Readers’ Letters: An ambulance had to wait at Starbeck level crossing – can’t the trains be held up?

Readers’ Letters is a free 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.

This week, we’ve collated some of our readers’ letters and comments left in the comments section of our website.

This letter concerns Starbeck level crossing.

I just witnessed an ambulance responding to an emergency, but it held up by two trains at the Starbeck level crossing. After 5 minutes, the driver had to do a U-turn.

It's bad enough for an ordinary punter, but when an ambulance is delayed like this it is obviously potentially a matter of life and death.

Surely, there's a way of holding up the train at Knaresborough or Starbeck. 

Paul Hackett, Bowness Avenue, The Wirral

The council’s decision to close a Harrogate car park was ‘poorly justified’

This letter follows a story published earlier this week about North Yorkshire Council closing a car park in the Harlow Hill area. The authority said it will close for good at the end of this month because vehicles got locked in.

The Stray Ferret reported that the council are to close the car park next to the horticultural nursery and indoor bowling club, simply because they find it inconvenient to deal with drivers getting locked in. But have they undertaken an assessment of the impact of this closure?

The steep road up to the nursery area makes it difficult to access for anyone with restricted mobility, and the suggestion that they could park further down Harlow Moor Road seems a callous disregard for such needs.

Secondly, potential users will not go down to the Irongate Field parking area – which is often full – they will simply park at the top of Harlow Moor Drive. This will significantly impact the Harlow Moor Drive residents who park on the road. 

As an owner of a property at the top of Harlow Moor Drive, I object to the council shutting off a parking area next to one of their own facilities, leaving it empty and allowing cars to spill onto residential streets with next to no justification.

The solution seems simple. The current signage is inadequate – it says that there is 'a risk' of being locked in. It should instead say, 'any car left after 4pm will be locked in and cannot be released until the next morning (potentially with a fee?)'.

Until the council have tried a better sign, then the current proposal of complete closure from December is very poorly justified.

John Wann, Harlow Moor Drive

Perhaps development funds could go towards clearing our gullies

Few topics raise our readers’ blood pressure as much as poor road conditions and blocked gullies. This letter is no exception.

Once again, the streets of Harrogate are clothed in fallen leaves.

There seems to be no policy for clearing these, unless the council are waiting for the final leaf to fall. 

Thankfully, there has been no heavy rain to turn the leaves to the usual slippery, mushy mess. But one thing is for certain, the gullies that are not already blocked will be in the next few days.

I would challenge our new MP to walk around his constituency after a heavy rainfall and see how few of the gullies are clear. In the past, I wrote to our former MP several times and had a visit from my local councillor to discuss this, but each year is the same.

Perhaps all the funds from planning applications for work to trees in our area could go towards clearing our streets and road edges.

Steve Caldwell, 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.

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