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Aug 2023

Last Updated: 20/08/2023

Business

Business group welcomes decision to halt 'wrong' Harrogate gateway scheme

by John Plummer

| 20 Aug, 2023

The Harrogate Station Gateway scheme.

Harrogate District Chamber of Commerce has welcomed the decision to halt the town's £11.2 million station gateway scheme.

On Thursday, North Yorkshire Council said it had revoked its decision to proceed with the gateway after Hornbeam Park Developments instructed lawyers to launch a judicial review.

Karl Battersby, the council’s corporate director of environment, said it was "taking further advice before deciding how best to proceed".

But Andrew Jones, the Conservative MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, said the scheme was effectively dead and called for gateway funding to be retained locally.

Martin Mann, acting chief executive of the chamber, said:

"Harrogate District Chamber welcomes the news that the gateway project has been rescinded but given that all three North Yorkshire County Council / North Yorkshire Council consultations failed to support the scheme, remain disappointed that it took a judicial review to make it happen.

"The chamber and the wider business community has never been against investment in Harrogate, as was implied by senior council officials. We are and always have been against the wrong investment."

Two member surveys by the chamber revealed a majority opposed to the scheme, which would see James Street partly pedestrianised and a 300-metre section of Station Parade reduced to single lane traffic to make way for cycle lanes.

Mr Mann said the organisation supported calls by Mr Jones and Tom Gordon, the Liberal Democrat candidate for Harrogate and Knaresborough at the next election, for funds to be retained for local active travel and town centre improvements.

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He added:

"Harrogate District Chamber would also like to publicly thank those who brought the judicial review for finally bringing this project to a halt.

"Our remaining concern is to identify who will be responsible for the £2 million already spent on the project should Andrew Jones and North Yorkshire Council be unsuccessful in retaining the funding."

The £2 million refers to the sum the council said in June it had spent on gateway consultants

'Appalling failure' say cyclists

Harrogate cycling campaigner Malcolm Margolis, who is a member of Harrogate District Cycle Action, said

"It would be an appalling failure if the station gateway were to be abandoned because the owner of Hornbeam Park Developments, which also owns substantial property in Harrogate town centre, objects.

"The county council recently held a third consultation specifically to address his promise to launch a judicial review, which he has now done.

"They now need to hold their nerve and defend the review. Station gateway is an essential first step to bring the town centre into the 21st century, make it a more attractive place to spend time and money in, and start to help people walk, cycle and use buses more, and their cars less."

John Rowe, who is a committee member of Harrogate District Cycle Action, said it had asked the council to clarify what it was doing but he understood the funding had to be used for active travel. He added:

"If the council kills this scheme after failing to deliver on any of the active travel fund awards plus Otley Road, I would worry about their ability to attract future funding."

The Stray Ferret asked the council whether the gateway funds could be spent on other local projects.

A council spokesperson said:

"It’s not appropriate for us to comment further at this stage."

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Business group welcomes decision to halt 'wrong' Harrogate gateway scheme

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'Appalling failure' say cyclists