Hawes resurfacing scheme postponed following public meeting

Residents and businesses in Hawes have had their voices heard as a resurfacing scheme to improve safety in the town has been postponed until later in the year.

The work, which involves a full resurfacing of the A684 through Hawes, is essential in extending the life of the road and preventing the need for repairs in the future. This well-used route is in a poor condition and resurfacing will improve its safety for all users.

A public meeting was held last week with representatives from North Yorkshire County Council, the designers and contractors.

“We listened to the views raised at the public meeting about the works, originally scheduled for spring,” said Highways Area Manager Jayne Charlton. “We acknowledge the concerns that this sits at the start of the peak tourist season so we have decided to push the work back until later in the year.

“We hope the community can appreciate that there is no ideal time to carry out such extensive works. We have been able to extend the funding until the end of 2022 but we must balance public opinion with the risks that carrying out this type of work in the winter may bring. Resurfacing during the winter months can be very problematic and we want to ensure we avoid any unforeseen delays to the overall programme.

“We are now in talks with our contractors to confirm a new start date, which we anticipate will be late September, to avoid the major sheep sales at the auction mart. Once a revised date has been confirmed we will update the public. We always listen to the views of those most affected by our highways schemes and would like to thank everybody who came forward to make their voices heard.”

The work is financed by the Department for Transport’s Safer Roads Fund which seeks to address issues on the 50 A-roads identified as being the most dangerous in the country.  

The funding has already been used to install a new flood detection system at flooding hotspots on the A684 – the first of its kind in North Yorkshire. It has also financed safety improvements at the crossroad junction to the west of Patrick Brompton, changes to the layout and resurfacing work in Leyburn, and new lay-bys at various points along the A684.

The County Council was awarded £7.06m to fund a series of safety improvement projects on the A684, one of the major routes East to West through the Yorkshire Dales, from Leeming Bar through to Junction 37 of the M6. It was one of four successful bids to the Safer Roads Fund.