The effect of York races on major roadworks along the main route to the racecourse was not taken into account, an audit has found.
Veritau’s audit stated changes once the Tadcaster Road scheme was underway after failings during the design stages led to it finishing months behind schedule and costing £1.5 million more than planned.
Labour’s Cllr Jason Rose, of the audit and governance committee which examined the findings, said the oversight spoke to a pattern of behaviour and systemic problems within City of York Council.
Garry Taylor, the council’s city development lead, said while he was not in post at the time it appeared there were issues during the design stages in project after project.
The council has agreed a number of changes to the way it handles major projects following the audit.
The findings on the scheme, works on which began in January 2023 and finished in March 2024, come as part of an audit into the council’s handling of major projects.
Veritau’s audit also found there were critical weaknesses in the handling of the ongoing Station Gateway scheme leading to it being £28.5 million over budget and months behind schedule.
Auditors stated there had been moderate weaknesses in the handling of the Tadcaster Road project.
It began under the council’s previous Liberal Democrat and Green administration, with £6.4 million in funding provided by the Government and West Yorkshire Combined Authority.
Road and safety improvements along with gas and drainage works were done by main contractor Jackson Civil Engineering along Tadcaster Road which is one of the key routes into York.
The project brief was completed by a third party design company whose name is redacted in the audit report.
Auditors found the design brief, the document setting out the goals, scope, delivery, budget and timescales of a project, was not reviewed or agreed at sufficiently senior level.
They stated the reason given for this was the urgent need to start works and no project board being in place to approve one at the time.
The audit stated that contributed to problems encountered during the works.
Auditors said: “For example, there was no mention of how the work would be affected by York races despite Tadcaster Road being the main road into York for the Knavesmire Racecourse.
“It also had not adequately considered the impact of subsurface utilities nor the extensive root network of the mature trees which line Tadcaster Road.”
The council announced in October 2023 the scheme would be delayed due to a number of challenges including archaeological excavations and navigating uncharted utility mains and tree roots.
Parts of the scheme were dropped by the council’s Labour administration in January 2024 as the works ran into ground condition issues and were causing traffic congestion.
A total of £7.2 million was originally set aside for the scheme but it cost more than £7.9 million by the time the works finished.
Speaking at the audit and governance committee meeting on Wednesday, March 11, Cllr Rose said the project had echoes of the council’s handling of the Station Gateway scheme.
The Acomb ward councillor said: “It’s not just not doing due diligence, it’s not doing any diligence, I don’t know how we could think road works in Tadcaster Road would not be impacted by the races.
“I’m not trying to pin this on the previous administration, this has been a systemic problem for a long time.”
Mr Taylor said he could not speak for decisions made at the time.
He said: “For one reason or another we’ve run into project after project without that initial design phase.
“With Tadcaster Road there was a reason to move quickly to draw down the funding, but whether or not that risk should have been entered into, which I personally wouldn’t have, I don’t know because I wasn’t there.”
