A Freedom of Information request submitted by a North Yorkshire MP has highlighted a pattern of spin, evasion and inaction by the Mayor of York & North Yorkshire and his team in relation to dualling the A64 road between York and Scarborough.
Dualling the A64 has been a focus for local campaign groups for decades, and was a key topic during the 2024 Mayoral election. But in the nine months since Labour’s David Skaith was elected, official documents show he has done almost nothing to move the policy forward.
The first time the Labour Mayor wrote to the Roads Minister to highlight the importance of the A64 only came after Kevin Hollinrake had submitted a Freedom of Information request in January this year.
Prior to that, the Mayor appears to have made no attempt to write to the Chancellor, Transport Secretary, or Deputy Prime Minister about the need to invest in the A64, despite his team admitting that it remains “the highest priority main road scheme for our area”.
Significantly, the correspondence shows that under pressure from North Yorkshire MPs, the Mayor’s team shifted the goalposts of their transport policy, first to talk about “improving” the A64 rather than “dualling it”, and then to highlight other forms of transport, such as bus and rail services, as an alternative to driving on the A64.
In one specific exchange, the Mayor’s Political Adviser changed the wording of the Mayor’s position on the A64 to reflect the Labour Government’s reluctance to invest in new transport infrastructure, arguing that “duelling [sic] would come at great expense and would require significant financial support from national government.”
The Freedom of Information request has also highlighted a culture of spin and evasion within the Mayor’s office in relation to the A64. In one email exchange, the Mayor’s advisers and officials wrote:
· “…you’ll notice I changed the email header to say A64 improvements, which…avoids the specific reference to dualling”
· The Mayor’s political adviser admitted: “I’m also sure (and conscious and willing to be corrected) that we have not made a great deal of progress with the corridor study”
· And one official cynically observed: “We could mention the Corridor Study, however it might be worth holding back on that for any follow-on response so we can show we are ‘doing something’”
Kevin Hollinrake, the Member of Parliament for Thirsk & Malton, who submitted the FOI request in January, said:
During the election campaign, David Skaith claimed transport was the biggest issue he wanted to solve. Yet, almost a year into the job, there’s still no clear plan to address the region’s most pressing transport problem: the A64 bottleneck. The Mayor hadn’t even written to the Roads Minister about the issue until after I submitted a Freedom of Information request.
While he claims to support road improvements, it’s obvious he prefers bus and rail solutions – without being honest with me or the public about where he stands on the A64. He just doesn’t understand the needs of residents, business and healthcare, all of whom are frustrated and constrained by the A64 bottleneck. Now that the Mayor has been in the job for almost a year, it’s time he answered the simple question: does he support dualling the A64, or not?
Tom Paul, Chair of the A64 Growth Partnership and Kingspan Director, added:
We have been campaigning to dual the A64 for fifty years now and absolutely nothing has happened. Reading all of these letters is beyond frustrating – it's downright infuriating. We have some of the most deprived wards in the region by the A64 and all the politicians have done is talk.
The region has lost the opportunity for any growth and wealth creation across this period and all we get is a talking shop and zero action from the politicians. It’s an absolute insult to the region.
Chris Steward, Leader of the Conservative Group on York City Council, said:
A year ago, everyone from politicians to businesses to residents, seemed to agree that improving transport should be the biggest focus of the new Mayor. It is therefore incredibly disappointing to see such an abject failure on the crucial A64.
Sadly though it is unsurprising given the influence through every aspect of the Mayor's office of York Labour who are also rolling back on the dualling of the A1237 which the Conservatives provided funding for.
Given the last York Lib Dem administration absurdly put the anti-car Green councillor Andy D'Agorne in charge of transport, it is literally only Conservatives that have tangibly supported these crucial dialling schemes for many, many years.
The revelations come on the back of a challenging fortnight for Mayor Skaith, after he was heavily criticised for spending over £31,000 on a new logo for the Combined Authority, leading over 500 people to sign a petition calling for him to pay for the logo himself.
