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10
Mar
Revealed: Council’s vast spending on consultants for unfinished local cycle schemes
North Yorkshire Council has spent almost £700,000 on consultants for cycling schemes in the Harrogate district — most of which have not been completed.
The Stray Ferret has written extensively about council proposals for cycling in the district in recent years.
Cyclists have frequently expressed frustration at how few have been finished so we submitted a freedom of information request to the council asking how much it has spent in each of the last five years on consultants for cycling-related initiatives in the former Harrogate borough, which includes Harrogate, Ripon, Knaresborough, Boroughbridge, Pateley Bridge and Masham.
It provided the following table detailing each project, the name of the consultant and the cost.
The information provided by North Yorkshire Council.
The response revealed consultants have received £686,129.77. The vast majority has gone to Canadian firm WSP, which is frequently hired by the council.
The largest individual sum is £256,350 for the Harrogate Transport Improvement Package – a package of measures to reduce congestion in the west of Harrogate, centred around Cold Bath Road and Otley Road.
The Stray Ferret reported on the scheme here in September 2023 and little progress appears to have happened since then. The measures included a new crossing point outside Western Primary School, new cycle parking on Cold Bath Road and improved bus stops on Otley Road.
A total of £173,022 has been spent on the Otley Road cycleway — described in the report as the National Productivity Investment Fund — the government fund which paid for the initiative that was scrapped after the first of three planned phases.
WSP received almost £100,000 for cycling schemes on Victoria Avenue in Harrogate that were subsequently dropped for being too expensive.
Consultants have also been paid for work designing crossings that have yet to be completed at Wetherby Road, Oatlands Avenue and Slingsby Road in Harrogate.
The Otley Road cycleway
'Delivery is vital'
We approached the campaign group Harrogate District Cycle Action and North Yorkshire Council for comment on the figures.
A spokesperson for HDCA said:
We have no objection to North Yorkshire Council spending money designing schemes if they then see them through. Spending on cycling is good for the environment and for wellbeing. For every £1 invested, walking and cycling return an average of £5-£6. But it’s a waste of money if the schemes never get off the drawing board.
It’s vital that North Yorkshire Council continue to invest in cycling, and vital they deliver far more effectively than they have done in recent years.
The spokeperson also pointed out some of the schemes listed are not mainly about cycling.
For instance, Harrogate Transport Improvement Package is multi-modal because it includes measures to reduce congestion and help pedestrians as well as cyclists.
Cllr Keane Duncan
'We rely on expertise'
Councillor Keane Duncan, the council's Conservative executive member for highways and transportation, said:
Over the last five years we have successfully secured over £15 million in government funding to deliver sustainable transport projects in and around Harrogate.
Earlier this month we were also awarded a further £1.5 million from the Active Travel Fund, for schemes across North Yorkshire.
The figure of £686,125 for consultancy spend includes work on schemes that benefit pedestrians and motorists, not cycling schemes exclusively.
To ensure the successful delivery of these more complex improvements on our highway network, we sometimes rely on the specialist knowledge and expertise of third-party organisations which we don’t always have in-house.
Of all the Harrogate-based projects this relates to, almost all have been delivered already, or work is ongoing to deliver them in the near future.
This includes an extensive package of improvements including new crossings, junction improvements and bus priority measures. These are key to tackling congestion and improving road safety in Harrogate.
There are just two projects we have decided not to progress after considering public feedback. These are phase 2 of the Otley Road cycleway and the Oatlands area projects.
We have also delivered a number of schemes without the need for consultants. This includes School Streets, an initiative which restrict most traffic movements directly outside a school at drop off and pick up times to create a safer environment and encourage more children to walk, cycle or scoot to school.
Another is Open North Yorkshire, which offers advice and support to encourage people to adopt active and sustainable alternative travel options.
What do you think of the spending on consultants? Use the comment section below to have your say.
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