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10
Nov
Harrogate's Station Parade to lose 88% of parking
Eighty-eight percent of car parking spaces look set to be lost on Station Parade in Harrogate as part of sweeping town centre changes.
Only three of 25 spaces will remain on Station Parade, fuelling fears about the impact on traders.
North Yorkshire Council is expected to approve Traffic Regulation Orders for the scheme this month, effectively sounding the starting gun on the £14.6 million town centre transformation scheme known as the Harrogate Station Gateway.
The council said in a report, which recommends the TROs are approved on November 17, the gateway will ‘improve the environment for sustainable travel choices’.
A 36-metre bus lane, branded "crazy" by prominent anti-gateway campaigner Steven Baines, and a short cycle lane will be created on Station Parade. Other changes will see Station Square and the One Arch pedestrian tunnel upgraded.
Karl Battersby, the council's corporate director for environment and Councillor Malcolm Taylor, the Conservative executive member for highways are expected to grant the go-ahead — despite 25 objections.
Anti-gateway campaigner Steven Baines on Station Parade.
'Fundamentally flawed'
Objectors said the loss of parking would leave customers for five takeaways with nowhere to stop.
They also cited concerns about the reduction in loading bays and noise associated with roadworks as well as questioning whether there will be an overall benefit.
The owner of Imagined Things Bookshop, on Montpellier Parade, said:
Parking is already a serious issue, and many of my customers complain regularly that they have trouble parking in the town centre. The scheme is fundamentally flawed and will not have the desired effect. If it does reduce cars it will only be because people have stopped coming entirely due to the increased traffic this will create.
WorkWell Offices, on Copthall Bridge, said:
The proposed scheme would bring significant construction and operational noise to the immediate vicinity. Given our offices are home to a range of professional businesses that require a quiet, productive environment, this level of disruption would have a detrimental effect on both our tenants’ working conditions and the long-term attractiveness of Harrogate as a business hub. The proposal allows for only one loading bay to serve in excess of 30 businesses, which is wholly inadequate.
Station Square
No public inquiry
The council said it will introduce two loading bays on Station Parade and only 0.4% of the overall amount of town centre parking will be lost.
It said the gateway will provide better access into the bus station, introduce cycling infrastructure between Bower Road and Station Bridge, improve pedestrian accessibility with raised table crossing points, improve pedestrian and vehicle movements with linked signals, and improve the public realm at One Arch and Station Square.
But it conceded the scheme was categorised as ‘low value for money’, according to Department for Transport guidance and there would be ‘an overall small disbenefit for general vehicular traffic’.
The report says the council ruled out holding a public inquiry on the TROs on the grounds that it ‘would need to be resourced and would result in a delay’ and had consulted adequately.
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