I am delighted that, after a long campaign to find a solution, work to stop the flooding problems which regularly occur in Sherburn village near Malton will begin as early as next week. It will be carried out alongside the much needed crossroad junction improvements.
Local residents have been understandably frustrated by flooding in Sherburn as a result of excess rain making the drains backup resulting in the whole road flooding. Water has even seeped inside the Post Office every time a vehicle drives past. Although Highways England has cleared ditches, drains and gullies around the affected areas, which helped a bit, this was not enough and an alternative and long-term solution was needed. I have kept in close contact with Highways England and am delighted that finally work is about to start.
The work will take around eight weeks. It will include installing new combined kerb drainage units and new pipework and manholes to enable improved discharge of the surface water into the surrounding existing drainage network; providing new controlled pedestrian crossing facilities on the northern and southern arms to the crossroads; and improvements to the crossing on the western arm and replacing some of the traffic signal equipment.
Chris Dunn from Highways England said “ We have continued to work closely with North Yorkshire County Council to find a permanent solution to the drainage issues and we are now in a position to start the drainage work in Sherburn at the beginning of March. This is an extremely challenging scheme and in order to rebuild a brand new drainage system within the junction whilst maintaining the day today running of the A64 and surrounding area, 24 hour traffic management will need be in place. We have proposed to close the access to Sked Dale for approximately 4 weeks and will run the remaining 3 arms of the junction/crossroads on temporary signals. This will allow the site teams to work safely and efficiently throughout the day to avoid disruption through the night and ensure that congestion is kept to a minimum in the village throughout the work”.
It is likely that closing this arm of the junction for a long period will cause disruption to some local people but that he would keep the pressure up to ensure it would be completed as soon as possible.
Highways England says it will be carrying out Phase Two of the renewal project later in the year, which involves a much larger programme of work to renew the drainage from Sherburn through to Ganton.
