CALLS were made yesterday for a protected route for a Northallerton bypass.

Hambleton planning committee insisted that action was needed to ease congestion and pollution caused in the county town by increasing traffic and frequent closures of three level crossings.

Planning officers are to hold talks with North Yorkshire County Council to find the best way of making progress on a bypass following a government announcement last month of a £180m national road funding package over ten years.

The announcement specifically referred to a target of 50 new bypasses in rural areas, but the planning committee heard that the Northallerton project had slipped down the county council priority list.

It was originally projected in 1993 with an anticipated start date of 1999, but it was now on the reserve list and was unlikely to figure in transport plans over the next decade.

Coun David Blades warned that local plans did not include any protection against development for a proposed bypass route and this should be an early priority in discussions.

Coun Ralph Andrew said the town could not expect a major bypass on the original plan but it must be possible initially for Hambleton to become the lead authority in promoting an initial route linking Stokesley Road with Darlington Road, where congestion was causing transport problems for the BT depot.

He said: "We must deal with this urgently, not next year but next week. Someone somewhere has got to get to grips with this because it is getting out of hand.''

l See Comment, page 22