Vale of York services


The Vale of York services is a proposed motorway service area on the A1(M) at Kirby Hill in North Yorkshire, England. The MSA site is located on the western side of the motorway between Junctions 48 and 49 near to the village of Kirby Hill, with access to both the northbound and southbound carriageways. Planning applications were submitted multiple times between 1996 and 2021 and were refused by Harrogate Borough Council and at Appeal for 25 years.

History

The proposed services at Kirby Hill have had a protracted approval process, being refused for 25 years until outline permission was finally granted after a fourth Public Inquiry, held virtually during the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2021. The section of road between Ferrybridge and Scotch Corner/Barton interchange was upgraded to motorway status gradually between 1999 and 2018. The existing service areas at Leeming Bar and at Scotch Corner were designated as Motorway Rest Areas, not having the requisite facilities needed to be Motorway Service Areas. Leeming Bar was granted permission to upgrade to an MSA after a Public Inquiry in 2010/11 at which the Kirby Hill proposal was once again refused. This meant that according to the designations, in 2021 there were technically no MSAs between Wetherby Services and Durham Services, a distance of.
In 2013, the Department for Transport recommended that MSAs should be spaced no more than between each other. This led to three MSA applications for the A1 in North Yorkshire:
  • Kirby Hill MSA.
  • Ripon MSA.
  • Catterick MSA.
The Kirby Hill site, was approved after a public inquiry by a UK Government inspector in April 2021. The site had been the subject of three previous Public Inquries about an MSA at the location in 1997, 2003 and 2010. The local opposition to the MSA, Kirby Hill RAMS stated that they had been fighting for 25 years with the same in-principle objection to an MSA on this site, and that the planning system had been changed in the intervening years; "We feel that the thing that has changed here is the planning system, not the facts. After 25 years of playing the game and having it refused, you have to ask the question; what has changed?" The MSA would be located on the western side of the A1 as an on-line MSA, with access both northbound and southbound, between junctions 48 and 49, where a new motorway junction and overbridge would need to be constructed to access the proposed MSA. The local community has criticised the height and visual impact of the new motorway junction, which would be the most prominent structure in the proposed development. The works for a junction on the motorway would also require the A168 road to be moved eastwards from its current location, closer to the village of Kirby Hill.
At the time of the 2021 inquiry, the MSA at Kirby Hill was costed at £40 million. In 2024, further details were submitted in a new reserved matters planning application which has been opposed by Kirby Hill RAMS and is yet to be determined.
LocationDistance from Wetherby MSAOperatorNotesRef
Wetherby0MotoOpened in 2008
Vale of YorkWelcome BreakApproved in April 2021
RiponMotoProposed by Moto to cover an area of at Junction 50 on the A1.
Leeming BarMotoThe report by the Planning Inspectorate in 2021 stated that the services at Leeming Bar had "...limited poor quality facilities...requires substantial investment and therefore cannot be considered an MSA."
Coneygarth Truck StopExelby
Catterick MSARoadchefPlanning permission was granted in July 2022. After a legal issue, this was returned to the council for approval and given further permission in December 2024.
Scotch CornerMoto
Barton ParkMotoAdvertised as Barton Park Truck Stop, but plans have been submitted for the site to be upgraded
Durham MSARoadchef

Facilities

The 2017 proposal detailed a 365-space car park and 82 slots for HGVs. Besides the main building, there would be a play area and a dog exercise zone. The 2018 proposal had been extended to 383 car-parking spaces. Just 20 of these are chargepoints for Electric Vehicles.