Information about our plans to reroute the A59 at Kex Gill.
Find out dates and detailed information about the 2024 Kex Gill landslip repair schedule.
Kex Gill has a history of landslips and instability, over the years there have been many unplanned and costly closures of the A59 at Kex Gill. Road closures at Kex Gill cause an inconvenience not just for users of the A59, but for those in the surrounding towns and villages through which traffic is required to make a six mile diversion.
The A59, illustrated in context below, provides a very important east-west connection in North Yorkshire, linking Harrogate and Skipton. It provides a route across the north of England, between junction 31 of the M6 and junction 47 of the A1(M).
The A59 route in context (jpg / 167 KB)
In 2016, we began detailed work on developing options to address the issue of landslips and instability on the A59 at Kex Gill. Following guidance from the Department for Transport, an Options Assessment Report was produced which contained 16 options (these options can be found below under the development of options for A59 relocation at Kex Gill).
Following the appraisal of the 16 options, a number of the best performing routes (based on their ability to address the issues of resilience, connectivity, reliability and safety as well as their fit with national and local transport policy) were collated into what was formally known as the ‘consultation corridor’, below.
You can view a large version of the consultation corridor (jpg / 159 KB) here
We held a first stage public consultation event in Autumn 2017 at locations in Harrogate, Skipton and Norwood. Members of the public could also view the consultation material and provide comments online, via post or email. The consultation events were attended by over 300 individuals, and a further 300 online responses were received. Over 90 per cent of responses supported the need to do something at Kex Gill.
Following the consultation event, work continued to further refine the options for the best possible alignment. Extensive ground investigation work has been carried out in the area, and ecologists are regularly on site carrying out required environmental surveys in line with the UK and European legislation. The survey work identified that a previously discounted option needed to be brought back into consideration, due to the fact that it significantly reduces the impact on the very important protected landscapes (Special Area of Conservation, Special Protection Area and Site of Scientific Interest). The previously discounted option does still fall within a section of the previous consultation corridor, however, it is now anticipated that the scheme will begin from North Moor Road and follow the bridleway to the east before dropping down and re-joining the A59 close to Hall Lane. See this key sensitivities plan (pdf / 1 MB) for more details.
A proposed preferred route has been developed following the results of the ground investigation works and extensive liaison with environmental, geotechnical and highway engineering specialists.
You can view a larger image here (jpg / 9 MB) or a high quality PDF version here (pdf / 1 MB).
Based on the work undertaken so far this represents the route the council believes achieves the best balance of meeting the aims of the scheme, minimising the impact on the environment and reducing the impact on landowners and local people. It therefore forms the starting point for more detailed discussion and refinement with landowners and other important interested parties.
You can a view a large image here (jpg / 4 MB) or a high quality PDF version here (pdf / 9 MB).
You can view a large image here (jpg / 6 MB) or a high quality PDF version here (pdf / 3 MB).
Discussions have already commenced between the scheme designers and some key local stakeholders with a view to understanding day to day business and operations. These discussions will assist the team in producing the final detail of the preferred route. Following a further public consultation event held on 30 June 2018 at Norwood Social Hall in the Washburn parish, the county council’s executive agreed the preferred route at its meeting on 24 July 2018. Detailed design and liaison with landowners, stakeholders and government continued to refine details of the scheme.
Updated Notice of Making the Side Roads Order (SRO) - Period for support/objection now the 18 October 2021. The period for representations of support/objection to the Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) is the 20 September 2021 and this date remains unchanged.
The Compulsory Purchase and Side Roads Orders were made by us on 30 July 2021. These orders are being submitted to the Secretary of State for Transport for confirmation. The orders are being published in the Harrogate Advertiser and Craven Herald and the London Gazette and copies of the orders will be available to view at County Hall Northallerton and Skipton Library and Harrogate Library. The Orders will remain available to view until the 18 October 2021, but if you wish to make representations regarding the Compulsory Purchase Order you must do so before the 20 September 2021. We are required to send a Statement of Reasons for making the orders to the Secretary of State and copy of this is available to view, along with the orders below.
Kex Gill Statement of Reasons (pdf / 2 MB)
Kex Gill Compulsory Purchase Order (pdf / 111 KB)
Kex Gill Compulsory Purchase Order / Side Roads Order (pdf / 1 MB)
Kex Gill notice of making compulsory purchase order (pdf / 313 KB)
Kex Gill CPO/SRO Statement of Reasons List of Documents (pdf / 312 KB)
Kex Gill Compulsory purchase order key plan (pdf / 614 KB)
Kex Gill Compulsory purchase order plan 1 (pdf / 241 KB)
Kex Gill Compulsory purchase order plan 2 (pdf / 323 KB)
Kex Gill Compulsory purchase order plan 3 (pdf / 389 KB)
Kex Gill plan folio (pdf / 100 KB)
Kex Gill site plan (pdf / 1 MB)
Kex Gill side roads order plan 1 (pdf / 259 KB)
Kex Gill side roads order plan 2 (pdf / 493 KB)
Kex Gill side roads order plan 3 (pdf / 508 KB)
Kex Gill side roads order (pdf / 284 KB)
The Compulsory Purchase and Side Roads Orders were confirmed by the Secretary of State for Transport on 7 November 2022. Notice of this is being published in the Harrogate Advertiser and Craven Herald and the London Gazette on 24 November 2022 and copies of the orders (with amendments) as confirmed will be available to view at Skipton Library and Harrogate Library. Copies of the orders and notices are available to view below.
Additionally on the same date the Secretary of State for Environment Food and Rural Affairs certified certain land is to become common land in exchange for common land over which the new alignment of the A59 at Kex Gill is to be built. Notice of this is being published in the Harrogate Advertiser and Craven Herald on 24 November 2022 and a copy of the certificate and associated map will be available to view at Skipton Library and Harrogate Library. Copies of the certificate, notice and the associated map are available to view below.
A59 Kexgill Diversion - confirmed compulsory purchase order (pdf / 10 MB)
Department for Transport Kex Gill compulsory purchase order (pdf / 20 KB)
Kex Gill compulsory purchase order confirmation notice (pdf / 344 KB)
Kex Gill diversion side roads order (pdf / 11 MB)
Kex Gill side roads order confirmation redacted (pdf / 35 KB)
Kex Gill side roads order Confirmation Notice (pdf / 108 KB)
Section 19 certificate (pdf / 47 KB)
Section 19 notice (pdf / 306 KB)
Common Land and Exchange Land Plan (pdf / 731 KB)
Equality impact assessment (EIA) form: evidencing paying due regard to protected characteristics
Please see below the landscape mitigation drawings used at the previous public information events held at Skipton, Humberstone Bank Farm and Harrogate.
Landscape mitigation drawings overview (pdf / 3 MB)
Landscape mitigation drawings sheet 2 (pdf / 1 MB)
Landscape mitigation drawings sheet 3 (pdf / 1 MB)
Landscape mitigation drawings sheet 4 (pdf / 1 MB)
Landscape mitigation drawings sheet 5 (pdf / 1 MB)
Landscape mitigation drawings sheet 6 (pdf / 2 MB)
Landscape mitigation drawings sheet 7 (pdf / 2 MB)
Landscape mitigation drawings sheet 8 (pdf / 2 MB)
Landscape mitigation drawings sheet 9 (pdf / 2 MB)
Landscape mitigation drawings sheet 10 (pdf / 2 MB)
A consultation on our proposals for the re-alignment of the A59 at Kex Gill closed on 31 October 2017. Supporting information can still be viewed below.
The A59, illustrated in context below, provides a very important east-west connection in North Yorkshire, linking Harrogate and Skipton. It provides a route across the north of England, between junction 31 of the M6 and junction 47 of the A1(M).
The A59 route in context (jpg / 167 KB)
Below you can find a range of background information, maps and diagrams which form the basis of our proposals.
Due to a history of landslips and instability (illustrated below) which have in the past led to unplanned road closures, the county council has been working to develop proposals to ensure the future resilience of the route.
The most recent landslip was in early 2016 and resulted in an eight week road closure. In the event of a landslip, road users are routed round a six mile diversion through towns and areas deemed unsuitable for the volume and nature of vehicles. The available information suggests the primary cause of these landslips is heavy rainfall, coupled with relatively unstable land on the hillside slopes.
Fortunately to date, although a vehicle has been caught in a landslip, there have been no personal injuries as a result of a landslip at Kex Gill. However, without intervention there continues to be a significant risk that road users could be caught in any future landslip, potentially resulting in serious injuries or fatalities.
Following a review of various engineering studies and advice from technical experts, it has been determined that full stabilisation of the area at risk would require extensive and very substantial engineering works and is unlikely to be practicable or environmentally acceptable. Therefore, the existing A59 or any improvements to the existing highway would remain susceptible to landslip and related disruption. As a result, a new section of the A59 must be created to replace the existing road.
So that we could progress the development of a solution at Kex Gill, the government requires us to create an Options Assessment Report (OAR). This was produced, below, and set out 16 options to be considered and scored.
The 16 options broadly sit within eight main corridors (see illustrations below). Corridors are strips of land within which an alternative road may sit. Within each corridor there are options for the exact route the road may take, but each corridor will have similar characteristics.
The sixteen potential route options (jpg / 249 KB)
The routes grouped into eight corridors (jpg / 247 KB)
An appraisal of all the corridors was carried out using an agreed Department for Transport (DfT) approach, in order to assess their merits or otherwise against set criteria (see illustration below). This included consideration of each corridor’s environmental impact, feasibility, buildability (a pre-construction exercise that looks at a design from the perspective of those that will manufacture, install components or any structures and carry out the construction works) and performance against local and national objectives.
The results of the assessment demonstrated the blue, magenta and orange corridors to be the best performing, due to their fit with national and local transport objectives and their significant positive impact in terms of economic growth, wellbeing, and social and distribution impacts (SDIs). They also offered improved resilience, connectivity, reliability and safety and consequently met the specific scheme objectives, particularly in terms of removing the risk of landslip-related closures of the A59. These three corridors also performed best in terms of affordability and demonstrated some of the shortest implementation timescales and the least environmental impact.
The main difference between the blue, magenta and orange corridors is whether they diverge from the A59 at Kex Gill Farm or further east along the existing A59. In order to enable a better understanding of this, further ground condition and topographical surveys will be undertaken in the vicinity of these three corridors. This information will be critical in being able to narrow down the exact alignment of a preferred option.
However, because these three corridors are broadly similar, they have been collated together to form the ‘consultation corridor’ (see illustration below). The consultation corridor can be described as "Starting at Kex Gill Farm utilising the bridleway to take the corridor along the north edge of the Valley beyond where the land slips have taken place to the existing A59 before Blubberhouses".
The existing A59 at Kex Gill / Blubberhouses currently suffers from an increasing number of closures as a result of landslips in the area. The southern side of the valley, through which the A59 passes, has a history of landslips resulting in debris falling into the road. This results in the road being closed to allow works to secure the slopes, to clear any debris from the road and repair any damage to the highway. This poses a resilience and safety concern for North Yorkshire Council. As a result, a new road is required.
Due to the unstable nature of the existing ground on the southern side of the valley it is not possible to stabilise the land for the long term, nor will it totally remove the risk of future land slip. As a result there would still be risk of land slips, and therefore of damage, road closures and injury. Therefore, a suitable alternative alignment for the road needs to be sought.
We have gained a grant from with the Department for Transport (DfT) to fund a majority of the project cost for the scheme. The baseline cost of the project is £68.8m, with DfT providing a £56.1m contribution and Council capital reserves supporting with a £12.7m allowance.
With current plans, construction of the new road will begin in Spring 2023 and be completed by Summer 2025.
The majority of the new road will be constructed without access to traffic, allowing the existing road to remain open during construction. This will reduce the amount of disruption faced by road users and local residents. The tie-in points of the new road to the existing road may require traffic management, but the impact of this will be carefully considered between us and the appointed contractor to minimise disruption and delay.
Yes. A contractor has been appointed.
The new road is likely to be single carriageway in each direction. The preliminary design is being carried out to determine if there is any requirement for climber, or overtaking lanes at certain locations.
The area is important and sensitive in terms of environmental and ecological flora and fauna. The project team has already engaged with Natural England, the Yorkshire Dales National Park, the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty team and specialist teams with North Yorkshire County Council to fully understand key constraints and restrictions. Environmental surveys have and will be carried out in order to minimise the environmental impacts of the new road. A full environmental impact assessment report will be produced prior to any construction works taking place. By working closely with key stakeholders we will seek to ensure added benefits and value are delivered through the final scheme proposals wherever possible.
It is highly likely the new road will run along the path of the existing bridleway. Therefore a new bridleway will be constructed at a suitable nearby location. We will be engaging with the local access forum on the details of this.
Yes, options to maintain the existing A59 have been considered and explored. However, the underlying geology means that risk of landslips would still remain and this option was not taken forward to the next stage.
The new road is likely to be approximately 4.8km or 3 miles in length.
Only marginally, a climbing lane is being considered as part of the design. The chief benefit will be journey time reliability and the resilience of the local road network.
Whilst it is recognised there are other challenges on the A59 this scheme is focused on the resilience issues associated with the valley at Kex Gill. Some minor journey time improvements will be likely because of the smoother alignment of the road in comparison to the existing one, but these are only expected to deliver minor savings, and are not the main focus of the scheme.
No, whilst related, this is a separate piece of work by Transport for the North which will not affect the progress and development of an improvement scheme at Kex Gill which is being progressed by the county council in discussion with the Department for Transport.
