Readers’ Letters: Harrogate’s new Station Gateway plans ‘incensed me’

Readers’ Letters is a weekly column giving you the chance to have your say on issues affecting the Harrogate district. It is an opinion column and does not reflect the views of the Stray Ferret. Send your views to letters@thestrayferret.co.uk.

The following two letters are in response to visual images of how Harrogate’s Station Gateway scheme could look. The revised plans were released on Wednesday, but have left several readers less than impressed.

I have tonight seen the sketch of the revised gateway plan and it has incensed me – so much so I am writing to express my displeasure at the proposals.

Why would one want to destroy the pleasant area opposite the station entrance for the sake of a cycle lane, at a cost of £12.1 million, that would benefit only a few cyclists?

The new Labour government is looking for cost savings, and this would be an excellent way of saving £12.1 million, rather than penalising pensioners by taking away their winter fuel payment.

The current layout and gardens have matured well over the years and provide an area for people to sit and enjoy. The new layout is too open and impersonal.

Stop this scheme!

Andrew Ferguson, Harrogate

I'm clearly being thick.

Regarding the much-maligned Station Gateway project, am I right in understanding that we're still now spending over £12 million of taxpayers’ money to:

• Add a bike lane

• Add a bus lane

• Improve the One Arch tunnel

... but otherwise keep (i.e. do nothing) with the taxi rank and remove most of the attractive and environmentally beneficial gardens?

Alongside that, there’s also plans to remove a heritage monument from Station Square.

And that costs £10m.

Mark Fuller, Harrogate 

An £8,000 gate in Ripon is just another example of ‘sheer incompetent spending’

This letter follows news of an £8,000 gate that has been installed in Ripon in a bid to prevent crime. 

I don't work in ironmongery or security. But what are we playing at spending £8,000 on a basic garden gate to tackle crime in Ripon?

Seriously, unless it's wired up with CCTV cameras and will electrocute anyone trying to go near it, this is yet another spectacular example of sheer incompetent spending by local authorities.

When I read the headline, I was expecting a large, complex, automated access control system – not a bog-standard gate.

The company responsible must have laughed all the way to the bank after someone signed off the over-inflated invoice.

Would any single member of our elected officials pay £8,000 for a gate that is nigh on identical to that which many of us have at the side of our homes? I doubt it…unless they have more money than sense.

I promise I could have done an equally secure job for less than a third of that cost. It's a disgrace when we're faced with tax hikes to make ends meet.

Mark Fuller, Harrogate

Do you have an opinion on the Harrogate district? Email us at letters@thestrayferret.co.uk. Please include your name and approximate location details. Limit your letters to 350 words. We reserve the right to edit letters.

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