Ilkley MP say Skipton Road works are 'completely unacceptable'

Robbie Moore MP and Cllr Richard Downey meet with Yorkshire Water [Photo: Robbie Moore]

Ilkley's MP Robbie Moore and district Councillor Richard Downey met with Yorkshire Water yesterday to demand clearer accountability and faster progress on the Skipton Road roadworks.

They raised concerns that no contractors have been present on site during normal working hours, despite road closures and growing traffic queues affecting residents, commuters, buses, and local businesses.

Robbie Moore described the situation as 'completely unacceptable' and said he was frustrated that Bradford Council's Highways Department had not yet agreed to meet him on site, despite his request for an urgent meeting.

Commenting, Robbie Moore said: “Huge numbers of residents, commuters, including buses and local businesses are being severely impacted by these works, due to the long tailbacks through town and back towards Addingham, and it is costing our local economy in downtime and reduced footfall.”

“I completely appreciate that this work needs to take place, but my issue lies with the fact that no one ever seems to be on site, despite the roadworks being in place. Yorkshire Water, who are responsible for managing this project should have been mandated by Bradford Council’s Highways Team to work around the clock, utilising all day light hours. The works are scheduled to take place for a full four weeks, and we are now a week in, and so far, you’re lucky if you even see anyone working on site. Why on earth did Bradford Council sign this work programme off, and why do Yorkshire Water think this speed of working is acceptable?”

“It is even more frustrating as warnings have been provided to both organisations throughout this year, following the huge disruption Ilkley faced earlier in the year, for a 10-week period, when roadworks were in place in the same location. I cannot understand why no learning, or progress in thinking has been made.”

“Yorkshire Water has since responded to me after the meeting, basically saying that they will ramp up their efforts, but they still are not able to guarantee longer working hours for the whole of the scheduled works, and are not able to confirm if the works will be completed any sooner. This is simply not good enough.”

“It is also incredibly disappointing that Bradford Councils Highways Team couldn’t be bothered to attend a meeting on site so they could see the situation.”

Robbie Moore MP and Cllr Richard Downey meet with Yorkshire Water [Photo: Robbie Moore]

Yorkshire Water have confirmed that additional resources will be deployed immediately, with extended working hours from 8am to 8pm today [Tuesday] and Wednesday to accelerate progress.

They have also introduced daily progress meetings with their contractor to keep the programme under close review.

Yorkshire Water’s current aim is to complete the remaining water main installation over the next two days, with the majority of reinstatement works finished by Friday, before moving into the mandatory water quality testing phase.

They have advised that this testing is an essential safety requirement and will take around a week, and during that period there may be times when no visible work is taking place on site, even though the temporary traffic management remains necessary while the new water main is tested before being brought into service.

Cllr Richard Downey said: "While these commitments are welcome, we share residents’ frustration that the disruption has been so significant. We will continue to hold Yorkshire Water to account, monitor progress closely and press for the traffic management to be removed as soon as it is safe to do so.

"Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to report issues and share feedback with us. It has strengthened our case in demanding improvements."

Robbie added: "To summarise, I still have no confirmation as to whether the works will be completed earlier than planned, and whether the working hours will be extended throughout, or that they have mandated their contractor to work those hours.

"The whole situation is completely unsatisfactory. Penalty clauses should have been issued from the start."