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14
Nov
Council urged to sort out bollards and weeds at Harrogate car park
A local environmental group has called on North Yorkshire Council to improve the state of a Harrogate car park.
It comes after the council recently announced plans to close the car park at its horticultural nursery, situated in front of the Harrogate Indoor Bowling Club, which is used by nursery customers and dog walkers visiting the Pinewoods.
The authority advised people to instead park at Irongate Field, on Harlow Moor Road, but a spokesperson for Pinewoods Conservation Group said it needs to be better maintained.
The spokesperson told the Stray Ferret the area required weeding, bushes being cut back and holes filled.
“The issue is that people are supposed to park between the bollards, but people generally think the bollards are there to block parking”, he said.
The spokesperson added the wooden bollards need to be removed, which Pinewoods Conservation Group has offered to do, and the marked parking area outside Harrogate Spring Water’s headquarters fills up very quickly.
The Stray Ferret put these concerns to the council. We also asked if it intended to improve the state of Irongate Field and better advertise it as a car park – even if that means painting white lines on the ground – and if the bollards could be removed.
Karl Battersby, the council’s corporate director of environment, said:
The area at Irongate Field is owned by us and provides an opportunity for people to park for free. We know this area is valued by locals and dog walkers, so we want to keep it that way.
We do maintain the area as part of our annual programme, and if there are health and safety issues then we will act.
A reader also got in touch criticising the decision to close the car park due to vehicles getting locked in overnight. John Wenn said:
The solution seems simple – the current signage is inadequate it says that there is “a risk” of being locked in. It should be changed to say any car left after 4pm will be locked in and cannot be released until the next morning — potentially with a fee.
Look for his letter in full in our weekly Readers' Letters article on Sunday.
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