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11
Nov 2024
WATCH: HGV hell for residents on Knaresborough street
Residents have been battling large lorries squeezing their way into the industrial estate at the end of Hambleton Grove for eight years.
It's a quiet residential street that attracts numerous lorries because it leads to Hambleton Grove Industrial Estate.
Residents have long been concerned about the large number of lorries and the dangers they pose.
Last Wednesday (November 6) the Stray Ferret visited the street and witnessed the huge HGV’s scraping by car wing mirrors.
Watch the video below:
Trial regulation order
The situation is so bad on Hambleton Grove that heavy goods vehicles look set to be subject to a trial ban when children are travelling to and from school.
It's also close to Knaresborough St John's C of E Primary School on Stockwell Road and the Manor House care home causing longstanding road safety concerns.
North Yorkshire Council has proposed introducing an experimental traffic regulation order.
The order would prohibit goods vehicles weighing more than 7.5 tonnes from using Hambleton Grove between the hours of 7am - 9.30am and 3pm - 4.30pm from Monday to Friday.
The council considered and rejected ideas to make the street one-way, remove residential parking bays and introduce single yellow lines. A full-time ban on HGVs was also rejected.
Councillor Matt Walker, a Liberal Democrat who represents Knaresborough West on North Yorkshire Council said:
Residents have had to live with this disruption for over a decade including large lorries delivering early morning and late nights.
The road is narrow and large lorries using the road have written off a few cars and there have been several near misses involving pedestrians and children.
I fully support the implementation of an experimental traffic regulation order that I hope will reduce and even stop this problem.
Hambleton Grove industrial estate Knaresborough
Resident’s reactions
The Stray Ferret visited the residents of Hambleton Grove to ask what the main issues are, how they could be improved and what they thought about the experimental traffic regulation order.
A small group of residents gathered in Stephen McKenzie’s house last Wednesday to discuss the issues and the council’s plan.
Mr McKenzie, 60, has lived on Hambleton Grove since 1995 and told the Stray Ferret that he “applauds what the council are doing.”
He said:
This has been an issue since 2016 and now extremely positive steps have been taken.
The roads are simply not suitable for HGVs, and it is a nightmare for them to manoeuvre so they use entrance near school and the one near the care home and block people in their driveways.
It is an issue all the time not just at school drop off and pick up times. We have had bollards hit and cars written off, and it is awful to think but what if one of those bollards had been a human being.
It feels like an invasion and it’s stressful living with that concern all the time and it’s an easy fix.
His neighbour, Stephen Coe, 46, moved to the street in 2011 and said:
We have had accidents and damage to cars and barriers and rather than something it will be someone underneath these lorries before long.
If it happened rarely we would accept it, but we have dangerous lorries going by several times a day every day.
I hope the council uphold the steps they have taken and create a permanent solution in the long run. Enough damage has been done and we have tried to do everything to improve the situation.
I would like to see the council properly implement procedures and enforcement to act on their own findings.
L to R: Stephen McKenzie, Stephen Coe and Jennifer Dalrymple
Charlotte Dalrymple, 50, has lived on the street for the last 15 years and said:
We are focusing on the children but it’s for the wellbeing for everyone.
We have been incredibly reasonable and are constantly invaded by unsuitable vehicles. It has been such slow progress, and it is such a ridiculous situation it’s properly dangerous and totally unacceptable.
Jennifer Dalrymple, 76, has lived on the street for four years and said that she cannot sleep with her windows open due to the fumes produced by the HGVs.
She added:
The lorries are here from at 5.30am and have air brakes, fumes, and the radio playing. I can’t sleep with my window open, and I’m gassed out. They park about 3 meters away from my bed.
Dozens of lorries come down multiple times a day. I once had a hospital appointment, and a lorry was backing in and someone was guiding it down the street. It took 15 minutes for it to get down the road and it was hairs breath from my wing mirrors.
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