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11

Sept 2024

Last Updated: 11/09/2024
Transport
Transport

Mayor could spend £500,000 to improve Harrogate traffic light bottlenecks

by Flora Grafton

| 11 Sept, 2024
Comment

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The lights at the Ripon Road and King's Road junction.

The new Labour mayor could spend £500,000 upgrading two sets of traffic lights in Harrogate.

David Skaith, who was elected Mayor of York and North Yorkshire in May, has set up a mayoral investment fund, which will award £18 million annually for transport, education and business schemes. 

York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority, which the mayor oversees, last week allocated £4 million from the fund to seven projects. The traffic lights initiative was the only scheme for the Harrogate district.

The £500,000 would be spent on revamping traffic lights on the A61 at the King's Road and Ripon Road junctions, as well as the lights connecting King's Road and Cheltenham Parade.

Traffic regularly backs up at the two junctions, causing delays.

A spokesperson for North Yorkshire Council, which has proposed allocating the funding on the junction improvements, said the scheme would “improve traffic flow across the town”. 

A council spokesperson said the combined authority funding was not connected with the £12.1 million Harrogate Station Gateway scheme, which is focused on nearby Station Parade.

The combined authority will decide whether to approve the traffic light funding on October 2.