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20
Oct
£37 million road overhaul planned for Harrogate as 4,000 new homes loom
North Yorkshire Council has revealed a list of 24 junctions in Harrogate which are set to be improved as part of plans for 4,000 homes in the west of the town.
The Empress roundabout and Buttersyke Bar roundabout are among the improvement schemes due to be funded by developers to help local roads cope with increased traffic.
The work is expected to be carried out over the next 10 to 15 years and cost £37 million in total.
It comes as councillors backed plans for the first of many junction improvements last week when they gave the green light for a £3.8 million proposal to build a new roundabout at Beckwithshaw three times the size of the current one.
At the meeting, Mark Johnson, of Johnson Mowat Planning, which represented the council on the plans, said the roundabout was one of 24 junctions in Harrogate that were expected to be improved.
Now, the Stray Ferret can reveal the list of junctions which are to undergo an overhaul in the coming years.
Click on the images below to find out which other junctions are in line for improvement.
A North Yorkshire Council spokesperson said, while the work is expected to take place over the next 10 to 15 years, it was not possible to give a definitive start or completion date.
They said:
The improvements to the roads network in the west of Harrogate to cater for proposed housing developments is expected to take place over a long-term programme of 10 to 15 years or possibly more.
Progress would depend on a range of factors including economic conditions and the pace of housebuilding nationally and therefore it is not possible to provide definitive start or completion dates at this stage.
The improvements are set to be paid from developer commitments enshrined in section 106 legal agreements signed with the council for three major housing sites — which amount to around £12,000 a dwelling — in the west of the town.
The move to improve the road network comes as the west of Harrogate is expected to see 4,000 new homes built in the coming years.
More than 4,000 new homes are planned for the west of Harrogate. Credit - HAPARA
Multiple schemes are being built or awaiting planning permission in the area, including schemes on Otley Road, Whinney Lane and Yew Tree Lane.
Much of the housing was earmarked for the area in the Harrogate District Local Plan, which assessed a need for 16,077 new homes in the district up to 2035.
It means the west of Harrogate was projected to take nearly a quarter of the entire district's housing need.
However, a new North Yorkshire Local Plan, which will supersede the Harrogate plan, is currently being drawn and will identify land to accommodate new homes, jobs and associated infrastructure in the region over the next 20 years.
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