Equality Impact Assessments (EIAs) are public documents. EIAs accompanying reports going to County Councillors for decisions are published with the committee papers on our website and are available in hard copy at the relevant meeting. To help people to find completed EIAs we also publish them in the Equality and Diversity section of our website. This will help people to see for themselves how we have paid due regard in order to meet statutory requirements.
| Name of Directorate and Service Area | Business and Environmental Services - Highways and Transportation |
|---|---|
| Lead Officer and contact details | Richard Binks, Head of Major Projects and Infrastructure 07815644264 richard.binks@northyorks.gov.uk |
| Names and roles of other people involved in carrying out the EIA |
Catriona Gattrel, Head of Legal (Corporate Services) Mark Hugill, Senior Engineer - Major Projects Simon Evans, Environment Officer, Legal Services(Corporate Services) |
| How will you pay due regard? e.g. working group, individual officer | This form will be completed through a combination of work from the above officers and decisions made by the Project Board for the scheme at monthly meetings. |
| When did the due regard process start? | An executive report confirmed approval for the making of the Compulsory Purchase Order and Side Road Orders for the A59 Kex Gill Diversion Scheme on 15 October 2019. |
Section 1. Please describe briefly what this EIA is about. (e.g. are you starting a new service, changing how you do something, stopping doing something?)
An update on a previous assessment for this scheme.
Section 2. Why is this being proposed? What are the aims? What does the authority hope to achieve by it? (e.g. to save money, meet increased demand, do things in a better way.)
The A59 Kex Gill Diversion Scheme is looking to provide a long term solution to the problems with the A59 route in the region of Kex Gill.
Underlying instability along the route around Kex Gill mean that there are ongoing problems with landslips currently affecting the A59 and a high risk of the road collapsing. Such a collapse on a key major route would have a significant negative impact on traffic along the route and the local area.
The route of the diversion includes areas of land that are the subject of compulsory purchase orders and side road orders.
Section 3. What will change? What will be different for customers and/or staff?
The main reason for the scheme is to provide a more reliable and sustainable route for the A59 around the Kex Gill area. The location of the proposed route will remove the impact of the underlying stability issues that have caused issues with the route in the past.
Section 4. Involvement and consultation (What involvement and consultation has been done regarding the proposal and what are the results? What consultation will be needed and how will it be done?)
Statutory notices published, advertised, and placed on site. Documents deposited for public inspection. 2no objections received and both withdrawn. General Vesting Declaration notices sent to landowners / lessees and completed on 22 December 2022.
Section 5. What impact will this proposal have on council budgets? Will it be cost neutral, have increased cost or reduce costs?
The overall project baseline cost estimate is £68.8m split £56.1m grant funding from Department for Transport and a contribution from our Capital Reserves of £12.7m.
Section 6. How will this proposal affect people with protected characteristics?
| How will this proposal affect people with protected characteristics ? | No impact | Make things better | Make things worse | Why will it have this effect? Provide evidence from engagement, consultation and/or service user data or demographic information etc. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age | X |
The aim of the project is to provide a more stable and sustainable route for the A59. The expectation is that this will have a positive impact on all users of the route including those with protected characteristics. |
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| Disability | X |
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| Sex | X |
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| Race | X |
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| Gender reassignment | X | |||
| Sexual orientation | X | |||
| Religion or belief | X | |||
| Pregnancy or maternity | X |
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| Marriage or civil partnership | X |
Section 7. How will this proposal affect people who…
| Section 7. How will this proposal affect people who… | No impact | Make things better | Make things worse | Why will it have this effect? Provide evidence from engagement, consultation and/or service user data or demographic information etc. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ..live in a rural area? | X | |||
| …have a low income? | X | |||
| …are carers (unpaid family or friend)? | X |
Section 8. Geographic impact – Please detail where the impact will be (please tick all that apply)
| Section 8. Geographic impact – Please detail where the impact will be (please tick all that apply) | |
|---|---|
| North Yorkshire wide | The A59 is a key route that has an importance beyond the two districts through which it is located. As the most important east-west route in the county any failure of all or part of the route at Kex Gill would impact significant number of traffic from across the county.The provision of a safe and sustainable route for the A59 would eliminate this impact. |
| Craven district | |
| Hambleton district | |
| Harrogate district | |
| Richmondshire district | |
| Ryedale district | |
| Scarborough district | |
| Selby district | |
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If you have ticked one or more districts, will specific town(s)/village(s) be particularly impacted? If so, please specify below. |
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| A significant failure of the A59 at Kex Gill would cause issues with the towns and villages along the temporary diversion route due to the increase in traffic levels. The provision of a safe and sustainable route for the A59 would eliminate this impact. | |
Section 9. Will the proposal affect anyone more because of a combination of protected characteristics? (e.g. older women or young gay men) State what you think the effect may be and why, providing evidence from engagement, consultation and/or service user data or demographic information etc.
At present, there are no additional impacts for those persons with a combination of protected characteristics.
Section 10. Next steps to address the anticipated impact
| Section 10. Next steps to address the anticipated impact. Select one of the following options and explain why this has been chosen. (Remember: we have an anticipatory duty to make reasonable adjustments so that disabled people can access services and work for us) | Tick option chosen |
|---|---|
| 1. No adverse impact - no major change needed to the proposal. There is no potential for discrimination or adverse impact identified. | X |
| 2. Adverse impact - adjust the proposal - The EIA identifies potential problems or missed opportunities. We will change our proposal to reduce or remove these adverse impacts, or we will achieve our aim in another way which will not make things worse for people. | |
| 3. Adverse impact - continue the proposal - The EIA identifies potential problems or missed opportunities. We cannot change our proposal to reduce or remove these adverse impacts, nor can we achieve our aim in another way which will not make things worse for people. (There must be compelling reasons for continuing with proposals which will have the most adverse impacts. Get advice from Legal Services) | |
| 4. Actual or potential unlawful discrimination - stop and remove the proposal – The EIA identifies actual or potential unlawful discrimination. It must be stopped. | |
| Explanation of why option has been chosen. (Include any advice given by Legal Services.) At present the request to which this document refers is to seek approval to begin the procedure of creating the compulsory purchase orders and side road orders required to ensure that the authority has the land along the route available. At present there is no impact on persons with protected characteristics. |
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Section 11. If the proposal is to be implemented how will you find out how it is really affecting people? (How will you monitor and review the changes?)
At present the proposal has no impact on persons with protected characteristics and so there is no means of measuring the impact.
Section 12. Action plan
| Section 12. Action plan. List any actions you need to take which have been identified in this EIA, including post implementation review to find out how the outcomes have been achieved in practice and what impacts there have actually been on people with protected characteristics. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Action | Lead | By when | Progress | Monitoring arrangements |
Section 13. Summary Summarise the findings of your EIA, including impacts, recommendation in relation to addressing impacts, including any legal advice, and next steps. This summary should be used as part of the report to the decision maker
The A59 Kex Gill Diversion Scheme is a significant piece of work within the Highways and Transportation service. Although, when delivered, it will have a positive impact on all members of the public, including those with protected characteristics, there will be times when the project will have the potential for adverse impacts. For this reason, it is expected that this EQIA will be amended to include assessments made at such times. At the present time, however, the nature of the report that the executive is considering has no impact on persons with protected characteristics.
Section 14. Sign off section
This full EIA was completed by:
Name:
Job title:
Directorate:
Signature:
Completion date: 30.1.23
Authorised by relevant Assistant Director (signature): Barrie Mason
Date: 30.1.23