The A64 Growth Partnership is a partnership of organisations working closely with our local MPs, Highways England, Transport for the North, local authorities and businesses, and many others, to promote the upgrading of the A64 between York and Scarborough.
Who is the A64 Growth Partnership?
The A64 Growth Partnership is a partnership of local businesses, Councils and the Local Enterprise Partnership, working closely to secure the improvement of the A64 between York and the East Coast to address the recurrent issues of journey time unreliability, and unlock transformational growth for the region which will contribute to the UK economy. The A64 Growth Partnership is the voice of local businesses, both large and small in the region.
The partnership’s objective is to highlight the issues for businesses and local communities that are caused by the inadequate nature of the A64 east of York, where the trunk road is mostly single carriageway of variable standard. Our immediate priority is ensuring the allocated RIS funding of up to £250m is invested in the dualling of the A64 carriageway from Hopgrove to Malton.
Why dual it?
Wage levels drop from York towards the coast as connectivity to York worsens and the lower skilled work becomes more prevalent. However, there are significant opportunities for economic growth along the A64 which we have been developing. These include:
•The York Potash development at Whitby
•The University Technical College in Scarborough
•Coventry University
•Housing growth in Scarborough and Malton
•The expansion of major employers such as McCain Foods and Severfield
•The Malton Food Enterprise Zone
•The National Agri Food Innovation Centre at Sand-Hutton.
To achieve the full benefit of these exciting opportunities, access needs to be improved to markets and labour, and existing challenges around journey times need to be overcome.
The focus of our activities is the section of the A64 between the Hopgrove junction to the east of York, where the A64 becomes single carriageway and joins with the York Outer Ring Road, and Barton Hill, where the next section of dual carriageway begins. Our aim is to upgrade the section to dual carriageway at the earliest opportunity.
Case studies
Below are some case studies from businesses who feel the A64 impacts their business’ ability to perform and grow.
Severfield
With clients including major retailers and car manufacturers, timely deliveries of construction steel components are a vital part of Severfield’s success. Based at Sherburn – part way between Malton and Scarborough – all inbound and outbound freight from Severfield’s plant comes along the A64. And this often brings challenges because of frequent congestion on the route.
Severfield is a big local employer. The steel manufacturer has a turnover of £10m at the Sherburn plant and employs around 30 staff. This is in a very rural part of North Yorkshire. The plant focuses primarily on supplying construction components. It takes raw materials from British Steel plants at Scunthorpe and Teesside and delivers across the UK.
“Our components are a vital part of completing construction jobs on time”, explained Business Unit Director, Kevin Campbell. “Our order turnaround times can be very short and delays caused by problems on the A64 lead to fines or mean that compensation needs to be paid. It’s not just us that are affected either – our hauliers experience delays which can lead to them losing other work because of the backlog”.
It’s not just the movement of goods that are affected by congestion and delays on the route. Staff working at the plant also have to deal with delays. Kevin suggests that the bad reputation of the A64 affects Severfield’s ability to recruit:
“The holiday season is especially bad. That’s when the traffic heading to and from the coast can make the journey really bad for people trying to get to work.”
Kingspan
Kingspan’s plant at Sherburn – between Malton and Scarborough – is a state-of-the-art manufacturing plant, supplying building systems and suppliers across the UK and beyond. It’s situated right beside the A64 and relies on the road for access to customers across the UK. Exports are also key for the company, with links to the ports at Hull and Liverpool that are also a major routes for its goods.
With a turnover in excess of £100 million per year, the Sherburn plant is a major player in the economy of this part of North Yorkshire. Its plans for growth, however, will be restricted by issues with access to the site caused by unreliable journey times along the A64.
“The cost of distributing goods from the Sherburn site, using the A64, are higher than for any other of Kingspan’s UK sites. This really matters because the site has great potential but it’s held back by problems with access along the road”, explained Tom Paul from the company.
The business operates in a sector where ‘just in time’ deliveries are required. Any delay incidents along the only road usable by its lorries to and from the plant has a big impact. The company can face charges for late and delayed deliveries.
“The site itself is very efficient and we’d love to build on this”, added Tom. “But we’re being held back by problems with the A64 and unreliable and costly journey times. New investment in the road could support new investment in manufacturing plants like ours, helping to secure long-term employment and additional investment across this part of North Yorkshire.”
Castle Howard
A world-renowned stately home, as seen by millions in TV and film and visited by thousands every year, Castle Howard stands out as one of the must-see attractions in Ryedale, North Yorkshire.
The stately home is still privately-owned as is a fully working rural estate as well as being a major visitor attraction. In 2019, the estate is to host the BBC’s Countryfile Live event, which is expected to bring in thousands of extra visitors. It’s just one in a series of special events taking place at Castle Howard during the year, all of which require good access to and from the site. The A64 route between York and Scarborough is the way in which around 80% of visitors and traders access the Castle Howard estate: it’s a vital part of the success of the site.
“The A64 is such an important route for the success of everything we do”, explained John Hoy from the Castle Howard Estate. “Not just in terms of major events, such as the forthcoming Countryfile Live, but also for the day-to-day running of the estate and the businesses based here. We estimate that around 80% of people coming to the site get here by the A64. Any problems with that route can have a major knock-on effect on us.
“It doesn’t even take a big incident on the road to have an impact. During last summer’s hot weather we regularly saw a detrimental impact on visitor numbers when the road was really busy with people heading to and from the coast. Upgrading the route will have a significant positive benefit for us and our businesses, but also for the whole of Ryedale which relies heavily on tourism as an important part of its economy.”
Get involved
If you’re interested in providing a case study, getting involved with the A64 Growth Partnership, or have any queries about the project, please contact enquiries@ynylep.com.
For more information, visit https://nationalhighways.co.uk/our-work/yorkshire-and-north-east/a64-hopgrove/