A NEW plan to bring more housing and jobs to Northallerton includes a long-awaited relief road.

The plan has been drawn up as part of work to create Hambleton District Council's new local development framework, which will guide all future developments across the district.

The suggested northern relief road, which would involve Hambleton working with the county council, would link the A167 Darlington Road with the A684 Stokesley Road, cutting across land between Brompton and Northallerton.

It is believed the road would relieve town centre congestion and ease conditions at Low Gates level crossing, at the northern end of Northallerton, where long traffic queues build up several times a day when the barriers are down to allow trains to pass.

The county council agreed in March that plans to tackle the problem by building a £5m bridge over the line should be dropped from the local transport plan because it was unlikely to receive funding from the Government.

The new local development framework will help Hambleton planners to determine where developments might best be located across the district.

Steve Quartermain, director of planning and environmental services, said: "Northallerton is being seen as the key centre for future development.

"There could be a lot of potential for the northern area of the town. This master plan is an exciting concept and covers everything from housing, industrial and commercial developments and recreation to the much-needed relief road.

"But it is vital to ensure that in allocating land for new houses and employment, we create new communities that in turn create quality environments."

Mr Quartermain said many landowners had already put land forward for development but there were others who still needed to be approached before a realistic and viable scheme could be put together.

Further work on highway designs and costs, traffic impact, flooding and funding must also be done.

A working group of district and county councillors and officers will be established to look at the relief road and there will be consultation with the public on all aspects of the master plan.

The Northallerton local plan committee of Hambleton has agreed to further investigation of the potential of the overall scheme, which covers a range of green field sites on the northern edge of the town.

The plan has concentrated on an area between the main East Coast railway line and land east of Stokesley Road, but will need to take account of other developments, such as the vacant York Trailers site in Yafforth Road.