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30
May
Why is Harrogate’s Victoria Avenue being dug up again?
Harrogate’s Victoria Avenue has been dug up again nine months after a £1 million resurfacing scheme was completed.
Barriers were erected on the path this past week as work was undertaken to dig up the area along the pavement.
It comes after North Yorkshire Council completed a scheme to resurface the road in August last year.
The project included a resurfacing of the road, new road markings, early release cycle signals and a reinstated zebra crossing near to Harrogate Library.
The works have temporarily narrowed the pavement on Victoria Avenue.
The latest move to dig up part of Victoria Avenue is being carried out to allow Northern Powergrid to join up cables for lighting on the footpath.
According to North Yorkshire Council’s roadworks map, the work is associated with improved lighting as part of the council’s active travel plan for the road.
It adds:
Excavations and reinstatement within footway/verge to allow Northern Power Grid to join cables to allow footway lighting associated with Victoria Avenue ATF 2 scheme to be connected up and operate.
The work is expected to be completed by Tuesday (June 2).
'Bad value'
The improvements to Victoria Avenue have previously been described as “spectacularly bad value”.
In August, Hedgehog Cycling, which promotes cycling in Yorkshire, and the campaign group Harrogate District Cycle Action both issued damning verdicts, claiming the schemes had used money earmarked for active travel on “routine maintenance”.
There was also criticism that ambitious cycle plans had been scrapped to make way for “small improvements”.
However, Karl Battersby, the council’s corporate director for environment, defended the project. He said:
The Victoria Avenue scheme aims to increase safety for pedestrians and has been welcomed by both the local community and Active Travel England.
Although it had been hoped to include a cycle lane, this was not deliverable within the budget allocated.
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