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28
Feb
Harrogate Station Gateway: trees and temple to be felled first
Three trees and the little temple on Station Square look set to be felled first when work on the £12.1 million Harrogate Station Gateway begins soon.
The scheme, which is mainly funded by the Department for Transport, will see major changes to Station Square and the One Arch pedestrian tunnel, as well as new bus and cycle lanes on Station Parade and traffic light improvements.
Councillor Keane Duncan, the council’s executive member for transport, has said the scheme represents the biggest investment in Harrogate town centre for 30 years.
But the anti-gateway Get Away business campaign group has launched a legal challenge. It claims the council’s failure to consider the wider impacts of the proposal and to consult fully with the public have rendered the scheme’s Traffic Regulation Orders illegal.
Cllr Duncan has dismissed the challenge as “weak and spurious” and pledged this week to “proceed with key elements of the scheme which fall outside the Traffic Regulation Orders”.
Trees near the Victoria monument will be lost.
The council has previously said work will get underway in spring, which starts tomorrow, but no clear timetable has been released. So the Stray Ferret asked Cllr Duncan when and where work will begin.
The Conservative politician forwarded our questions to the council’s media department, which replied:
A phased approach is proposed, initially focusing upon the elements unrelated to the Traffic Regulation Order, primarily Station Square, One Arch and traffic signal improvements. This is subject to final approval. We are working with the Department for Transport to allow works to start as soon as possible.
Station Parade
No dates were given.
We also asked where the very first phase of work will take place. The council replied, “this is still to be determined” but added the removal of the tempietto and trees “would be among the first activities to be undertaken”.
Hosting events
The council granted itself planning permission in days to remove a mature Leyland cypress, a semi-mature Monterey pine and a semi-mature small-leaved lime. All three were judged to be in either a good or fair physiological condition in an arboricultural survey. Ten trees will be planted to offset the loss.
The nearby tempietto will also be destroyed as part of plans to re-landscape Station Square and open it up to make it more suitable for hosting events.
The local authority said last year it was still to appoint a contractor for the work. It said the choice was between British construction firm Galliford Try and council-owned firm NY Highways, and bids were due in December.
We asked if it had decided who to appoint yet. The council said:
No delivery partner has been formally appointed yet. Pricing of the works is ongoing.
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