Bedale Bypass £14M shock
Two weeks ago the Department for Transport(DFT) announced that North Yorkshire County Council Taxpayers would have to find at least £14M to build a bypass to Bedale Aiskew and Leeming Bar (BALB).

Liberal Democrats at County Hall have always opposed the BALB bypass bid which originally committed the Council to between £6M and £15M cost but has met with a Government that is determined to continue to move the goal posts at every turn.

The main change that rang alarm bells was in April 2011 when the DFT withdrew the “safety net” that would underwrite half of any overrun of costs up to a certain level.

This meant that although the minimum of £6M would remain any under spends would have to be borne by the County Council tax payers which meant that the top price of £15M became £30M overnight.

In view of this the Liberal Democrats at County Hall asked that the Council “throw in the towel” rather than risk taxpayers money on what at best was a marginal scheme. However the Tory led Executive decided to continue with what had now become a high risk project.

The latest move by DFT is to reduce their grant so that the amount to be found by the County Council is increased to a minimum of £14M+ the costs of any overruns

The County Council has until the end of January 2012 to decide whether to accept the revised offer or abandon the scheme.

At the Full Council meeting on the 14 December Cllr Bill Hoult the Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats at County hall made this plea to the Executive “Please do not  saddle the County Council tax payers for years with such an enormous debt, particularly in the uncertain financial future that we face.”