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Apr 2020

Last Updated: 29/04/2020

Harrogate

UCI Championship organisers to pay £35,500 towards Stray repair costs

by Connor Creaghan

| 28 Apr, 2020

Harrogate Borough Council released details of its deal with Yorkshire 2019 and outlined repair costs after a Stray Ferret report yesterday highlighted a council budget allocation of £150,000 this year for the work...

Yorkshire 2019, the organisers of the UCI Road World Championships, has agreed to pay £35,500 to help restore the Stray, with the council leader promising that it will be back "better than ever" in September.

Harrogate Borough Council has appointed contractor Glendale Services to start this week. They will start by breaking up and aerating the affected soil as well as treating the grass with a spray that will turn it blue temporarily.

The council said grass will be left for two weeks for the treatment to take effect before the contractors return to undertake rolling, sub-soiling, and further harrowing in preparation for seeding over a week. Seeding will take place at the end of May.

To avoid further disruption, workers will fence off badly affected areas, including the footpaths.

They will also fix uneven flagstones and address the historical drainage issues at the corner of West Park and Otley Road.

Overall, the council believes that the works will cost £129,971, broken down into:

£38,105 for repairs to grassed areas of West Park Stray

£65,385 for pavement, footpaths, Heras fencing, bedding and verge repairs, reinstatement of bins and benches plus any additional council work

£20,156 to fix longstanding drainage issues

£6,325 project management and delivery costs

That figure is based on estimates provided by the contractors with the council saying the costs for footpaths is covered by the "existing programmes of works that were held off until after the event."

Harrogate Borough Council released these details a day after an exclusive report from the Stray Ferret which revealed that the council has set aside £150,000 for Stray repair work this year on top of the £51,000 already spent

Councillor Richard Cooper, leader of Harrogate Borough Council, said:

"It is great to see work start on West Park Stray this week. We hope, by the autumn, it will be returned to its former glory before it was affected by one of the wettest autumns since the 1970s. We have decided to use opportunity to address the historic drainage issues at the corner of Otley Road and West Park. This has been an issue and frustration to local residents for a number of years and I'm pleased to announce this is also being addressed."