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08
Jul 2024
New cycling proposals revealed for Harrogate’s Victoria Avenue
Parking spaces in the middle of Harrogate’s Victoria Avenue could be removed to make way for a cycle lane, according to new proposals by North Yorkshire Council.
Victoria Avenue has long been regarded as a key part of a segregated cycle route from the centre of Harrogate to Cardale Park to encourage active travel.
But the council appeared to have scrapped any immediate prospect of this when it announced plans for pedestrian and traffic improvements in April — but no cycleway.
However, councillors will next week be asked to approve spending £10,000 on a feasibility study into creating a central bi-directional cycle lane, in which cyclists pass each other in opposite directions.
Some of the other measures for Victoria Avenue could also be revised after a consultation in spring revealed dissatisfaction.
Four years of little progress
The former North Yorkshire County Council was awarded a £1,011,750 from the second round of the government’s active travel fund in 2020.
This was allocated to four improvement schemes.
- A59 Maple Close Harrogate to Knaresborough (£250k)
- Victoria Avenue, Harrogate (£250k)
- Guisborough Road, Whitby (£250k)
- Oatlands Drive, Harrogate (£261,750)
So far, no routes have been built but £205,505 has been spent ‘developing schemes’, according to a report to councillors next week. This leaves a remaining budget of £806,245.
North Yorkshire Council said in spring the £1.57 million cost of a cycleway on Victoria Avenue was prohibitive and it had therefore dropped the scheme.
But the new report, by Jasmin Gibson, the council's improvement project delivery manager, said Active Travel England staff suggested during a recent site visit that central parking could be removed to make way for a bi-directional cycleway.
There is still no funding for the cycle scheme but the report says “investing in the feasibility study and developing this proposal to bid-ready status means that this future phase of works has much greater potential of coming forward, either through external funding or through the recently announced Local Transport Fund”.
The report says:
The proposal is to develop the pedestrian-only improvement scheme to detailed design status and tender the works upon completion. The pedestrian elements can then be delivered onsite. The cycleway proposals can be developed in tandem and if future funding is secured delivered as part of a second phase of works.
As both schemes require traffic regulation orders and this process can impact timescales for delivery it is proposed to commence advertisement of the relevant TROs for both scheme options as soon as possible.
Plans to ban right turns from Belford Road have been dropped.
Previous proposals put forward included making the junction with Belford Road left-turn only, measures to prevent drivers illegally travelling straight ahead from Beech Grove to Victoria Avenue and creating a new bus stop outside the United Reformed Church.
A consultation from April 15 to May 5 on these proposals generated 70 responses. The report said:
Many highlighted the lack of cycling provision, did not think the proposed changes were worthwhile and criticised the proposal to ban the right turn from Belford Avenue. As a result of the consultation responses a revised plan was produced removing the left turn-only from Belford Avenue, keeping the zebra crossing on the same side of the carriageway as it is at present and improving the cycle storage near the library
In contrast other respondents were pleased to see the cycle lanes removed and parking retained, including representatives from St Peter’s School. The pedestrian improvement proposals would offer significant benefit to pedestrians and are in line with Active Travel England’s hierarchy of ‘walking, wheeling and cycling’ and some local residents were pleased to see the focus on pedestrian improvements.
The junction of Victoria Avenue and Beech Grove.
The report also rules out bringing back bollards on Beech Grove — a measure that was abandoned after an 18-month trial.
The document also said there was a “mixed response to the proposals to make the banned straight-ahead movement from Beech Grove more difficult”, adding “options in this area can be considered within the detailed design and feasibility study”.
Councillors will next week be asked to approve spending £10,000 on feasibility plans for the central cycleway and to start consulting on traffic regulation orders on the relocation of the zebra crossing and the removal of parking spaces to make way for the new bus stop.
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