Sir, – Colin Telfer must be congratulated on taking the initiative by setting up a petition to bring forward the Northallerton Link Road Scheme (D&S letters, March 27.

Clearly something has gone seriously wrong with strategic transport planning in the Hambleton District and North Yorkshire County Council areas.

We now have a situation where work has started on the Bedale by-pass with a scheme having an initial cost estimate of £50m based on a land-take extending 4.8km. It appears that there are many people in Bedale who are opposed to the scheme and its benefits are relatively small. The journey time for people travelling to and from Wensleydale will be reduced by a few minutes and traffic delays for those travelling to Bedale should be reduced, although such delays are at present intermittent and could clearly be solved by a traffic management scheme at the junction of Bridge Street and the Market Place.

On the other hand, the north Northallerton Link Road has an estimated cost of £7.9m and extends for 1.4km. The scheme has now become critical for the future of Northallerton. In 2010 a study commissioned by North Yorkshire County Council showed that the crossing gates at Low Gates could be down for as much as 30 minutes in any one hour. Since then delays have worsened. Further, with the impending release of houses on the former York Trailer site, traffic congestion will get even worse. I understand that the link road cannot go ahead until the developers of land adjoining the route have obtained planning permission. As yet I understand the relevant planning application has not even been submitted.

Whereas one hugely expensive road scheme, with very little actual benefit is going ahead, a much smaller and cheaper scheme which would produce substantial benefits for hundreds of people is without a starting date. This would appear to be a misapplication of resources, and whereas Bedale, Easingwold and Ripon all have by-pass schemes which are either completed or in the process of being completed, nothing is yet in line for Northallerton.

There is clearly a need for Hambleton District Council, North Yorkshire County Council and the Department of Transport to co-ordinate their efforts to see that this problem is dealt with as soon as possible.

H C WRIGLEY

Danby Wiske, Northallerton.