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18
Mar
Removal of tempietto gets underway in Harrogate
North Yorkshire Council took the first steps on a major transformation of Station Parade and Station Square in Harrogate today.
The council says the £14.6 million Harrogate Station Gateway scheme will encourage sustainable travel by improving transport facilities and public spaces around the town’s railway station.
A 36-metre bus lane, branded “crazy” by anti-gateway campaigners, will be introduced on lower Station Parade, where 22 of 25 parking spaces will be lost. A short cycle lane will be created further along Station Parade, Station Square will be relandscaped with the loss of trees and the tempietto and the One Arch pedestrian tunnel will be upgraded.
Legal challenges launched by a local business group have delayed the scheme but last week’s Court of Appeal ruling, which ruled in the council’s favour, appears to have paved the way for work to begin.
Council workers were on site today, which prompted the Stray Ferret to ask the council what was going on.
Karl Battersby, the council’s corporate director for environment, said:
The start of work has been delayed due to several unsuccessful legal challenges and, as a result, there is a risk that planning consents for the scheme will expire.
To prevent this happening, and to save the cost of having to re-apply for these consents, some minor works to reduce the height of a wall in the One Arch area and removing a small part from the top of the tempietto’s roof have been undertaken.
No further details on timescales have been released.
The looming loss of the tempietto, or little temple, has generated a backlash, with calls for it to be relocated to Starbeck and Valley Gardens. It is currently due to be sent to a tip.
The Stray Ferret asked Councillor Malcolm Taylor, the Conservative highways chief, if he would consider saving it. He said he would “liaise with the operational team”.
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