Briefing Note - Skipton & Ripon Area Committee

5 March 2026

Wyvern Link Road, Skipton

1.0 PURPOSE

1.1       To provide a progress update to members of the Skipton and Ripon Area Committee       on the Wyvern Link Road.

2.0 BACKGROUND

2.1       Members may recall from the Committee meeting held on 4 December 2025 that:

i. Regeneration colleagues have secured a grant of £90,000 from the combined mayoral authority to continue with design and development work for Wyvern Link Road.

· The alignment of the new road is accepted

· It is estimated that the budget requirement will be significantly more than

£1.9 million

· Given the current preliminary design accepts the flood level will be above the new road surface at times, we would like to take the opportunity to review if there are any alternative methods of construction which may help minimise the frequency or duration of the road being flooded

ii. Officers note the additional recommendation, resolved by this Area Committee on 4 December 2025, that officers submit a draft business case for consideration by the Executive within six months. 

3.0       PROGRESS UPDATE - MARCH 2026

3.1       Our design specialists were commissioned to carry out:

Phase 1 - within one month of commission (end February 2026)

i. review the current design

ii. determine if satisfactory/examine flooding risk

iii. provide feedback and recommendations

Phase 2 - within six months of commission (end July 2026)

iv. complete the current design, or commence initial designs on a revised vertical alignment on the same line and start discussions with external bodies on that revised design

v. consider the wider impacts (signing / routing etc in flood)

vi. provide construction costs estimate

3.2       Phase 1 was completed on time and has identified significant issues concerning flood resilience and operational performance of the scheme.  Further internal work is now required to consider the issues raised.

vii. Unfortunately, the scheme has not yet reached an appropriate stage to allow a draft business case to be prepared for consideration by the Executive.

Author: Helen Watson, Senior Engineer, Major Projects