Last night I met the Secretary of State for Transport, Chris Grayling MP, to discuss the dualling of the A64 between Hopgrove Roundabout and Barton Hill and to explain why I was worried that the plans might be shelved. Highways England has recently warned me that it might be necessary to build additional bridges to cope with the extra traffic coming on to the A64 and this would significantly increase the cost of the project. The matter is currently with his department for review. During the meeting I was able to explain, in detail, that the economic case for dualling has already been made and is very much needed. It would help ease the serious bottlenecks on the A64 when volumes of traffic are high and allow businesses and tourists to travel to and from the East Coast without encountering serious delays. I assured him that the project has support from the entire community and had been running on schedule. I am pleased to report that the Transport Secretary assured me that he would take this up directly with Highways England. I shall continue my campaign to ensure that this scheme is delivered.
