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25
Apr
Traffic orders 'do not implement' Harrogate Station Gateway scheme, High Court told
Traffic orders in central Harrogate do not implement the £12.6 million Station Gateway scheme, a high court hearing was told today.
The £12.6 million North Yorkshire Council scheme would transform Station Parade, Station Square and One Arch pedestrian tunnel.
But the Get Away campaign group claims it will harm the town centre and has taken the council to the High Court to prevent it going ahead.
In yesterday's opening day, Victoria Hutton, planning barrister for the campaigners, claimed the Traffic Regulation Orders were "unlawful" because there was no certainty that the wider project would go ahead.
But Piers Riley-Smith, planning barrister for the council, denied this when he gave evidence for the defence at Leeds Combined Court this morning.
Mr RIley Smith told the court it was the defence’s case that the Traffic Regulation Orders, which included a bus lane and one-way system on lower Station Parade, did not implement the gateway scheme.
Instead, he said the orders helped to “facilitate the scheme” as further decisions were still to be made — such as West Yorkshire Combined Authority giving final sign-off on the project.
He said:
They do not on their own create them and they do not implement or even part implement the scheme.
This addresses a significant amount of the claimant's points.
Ms Hutton had claimed the orders implemented part of the Station Gateway project and were “intimately linked” with the wider scheme.
However, Mr Riley-Smith told the court that the council’s decision to introduce the orders was rational.
He said the West Yorkshire Combined Authority resolved in May 2024 that the council should “give an update on traffic regulation order consultation” before any further decision could be made on the gateway scheme.
As a result, Mr Riley-Smith said it was a rational decision for the council to look to introduce the orders in order to ensure the scheme could progress and funding could be released at a later stage.
He said:
It was a rational interpretation to make the Traffic Regulation Orders. There was a risk that the West Yorkshire Combined Authority may say ‘we want to know that they are in place before we give you the money’.
I would say that is not irrational.
Recorder Mark Ockelton, who has overseen the two-day hearing, is expected to make a judgement on the hearing at a later date.
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