YORK’S climate champion says dualling the outer ring road must not be focussed on helping people 'get past York two minutes faster' - but on cutting pollution, congestion and carbon emissions across the city.

Cllr Christian Vassie, who chairs the city council's climate emergency committee, was speaking in the wake of news that a planning application has been submitted by City of York Council for a £65 million upgrade of a stretch of the ring road around the north and west of the city, including turning it into a dual carriageway and improving roundabouts.

He said it was essential the dualling was designed to serve the people of York and delivered reductions in carbon emissions and congestion in the city.

"This month the climate emergency committee, which I chair, welcomed a presentation from the York Civic Trust and the Stockholm Institute on the issue of how transport in York can be shaped to deliver the goal of a zero carbon future," he said.

"One key component is to ensure that the dualling of the ring road is not focussed on helping people get past York two minutes faster but instead is designed to cut pollution, congestion and carbon emissions across and within the city itself."

He claimed the council's transport chiefs had so far failed to advance any big vision for York's transport future, despite repeated requests to get on with it from councillors.

He said a Climate Strategy that would hopefully be agreed in the next couple of months by full council was clear that dramatic change was needed. 

"The climate strategy recognises that to be in line with the UN Paris Climate Accord, York has to reduce CO2 emissions from transport by 71 per cent by 2030.

"Given that York has reduced emissions from transport by 0 per cent over the past 20 years, this is a massive challenge. 

"It is therefore vital that this dualling project contributes to emissions cuts rather than simply encouraging more traffic onto the roads."

He said Professors Tony May and Johan Kuylenstierna had set out how using the dualled outer ring road to steer traffic out of the city centre, zoning the city to prevent motorists from cutting through the middle and redirecting them to use the ring road, could help the city deliver a zero carbon pathway.

"A dualled ring road focused on cutting emissions and congestion in the city, in combination with a new mass-transit public transport system, a new approach to moving freight and a rollout of electric lorries and cars (including EV charging technology for residents in terraced streets) could indeed help us deliver real change," he said.

He hoped the planning committee would reject any scheme that failed to contribute significantly to York's carbon reduction targets.