The leaders of 13 schools and education settings in Harrogate have called for councillors to commit to urgent road safety improvements when they meet on Tuesday

The road safety group, which also includes campaigners and local councillors, met yesterday at Ashville College as part of its ongoing bid to create safer streets for 9,000 pupils.

North Yorkshire Council will consider on Tuesday how to respond to a petition calling for a maximum speed of 20mph across south and west Harrogate — covering Oatlands and parts of Pannal, Stray, Hookstone and St Georges areas in Harrogate. The agenda for the meeting is here.

Councillors on the Harrogate and Knaresborough area constituency committee passed a motion supporting the measures last year. But it requires the support of the council’s ruling Conservative-controlled executive to proceed.

Cllr Keane Duncan, the Conservative executive councillor for highways, appeared to dampen hopes this week when he said the council planned to draw up a speed management strategy rather than agree to 20mph limits.

Cllr Pat Marsh, the Liberal Democrat chair of the area constituency committee, described the move as “kicking the can down the road”.

But school leaders and campaigners remain hopeful of a successful outcome. In a joint statement, they said:

“There is strong evidence from studies of the positive impacts of maximum speeds of 20mph, and we urge the members of the executive to approve the motion, so safer roads can be created for our schools and the wider community, with a clear programme and timeframe for delivery.

“A maximum speed of 20mph is a key foundation in creating a safer urban environment for all and it encourages healthy active travel choices, from door to destination, around the community. “

The road safety group added whatever the outcome, it will “continue to push for investment in the safety of the roads around our schools, including: maximum speeds of 20mph, upgraded crossings, better use of double yellow lines, and repairs to damaged or outdated pavements, barriers and kerbs”.

Campaigner Hazel Peacock handing the road safety petition to North Yorkshire Council in May.

Cllr John Mann, a Conservative who represents Oatlands and Pannal, said he welcomed the council’s recommendation “to undertake a series of planned speed limit reviews delivered over a period of time, which will generate a pipeline of schemes”.

He added:

“Given the tragic road accidents that have recently occurred near to schools in Oatlands this year, I am calling for my recent applications for 20mph limits for Yew Tree Lane, Green Lane and Hookstone Road to be given a high priority in the highways pipeline of schemes for the introduction of 20mph limits.”

Cllr Mann said he would allocate his £10,000 locality budget, which each councillor receives to spend on local initiatives, for road safety schemes.

The school leaders who attended yesterday’s meeting were:

1. Richard Sheriff, chief executive, Red Kite Learning Trust
2. Jane Goodwin, interim chief executive, Yorkshire Causeway Schools Trust
3. Dave Thornton, interim headteacher and Iain Addison, deputy head at St Aidan’s CE School
4. Neil Renton, headteacher, Harrogate Grammar School
5. Tim Milburn, headteacher, Rossett School
6. Rhiannon Wilkinson, headteacher and Richard Rooze, bursar at Ashville College
7. Corrine Penhale, headteacher, Rossett Acre Primary School
8. Tim Broad, headteacher, Western Primary School
9. Zoe Anderson, headteacher, Oatlands Infant School
10. Estelle Scarth, headteacher, Oatlands Junior School
11. Steve Mort, headteacher, St John Fisher’s Catholic High School
12. Dr Helen Davey, headteacher/Emma Mitchell, business manager, Willow Tree Primary
13. Jane Turner, headteacher, Pannal Primary School
14. Victoria Kirkman, executive headteacher, Admiral Long and Birstwith CE schools and interim executive headteacher, Ripley Endowed CE, Beckwithshaw & Kettlesing Schools
15. Danny Wild, principal and Kate Herbert, performance and projects co-ordinator, Harrogate College

Campaigners who attended:

• Hazel Peacock and Dr Vicki Evans – Oatlands Road Safety and Active Travel Campaign
• Dr Jenny Marks and Ruth Lily – Pannal Ash Safe Streets

Read more:

• Harrogate school road safety petition handed in to council
• Stray Views: Drivers use Badger Hill as ‘speed track’

North Yorkshire Council‘s decision to refuse blanket 20mph zones across the county in favour of a speed limit review has been described as “kicking the can down the road” on road safety.

Councillors on the Harrogate and Knaresborough area constituency committee requested default 20mph zones in November 2022.

However, rather than accept the request the council has now said it will draw up a speed management strategy to “guide a countywide review of speed limits across towns, villages and rural road”.

Council officials said they did not support area-wide or default speed zones on the grounds that “each area will be considered on its own merits”.

Cllr Keane Duncan, the Conservative executive councillor for highways, said the proposal would “deliver real improvements” across the county.

He said:

“The new council is taking an ambitious, proactive approach to setting speed limits, built on evidence and community empowerment.

“This will move away from setting limits in a piecemeal fashion, where we look at one road in one location at a single point in time.

“By taking a strategic view of a town or village we will ensure speed limits there are effective and be able to identify positive changes in partnership with local communities.

“We cannot review all locations immediately, and resources will need to be prioritised, but our approach will deliver real improvements across all parts of the county over time, addressing concerns, improving safety and saving lives.”

But Cllr Pat Marsh, the Liberal Democrat chair of the area constituency committee, said the move would only delay the implementation of 20mph streets further.

She added that a speed management strategy, which the council says will take six months to draw up, was not needed to implement zones immediately.

Cllr Marsh said:

“It is an issue that affects the whole of North Yorkshire, they have got to address it.

“Get the 20mph zones in first and then monitor them. It really is just kicking the can down the road.”

Read more:

• 20mph speed limits to be investigated in Harrogate and Knaresborough
• Ripon county councillors reject calls to pilot 20 mph zones

The council intends to undertake a series of planned speed limit reviews which will be “underpinned” by the speed management strategy.

It added that the move would “generate a rolling pipeline of safety improvement schemes for delivery”.

However, Cllr Arnold Warneken, Green Party member for Ouseburn, said the proposal lacked ambition and described it as “another delaying tactic”.

He said:

“There is no real substance to the North Yorkshire Council proposals. Whilst I was told to be patient as there was a comprehensive review taking place and the report would reflect this I was, and it does not, so now we have yet another example that the executive know better and show shallow concern and fake listening to the people they represent.

“We cannot keep putting off taking action to make our roads safer for everyone, we cannot keep putting off taking action to protect our environment, we cannot keep putting off taking action that will prevent life changing injuries or worse still fatalities. If not now, when?”

Ian Conlan, of the 20s Plenty North Yorkshire campaign group, said:

“There is a far better evidence base to have a default 20mph to replace existing 30mph limits, and develop an exceptions process to decide where to have higher speed limits than 20mph in a few roads in towns and villages, but only where vulnerable road users are fully protected.”

Mr Conlan urged supporters to demonstrate outside County Hall in Northallerton on Tuesday next week, when North Yorkshire Council’s executive will discuss the matter.

The mother of a 15-year-old boy seriously injured in a collision on the way to school in Harrogate has issued an emotional plea for road safety improvements.

Stephanie Talbot’s son Reuben was one of two Rossett School students hit by a pick-up truck on Yew Tree Lane on February 2.

Four months on from the collision, she has given her backing to a campaign to impose a 20mph limit on streets across a swathe of south and west Harrogate.

In a statement read by road safety campaigner and fellow parent Jenny Marks at today’s meeting of North Yorkshire Council‘s Harrogate and Knaresborough area constituency committee, she said:

“They were on the pavement [when they were hit]. My daughter was also involved in the collision as her car was hit by the same truck. My youngest son was right behind his brother on the pavement and so witnessed the whole incident.

“My husband and I were right there within a few minutes of the accident happening. Reuben’s body had landed in positions it should never be in.

“Pieces of wall had to be removed from his body and he had eight broken bones: arms, leg and back… I was later told that when the paramedics arrived his stats showed that he could easily have died while on the ground there.

“I will never get over what I saw and heard that day.”

Some members of the committee were moved to tears as Dr Marks continued to read Ms Talbot’s statement.

It said her daughter had never felt safe walking to school in the area and had even been hit by a car near Rossett Sports Centre last September – which also happened while she was on the path.

Ms Talbot said she felt a 20mph network around schools in Harrogate would make children and parents feel safer to walk and cycle around the area, adding:

“Putting action in place should not be done as a consequence to a child’s injury or even death, but this accident should be a wake-up call to all parents, grandparents and the community to know that we need to make a change in our beautiful but busy town to enable our children to feel safe.

“Seventeen weeks on and many aspects of our lives are still on hold because of these injuries. I cannot even explain the pain and trauma that we have all gone through and will live with for the rest of our lives.

“Please be the people that make a difference.”

Petition

Campaigners Hazel Peacock and Vicki Evans presented a petition at the meeting with 924 signatures from people in support of reducing the speed limit to 20mph across the Oatlands, Hookstone, Pannal Ash and St George’s areas, where around 9,000 children attend local schools.

Ms Peacock told the meeting that evidence from other projects around the UK showed the reduction could have a significant impact on the severity of collisions.

She added:

“You have just heard of the devastating effects of the collision on Yew Tree Lane in February, and you are also aware of the collision outside Oatlands Junior School, also on the pavement, in January.

“These awful events coupled with overwhelming evidence of the benefits of 20mph limits demonstrate why change is urgently needed.”

Hazel Peacock handed the petition to North Yorkshire Council last month, with support from councillors and campaigners

While councillors on all sides of the chamber gave their support to the calls for a reduced speed limit, the Conservatives highlighted the fact that a pilot project had already been requested.

North Yorkshire Council is developing a policy on 20mph limits around schools and other urban areas, and Cllr John Mann (Conservative, Oatlands and Pannal) said he was keen to see the results of that work guide how a lower speed limit could be used in the area.

Conservative Cllr Sam Gibbs of the Valley Gardens and Central Harrogate division said:

“I do have one very slight reservation: 99% of the roads that are in this scheme I don’t have an issue with. However, the main roads of Leeds Road and Otley Road would be a slight concern to me if they were brought in to 20mph.”

Read more:

• Blanket 20mph limit across south Harrogate ‘urgently needed’
• Harrogate school road safety petition handed in to council

Cllr Paul Haslam, the Conservative councillor for Bilton and Nidd Gorge, said there needed to be a shift in attitudes and behaviours to make the school run safer, adding:

“We can put in a 20mph speed limit, but at the end of the day it’s all about behavioural and attitude changes to this. When we did the stats on Harrogate in 2018, I think more than 60% of the journeys in this town are less than 1.8km – not even miles, 1.8km.

“Surely we should be able to walk those distances, and a lot of that is to do with school commuting.”

The Liberal Democrats put forward a motion in support of the petition, calling on North Yorkshire Council to deliver a 20mph limit on streets across the area.

The proposal was voted through and will be passed to NYC’s executive.

Liberal Democrat Cllr Matt Walker, representing the Knaresborough West division, added:

“This is an opportunity that we should not miss and we need to show the executive our views on this.

“This tragedy should not have happened and it’s within our gift to send that message on our views to the executive so that this does not happen to anybody else.”

A petition calling for improvements to roads around schools in Harrogate will be delivered to the highways authority next week.

Set up by a group of parents concerned about safety for youngsters travelling to and from school, the petition has attracted almost 900 signatures.

It calls for a 20mph limit on roads across Oatlands, Pannal Ash, Rossett and the Saints area of Harrogate. The parents said thousands of pupils travel to four primary schools, five secondary schools, Harrogate College and several nurseries and pre-schools in the area each day.

In their petition, the parents said:

“Change is urgently needed. Without it the safety, health and well-being of the children, young people and the wider community remains at stake and road safety will continue as a barrier to walking and cycling in the area and across Harrogate.

“Maximum speed limits of 20mph have been delivered in other rural and urban areas of Yorkshire and the UK including Calderdale, Cornwall, Oxford, Edinburgh, the Scottish Borders, London and in Wales. We want these improvements for south and west and other communities within Harrogate.”

The petition references two serious collisions earlier this year – one on Beechwood Grove and one on Yew Tree Lane – which left three children hurt and requiring hospital treatment.

The incident on Yew Tree Lane left two 15-year-old Rossett School boys with serious, potentially life-changing, injuries.

Read more:

• ‘Comprehensive’ road safety improvements announced for Harrogate schools
• Children raise awareness of road safety issues affecting Ripon schools

After the collision, there were renewed calls for better safety measures around schools in the area. However, the campaign for changes dated much further back, with local parents having presented their requests to North Yorkshire County Council last year.

This year, meetings have been held between all headteachers in the area with representatives of North Yorkshire Council’s highways department. All the affected schools have put their names to the campaign for reduced speed limits.

Hazel Peacock, one of the parents who set up the petition, said:

“A big thank you to all of you who have signed the petition for a maximum speed of 20mph on roads in south and west Harrogate to improve road safety. There are a a total of 870 signatures to date!

“We will be submitting the petition to North Yorkshire County Council [next week]. If you have yet to sign it or would like to share with friends or family living or working in the Harrogate and Knaresborough constituency area, who may also be interested in supporting the campaign, please sign and share the petition by May 8, 2023.”

To see or sign the petition, click here.

A blanket 20mph speed limit across the south side of Harrogate is “urgently needed”, a councillor has said.

The proposal would see all streets between York Place and the southern edge of Harrogate limited to 20mph.

The petition has been set up by parents Hazel Peacock and Vicki Evans, who founded the Oatlands Road Safety and Active Travel Campaign. They say it is vital to ensure children can travel to and from school in safety.

The pair presented the case to councillors on Harrogate and Knaresborough constituency area committee yesterday.

Ms Peacock told councillors that the group wanted “safer streets for the community” and pointed out that the petition had already reached 700 signatures.

She said:

“Maximum speed limits of 20 miles per hour have been delivered in other rural and urban areas of Yorkshire and the UK including Calderdale, Cornwall, Oxford, Edinburgh and the Scottish Borders and London with positive effects.”

Read more:

• Pressure grows as politicians join calls for road safety outside Harrogate schools
• Accident reignites calls for safe routes to Harrogate schools
• Hundreds sign petition for 20mph limit across south Harrogate

She highlighted recent crashes on Beechwood Grove and on Yew Tree Lane, where two teenagers from Rossett School were seriously injured and required hospital treatment.

In the wake of the incident on February 2, headteachers from almost every primary and secondary school in the area met at Harrogate Grammar School to urge representatives of North Yorkshire County Council to take action.

During the meeting, Cllr John Mann, who represents Oatlands and Pannal, said he backed the proposal and described it as being “urgently needed”.

He said:

“I support the Oatlands road safety petition.

“I have written to the head of highways and the cabinet member for highways saying that I support the petition. 

“I have also called for Yew Tree Lane, Green Lane, Hookstone Road and Beechwood Grove to have 20mph speed limits.

“In my view, as a member for the area, this change is urgently needed to improve road safety and reduce air pollution.”

Melissa Burnham, area highways manager for the county council, said the authority was meeting with the group to discuss the proposals.

Next week, the group is due to meet again – this time at St Aidan’s Church of England High School – and will be joined by a caseworker for Andrew Jones, the Conservative MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, as well as the county council’s transport lead, Cllr Keane Duncan, and local councillors whose divisions are affected.

The meeting of more than 30 people will follow a walk around the Pannal Ash area led by the parents, for councillors and school representatives to discuss the issues.

North Yorkshire’s transport chief has accused the 20’s Plenty group of using “misleading” tactics in its pursuit of a new 20mph default speed limit in the county.

20’s Plenty for Us consists of 600 local groups campaigning for a speed limit of 20mph to be normal on residential streets and in town and village centres.

Councillor Keane Duncan said leading members of the group appear “blindly ideological” and are demanding a default 20mph limit be agreed before the council has been able to fully consider key issues such as enforcement, value for money and road safety implications.

Cllr Duncan, who is North Yorkshire County Council’s executive member for highways and transport, was asked by the council’s executive in November to investigate the approach to 20mph speed limits.

But the Conservative said this detailed work was being undermined by 20’s Plenty campaigners demanding his review be cut short prematurely and for £1m to be agreed as part of this year’s budget to roll-out the new default limit.

He also said 20’s Plenty were “exaggerating” levels of public support, and motions submitted by opposition councillors, such as one considered at the Harrogate and Knaresborough area constituency committee calling for a 20mph pilot, were creating confusion due to “unclear” language.

Cllr Duncan said:

“20’s Plenty appear blindly ideological with just one aim and objective – 20mph as the default limit in every town and every village in North Yorkshire.

“This is a one-size-fits-all approach that cannot take into account the diversity of North Yorkshire’s local communities and their wishes.

“Such a radical proposal rightly deserves thorough consideration and public consultation. We do not know the views of the police. We do not know detailed costs. We do not know the road safety implications.”

Read more:

• 20mph speed limits to be investigated in Harrogate and Knaresborough
• Majority of residents want 20mph speed limit, councillor says

Cllr Duncan accused campaigners of “using increasingly ruthless tactics” to get him to cut short his investigation prematurely and award them £1m before it has completed its investigations. He added:

“I am concerned that 20’s Plenty are preying on legitimate public concerns about road safety and presenting a default 20mph as the only possible solution, when improved enforcement and crossing facilities might be preferred in the first instance.

“I am also concerned that 20’s Plenty are misleading the public by exaggerating and misrepresenting the levels of support for their campaign.

“I take my responsibility for road safety in North Yorkshire very seriously. I am appealing for the council to be allowed to come to considered and well thought out conclusions.”

Police and North Yorkshire crime commissioner, Zoe Metcalfe, are facing mounting pressure over claims that 20mph zones in the county are never enforced.

Councillors from across the political spectrum in North Yorkshire have said residents deserve answers from both the force and Ms Metcalfe after they declined to answer questions over why 20mph zones are not even enforced in areas such as outside schools.

Recent meetings of North Yorkshire County Council’s constituency committees have heard that although many residents want the number of 20mph zones increased or introduced across all built-up areas, zones which have been in place for 15 years had never been policed.

Councillors have said while the force’s safety camera vans enforce 30mph restrictions, irresponsible motorists appear to be able to drive with impunity in the 20mph zones.

In responses to questions over why North Yorkshire Police did not enforce 20mph zones, neither the force nor the commissioner denied 20mph zones were not policed, and the police appeared to suggest it would largely be up to trained volunteer residents to do so.

A police spokesperson said: 

“When concerns are raised by a local community about a 20mph zone, this may result in a Community Speed Watch outcome via our speed management protocol process. This process is speed and collision data-led and determines the most appropriate outcome for each complaint received.

“Anyone exceeding the speed limit whilst CSW are on deployment can be dealt with. Our roads policing officers may also be requested to conduct speed enforcement as part of their daily duties wherever it is determined necessary – again based on data.”

Read more:

• 20mph speed limits to be investigated in Harrogate and Knaresborough
• Ripon county councillors reject calls to pilot 20 mph zones

When asked why 20mph zones were not being enforced, Ms Metcalfe said operational policing, such as deciding where and when to enforce the law, was the chief constable’s responsibility.

She said: 

“I am hearing that road safety is becoming more of an issue for some communities and next year I will be holding a public accountability meeting to look, in depth, at how North Yorkshire Police are keeping our roads and communities safe.

“Speeding motorists and anti-social behaviour on our roads has always been a major concern with communities and I will continue to raise this with the chief constable to ensure that the force are taking the most appropriate action necessary.”

Speed review

Cllr Keane Duncan, executive county councillor for highways, said the authority was reviewing the most effective approach to speed limits following a request by elected community representatives for a default 20mph zone throughout their area.

He said: 

“We must ensure that all of our efforts, particularly when resources are tight, are focussed on saving lives and avoiding injuries.

“As part of this review, we will be formally asking the police about their approach to speed enforcement inside 20mph limits so that councillors can consider this.”

Richmond Independent councillor Stuart Parsons said when a large 20mph zone was introduced in the town police stated there would be no enforcement, which made the zone “totally pointless”.

He said: 

“The police should be explaining why they are not enforcing the law in its entirety. 

“If they’re not there enforcing the 20mph, then they’re not going to be out there enforcing it when the cars are driving at 40mph, 60mph or 80mph. The boy racers know they risk nothing.”

While Cllr Parsons described the Community Speed Watch scheme as a farce as residents faced indefinite waits to be trained,  Stray, Woodlands and Hookstone Liberal Democrat councillor Pat Marsh said volunteers had to give motorists advanced warning of speed radar guns, which undermined the deterrent.

Cllr Marsh said she had double checked the force did not enforce 20mph zones, adding: 

“They do monitor 30mph areas, but they don’t even do that very often, they want this Community Speed Watch, which isn’t accurate and what surprises everybody is there is an allowance for people to drive at up to 37mph without incurring a fine.

“If the police and the commissioner know how people are feeling why aren’t they addressing that?”

A community-led plan could see five schools in the west of Harrogate involved in a pilot scheme to encourage pupils to walk and cycle.

Harrogate Grammar School, Rossett School and Ashville College, along with Rossett Acre and Western primary schools, would all be covered by a 20mph zone with supporting infrastructure, such as safe crossing points.

Jenny Marks presented the proposal to North Yorkshire County Council’s Harrogate and Knaresborough area constituency committee this morning.

It follows extensive work done by Dr Marks, Ruth Lily and other members of the community to engage with schools, parents and community groups to assess potential support for the scheme. Dr Marks told the meeting:

“We are speaking from a position of significant collective concern for the safety of nearly 5,000 schoolchildren and for all of those who use the network of roads around these schools on a daly basis, including residents and users of Rossett and Ashville sports centre, Busy Bees nursery and Rossett Nature Reserve.

“We’re speaking from a strong position of local knowledge and support, having spent the last 18 months consulting schools, local residents and other stakeholders in order to better understand their needs.”

Dr Marks said the extensive consultation had enabled the group to formulate a detailed plan for the area which would help to make walking and cycling safer, encouraging people out of their cars.

She said the changes would be increasingly important as more and more homes were built in the area, increasing the number of children travelling to local schools.

She received support from across the chamber for the plan, which followed the committee voting to support 20mph zones around schools at its previous meeting last month.

Read more:

• 20mph speed limits to be investigated in Harrogate and Knaresborough
• Pannal Ash residents call for 20mph zone for four schools

Councillors praised the work the group had done to engage with the local community, including speaking at Harrogate and Pannal Ash Residents Association’s AGM.

Cllr Michael Schofield (pictured above), whose Harlow and St George’s division includes three of the five schools involved, said:

“I was fortunate enough to grow up in my division and attend two of the schools, as did my wife. The schools then were very safe to walk to, very safe to cycle to.

“My two children have been to three of the schools – one Rossett Acre and Rossett High, one Rossett Acre and the grammar school. The traffic now is absolutely atrocious.

“Because of the lack of a safe active travel scheme round there, it’s turning into a bit of a self-destruction merry-go-round.

“Parents feel that the roads aren’t safe enough for their children to cycle on to school, so they then jump in the car and take them to school, adding to the problem.”

Highways department to decide

The proposal for the zone will be submitted to North Yorkshire County Council’s highways department, which will consider whether the 20mph zone could be introduced. Highways officers are expected to report back to the area committee at a future meeting.

However, Cllr Pat Marsh, who represents the Stray, Woodlands and Hookstone division, said a 20mph limit had been outside Hookstone Chase Primary School for 15 years but was ignored. She added:

“I think we are all supportive — it’s not that we’re negative at all, because we do want to protect particularly schools, our children, and encourage them to get out of cars onto bikes or walking.

“We have got to go through the due process and for me, I want the police here, I want the police to monitor them, because without that we’re lost.

“We can have all the signs we want, but until somebody starts to fine the people who abuse it, we don’t go anywhere.”

Cars could be banned on streets directly outside many schools at drop-off and pick-up times to improve safety, encourage active travel and cut pollution.

North Yorkshire County Council looks set to examine the impacts of the Department Of Transport-backed School Streets initiative over 18 months, just weeks after ratifying a new 20mph zone policy, under which the authority has undertaken to scrutinise where it could lower speed limits outside schools.

While the move followed years of pressure from road safety campaigners calling for blanket 20mph zones across all built-up areas in the county, the authority has insisted such action would not be suitable everywhere.

The authority’s executive member for access, Cllr Don Mackenzie, said it hoped if a Safer Streets pilot outside Seamer and Irton Community Primary School was successful, that the initiative would complement the council’s 20mph zone policy.

The trial would involve the school placing a ‘Road Closed’ sign across the road by the school at the appropriate times.

However, an officer’s report on the proposal states while North Yorkshire Police would be responsible for enforcing road closures, the force had advised that “it is supportive of School Streets, but could not resource enforcement”.

The council officer’s report states:

“An appropriately applied scheme should minimise the risk of regular contravention and enforcement issues.”

It states the trial will be judged on whether it has led to an increase in active travel, cut traffic speeds and volumes in the area and the impact on the surrounding community and environment, but it was anticipated Schools Streets would not be appropriate for the majority of locations.

Read more:

• Calls for blanket 20mph speed limit dismissed again
• Harrogate hospital’s beds full as it battles winter pressures

The move comes weeks after a Transport for London study of 300 established School Streets found most people believed the vehicle bans had pushed congestion and parking issues elsewhere, while the lack of enforcement created safety concerns.

Coun Mackenzie said introducing restrictions in front of schools could displace parking problems elsewhere, but added:

“I would rather have the problem removed from in front of schools because that is an area that deserves more protection than any other.”

“We fully appreciate, and I personally understand, why the police have areas of greater concern to them to enforce than 20mph limits. In North Yorkshire we have very very few road traffic incidents involving injury in our built-up areas where there is a 30mph limit.

“We’re looking at other interventions to improve safety outside schools, to persuade people not to park in front of schools, or even worse, to drop their children off and leave the engine running.

“If this pilot is successful we will look to introduce it in many other locations in front of schools.”

North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Zoë Metcalfe said decisions on how North Yorkshire Police enforced any restrictions put in place were operational ones for the chief constable and her team.

She said:

“North Yorkshire Police will always prioritise those areas where there is greatest risk to road users and will deliver on road safety enforcement activity where appropriate with partners.

“Once decisions are made by the county council, I am sure all groups and organisations in the York and North Yorkshire Road Safety Partnership will come together to discuss how any School Streets projects can be implemented and supported as part of the wider delivery of the recently published Safer Roads Strategy.”

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.

New Tesco would be ‘horrendous’ for nearby residents

Proud to be Harrogate, not London

I note that a new fitness studio wants it to bring ‘a London feel’ to Harrogate and recall that the restaurants associated with The Everyman Cinema was also intended to be ‘London-centric’, whatever that means.

Can someone enlighten me regarding this strange desire to be like London when Harrogate, and indeed Yorkshire as a whole, has so much distinctive to offer? It seems to me that this desire to be like London is a strange business proposition. Of course I wish all the local businesses concerned well, despite my feelings about their PR.

Tim Hurren, Harrogate

Speed limits should be reduced

I read your article about North Yorkshire County Council refusing a blanket introduction of a 20mph speed limit in built-up areas.

The council’s executive member for access, Cllr Don Mackenzie, said the county’s roads were becoming safer and safer, and 20mph zones should only be created on a case-by-case basis.

I have tried for years to get the speed limits reduced. I believe Councillor Mackenzie does not listen to anyone — where does he get his information from on safer roads? Cars around Harrogate are now more powerful and speeding is paramount throughout the town and on country roads. When is someone going to challenge this man and when will he listen?

Mike Fisher, Cornwall Road, Harrogate

Read more:

• Gas supplier objects to Tesco plans in Harrogate
• Inquiry reveals Harrogate Nightingale cost £31.6 million