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27
May
Concern over loss of 35 parking spaces in Harrogate
Former Harrogate borough councillor Nick Brown has claimed the “anti-motoring lobby still holds sway’ in Harrogate following the loss of 35 parking bays.
The Stray Ferret revealed yesterday that Crescent Gardens has become a private road after North Yorkshire Council sold it to developer Impala Estates.
Impala bought the former Harrogate Borough Council headquarters alongside the road for £4 million in 2020 and is converting it into offices, a roof garden restaurant and gym.
A council report last year recommending the sale of the road said 35 public parking spaces would be lost.
It added this was “not a significant concern” because there was “sufficient alternative on-street parking facilities nearby, in addition to an abundance of available off-street parking options in the town centre”.
A new planter on Crescent Gardens.
The existing bays will be retained for the use of businesses in the Crescent Gardens building.
But Nick Brown, a Conservative who served on Harrogate Borough Council until its abolition in 2023 and who is now the North Yorkshire councillor for Wathvale and Bishop Monkton, said the loss of the bays would have an impact, particularly as up to 45 more spaces could be lost as a result of the £12.6 million Harrogate Station Gateway.
Cllr Brown said:
Whilst I am no longer a Harrogate councillor I still come to Harrogate to shop but feel that the anti-motoring lobby still holds sway, to the detriment of those organisations i.e. shops and night-time venues who actually help to create wealth in the town.
The loss of a further 35 or so parking spaces mentioned in your article together with more losses due to the Station Gateway scheme are adverse for shops and the night time economy on top of the disastrous tax measures introduced by Rachel Reeves.
We should be building more car parks to encourage motorists to come and shop and spend money from across the UK and especially from North Yorkshire.
Crescent Gardens
Cllr Brown told the Stray Ferret older people in particular would not find it easy to "trudge up and down Parliament Street" if they were unable to park in the Crescent Gardens area.
Impala director James Hartley told the Stray Ferret the Department for Transport had granted the stopping up order for Crescent Gardens in March this year.
Asked for an update on the refurbishment, he said the company was in the final stages of constructing a double substation.
The Stray Ferret today asked the council how much it received for the road and if it wished to respond to Cllr Brown’s comments.
We will publish its response when received.
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