TRANSPORT Minister David Jamieson has given new hope to campaigners fighting to make the A64 between York and Scarborough a dual carriageway.

After a fact-finding tour yesterday he told business leaders, heads of local authorities and regional agencies that he was ordering a new in-depth study to be carried out into the economic and safety benefits of upgrading the busy road.

Two years ago Mr Jamieson gave the go-ahead for an initial study to be

carried out on the busy road which links the Yorkshire Coast, Ryedale and

the main motorway networks of the A1, M1, and A19, and he said he now

wanted to see the brief taken forward and for detailed budgets to be

produced.

He said there were several main criteria on which improvements would be

judged - whether they would be good value for money; road safety; and

environmental impact.

Earlier, Mr Jamieson had been driven from York railway station and en-route to the headquarters of the Scarborough Building Society, was shown blackspots and inadequacies in the road.

Leaders of City of York Council, Scarborough Council, Ryedale District

Council, North Yorkshire County Council, Yorkshire Forward, Highways Agency

and Yorkshire and Humber Regional Assembly had a round-the-table meeting

along with business leaders, with the minister and Scarborough and Whitby MP Lawrie Quinn, who arranged the meeting.

John Trebble, Scarborough Council's chief executive, said the coast was

finding it difficult to attract new investment because of the inadequate

state of the A64.

The problem was also affecting its tourist and conference industries because the A64 was seen as an unreliable road with heavy holiday traffic in summer, and an increasing amount of heavy goods lorries throughout the year, as well as agricultural vehicles.

Coun Ann Reid, City of York Council's executive member for transport,

said her authority supported the idea of more work being done on

upgrading the road, but she did not want to see a new road result in

businesses being moved about. She said improvements to the rail link

were equally vital.

Ryedale district councillor Elizabeth Shields said the safety aspect of the A64

was imperative.

She said: "Over the last ten to 12 years we have seen a total of about 50

people killed. In addition 40 people are seriously injured every year.

At the end of the 90-minute meeting Mr Jamieson said he recognised the

A64 was "a particularly important route" and he wanted to see the

investigations progressed.

Representatives of the Agency and Yorkshire Forward said they believed that

an initial programme could be "established" within a month, and further work

completed on the potential for the A64, within six months.

Updated: 10:46 Thursday, March 04, 2004