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19
Oct
Harrogate residents' group says 'there isn’t the infrastructure to cope with what’s effectively a new town'
Residents accused the council of having no strategy for managing the development of thousands of homes in west Harrogate at a meeting this week.
Housing has dominated the agenda of Harlow and Pannal Ash Residents Association for many years.
Wednesday’s meeting came after Gladman Developments was granted permission to build 480 dwellings between Lady Lane and Whinney Lane this month and Banks Property was given the go-ahead for 224 homes off Whinney Lane in August.
They are part of wider plans to construct 4,000 homes on land allocated for development by North Yorkshire Council in west Harrogate by 2035.
Hapara secretary David Siddans told the council meeting that approved the Gladman development the group didn’t oppose new housing “but we strongly object to the strategic infrastructure package that is supposed to support it”.
Picking up on this theme, Mr Siddans told Hapara’s autumn meeting at the Green Hut on Harlow Avenue:
We cannot see a strategy. The only strategy seems to be ‘let’s get these developments through’ and leave it to the developer.
Janet and John
The council approved a West Harrogate Infrastructure Delivery Strategy in June this year, but Hapara chairman Rene Dziabas said he and colleagues at Hapara, who frequently analyse council documents, struggled to discern a strategy.
He suggested the council published a “simple Janet and John document of two or three pages explaining simply how things will work” so people could understand what’s happening and what mitigation measures are in place.
Concerns were also aired about the lack of extra bus services to cope with 10,000 extra residents.
The meeting heard 900 new homes would be accessed off Whinney Lane alone, meaning an extra 500 vehicles per hour on the road at peak times.
Mr Dziabas said the council appeared to be doing “the absolute minimum to prevent gridlock”, adding:
The council is only interested in getting the housing numbers through due to political pressure. But there isn’t the infrastructure to cope with what’s effectively a new town.
Derek Spence, chairman of Haverah Park with Beckwithshaw Parish Council, concurred. He asked:
If it fails, who will take responsibility for it and who is going to remediate the issues?
Cold Bath Road
Concerns about congestion and public transport dominated Hapara’s meeting. Melisa Burnham, the council’s area highways manager, was expected to attend but did not do so.
At the start, Mr Dziabas said the council’s 10 sustainable transport measures for the area around Otley Road, which are budgeted to cost £505,000 and include measures such as reducing the Cold Bath Road speed limit to 20mph and upgrading traffic signals, were due to be completed by summer next year. Details of the projects can be viewed here.
He added:
My personal opinion is that it won’t happen. I have yet to see a timescale that North Yorkshire Council has managed to deliver.
A resolution to wind-up Hapara was passed at the end of the meeting after nobody volunteered to take on committee roles that became vacant. You can read more here.
Is Hapara right? Use the comment section below to give your views.
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