MAJOR changes have been made to North Yorkshire County Council's highways service.

Key highways offices will now provide the whole highway service from one location, improving local co-ordination and better access to the service.

The changes will see Skipton's Croft House sold off and a new highways office created at the existing Snaygill depot.

However the exact timescale is not yet known.

It will cover all aspects of service delivery from carriageway and footway repair, winter maintenance and grass cutting, to traffic management and road safety.

Each new office lines up with the district boundaries already in place. This has been done to reduce confusion and increase the opportunities for co-ordinated operations.

Highways North Yorkshire partners will also be based at these offices to ensure the service is streamlined through sharing of resources and costs.

Further improvements are planned involving development of new operational facilities around the county.

The changes are expected to reduce running costs, provide better accommodation for staff and address "bad neighbour" issues by moving unsociable operations out of residential areas.

The introduction of 11 salt barns for winter maintenance will enable 50,000 tonnes of salt to be stored under cover.

This will prevent loss of salt through rainfall and allow dry salt to be spread more efficiently, saving 12,000 tonnes of salt each year.

An integrated passenger transport unit will help improve the co-ordination of transport around the county.

Coun Peter Sowray said: "The depots will be more customer focused and in line with district council boundaries.

"These changes will not only improve the services we provide to the communities of North Yorkshire, but they will also save money," he added.

The offices will accommodate all the partners delivering highway services in North Yorkshire including North Yorkshire County Council, contractors RCS and designers Mouchel-Parkman.

The telephone number for the new Skipton depot is 01756 794816.