The group behind a petition against the Station Gateway proposals has criticised the councils responsible for “ploughing ahead” with the scheme despite what it called “inconclusive” consultation results.
Yesterday it was agreed that designs will be drawn up for the controversial £7.9m project, which could see the pedestrianisation of James Street and Station Parade reduced to one lane of traffic.
A public consultation on the plans this year found 45% of 1,101 respondents in favour of the full pedestrianisation of James Street; 32% said no changes should be made and 17% backed a partial pedestrianisation.
For Station Parade, 49% favoured an option to reduce traffic to one lane, while 27% said it should be retained as two lanes and 24% said neither option was workable.
North Yorkshire County Council and Harrogate Borough Council both support the project, which is being funded by the government’s Transforming Cities Fund.
It aims to make the area around the station more accessible and attractive, especially to pedestrians and cyclists.
But Anna McIntee, co-founder of the Harrogate Residents Association, which has amassed 800 Facebook members since it was formed three months ago, fiercely opposes the scheme.
Her group is behind a petition against the Station Gateway that has so far achieved over 500 signatures and one against the planters on James Street that has received over 800.
Ms McIntee said the results from the council’s consultation were ‘inconclusive’ because of the modest response and the fact that there was not overwhelming support for any proposal.
Just over 1,000 people, in a district with over 157,000 people, responded to the survey.
She told the Stray Ferret:
“Why aren’t they listening? There’s a lot of anger in the town and they are just ploughing ahead.
“This town has incredible people with incredible ideas. Is this the best we can come up with?”
“It will create a complete funnel neck of traffic.”
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Full steam ahead on Harrogate’s £7.9 million Station Gateway project
Speaking at a North Yorkshire County meeting yesterday, Cllr Don Mackenzie, executive member for access, said the council had listened to businesses.
He said:
“We have been lobbied quite strongly by the business community in Harrogate, of whom one or two members seem to think the gateway scheme is intended to make life more difficult for them. Those comments could not be further from the truth.
“The whole purpose behind the gateway scheme is to make all three of these town centres more attractive to visitors, especially those who want to come and spend money in our shops, restaurants and pubs.”
Traffic evaporation
Last week a report commissioned by the county council said in a “reasonable worst-case scenario” the Station Gateway plans could increase greenhouse gas emissions.
It said this was because reduced traffic flow in the area would force some drivers to take longer alternative routes.
However, it also said the council would refine the scheme to ensure it is environmentally friendly.
Rod Beardshall, transport lead at Zero Carbon Harrogate told the Stray Ferret he disputed this suggestion that traffic would increase elsewhere due to a phenomenon known as “traffic evaporation”.
He said:
“Essentially traffic is not a zero-sum game. It isn’t an inevitability that the same amount of traffic will exist independently of the road availability. The phenomenon of ‘induced traffic’ refers to the increase in traffic over and above what would otherwise have been predicted when new roads are built.
“Conversely ‘traffic evaporation’ is widely seen when road space is reduced. It is this latter phenomenon which will mitigate against increases in congestion elsewhere, and crucially, reduce overall traffic and therefore its environmental impact as people are incentivised to consider other travel options.
“It is always worth repeating that this doesn’t imply that all travellers will seek alternative means of transport and nor do they need to, but enough are likely to for the proposed changes to bring positive results. Those journeys where a car or a van is the only practical option will still be possible and won’t take significantly longer according to the report.”
With the designs due to go to consultation, the Station Parade battle looks set to continue for some time.
