Stray Views 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.

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Traffic concern over Beech Grove

Since the closure of through traffic along Beech Grove, the daily count of (mainly) cars using Victoria Road has increased by over 300%. The Project Engineer attributes most of this increase to cars driving southbound from A61 Ripon Road to A61 Leeds Road using Victoria Road as a cut-through thus avoiding the Cheltenham /Station Parade congestion.

There is now an experimental scheme, about to be installed, which will stop movements from Victoria Road to Otley Road. Hence the extra 300% of cars using Victoria Road will be pushed back on to Cold Bath Road and Cheltenham Parade which are already the subject of complaints about increased traffic.

Richard Wright, Harrogate

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Station Gateway “a waste of money"

Having attended the consultation meeting on October 29, I left feeling that the general consensus of attendees was that the project was a gross waste of public money irrespective of the source of that money.

When asked the source and integrity of the data being used to support the scheme the project team spokesperson appeared more coy mentioning 'social media' and local surveys without being specific, although the council leader's strong support of cycling was mentioned by an attendee. The council leader sees a vote of just over a thousand people (mainly cyclists) as being a significant majority vote in support of the planned cycle lane's scheme incorporated in the Gateway project. The town's population of over seventy five thousand seemingly being overlooked i.e. Less than 2% appear to support the introduction of many of the proposed changes.

It was indicated that forty thousand survey letters would be sent out shortly but the area of coverage was unknown.

Bearing in mind that the consultation was indicated to be the final opportunity for public comments to be made this seems a little late in the planning process.

In essence as a percentage of the total populace it seemed to highlight how few people were fully aware of the proposed project details or cost of it.

Comments expressed, as a generalisation, was the council do what they want anyway, appearing to endorse seeing the town as their 'fiefdom' without cognisance of the 'silent majority' Ie. those who are just too weary of the local politics and money wasting schemes over several years to further engage.

John Marsden, Harrogate

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Read more:

• Is Harrogate’s Cold Bath Road getting busier?


• Harrogate businesses set for crunch talks on £10.9m Station Gateway

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Spofforth homes would be a “disaster”

The site of Yorkshire Housing Ltd’s new development is on a green field site. The field is in a conservation area, and to quote the local news website, The Stray Ferret,  “more than 300 people and organisations, including Natural England, Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, have raised concerns about the scheme”.

As well as being in a beautiful setting (where my son and his family live), the roads and infrastructure are not suitable for the increased amount of traffic, not to mention the small bridge that spans the Crimple Beck, which is very narrow and cannot possibly take the strain of the extra HGVs vehicles that the construction would necessitate.

There does not appear to be any proper access/exit roads to the site? The increase of 72 cars plus, would turn this into an ecological disaster and a dystopian nightmare for the residents of the village.

Denis Ffoulkes Standing, Spofforth

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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.