Bypass £11.7m overspend partly due to wildlife - MP

Environmental mitigations are partly to blame for an £11.7m overspend on one of the biggest road-building schemes in the North, an MP said.

Skipton and Ripon MP Julian Smith recently told councillors in his constituency that contractors had said 20 to 25% of the overspend on the Kex Gill bypass was caused by measures to protect Nidderdale National Landscape wildlife and habitats.

The project, which involves realigning a landslip-prone section of the A59 between Skipton and Harrogate, was discussed at a recent North Yorkshire Council meeting.

Green Party councillor Andy Brown alleged the overspend was due to a combination of "miscalculation" and "incompetence".

North Yorkshire Council was contacted for a comment in response.

The scheme was originally expected to cost £68.8m, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said, with an extra £2m previously approved by councillors.

The authority agreed in May to provide the extra £11.7m, which took the cost of the overall project up to £82.5m.

The project includes a bypass near Blubberhouses, replacing a section of the A59 which has suffered 15 closures since 2000 due to landslips.

Speaking at the meeting, the Conservative MP said: "When I saw rocks for lizards to bathe on and demands that no works could take place on the water courses for nine months a year, it was clear to me why some of these costs have inflated.

"I think as a country we do need to look at how we better balance the environment with some of these schemes because that scheme for transport is vital."

Brown told the meeting: "The £11.7m overspend was a shattering blow to North Yorkshire Council's finances – and we weren't informed as a council until after the event that it was developing.

"No part of the overspend was due to environmental concerns – it was due to a miscalculation of the nature of the ground and incompetence in managing it."

A spokesperson for Smith told the BBC he "stands by his comments at the area committee".

They said he "supports initiatives that protect the environment, but he feels that the level of mitigation seems excessive".

"The key point that Sir Julian is making is that taxpayers' money has to be carefully spent, and if there is overspend on mitigations in every project this adds up and causes unfair burdens on taxpayers," the spokesperson added.

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