Readers' Letters: More traffic in Harrogate town centre is not the answer to congestion

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.

This week, we have collated some readers’ comments left on recent stories.

Few would disagree that Harrogate has a major congestion problem. There are several ways to tackle it including:

• Invest in measures (e.g. upgraded traffic lights) so traffic can move more efficiently. (Though if this results in ‘induced traffic', which is likely, any benefit would be short-lived.)
  
• Build a by-pass to remove traffic which doesn’t want to go through the town. (Previous studies have shown this is a very small percentage, is hugely expensive and harms countryside and villages). 
  
• Invest in measures (e.g. safe crossings, better footpaths, cycle paths, lower speed limits) to encourage people to leave the car at home where possible, and take the bus, walk or cycle instead. 
  

The latest £50,000 study announced by the North Yorkshire Council appears to be focussed solely on optimising traffic flow. 

If so it’s unfortunate, to say the least. Enabling more traffic to go through the town centre would mean more traffic IN the town centre. It’s 20th century policy long since abandoned by many other highway authorities. It’s high time North Yorkshire did the same.

Malcolm Margolis BEM, Harrogate

Council must do more on Allerton Park incinerator

It’s good to see interest in the performance of the Allerton Park Incinerator. The council has been asking why it is contributing to missed targets – but the important questions are why this is happening, and what potential impact it may have on our community’s health.

Many of these issues were raised years ago by campaigners who opposed the incinerator. In my view, they relate to the council’s decision at the time not to insist on the highest standards of technology and techniques during planning and commissioning. We are facing the consequences of that now. York and North Yorkshire are tied into a contract that means we will be among the last councils in England able to compost food waste.

What was not included in North Yorkshire Council’s executive report is that the incinerator is still reported to be underperforming in 2025, and was offline around 44% of the time up to June this year – the highest downtime recorded nationally, according to available data.

A key concern is that the operator, Thalia, appears to have adopted certain best-practice measures only after significant issues emerged. For example, it was reported in September 2025 that bulky waste contributed to maintenance problems, including damage to the grates, and that shredding bulky waste has only recently been introduced. This is just one of several issues highlighted in the latest compliance report. We need to see best practice applied proactively, not reactively.

Beyond the operational impact on the council, there is the potential for wider implications for residents’ health. This year saw extended periods of downtime and intermittent returns to operation. Industry evidence suggests that emissions can be higher during start-up and shut-down periods, yet emissions during these periods are not required to be reported. That gap in data needs addressing.

Incineration is not the answer - but whilst we have this incinerator, I call on the council to do three things:

a) Measure the community’s air quality when the Environment Agency isn’t. 

b) Ask Thalia to release the data they hold but don’t share. 

c) Prioritise state of the art recycling infrastructure. It’s cheaper, it’s better, and looking at other councils, it can be done.

Cllr Arnold Warneken, Green Party councillor for Ouseburn on North Yorkshire Council

Bogus bomb disposal squad?

I live in Knaresborough and I regularly attend the market on most Wednesdays, and I usually catch the bus home from the bus station to Eastfield at around 3:10pm.

On most Wednesdays (almost unfailingly) punctually at around 3pm a large white vehicle appears at the bottom of the High Street with a siren sounding and with two blue lights flashing. It then proceeds to speed up the High Street often on the wrong side of the road, thereby forcing other traffic to make way for it.

It is driven by someone wearing British Army desert combat fatigues, and he is usually accompanied in the cab by one other person . There are no obvious badges of rank or other insignia obviously visible, The vehile carries some sort of Bomb Disposal markings, but no official markings relating to its supposed origin and purpose.

Once the vehicle has passed through Gracious Street traffic lights (often at red) the siren and lights cease, and the vehicle slows down to a reasonable speed.

The regularity of the timing of this appearance is the cause of some mirth and remarks amongst the regulars like me who wait at the bus stop, and regard it as being free entertainment.

We are of a similar mind that the whole thing is a charade and it is being performed by cosplayers who are not genuine service personnel at all.

I thought that you may be interested in this piece of local colour.

Colin Harrison, Knaresborough

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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