Only the A19 to Wigginton Road stretch of the A1237 is funded. The council's four-phase plan, the £164m estimate, and the £1.3m contract signed last week.

Only the first of four phases of the A1237 outer ring road upgrade has the money to go ahead. City of York Council published its delivery plan for the northern ring road on Friday. It confirms that the stretch from the A19 at Rawcliffe to Wigginton Road, including a bigger Clifton Moor roundabout, is the one that will be built first (City of York Council, 2 October 2026).

Everything east of Wigginton Road, through Haxby Road, Strensall Road and Monks Cross, still depends on funding the council has not yet secured.

The four phases

The council’s plan splits the scheme between Rawcliffe and Little Hopgrove into:

  • Phase 1A: A19 to Wigginton Road roundabout, including Clifton Moor roundabout
  • Phase 1B: Wigginton Road roundabout to Haxby Road roundabout
  • Phase 1C: Haxby Road roundabout to Strensall Road roundabout
  • Phase 1D: Strensall Road roundabout to Little Hopgrove, including Monks Cross roundabout

Phase 1A means dualling the road between the two roundabouts and enlarging Clifton Moor roundabout, which will also give access to a future housing site to its north and north-east. It adds new paths, an underpass and crossings for people walking and cycling (scheme page).

The later phases carry the expensive parts. They include new bridges over the York to Scarborough railway line and the River Foss, and three more underpasses at the Haxby Road and Strensall Road roundabouts.

First, a noise barrier at Rawcliffe

Before any dualling, the council will put up a permanent acoustic barrier for homes in Rawcliffe that sit close to the ring road. Friday’s release says installation is targeted for early 2027. The project updates page, last changed in August, says “late 2026/early 2027” (project updates).

The same page says the council has reopened talks with landowners affected by the first phase, through its agents, Ardent. No construction start date has been published. The council says it will name a main contractor and set out when works happen once that contract is agreed.

The contract signed last week

On 28 September the council’s Director of City Development agreed a £1,325,405.92 contract with engineering consultancy Pell Frischmann. The firm becomes the council’s “Technical Assurance Partner” for phase 1A (officer decision, published 30 September).

  • It was a direct award through the ESPO framework, with no open tender.
  • The decision record says it is “not subject to call in”.
  • The firm will support the full business case and the discharge of the scheme’s planning conditions.
  • The record gives a deadline of 12 April 2027 for that work.

Pell Frischmann is not new to the scheme. It wrote the March 2025 cost report that showed how far the price had risen, according to the council’s July 2025 Executive report.

Why only one phase is funded

The whole scheme was approved for planning in April 2024 (application 22/02020/FULM). Its original budget was £67.4m: £25.1m from the Department for Transport, £38m from the West Yorkshire Combined Authority and £4.3m from the council.

Cost consultants then put the full scheme at £164m. Officers set out the causes in their report to the council’s Executive on 15 July 2025 (Executive report, item 11):

Bar chart of the cost drivers council officers named for the York Outer Ring Road estimate, in pounds million: planning conditions and roundabout redesign 44.4, construction inflation 23.6, structures such as underpasses and bridges 10.0, cycling and walking standards with ecology, archaeology and noise 8.7, utilities 7.4, landscape and archaeology 2.75. Together about 97 million, taking the estimate from 67.4 million to 164 million.
Chart by The York Times. Source: City of York Council Executive report, 15 July 2025.
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  • £44.4m to meet the 25 planning conditions and from the technical review of the roundabouts
  • £23.6m from construction inflation of over 35%
  • £10m for structures, the underpasses and new bridges
  • £8.7m from cycling and walking standards (LTN 1/20), ecology, archaeology and noise
  • £7.4m for utilities
  • £2.75m for landscape and archaeology

The Executive chose to phase the work rather than shrink or drop it. The decision notice approves “the proposed phased approach”, prioritising infrastructure that unlocks housing. By then £14m had already been spent on the scheme.

The same meeting moved ring road money to the Station Gateway. The report’s funding table shows the ring road’s remaining budget falling:

Funding Before (31 March 2025) After Change
West Yorkshire Transport Fund £23.834m £9.284m £14.55m moved to Station Gateway
Department for Transport £25.093m £25.093m none
City of York Council £3.474m £3.474m none
Developer contributions none £5m added, expected from Clifton Moor
Total £52.401m £42.851m down £9.55m

Officers proposed committing £27m of the existing budget to start with Clifton Moor roundabout. The council says it is now working with the Department for Transport and the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority to find the money for the rest.

How much disruption to expect

The council says most of the new carriageway will be built north of the existing road and off the highway. That means two-way traffic should keep running for most of the build. Most work will be in daylight, with some at night.

The ring road has already had a taste this autumn. Night closures between Wigginton Road and Strensall Road ran in September for separate maintenance. Our York roadworks page carries what is shut this week.

What it means for you

  • Living in Rawcliffe near the ring road: the noise barrier is the first thing you will see, targeted for early 2027. The council has not published its exact line or height on the scheme pages.
  • Driving the northern ring road: nothing changes yet. No construction date has been set for phase 1A, and the council expects most of it to be built without closing the road.
  • Haxby, New Earswick, Strensall and Huntington: the roundabouts nearest you are in phases 1B to 1D, which are not funded. No timetable exists for them.
  • Cycling: the full scheme promises a continuous path from the A19 to Strensall Road. Only the A19 to Wigginton Road section is funded so far.
  • Questions: the council’s major projects team takes them at yorr@york.gov.uk.

New homes on the ring road corridor are tracked on our York planning news page.

Sources