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Whitby Park & Ride Scheme
AFTER almost a decade of talk Whitby's park and ride scheme is finally a reality.
The 450-space facility will be open this summer and should help battle the crippling congestion which blights Whitby's roads.
The North York Moors National Park planning committee unanimously approved the revised £1.4m scheme at the second time of asking, having rejected the first plans last summer. The committee was satisfied that North Yorkshire County Council had shown the site off the A171, opposite Cross Butts Farm, was the best location.
Previously the park authority had suggested a site near Victoria Farm Garden Centre, could be just as viable but chief planning officer Val Dilcock, told her members the council had shown it not to be.
She said: "While the second site could be used the costs of making it work could be anywhere between £35,000 to £200,000."
Committee member David Jeffles, speaking as a member of the public, said: "This park is desperately needed, I'm pleased to say, to cope with the increasing volume of traffic which now clogs Whitby's streets throughout the year."
He added: "A well signed park with attractive landscaping will provide Whitby with an asset it has called for, for many years because its streets can no longer cope with the volume of traffic.
"There is a real danger, I suggest, that without this facility, Whitby's appeal as a haven for tourists will diminish because motorists find parking an increasingly impossible obstacle."