Local Growth Fund

The YNY LEP approved £2.97m of Local Growth Funding to support improvements at the A1M / A59 separated motorway junction (J47).

Project Brief

The junction was known for frequently experiencing congestion in the peak hours, which often led to traffic queuing back onto the main carriageway of the A1m, which caused safety concerns. Committed and planned developments both residential and commercial are expected to cause traffic growth in the area and exacerbate the issue of congestion at this junction.

The scheme will deliver a range of highway infrastructure improvements that will improve capacity at the major A1/A59 interchange and support the adjacent and nearby future developments for commercial and residential development including:

Harrogate 47 Business Park:

• Offices from 5,000 to 20,000 sq ft
• High Tech / Hybrid Units from 6,000 to 12,000 sq ft
• Industrial / Warehouse from 20,000 to 80,000 sq ft
• Future Development Roadside Retail & Amenities

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Officially opened on 11 October 2018, the £17.8 million project, led by the Environment Agency, helps to protect 378 homes and 165 businesses in the town centre from flooding from Eller Beck and Waller Hill Beck, which rise very quickly after heavy rain. The project is designed to provide the town with this new level of protection over the course of the next 100 years.

Project Brief

Skipton has experienced significant flooding in 1908, 1979, 1982, 2000, 2004, 2007 and 2015. A life was lost as a result of the 1982 flood. Construction of the scheme started in March 2015, where two flood storage areas have been created upstream of Skipton at Eller Beck near Skipton Golf Club, and Waller Hill Beck to slow the flow of water from the surrounding hills, reducing the risk of the becks causing floods in the town centre.

The new flood storage areas can hold a combined total of 111 million gallons of water equivalent to 168 Olympic sized swimming pools, or 5.2 million bathtubs.

The scheme also includes 300 metres of new flood defence walls including new raised walls that have been constructed in the town centre at Morrison’s car park, and near private gardens and a children’s play area further upstream in the town.

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Eller Beck Flood Storage Area - near Skipton Golf Course is the larger of the two storage areas. A 13 metre high, 610 metre wide earthworks dam has been built which can hold 433,000 cubic metres of water or 95 million gallons. Normal flows pass unrestricted through a pipe known as a culvert within the dam, but during a flood, a barrier called a penstock will be lowered to block off the culvert inlet so that water can be held back to form a reservoir.

Waller Hill Flood Storage - the dam at Waller Hill is 9 metres high, 105 metres wide, and has the capacity to hold 72,000 cubic metres of water, or nearly 16 million gallons. A concrete culvert with inlet and outlet has been constructed to allow the beck to flow during normal conditions, which allows high river flows to be held back.

The project has enabled infrastructure improvement works on the rail line between Harrogate and York – on the East Coast Main Line - to enable the delivery of two local services per hour.

Project Brief

The infrastructure works were completed in December 2020 with the new timetable for increased service frequency due to take effect in December 2021. The improvements make for a more modern, reliable and resilient railway for passengers, in parallel with reduction in traffic congestion and road accidents. The improvements will also enable more services to run in the future, better connecting Harrogate and York, and supporting development of housing and employment land in the vicinity of stations along the route. The doubling of services on the rail line is anticipated to increase local GDP by over £3.5m over the next 60 years.

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