A BYPASS around the A64 bottleneck A64 village of Rillington will be a serious contender in the Government's new £180bn package of transport schemes, says Junior Transport Minster Keith Hill.

Speaking after a drive along the York to Scarborough road to meet business leaders in Scarborough, Mr Hill said he had been "impressed" with the volume of traffic and seen the conditions for himself.

There were no proposals to dual the stretch between York and Scarborough, but the Government intended to bring in consultants to look at how to tackle problems like those faced on the A64.

He said he was conscious that a rail link largely ran alongside the trunk road and he wanted to see investigations made into several options "rather then rush to just one solution".

At present, said the minister, some 80 per cent of visitors to Scarborough went by road, and he wanted to see more use made of the railway both by passengers and freight traffic. "We want to encourage choice for the public."

Mr Hill said that options for the A64 corridor could include road widening under a better public transport system.

Mr Hill had been shown the scene of last week's lorry crash at Rillington and said he appreciated the worries of the residents.

At Scarborough he said he had "strong representations" made to him by the heads of McCain, Rafflatec, Plaxtons, North Yorkshire County Council, Scarborough Council, Chamber of Trade and fishing community for improvements to be made to the A64.

He described Rillington "as a very reasonable candidate" for a bypass.

Lawrie Quinn, MP for Scarborough and Whitby, said that in the three years of the Labour Government £6 million had been spent on improvements to the A64.

The minister also announced the go-ahead of a £18.5 million package of improvements at Scarborough to provide bus priority schemes, park and ride, a bypass on the Scarborough to Filey road at Lebberston and an integrated transport scheme for Scarborough.

"This is good news for the town because it will reduce traffic congestion, encourage the local economy and reduce the impact of traffic."

He said the scheme would be financed through a private finance innovation.