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The Stokesley by-pass fiasco
Then in 1962 - When a new by-pass was first mooted for Stokesley it seemed a good idea. The traffic build up through the town had caused serious concern for a number of years and on Whit weekend in 1964, the congestion through the High Street was so heavy, police had to be called to guide people across the road.
But what started out as a good idea was soon to develop into nothing short of farce.
The North Riding County Council, confident that their plans for the new road were in order, started work on the middle section of the by-pass which would branch off the Stokesley/ Nunthorpe road at what is now Strikes nursery, to a roundabout adjacent to Stokesley cricket field. It would then wend its way eastwards of the town in a curve joining the Stokesley/Thirsk road at Bens bridge.
A year later the entire project came to a grinding halt.
What the County Council hadn’t bargained for was the intransigence of two men, one a farmer the other a nurseryman through whose land important sections of the new road would pass.
John
Baines, the nurseryman had been offered what he described as a paltry £300 for an acre of his land, and turned it down. The council raised this sum three times to £1500, but Mr Baines said he was sticking out for £3000.
Meanwhile at the other end of the route, farmer Norman Seymour was far from convinced that the council had chosen the right line for the road through his land, and appealed against his compulsory purchase order. And so a two and a half year battle began. Seymour was to argue that a straighter line was the more sensible. “I’m not being awkward or deliberately holding up the work . In fact I will lose money if my suggestion is adopted because I will receive compensation for only one and a half acres against the 4 acres proposed by the council.”
The Minister of Transport Barbara Castle agreed with him and upheld his appeal and ordered the council to examine Mr Seymour’s proposal and report back. But both Mr Baines one acre, and Mr Seymours four acres had been placed on the same compulsory purchase order. So when the Minister upheld Mr
Seymours, she automatically upheld Mr Baines appeal.
“An unfortunate state of affairs “ was how Mr N. Brown, deputy Surveyor of the North Riding County Council described it. “We didn’t expect it to be turned down. Now we must start all over again.”
Meanwhile a 60ft mountain of clay was being created as lorries dumped tons of over spill needed for the foundations of the new £1/4 million road.
One local councillor Mr Richard Hoyle a farmer at Hilton tried to get the entire project scrapped, claiming it was a total waste of money and when completed would be superseded by the new A19. “It will become nothing more than an expensive “lovers lane” “ he claimed. His proposal however received only four votes at the local council
meeting.
As instructed, the county council resubmitted its proposal along side that of Mr Seymours which they claimed would add a further £10,000 to the cost. Finally in July 1966 Barbara Castle, came down on the side of Mr Seymour claiming that his proposed line was shorter, straighter, faster, more commodious and much safer.
Now in
1999 - Mr Seymour today still cannot understand why the County Council dug in their heels over their route for the by-pass. “After leaving the cricket club roundabout over the flyover they wanted it to curve to the right and come out at Bens Bridge which would have meant two nasty and dangerous curves. It cost me money to fight the council, but it was worth it. The by-pass is a great success."
Graham
Cressey, Traffic manager at Hambledon District Council confirmed that the by-pass (now the A172) was finally opened in 1969 and currently 7,500 vehicles use this stretch of road every day.
This article originally appeared in the June 1999 issue of Now
& Then Magazine
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