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16
Apr 2023
D-Day looms for £11.2m Harrogate Station Gateway
A special meeting has been convened to discuss whether to proceed with the £11.2 million Harrogate Station Gateway.
The new North Yorkshire Council has organised a meeting of its Harrogate and Knaresborough area constituency committee on May 5.
The sole item on the agenda is the gateway, which would see James Street partly pedestrianised and some of Station Parade reduced to single lane traffic to encourage cycling.
The 15-strong committee comprises of nine Liberal Democrats, five Conservatives and one Green.
Area constituency committees are advisory bodies to North Yorkshire Council, whose Conservative-controlled executive retains the final say.
But Cllr Keane Duncan, the Conservative member for highways and transportation at the council, has pledged to abide by the area constituency committee's decision.
Cllr Duncan said this would fulfil the council leadership's pledge of "double devolution" whereby more decisions would be taken locally.
But some Liberal Democrats think the Conservatives have given them a hospital pass by passing on responsibility for such a hot political potato that has divided local opinion.
How James Street would look
To date the Liberal Democrats have been quiet on whether they will back the gateway.
The Stray Ferret asked area constituency committee chair, Cllr Pat Marsh, the Liberal Democrat for Stray, Woodlands and Hookstone, whether her party would support the gateway.
On March 9, she said:
We asked Cllr Marsh again on Friday whether the Lib Dems had formulated a position. She replied:
Speaking at a Harrogate District Chamber of Commerce meeting on March 14, Cllr Duncan said:
He told the meeting the scheme would see the removal of 40 parking spaces — 20 on James Street and 20 on Station Parade.
He added the Station Square water feature had been removed from the scheme “due to practical and cost constraints”. It would have cost £500,000.
Cllr Keane Duncan (centre) at the chamber event
Cllr Duncan committed to four pledges if the scheme goes ahead:
1 To conduct a full review of car parking in Harrogate town centre.
2 To manage disruption, adding: “It cannot be denied there will be disruption. We will draw up a construction management plan.”
3 No compromise on quality of construction materials.
4 Traffic flows will be revisited and reassessed.
The meeting at the Civic Centre in Harrogate on May 5 will take place at 10am and is open to the public.
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