Subscribe to trusted local news
If you are accessing this story via Facebook but you are a subscriber then you will be unable to access the story. Facebook wants you to stay and read in the app and your login details are not shared with Facebook. If you experience problems with accessing the news but have subscribed, please contact subscriptions@thestrayferret.co.uk. In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever. By subscribing, you can help us get the story right.
- Subscription costs less than £1 a week with an annual plan.
Already a subscriber? Log in here.
09
Jun
New poll delivers overwhelming ‘no’ to £14.6 million Harrogate Station Gateway
A total of 82% say the Harrogate Station Gateway should not proceed, according to an independent poll of more than 1,000 people.
The gateway, which is budgeted to cost £14.6 million, has been hailed as the biggest transformation to Harrogate town centre for 30 years by North Yorkshire Council.
But it will mean long-term disruption to the Station Parade area and many businesses and residents aren't convinced it will achieve its aim of improving the area around the rail and bus stations.
Suffrago, a Harrogate-based civic polling platform, conducted a poll on the controversial scheme this spring asking whether it should go ahead.
The poll, which has now closed, received 1,042 votes. Of these, 854 said the gateway should not proceed and 188 said it should. This means 82% are against it and 18% in favour.
Councillor Malcolm Taylor, who oversees highways at North Yorkshire Council, has said the project has “broad support” in the town even though previous polls have revealed more people oppose than support it.
The Stray Ferret asked Cllr Taylor for his reaction to the Suffrago poll and for the latest estimate of when work is due to start.
He said he would get back to us after he had spoken with council officers. We will publish his comments.
Public support
Harrogate entrepreneur Andrew Gray, who founded Suffrago, said it was "delighted with the level of participation” in the poll, which the Stray Ferret previously reported on.
Mr Gray added:
More than 1,000 votes on a local issue demonstrates that local residents want to be involved in decisions affecting their town when participation is simple and accessible.
The station gateway project is not an emergency or acute issue facing the town, which makes the level of engagement all the more encouraging.
While this is not a scientific survey, the strength of feeling is striking and perhaps not entirely surprising. A clear majority of participants opposed the scheme.
It would be disappointing if a project of this scale were to proceed without broader public support.
The scheme, which is due to get underway late this summer, will see the redevelopment of One Arch and Station Square, improved traffic signals, short bus lane and cycle lanes on Station Parade, new paving for pedestrians and cycle parking at Harrogate Railway Station.
The Court of Appeal dismissed a High Court challenge to the scheme by the anti-gateway group Get Away in March.
Get Away claimed the project was legally flawed, would harm the town centre and waste public funds.
7