£65m York Outer Ring Road dualling project under review

The review of the £65m project ring road dualling project is looking at all key areas of it and assessing them against its original business case.

York Council Director of Transport James Gilchrist said the review would help update the case for the project for funders and aimed to find the best way to deliver it.

It comes alongside a Government review of spending on transport schemes after Parliament heard in July that unfunded commitments stood at £2.9bn.

Transport Secretary Louise Haigh ordered the review after Chancellor Rachel Reeves told MPs she had inherited a £22bn black hole in the nation’s finances from the previous Conservative government.

Government funding worth £25m for the York Outer Ring Road is among the spending being looked at.

A computer generated image of the York Outer Ring Road project Council figures also showed that almost £21.5m which was set to be spent on the project this financial year has been pushed back.

A revised timetable showed spending during 2024-5 was down from about £22.6m to around £1.1m.

Almost £9.2m is now set to be spent in 2025-6 compared to the £23.9m originally planned.

Most of the spending is now set to happen in the three years after, with almost £22.4m set for 2026-7.

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All the money was spent to be spent by 2027 in the original timetable, but now almost £19.6m is earmarked for 2027-8 and around £5.6m is allocated in 2028-9.

Construction was originally set to take around two years once work was able to get underway.

It comes as part of wider cuts to the council’s capital spending on major projects of about £81.7m this financial year, from the almost £215.9m originally planned to almost £134.2m.

A report on the changes stated the spending was being pushed back into future years.

Labour’s Council finance lead Cllr Katie Lomas told a meeting of the authority’s Executive last week that she made no apologies for being careful with the capital programme.

City of York Council 'flythrough' of how the dualled outer ring road would look at Clifton Moor roundabout

Cllr Lomas said: “We’re taking a really careful approach to the capital programme to look at what’s needed, but we remain ambitious for the city in a difficult financial situation.”

But Liberal Democrat opposition leader Cllr Nigel Ayre said there was a danger that delaying spending could push up the final cost due to inflation in the construction sector.

Cllr Ayre said: “Most worrying for us is the issues around the York Outer Ring Road, we were not aware that the scheme is under threat, we’d ask for a commitment for that scheme to be delivered by 2029.”

Cllr Nigel Ayre

The council did not confirm whether the project would now be completed by 2029 when asked by the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

Transport Director Mr Gilchrist said the ongoing review of the project was looking into its cost, programme for delivery, risks and land acquisition.

The official said: “The review will help inform the required update to the business case for funders and the best way for the project to progresses through to delivery.”

Labour Council Deputy Leader and economy spokesperson Cllr Pete Kilbane said they still intended to progress with the project following news of the Government’s spending review in July.

Liberal Democrat transport spokesperson Cllr Stephen Fention said at the time more clarity was needed on the future of the scheme which was vital for supporting development north of York.

Plans for the project were approved by the council in March and the previous Conservative Government gave it the green light in April.

It aims to cut congestion in York city centre by drawing traffic out to the route by expanding its capacity through dualling and upgrading roundabouts.