Cllr Keith Knaggs will put forward a motion at tomorrow's annual meeting suggesting money from the council's £8 million reserves is used to improve the junctions at Brambling Fields and Musley Bank.

He believes the "fundamental infrastructure" of Ryedale should be considered ahead of developing individual sites in Malton and Norton which are identified in the Malton Town Centre Strategy as well as the plans for the livestock market.

Cllr Knaggs said: "While we talk, nothing happens, nothing really changes and in Malton and Norton, traffic congestion gets steadily worse. Perhaps we are focusing on some of the wrong things."

Improvements to the A64 junctions will, he suggests, "provide immediate benefits in the short as well as long term".

He wants council officers to look at bringing forward the A64 improvements and at the implications it would have on the council's capital programme, which has already earmarked £1 million towards Pickering Flood Defences and another £1 million for a sports centre at Malton School.

Cllr Knaggs said: "Ultimately, these improvements can be self-financing as the council recovers contributions from the developments which are thereby made possible.

"But the council has some capital and could have more if we develop the council's assets in the right way. Why should the taxpayer not have a capital gain as well as the private developer?"

Campaigners with the Malton and Norton Junctions Action Group have been left frustrated at their attempts to improve the A64. In November the Regional Transport Board delayed a decision on Musley Bank which would have worked in conjunction with the scheme at Brambling Fields, planned by Ryedale District Council and the county council.

The schemes would see a new roundabout at Musley Bank, which would allow vehicles to enter and leave Malton via the A64, easing traffic and addressing accident problems at the Low Hutton Lane junction and improvements to the Brambling Fields junction, that would help to remove vehicles from the centres of Malton and Norton.

"Of course there are a thousand things that can go wrong," said Cllr Knaggs. "We can't do it alone. The junctions action group has tried hard but got nowhere. The Highways Agency, county council, Regional Transport Board, Yorkshire Forward have to come on board. But if we are not enthusiastic and committed we can't expect anyone else to be."



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