THE manager of a Ryedale museum has criticised the decision to move nearby bus stops, claiming it will affect pedestrian safety.

Nick Hill, of the Eden Camp just outside Malton, criticised the relocation of the two bus stops on the A169/A64 junction.

He said 95 per cent of travellers using the Coastliner service at the two stops did so because they were visiting or leaving the museum.

“A significant percentage of those are either elderly, disabled or families with young children who cannot afford to run a car or who are not physically able to drive. Moving the two bus stands has increased the walk to the entrance of Eden Camp from 10 minutes to 20, an increase which will prove impossible for many.

“More importantly, passengers alighting from a bus heading south towards Malton from Pickering now have to cross three busy roads, as opposed to the one crossing that had to be made from the original bus stand location, while on the northbound stand, passengers now have to cross one road, whereas before they didn’t have to cross any. This must surely have been considered before the decision was made to re-site the two stands.

“North Yorkshire Highways offered no explanation for moving the stands, but did state that footpaths would be established between the bus stands and our entrance. Footpaths were subsequently installed, but not to our site. They terminate 60 metres away from our entrance.

“After airing our concerns with the developers and contractors involved in the new Eden Business Park, they kindly created a footpath to our entrance as a gesture of goodwill and neighbourliness.

“We have now been informed that North Yorkshire Highways have instructed the developers to remove the footpath. Surely the main consideration when developing any plan relating to transport, traffic and pedestrians must be to ensure that the possibility of pedestrians and vehicles coming together is minimised as much as possible. We envisage serious road safety issues if the situation is not addressed.”

A county council spokesman said: “The change to the bus stops is part of a developer-led and funded scheme. A planning application was submitted to Ryedale District Council for a major new business park next to Eden Camp and included a new roundabout on the A169 with two new bus stops and laybys on the A169.

“As the planning authority, RDC will have carried out the usual statutory consultations and notices will have been placed on site, allowing anyone to view the plans and make comments.

“The new business park has the potential to have several hundred staff working there and it is hoped some will use public transport. The developer proposed to improve the existing bus stops on the A169 by providing laybys and footways leading from the stops to their site as well as Eden Camp. There was insufficient room to provide laybys where the old bus stops were, so they had to be moved and located safely in relation to the new roundabout. The new northbound bus stop is 90m north of the old stop, while the southbound stop is about 250m further to the north. A safe pedestrian route from the new bus stops has been provided, including splitter islands allowing pedestrian to cross a single lane of traffic at a time.”

They added that they are not aware of the request to remove the new footway.