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11
Sept 2023
Council prepares alternative options to save £11.2m Harrogate Station Gateway
Council bosses are preparing to submit alternative options for Harrogate’s £11.2 million Station Gateway project.
In a report due before senior councillors next week, North Yorkshire Council recommends coming up with a 'descoped' gateway scheme after the previous proposals were paused last month.
The report, which does not mention cycling once, said the revised scheme would retain the popular elements of the gateway.
It said it would focus on "a high quality pedestrian-focussed public realm scheme, with improved access into the bus station, and better traffic flow through co-ordinated signal timings".
It added the Department for Transport, which funded the gateway through its Transforming Cities Fund, had "indicated initial support for a modified scope but have not yet formally responded".
The council halted the scheme immediately after lawyers acting on behalf of local property firm Hornbeam Park Developments launched a judicial review.
Now it is hastily preparing new measures to prevent the funding from being lost.
Richard Binks, head of major projects at the council, said in the report:
Read more:
- Council concedes it should have held public inquiry into Harrogate Station Gateway
- Lib Dems call on Keane Duncan to resign over Harrogate Station Gateway
- Harrogate Station Gateway ‘on life support but not dead yet’
Councillors will consider the report at an executive meeting on September 19.
Council officers are then expected to bring further options for the gateway to an executive meeting in October or November.
Cllr Keane Duncan, executive councillor for highways at the council, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that he remains hopeful the £11.2 million of government funding will be spend on a transport improvement scheme for Harrogate.
Cllr Duncan told the Local Democracy Reporting Service the scheme was "not dead yet", but was "on life support".
However, he added that the project will have to be altered for it to stand a chance of succeeding.
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