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18
Jan
Roadworks, housing, grit bins… 10 things we learned about Harrogate this week
Three of the most senior figures at North Yorkshire Council gave a wide-ranging update to Harrogate District Chamber of Commerce this week.
Richard Flinton, chief executive, Karl Battersby, corporate director for environment and Conservative leader, Councillor Carl Les, addressed a packed meeting at Rudding Park for over an hour.
They discussed subjects ranging from roadworks and housing to Harrogate Convention Centre.
Here are 10 things that emerged:
1 New roadworks system to start this year
Utility companies currently pay the council for permits to carry out roadworks. This will change to a lane rental system on the busiest routes this year. Under the new system, the council can charge up to £2,500 a day. Mr Battersby said this would “minimise disruption”, adding:
The rationale behind that is to ensure that the utility companies are a lot smarter about where they do the work and when.” He said it had taken the Department for Transport “quite a while to work their way through the approvals” but they had now been secured and the council “hopes to introduce it later this year.
However, it will only apply to the busiest 7% of the county’s highway network.
2 Station Gateway about securing future funding in Harrogate
Mr Battersby said the council had received another extension to the timeframe to deliver the £14.6 million town centre redevelopment scheme and hoped it will start this summer, subject to the outcome of an ongoing legal challenge. He said: “We are trying to do a scheme that helps lift the central area of Harrogate, improves public transport access, encourages cycling, improves pedestrian facilities and at the same time is positive in terms of traffic flow around what is a busy town centre.”
Mr Battersby claimed the scheme has “broad support across the town” and has wider implications for the future of Harrogate:
It’s not only important in terms of the scheme, it’s also important for what it says about Harrogate and our ability to attract funding and deliver things on the ground so it’s more important for me than that individual scheme. It’s about setting the tone for what we can do in terms of investment going forward because if we don’t deliver the scheme here the money will be lost in Harrogate.
Station Square would be re-landscaped as part of the gateway scheme.
3 Town the size of Richmond required every year
Mr Flinton said the government’s annual housing target for North Yorkshire had increased from 1,384 to 4,156. The most homes ever built in a year is currently 2,987. Mr Flinton said the new target equated to 83,000 homes over 20 years — more than the combined size of Harrogate and Scarborough: “If you look at that on an annual basis you can see we have to build a new Richmond, a new Filey, a new Pickering every year to hit those 4,000 figures so there’s a lot of pressure. Whether the market is capable of delivering that scale of houses is a different question.”
He said when the council was formed in April 2023, it “gave itself” five years to develop a new Local Plan that outlines where development can take place. But he warned: “This government has been quite heavy on its impact on planning and housing so that might be delayed a little bit because we have brand new requirements to play to on that.”
4 Studio 2 project at Harrogate Convention Centre
In December 2024, the council agreed to spend £7 million reconfiguring studio 2 at the convention centre to create more break-out space to attract more bookings. Mr Flinton said building work would start “in a matter of a few months” and added it had been a “very good year” for the conferences and events venue. He said: “Bookings for next year are very strong so we are looking at one of the best years ever for the convention centre.”
Some designs of the breakout rooms at Harrogate Convention Centre.
5 Harrogate Borough Council would have been ‘unviable’
Mr Flinton claimed local government would have become “unviable” in North Yorkshire without local government reorganisation. Harrogate Borough Council was one of eight councils replaced by North Yorkshire Council in April 2023.
He said: “By crikey, we have absolutely needed to do that because we have been hammered by central government in terms of grants available to the council.”
Mr Flinton added:
We’ve saved £72 million, with another £58 million planned, of which £68 million have come from local government reorganisation. Frankly, local government in North Yorkshire would be unviable if we hadn’t done that given the cuts we are facing from central government alongside of demand for services.
Mr Flinton talking at the chamber event.
6 Two tourist taxes in Harrogate?
Tourists to Harrogate could soon be subject to two new taxes. Harrogate Business Improvement District is to ballot the town’s largest hotels about whether to introduce a £2 a night levy on visitors. North Yorkshire mayor David Skaith is separately advocating for the government to introduce powers allowing him to introduce a countywide levy on all overnight stays. The council is running a consultation on the government proposal.
Cllr Les said:
Having spent 50 years in the hotel business, I have seen tourism levies work in other parts of the world and there is a possible attraction to having an income you can actually spend on tourism facilities and marketing.
The problem I have with the present proposal is it’s a flat rate of £2. If I was staying at this hotel (Rudding Park) I might not notice an extra £2 on my overnight accommodation charge; if I was staying at a two-star hotel in Scarborough that might become a major part of the bill and I might decide to go elsewhere. That is the risk of the tourism levy. Would it be a deterrent to the customer?
Harrogate town centre
7 More footways to be gritted
The council conducted a review into its response to last winter’s cold snap, which saw many icy minor roads and footways untreated for several days. Mr Battersby said it had decided to “pre-salt key footpaths before temperatures drop to help make them more accessible” and work closer with business groups and parish and town councils. However, he said the winter budget remained at £8.5 million, and any changes had to be incorporated within this sum.
8 QR codes on grit bins
Mr Battersby said the council had reviewed its criteria for grit bins after criticism that stocks weren’t replenished quick enough last year. He added: “We have put QR stickers on them for this season to help us know when they need refilling so we can get those done quickly.”
Outside the Leeds Road Practice in Harrogate, four days after snow fell in 2025.
9 Street cleaning changes
Mr Battersby acknowledged street sweeping “hasn’t been great” but said he expected an improvement as the service had transferred to the council-owned company NY Highways. He said: “It makes sense that the company doing the gulley cleansing and highway maintenance also ensure that the roads are swept and the two things are timed properly so you don’t get in a situation where you just clean the gulley and then sweep a load of chippings down it the day afterwards, which is what used to happen under the old two-tier arrangements sometimes.”
10 20mph zone to be extended
The council introduced the first phase of its largest-ever 20mph zone last year on streets in south and west Harrogate. The second phase is expected to be implemented this year. Mr Battersby said consultations on the speed limit and traffic calming measures were taking place and “decisions and procurement for phase two of the 20mph zone will start in July”.
What do you think of these measures? Tell us in the comment section below.
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