Readers' Letters: Abandoning the Station Gateway would mean no change

Readers’ Letters is a free weekly column giving you the chance to have your say on issues affecting the Harrogate district. It is an opinion column and does not reflect the views of the Stray Ferret. Send your views to letters@thestrayferret.co.uk.

The following comments were left under Vicky Carr’s latest opinion column, where she admitted that she liked the original Harrogate Station Gateway plans.

I agree with almost everything you say. I’m not convinced that the current iteration should be abandoned even though it’s less desirable than the original Station Gateway proposal. Abandoning it now would, as I understand it, result in loss of funding and no change at all.

Malcolm Margolis

Completely agree with this article. It was a real shame that the original spirit of the scheme was destroyed by wealthy vested interests seeking to preserve the status quo regardless of the consequences. If the traffic problems are ever to be dealt with it will need bravery politicians and folk prepared to stand up to those who just shout the loudest.

Ian Brown

The 'before' picture you show at the top has more greenery and much the same traffic layout. The first picture is out of date - the little square garden area with seats has no plants in it now. The plan for a short cycle lane from nowhere to nowhere will be crossed by buses leaving the bus station and cars leaving the car park. For a fraction of the proposed spend the paving could be cleaned up and more greenery planted.

Ralph Armsby

Pothole problems

Meanwhile, one reader had to get something off her chest after reading our article about potholes on North Yorkshire’s roads.

It was the norm until recently that repairs had a seal of bitumen round them to stop water ingress and winter freezing. It simply doesn’t happen now.

We live on a hill and the water / winter cold just causes repairs to wash away. We have asked for two years for work originally done by Yorkshire Water that sank to be filled in and the constant tump of traffic was disturbing our sleep and as I work from home.

North Yorkshire have finally come out and I watched a van pull in on a rural 60 mph rd and an operative get out with no high vis gear and through two shovels of tar on the worst bits. I knocked on the window of the car as he was about to leave and explained how annoying the noise was and how long it had been going on and suddenly white pot hole marks were put down. It was fixed with a deep dig and new tarmac a week later. No bitumen edging done so probably won’t last next winter.

Clare Hardy

Do you have an opinion on the Harrogate district? Email us at letters@thestrayferret.co.uk. Please include your name and approximate location details. Limit your letters to 350 words. We reserve the right to edit letters.

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