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24
Mar
Council explains why York Place roadworks were not timed to coincide with each other
North Yorkshire Council has explained why a main road in Harrogate has been closed for resurfacing just weeks after it reopened from an extended period of roadworks.
York Place in Harrogate was reduced to a single lane of traffic for a number of weeks between January and February as Northern Powergrid carried out upgrades to the electricity network.
It reopened on February 20, but resurfacing work started on March 10 – less than three weeks later. It is open during the day, but is closed from 7pm each evening, with work continuing through the night.
News of the current roadworks prompted criticism on social media. One poster, responding on Facebook to our coverage of it, wrote:
As far as bad planning goes, this is gold standard.
Another said:
The same piece of road... for heaven's sake, can't they get their act together?
So the Stray Ferret asked North Yorkshire why the two projects were not made to coincide, so that the road would only be closed off once.
A spokesperson told us:
The two works were unable to be carried out at the same time because they are not compatible. NPG [Northern Powergrid] were laying ducting in a carriageway that we were resurfacing. It is therefore impossible for us to resurface until their works have finished.
We chose to carry out York Place resurfacing during the night so there was less of an impact on the wider network given the road closure on Ripon Road.
In addition, NPG was moving from York Place in Harrogate to the Prince of Wales Roundabout then onto Ripon Road with a full road closure to upgrade the electricity network in the town.
The resurfacing work on York Place is due to last another 10 days, ending at midnight on Thursday, April 3.
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