Readers' Letters: Harrogate roadwork delays are an 'omnishambles'

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.

Last week, the Stray Ferret reported that the roadworks for Harrogate's new Tesco supermarket will be delayed until December. Readers had their say on the delay.

The usual roadworks omnishambles that we’ve come to expect and dread. These projects are totally at the mercy of the contractors who seem to think that overruns in cost and time are just part of their (very profitable) game.

Chris Grundy

This epitomises the mismanagement of Harrogate roadworks over the last couple of years. There has been zero scrutiny and even less communication throughout.

Neil Crabtree

Do not worry folks. This is a lead up to the Station Gateway which will not be completed for at least another 5 years and at least 25k over McKenzie’s original estimate (and the Harrogate congestion problem will be worse!).

Ian Watson

Harrogate Spring Water - bottled at source?

The following statement appears on Harrogate Spring Water's website:

“Our water is abstracted from an underground aquifer below the beautiful Harrogate Pinewoods. Our source draws from the protected surrounding catchment area, comprising Sites of Importance for Nature Conservation and the Birk Crag Nature Reserve. The area comprises ancient oak woodlands and moorland, supporting a rich flora and fauna, including several rarities, our water is virtually absent of nitrates and nitrites, reflecting the quality of the ground and catchment area.”

In future it appears that water from the new borehole in Killinghall, some distance away,  will be bottled at the current bottling plant. Therefore can it still be claimed to be claimed to be Harrogate Water, bottled at source? A legal opinion is needed to clarify the situation.

Nick Anderson, Harrogate

The following letter is in response to a report on the Nidderdale Greenway extension, which is due to go before next week's Skipton and Ripon area committee on North Yorkshire Council.

The report to North Yorkshire Council’s Skipton and Ripon Area Committee makes no sense to me. It concentrates, not entirely accurately, on actual and possible problems, seemingly designed to construct a case against the Sustrans project to extend the Greenway through Nidderdale while making no mention of the enormous benefits, including enabling children to cycle safely on a flat, traffic free path to school and to friends, adults to cycle to work and to shop, people of all ages and abilities to walk, run, cycle and scoot through this beautiful Dale where now they have little choice but to go by car or bus. It would be transformational, good for the environment and good for the health and wellbeing of local residents, also as a magnet for sustainable tourism. Tourism may become a much more important source of funding with local mayors now likely to introduce a tourism tax.

With regard to points in the report:

2.2 To say that NYC officers were not aware the study was taking place and had no input is nonsense. The County’s logo is on the front page as one of the commissioning agencies. It’s hard to believe that officers didn’t know that the study had been commissioned and was being done by Sustrans for Nidderdale Plus, the co-ordinator and convenor of Local Authority projects in Nidderdale, and part funded by the Local Authority. 

2.4 The study, written by Sustrans in conjunction with John Grimshaw CBE (Greenways and Cycleroutes Ltd), its founder and also founder of the National Cycle Network, was commissioned in recognition of (i) the success of Phase 1 (Harrogate to Clint); (ii) the decision to safeguard the railway route in the Local Plan; (iii) the need to protect sections of the safeguarded railway from loss through piecemeal development; (iv) the need to produce an approved and locally supported plan for incremental development of the route connecting the communities on the route; (v) the need for a costed feasibility study to support local and regional national funding applications; (vi) over 20 local businesses and residents, the local County Councillor Stan Lumley, the Chamber of Trade, 2 active travel clubs and 2 Trusts helped fund the study.

3.9 News was awaited on the outcome of a bridleway order from Glasshouses to Dacre Banks which could form an important link in the Nidderdale Greenway. The complications and financial risk of seeking creation orders on sections protected by the Local Plan are overstated.

3.10 'Projected usage is optimistic.’ 

Why? Prior to the opening of the existing Phase 1, estimates of projected usage were considered optimistic, but in fact Phase 1 has exceeded all projections. As the study shows (page 4) a survey in 2018 estimated 196,000 users per annum. We expect actual usage will also exceed the cautious estimates of projected usage.

'Parts of the proposed extension will be much narrower, not as direct and cross through farmland which won’t be as appealing for cyclists as one constructed entirely on a disused railway.’

What is the basis for this? Why won’t farmland, much of it with wonderful scenery, be as appealing as the disused railway? 

The extension would be part of the National Cycle Network and designed (including width) according to NCN design principles.

'it is unlikely that all cyclists currently using the existing Greenway will all continue along the extension.’ That’s true but so what? Obviously if they’re going somewhere, e.g. Birstwith, that isn’t on the Greenway they’ll need to use minor roads to get there.

3.11 Many sections of the route could be opened as unsurfaced walking routes in the first instance, in order to establish a public right of access along the remaining sections of the railway needed for the ultimate shared-use Greenway.

Progress on the project stalled due to Covid, the failure to co-ordinate a supporters' steering group from within the local community groups, and the lack of apparent support from key portfolio Chairs.

Malcolm Margolis, Harrogate District Cycle Action and member of former Nidderdale Greenway Steering Group

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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