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26
Apr
Harrogate Station Gateway: A High Court battle four years in the making
After a two-day hearing, the fate of Harrogate’s Station Gateway scheme looks set to be made in a courtroom 17 miles away in West Yorkshire.
Tucked away in a room on the ground floor of Leeds Combined Court Centre, lawyers clashed over a dispute which has been some four years in the making.
Since 2021, council officers and politicians alike have promised that the £12.6 million Harrogate Station Gateway scheme will be among the biggest investments in the town.
The gateway project would transform Station Parade, Station Square and the One Arch pedestrian tunnel.
But others do not think the transformation will be beneficial to the town and have raised legal threats, criticisms and online petitions against North Yorkshire Council.
A previous legal challenge led to the scheme being 'de-scoped' — in other words, reduced in scale.
This past year, the Get Away campaign group, which includes freeholders, tenants and high street retailers, was set up with the aim of leading opposition against the latest gateway plans.
Station Parade and Station Square are at the heart of the scheme.
Now, the scale of the dispute appears to have reached its natural conclusion — a hearing in a nondescript courtroom at the end of a corridor on the ground floor of Leeds Combined Court Centre.
The nature of the dispute between lawyers from the Get Away group and North Yorkshire Council centred around the introduction of four Traffic Regulation Orders in central Harrogate.
Get Away says the orders were made irrationally and are effectively implementing part of the gateway scheme without any final decision being made.
The council argues the orders have not implemented anything and are merely facilitating what would become the gateway scheme, should it be given the go-ahead at a later date.
Matt Roberts and Steven Baines.
Watching over the small courtroom — where opposition parties sat side-by-side — were some of the key players in the saga.
Steven Baines, the main spokesperson for the Get Away group which is leading the High Court claim, was in the public gallery observing proceedings closely.
Also in the room were Matt Roberts, the council’s economic and regeneration project manager, and Richard Binks, head of major projects at the council, who spoke only to clarify technical points for their barrister, Piers Riley-Smith.
The whole hearing was one of procedure, legal jargon and points of a technical nature. Exciting it wasn't.
But it will define whether the gateway scheme is delayed further or is able to continue and see spades hit the ground on Station Square this summer.
Both parties will be waiting with bated breath for the High Court judgement to land in their inboxes to finally move things forward.
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