It’s a question which has been posed by politicians this past week — how do you ease congestion in Harrogate?

From parents battling the school run to the region’s mayor taking an hour and 15 minutes to drive two miles to the town’s hospital, the delays on Harrogate’s roads have hit people from all walks of life.

But how do you solve it? One idea revived this week was a park and ride service enabling people to park on the outskirts and catch a bus in to avoid congestion.

Harrogate gridlock

A Harrogate park and ride has been the subject of endless debate and feasibility studies over the last 10 years.

In 2021, more than 100 locations were examined and the two most promising were revealed as land near Pannal Golf Club and the Buttersyke Bar roundabout south of the village.

Nothing materialised and the idea appeared to be shelved.

But as Harrogate continues to suffer with congestion, compounded by multiple roadworks, the idea has resurfaced.

Cllr Chris Aldred, a Liberal Democrat who represents High Harrogate and Kingsley on North Yorkshire Council, described the gridlock on the town’s roads as “worse than it ever has been”.

He told a Harrogate and Knaresborough area constituency committee this week he was convinced park and ride would help. He said:

David Skaith, Labour mayor of York and North Yorkshire, is a big proponent of the idea.

Mr Skaith, who recently described Harrogate's roads as "absolute gridlock" after it took him more than an hour to drive from St Mary’s Walk to Harrogate District Hospital, told the Stray Ferret that York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority was trying to tackle congestion in the town as part of its local transport plan.

A park and ride is an idea that the mayor’s office is looking at — though it is just an idea at this stage.

Mr Skaith said:

Mr Skaith, who owns a shop in York, spoke highly of how the facility operates in the city. The city’s park and ride has six separate stations and services run from the city centre until 10.30pm.

Passengers can get on a bus from stations such as Askham Bar and Poppleton into York without contending with traffic on routes into the centre.

Could that be replicated in Harrogate? Mr Skaith said it was not as straightforward as putting on more buses.

He said:

Lack of funding

The idea would also need the backing of North Yorkshire Council, which currently oversees highways and transport in Harrogate.

The council has explored the idea of a park and ride in the town before, including undertaking studies and bidding for funding.

But the plans hit the buffers in 2022, when the government refused a £116 million bid from predecessor authority North Yorkshire County Council for a bus services improvement plan — which left the council's park and ride trial and other bus plans in tatters.

At the time, senior councillors insisted that a trial was still possible. But this never materialised.

In July this year, Cllr Malcolm Taylor, the council’s executive councillor for highways, was unequivocal in his assessment that a park and ride was “not on the radar” at this time.

Cllr Taylor, who previously described himself as a “big advocate” of such a facility, this week reiterated to the Stray Ferret that the council lacked funding to progress the idea any further.

He said:

The conclusion from all this is that park and ride in Harrogate retains political support — but no funding.

But while there is still congestion in the town and motorists continue to be frustrated, it’s an idea that will not go away.