Do you have an opinion on the Harrogate district? Email us at letters@thestrayferret.co.uk. Please include your name and approximate location details. Limit your letters to 350 words. We reserve the right to edit letters.
Stray Views is a weekly column giving you the chance to have your say on issues affecting the Harrogate district. It is an opinion column and does not reflect the views of the Stray Ferret. Send your views to letters@thestrayferret.co.uk.
As you can imagine the headline to an article in the Stray Ferret immediately caught my attention – “Council quashes hopes of West Harrogate Bypass”
The only facts I can support and agree with in this article is that yes, North Yorkshire County Council, held a widely publicised consultation about congestion in 2019, and yes, Cllr Duncan’s predecessor may have abandoned unpopular plans to build a relief road by the Nidd Gorge following the consultation but certainly not for the reasons reported in this article.
The facts reported in the local media at the time gave the impression that the relief road was going to travel through or very close to the Nidd Gorge itself, an area of outstanding natural beauty. This impression apparently was bolstered with images of the Nidd Gorge so naturally most people are going to react as they did to this highly unpopular proposal. The questions in the consultation were skewed to make people answer in a particular way (as they nearly always are with consultations generated by North Yorkshire Council) to give the result the council wanted.
The people of Harrogate were totally misled and didn’t specifically vote against a relief road but the route they were led to believe it was taking through Nidd Gorge.
We are fed up with North Yorkshire Council massaging the information to suit themselves. The resulting doomed Station Gateway and the now scaled back gateway did not and will not tackle congestion at all in Harrogate. It will continue to be an ever-growing problem for the town. The results did not resoundingly favour sustainable transport and demand management solutions to congestion. They resoundingly rejected a route for a relief road through or near Nidd Gorge.
I fully support Conservative Cllr John Mann in his view that there is merit in the idea of building a bypass as a long-term project and his other comment that “congestion is already quite severe and dangerous to motorists, cyclists and pedestrians”. I believe “old wounds” as Cllr Duncan comments on this issue should and need to be kept open.
Barry Adams, Harrogate
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- Stray Views: Government should clamp down on homelessness tents
Cyclists and hospital queues
In response to concerns over Harrogate hospital queues for cyclists.
If cyclists are that worried about the queues to get in the hospital, get off your bike and walk along the footpath. Simple.
Rob Young, Harrogate
Do you have an opinion on the Harrogate district? Email us at letters@thestrayferret.co.uk. Please include your name and approximate location details. Limit your letters to 350 words. We reserve the right to edit letters.
Stray Views: Harrogate hospital queues ‘very dangerous’ for cyclistsStray Views is a weekly column giving you the chance to have your say on issues affecting the Harrogate district. It is an opinion column and does not reflect the views of the Stray Ferret. Send your views to letters@thestrayferret.co.uk.
Being a local resident, I have no experience of trying to park in Harrogate hospital with the new system. However, I have lots of experience as a cyclist, trying to bypass the regularly huge queues of traffic that built up in both directions at certain times of the day on Lancaster Park Road, waiting to get in to the hospital car park – queues sometimes extending all the way to Knaresborough Road and Willaston Crescent.
Very dangerous – with queues of traffic on one side and parked cars on the other, cars suddenly moving out of the queuing traffic made it very dangerous for anyone, particularly a cyclist, trying to pass. Yes, I’ve had a few close shaves.
It also made it very difficult, sometimes impossible for a vehicle to bypass the queue – I have witnessed flashing ambulances that were delayed as they couldn’t get past the queuing traffic to get to the car park entrance.
Hazel Maxwell, Harrogate
Read more:
- Stray Views: ‘Shame’ on councillors who voted for allowance rise
- Stray Views: Government should clamp down on homelessness tents
Royal Baths valuation ‘hypothetical’
Whilst I have absolutely no brief for North Yorkshire Council, perhaps an aspect of your story regarding what the Royal Baths is costing the taxpayer is a little misleading.
Yes when they purchased the legal interest it will have been the £9.5million, you quote. Any subsequent valuation whilst they own (hold) it (and local authorities are required to do them over a five year period on all categories of assets) will be at a point in time and a ‘book figure’. A true comparison can only be made when they actually sell their legal interest to a third party.
To arrive at the current book figure, they are required to take in a number of factors, to arrive at a valuation as at that point in time. It is conjecture therefore that it is actually costing the taxpayer money at this stage as the valuation is hypothetical and only if and when they sell their interest, can the true loss (or profit) be ascertained.
Other current losses, such as rental income and rates, are indeed losses that the taxpayer will need to pick up.
Bernard White, Ripon
Do you have an opinion on the Harrogate district? Email us at letters@thestrayferret.co.uk. Please include your name and approximate location details. Limit your letters to 350 words. We reserve the right to edit letters.
Stray Views: I can suggest only two solutions to Harrogate’s traffic congestionDear Editor,
I read repeatedly of North Yorkshire Council councillors and others stating that recent consultations on Harrogate’s traffic congestion have rejected any road building projects and instead have supported more active travel schemes as the preferred solution. [Council quashes hopes of west Harrogate bypass]
Whilst I do not have a copy of the consultations to refer back to, my memory is that there never was a question along the lines of “Would you like to see further bypasses built? ”. The questions were more vague and designed to obtain the preferred council outcome. For example “Would you support the encouragement of more active travel?”. It is almost impossible to say “No” to such a question. The health benefits alone make “Yes” the only sensible answer.
But active travel will not remove Harrogate’s congestion at anytime in the near future, or even the medium term. The station gateway as originally proposed would not have improved the journey from, for example, Oatlands to Asda nor the journey back with a week’s shopping – wobbling up Leeds Road on a bicycle!
I can suggest only two solutions to Harrogate’s traffic congestion – one would be to complete the bypass around Harrogate, on a route that avoided sensitive areas of countryside. The other would be to ban all non-electric vehicles and all large cars from journeys into and within Harrogate. This second solution would need to be coupled with a scheme to provide small electric vehicles to all residents at a much subsidised cost (which would be demonstrably cheaper than building a bypass!), together with 2 or 3 Park and Ride schemes.
We could be pioneers! Think of Harrogate leading the way and being ahead of other towns in its innovative approach to reducing traffic congestion.
Yours
Andrew Dodd, Harrogate
We’ve also had a number of emails from readers getting in touch with us after we ran a story about the new parking payment system at Harrogate District Hospital, run by private firm Parkingeye. Harrogate hospital defends criticism of new parking payment system. We will be doing a follow up story including some of your experiences this week. Get in touch with your views contact@thestrayferret.co.uk.
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- VIDEO: First look at new £17.5m Knaresborough leisure centre
- Campaigners shocked as Harrogate district has highest number of fatal accidents in county
- EXCLUSIVE: Stray Ferret reveals not a single litter fine in Harrogate district for past three years
Stray Views: Harrogate Spring Water plans a ‘total tree wash’
Litter bin removal is rubbish
Walking from Harrogate through the Dragon Road car parks towards Bilton on the Nidderdale Greenway, it was disappointing to see five waste bins have now been removed from use.
There is now no general waste bin on the conference centre exhibitors off site Dragon Road car park.
Rubbish is strewn along the Nidderdale Greenway footpath, shopping trolleys over the railway fencing, street lights are out on both the Dragon Road car parks and along the Nidderdale Greenway footpath.
The first bin was located just before the Nidderdale Greenway passes over the railway line, and then another immediately on the other side of the railway line!
Likewise upon reaching the Woodfield Road / Dene Park junction at the Woodfield Park playing fields entrance, there was another pair of bins, one on either side of the Woodfield Road!
What thought has been put into removing existing bins, locating the news one and why the abhorrent OTT dalek design fabricated from plastic, when the simple metal “stand” seen in use would suffice all round!
North Harrogate Resident
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- EXCLUSIVE: Stray Ferret reveals not a single litter fine in Harrogate district for past three years
- Council spends £478,000 on halving number of litter bins
- Review: Dick Whittington is thigh-slapping, side-splitting fun
Wonderful Harrogate panto
Our 40-something son Dan has been over from the States for a few days and expressed a wish to see the pantomime.
The three of us went to Harrogate Theatre’s Dick Whittington and were not disappointed. It’s a treat for all ages, with great sets, music, comedy, dancing and costumes. And the best Dame I’ve seen in ages.
I urge you all to book now!
Barbara Coultas, Harrogate
Do you have an opinion on the Harrogate district? Email us at letters@thestrayferret.co.uk. Please include your name and approximate location details. Limit your letters to 350 words. We reserve the right to edit letters.
Stray Views is a weekly column giving you the chance to have your say on issues affecting the Harrogate district. It is an opinion column and does not reflect the views of the Stray Ferret. Send your views to letters@thestrayferret.co.uk.
Thank you for the article on junction 47. We felt all along that this was a project too far.
At a time when humanity is facing existential crisis due to fossil fuel emissions, we should be slowing traffic down, not trying to speed it up…so the project is a gigantic misuse of public money in our view.
It is on a par with the race to cover fields with inappropriate housing – designed to make profits for developers and their friends in government.
Also, please can we hear what happened to the newts? They really can’t expect us to believe that the newt relocation was that costly!
Shan Oakes, Knaresborough
Hospitality firms should contribute to Harrogate Convention Centre’s rebuild
The hotels and restaurants of Harrogate will be disappointed that the loss-making conference centre is not in line for a multi-million pound upgrade.
The rest of us will be relieved that such profligacy is to be avoided.
As the hospitality industry would be the only beneficiary of a new look conference centre I suggest that the hotels, pubs, restaurants and cafes of Harrogate all contribute, on a pro rata basis, towards its rebuild.
Dr Christopher Bennett, Ripon
Read more:
- Stray Views: ‘Shame’ on councillors who voted for allowance rise
- Stray Views: Government should clamp down on homelessness tents
A bypass would be more effective in south Harrogate
What is the purpose of the proposed Killinghall bypass road? Is it to take traffic that is going from east/west and getting around town in the shortest way?
If so, the Killinghall idea doesn’t make any sense since that isn’t where most of the traffic is. Traffic is much worse on the south side of Harrogate.
If the bypass was put in nearer to Pannal and then Beckwithshaw and on to the A59, there would seem to be a better chance to get more of the traffic off the roads.
Fred Hicks, Bilton, Harrogate
Stray Views is a weekly column giving you the chance to have your say on issues affecting the Harrogate district. It is an opinion column and does not reflect the views of the Stray Ferret. Send your views to letters@thestrayferret.co.uk.
While I can’t imagine how on earth a penalty could be enforced against those that refuse accommodation, I must re-educate Lib Dem candidate Tom Gordon, on his belief that tents are not a “life choice” for some of the homeless.
Believe me Tom – having volunteered to work with the homeless for a good couple of years, I am only too aware that there are several local individuals who – for whatever reason – decline offers of help, support, accommodation or stability. It is their preferred lifestyle, and they have no desire to engage with services or have a permanent roof over their heads.
Personally, I don’t understand it. But I acknowledge it – each to their own. But I certainly stand by any decision to clamp down on the use of tents, lest we become a society reflective of some of the horrendous “tent cities” that are synonymous with many American cities.
Want to live in a tent? Fine. Your call. But to do so on the High Street, I draw the line. I may not vote Conservative, but I do agree that Suella Braverman understands someone needs to get a grip.
Mark Fuller, Harrogate
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- Stray Views: Does big Harrogate Xmas light switch on help businesses? Perhaps not
Badger Hill speeding an issue
The speed of traffic round the bend at Badger Hill needs to be seen, it has resulted in cars hitting the wall and the house. The latest was two weeks ago when a car left the road hit the wall and overturned. This is where many people sit waiting for the bus.
This is a very big concern and the councillors comments seemed to dismiss the involvement of the present Lady Mayoress, who visited us to hear our concerns.
Malcom Wood, Knaresborough
Do you have an opinion on the Harrogate district? Email us at letters@thestrayferret.co.uk. Please include your name and approximate location details. Limit your letters to 350 words. We reserve the right to edit letters.
Stray Views: ‘Ridiculous difficulty’ parking at Harrogate hospitalStray Views is a weekly column giving you the chance to have your say on issues affecting the Harrogate district. It is an opinion column and does not reflect the views of the Stray Ferret. Send your views to letters@thestrayferret.co.uk.
How many people are late for their Harrogate District Hospital appointments or simply go home due to the ridiculous difficulty parking? I was there this afternoon and an elderly woman said she had been driving around for an hour looking for a space.
You now have to arrive a good 45 minutes early and even then you may not be parked in time. It took numerous circuits last week before I found a space.
The parking fee has been hiked to £4 for a couple of hours, it’s daylight robbery, particularly when all you are doing is driving around aimlessly, competing with other drivers for non existent spaces. Using two buses to get there isn’t an option for most people.
It’s time to reinstate the barrier so that people only enter the hospital car park when there is actually a space.
Liz Carnell, Harrogate
Read More:
- Stray Views: Valley Drive parking fines a ‘money spinner’
- Stray Views: Does big Harrogate Xmas light switch on help businesses? Perhaps not
Leeds Bradford Airport needs covered walkway
I note your report on Leeds Bradford Airport upgrading the terminal at cost of £100 million.
It would be great if they could spare a few pounds and construct a covered walkway for the drop-off point to the terminal so passengers can arrive dry into the booking in departure area.
Paul Smith, Knaresborough
Do you have an opinion on the Harrogate district? Email us at letters@thestrayferret.co.uk. Please include your name and approximate location details. Limit your letters to 350 words. We reserve the right to edit letters.
Stray Views: Does big Harrogate Xmas light switch on help businesses? Perhaps not.Stray Views is a weekly column giving you the chance to have your say on issues affecting the Harrogate district. It is an opinion column and does not reflect the views of the Stray Ferret. Send your views to letters@thestrayferret.co.uk.
Although it may be a tad disappointing not to have a formal switch on of the Christmas lights, it’s reassuring to hear that the BID are listening to members and thinking about return on investment. They don’t have money to waste.[No Christmas lights switch-on event in Harrogate this year]
It may be a “nice to do” but does it actually help local businesses? Perhaps not. Whereas street cleaning, murals, lighting, flowers, window dressing and advertising does feel (and look) as though the BID is doing a good job.
I don’t run a local business but as a resident, I can see the impact and it does feel notably better than the lacklustre efforts from whatever was being done (or not) several years ago.
So if ever businesses are questioning their investment in the BID, please be assured that from someone who lives in the town centre, it’s making a positive impact.
But FYI – please sort the dangling lights that have been brought down by the recent weather (especially Montpellier Hill), before some morons decide to vandalise them instead. Thank you!!
Mark Fuller, Harrogate
I note that the cost of the garden waste collection will rise next year to £46.50 and that a member of the Council stated that those people who do not use the service should not be expected to pay towards it. [Harrogate district garden waste fees set to increase by 7%]
I can think of many service’s I pay towards that I do not use but am happy to pay for.
Read More:
Stray Views is a weekly column giving you the chance to have your say on issues affecting the Harrogate district. It is an opinion column and does not reflect the views of the Stray Ferret. Send your views to letters@thestrayferret.co.uk.
Valley Drive parking fines are a council money spinner
It is little wonder the council makes so much money from parking fines on Valley Drive in Harrogate as one side of the road permits three hours of parking whilst the opposite side gives only one hour.
It’s fairly obvious that if someone who does not know the road parks on the one-hour side and looks across to the other and sees the three-hour parking sign, they may well think that applies to their side too without checking.
It has always seemed unfair to me that this anomaly could catch many people out. I daresay the council realises the anomaly too but are hardly likely to remedy it when it is such a money spinner.
Carol Trueman, Harrogate
Ripon councillors still dining out on anti-Harrogate rhetoric
Ripon city councillors have dined out on anti-Harrogate antics from 1974 to 2023 — almost 50 years of negative opposition instead of creative engagement — ensuring the continuous election of the same.
How long before they then turn their sights on the new North Yorkshire Council for failing to give them what they want, which is complete control of everything Ripon-related?
The ‘leader’ of Ripon City Council (actually a parish council) — is there even such a role in most parish council standing orders? — was elected as an ‘independent’ but has subsequently decided to support the Conservative councillors on North Yorkshire Council.
John Edmonstone
(Ex-parish councillor nearby to Ripon)
Read more:
- More parking fines issued at Valley Drive than any other Harrogate street
- Historic deal will see Ripon end years of neglect from Harrogate, says councillor
Why weren’t pedestrians consulted about Station Parade roadworks?
I was disappointed to see that pedestrians have been given little thought in the redevelopment of Copthall Towers on Station Parade. The footpath along one whole side of Station Bridge is now entirely blocked off.
I walk this way on the school run daily, coming from the direction of East Parade. This obstruction means we have to go clockwise around the roundabout in order to reach the far side of Station Bridge.
This may not seem like a significant detour to some, but try adding a pushchair and early walkers into the mix.
More significantly, it also necessitates crossing two roads which don’t have a pedestrian crossing, one of which has two lanes approaching the roundabout.
Was any thought given to adding temporary pelican crossings at Station Avenue and North Park Road? Or perhaps, giving pedestrians priority over Station Bridge, rather than drivers?
It would be refreshing to see our elected leaders and planning officials put pedestrians first for a change; prioritising greener, more sustainable travel choices and making it easier and safer for people to walk.
It’s already hard enough to navigate the piles of dog excrement, pot holes and parked cars which furnish our pavements so abundantly.
Jessica Eaton, Harrogate
Do you have an opinion on the Harrogate district? Email us at letters@thestrayferret.co.uk. Please include your name and approximate location details. Limit your letters to 350 words. We reserve the right to edit letters.
Stray Views: Dog attack victim says Harrogate owners need to control their pets
Stray Views is a weekly column giving you the chance to have your say on issues affecting the Harrogate district. It is an opinion column and does not reflect the views of the Stray Ferret. Send your views to letters@thestrayferret.co.uk.
Nearly daily the news reports serious dog attacks and fatalities. Almost dying because of a dog attack myself, I know how serious the dog problem in the Pinewoods and Valley Gardens could be. I was about seven years of age, just playing in the street with friends when I was attacked by a Spaniel, a neighbour’s family pet.
In my experience, most dog owners are responsible by always keeping their dogs under close control and removing their dog deposits. Most days, dogs running wild and even out of sight of their owners can be seen in these locations. Poo bags are being left on the ground or hanging in trees which is a health risk and another sign of irresponsible dog ownership. This is bad enough, but my main concern is lack of effective control of their dogs by some owners which could result in a serious incident with life changing consequences. I have owned dogs myself in the past and I know how attached owners are to their dogs. I am sure most owners feel their dogs are harmless and they would never attack anyone. The owners of the dog which attacked me, said the same thing.
I am asking all dog owners to consider what I have said and to keep their dogs under close control, in their sight at all times and to remove their dog deposits. I would like to thank the council’s dog warden who has been very helpful in recent years with dog problems in the Pinewoods and Valley Gardens. Having said that, as the council must accept some responsibility for the safety of visitors to these areas, I am calling on them to take note of this very real threat and to take action to prevent irresponsible dog owners.
Lyndon Wallace, Harrogate
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Bog Lanes closure
Would be interested to find out from the council/NYCC whether the road will be one way or two way when it reopens. Looking at the finished junction to the new housing estate, any vehicle wishing to turn left as they exit the new development on to Bogs Lane is going to find it impossible.
I can only presume that the final decision when its announced will be a permanent closure to through traffic. Personally, I think a closure would be the best outcome.
The increasing numbers of pedestrians and cyclists using the road, and the width of the roadway, necessitate its permanent closure on health and safety grounds alone. But is this yet another case of public bodies reluctant to make a decision?
Stephen Huxley, Harrogate