RIS3) - GOV.UK, Department for Transport, published 26 August 2025.