ONE of the main routes through North Yorkshire – which is also one of the county’s biggest accident blackspots – is to be closed for five weeks.

Sutton Bank, near Thirsk, is one of the most spectacular inland cliffs in Britain and up it snakes the A170, which has a one-in-four gradient and a hairpin bend.

Because of the width of the road and the length of the gradient there is an incident nearly every other day, often involving heavy goods vehicles jack-knifing on the bank or shedding their loads.

The incidents frequently lead to road closures and major delays and in an attempt to reduce the time the road has to be closed, the county council wants to install a weather station and a camera.

They will be used to provide remote monitoring and weather data to try to ensure the road remains passable to all vehicles – and to enable the highways authority to respond quickly to incidents or changes in the weather.

At the same time as installing the camera and weather station, highways contractors will carry out winter damage repairs – and the road will be closed for five weeks from Monday, October 11.

The latter is designed to ensure the route remains in a structurally-sound condition.

To minimise the disruption, the annual maintenance work on Sutton Bank will also be completed at the same time.

This year work includes rock face inspection, removal of vegetation, carriageway patching and crash barrier repairs.

Diversions will be in place.

North Yorkshire County Council’s executive member for highways, Gareth Dadd, said: “I am acutely aware of the inconvenience and disruption that these works may cause. However, if these repairs are not carried out, we could be in the position of facing even longer closures and disruption.”

County councillor Caroline Patmore, who represents the area, said she had reluctantly supported the five-week closure because the work was essential.

“If we do not undertake such an extensive programme of repairs now, we will be storing up even greater problems for ourselves in the future,” she said.