The councillor in charge of highways for North Yorkshire has said a park and ride pilot scheme for Harrogate remains possible despite a £116million funding bid rejection.
The Department for Transport yesterday awarded North Yorkshire County Council none of the £116million it bid for from the government’s Bus Back Better scheme. Much of the funding was earmarked to reduce congestion in Harrogate.
Councillor Don Mackenzie, executive member for access at the county council, said he was “very disappointed” with the rejection but parts of the county’s Bus Service Improvement Plan could still go ahead without government support.
Cllr Mackenzie said this included the park and ride, which is likely to operate from Pannal, although questions remained about how a permanent service would be funded.
“The park and ride trial was not part of this funding, and the pilot itself will use the 36 service so it won’t be particularly expensive to find out whether it works or not.
“I’m very anxious that this trial scheme still goes ahead irrespective of today’s result.”
Cllr Mackenzie also said the on-demand bus service, YorBus, which is being trialled in Ripon, Bedale and Masham could be expanded.
He added:
“One of the things in our Bus Service Improvement Plan was to expand the on-demand response service, YorBus, and of course that pilot continues.
“If it continues to be successful, we will roll it out in other areas.
“We will also continue to work in close partnership with bus operators.”
Read more:
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The Bus Service Improvement Plan included £23 million for new bus lanes, £74 million for other infrastructure changes and £14 million for support for bus services.
‘Plans didn’t lack ambition’
The government claimed areas that failed to get the cash had not shown “sufficient ambition”. In total, just 34 of 79 areas which applied were successful.
In Yorkshire, this included the West Yorkshire Combined Authority which submitted a bid for £168 million, but was given £70 million, while City of York Council wanted £48 million and got £17.4 million.
Cllr Mackenzie said he believed the plans for North Yorkshire were ambitious enough to win funding and that he was now keen to speak to government officials to understand their decision. He said:
“I don’t think our plans lacked ambition. They were worth £116 million over eight years – that doesn’t lack ambition or aspiration.
“Until such time we have spoken to ministers or senior civil servants, I can’t say exactly what was lacking from our submission.
“We knew the Bus Back Better budget had been severely curtailed… but I expected to get some money, not nothing at all, so I’m very disappointed.”
The county council and Harrogate Bus Company have been successful in a separate bid for £7.8 million to make the firm’s fleet all-electric with the delivery of 39 zero-emission buses.
The project will cost almost £20 million in total, with more than £12 million being invested by Transdev – the parent firm of Harrogate Bus Company.
It will see 20 single-decker and 19 double-decker buses bought over the next three years, as well as the supporting charging infrastructure.
