A delivery van got stuck in the mud on The Stray in Harrogate when it attempted to take a shortcut over the grass last weekend.

A Harrogate woman captured the images of the beached vehicle during Saturday afternoon’s snowfall.

Tyre tracks indicate the van attempted to bypass the recent road closure on Beech Grove by mounting the Stray. But the ruse backfired when the vehicle sunk in the mud shortly before it was able to rejoin the highway.

Beech Grove closed to through traffic a year ago on an 18-month trial basis.

https://twitter.com/HellyR1/status/1495077805964595201

Helen, who declined to reveal her surname, captured the incident while walking. She said other vehicles had performed the same cross-country detour, adding:

“I live locally, I think the road closure is great but it saddens me when the minority feel they have the right to ignore it and drive over the Stray.

“One lady brought her car inches from my legs when I stopped her and suggested she went back.”

She has notified North Yorkshire County Council, the highways authority, about the incident as well as the parks department at Harrogate Borough Council and sent photos of previous damage.

Read more:

• Stray Views: Beech Grove LTN ‘a brilliant update’ to Harrogate
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“It was only a matter of time before someone got stuck and sadly it was this DPD driver. The damage is awful. Others have done it — future people will also get stuck as the Stray is so waterlogged.

“I’ve suggested to North Yorkshire County Council and Harrogate Borough Council that large logs could be put between trees — we’ve plenty around after the storms. This would stop cars.”

Urgent investigation

A DPD spokesman said:

“We are aware of the incident and are investigating what happened and what needs to be done as a result, as a matter of urgency.

“Until that work has been done, we can’t really say a great deal more, but I will follow up with the operation and update you as soon as possible.”

Other photos of the incident, sent separately, reveal the tyre tracks of multiple vehicles that have attempted a similar manoeuvre, cutting across a public footpath in the process.

Nothing generated more debate on the Stray Ferret’s social media this year than schemes to promote cycling in and around Harrogate.

There was the Otley Road cycle path, Beech Grove Low Traffic Neighbourhood, plans to make Oatlands Drive one-way to vehicles and funding for cycle schemes on Victoria Avenue in Harrogate and Harrogate Road in Knaresborough.

But the £10.9 million Station Gateway scheme proved the most controversial of all.

Gateway: petitions and legal threats 

The scheme aims to transform the gateway to the town near the bus and train stations by reducing traffic on part of Station Parade to single lane and part pedestrianising James Street while encouraging cycling and walking.

How James Street would look.

With funding for the initiative secured from national government, North Yorkshire County Council and Harrogate Borough Council, which both support the scheme, ran two public consultations this year.

Both revealed a deeply divided town: some welcomed the opportunity to create a greener town by encouraging cycling and reducing car use; others felt the scheme would merely move traffic off the A61 Cheltenham Crescent and onto nearby residential streets, cause delays on Station Parade and damage town centre businesses.

Matters came to a head at a feisty Harrogate District Chamber of Commerce meeting in February when pro-gateway representatives, led by Don Mackenzie, executive member for access at the county council, gave a presentation to a sceptical audience.

Don Mackenzie speaking at the chamber meeting.

It ended with businesses threatening to mount a judicial review to halt the process.

The results of the second consultation, published this month, revealed that of 1,320 replies to an online survey, 55% felt negatively, 39% positively and five per cent neutral towards the scheme. One per cent said they didn’t know.

A consultation event in Victoria Shopping Centre.

The chamber has called for the scheme to be halted and two residents groups have filed petitions opposing the project in its current form.

The county council is expected to decide next month whether to proceed with the scheme but the early indications are it will press ahead with final designs in the hope that work will start in spring.

Read more:

• New data reveals dramatic impact of Beech Grove closure on nearby roads
• Majority are negative towards Harrogate Station Gateway, consultation reveals
• ‘Severe weather’ delays Otley Road cycle path in Harrogate
• Victoria Road one-way scheme will stop ‘rat run’, says cycle group

Beech Grove: barriers and cuts across the Stray

North Yorkshire County Council’s decision to ban through traffic on Beech Grove caught many people by surprise in February.

The move aimed to link Beech Grove with the forthcoming Otley Road cycle path and the proposed Victoria Avenue cycling improvements, creating a more connected cycling route around Harrogate.

Tyre tracks on the Stray next to the planters on Beech Grove.

Planters blocking traffic were initially introduced on a six-month trial basis in February but this was extended to 18 months, meaning a decision on whether to extend the scheme will be due after August 2022.

Some vehicles on Beech Grove initially flouted the law by driving on Stray land to bypass the planters.

Data obtained by the Stray Ferret this month following a freedom of information request to the council revealed the move has so far had little impact on cycling journeys on Beech Grove.

It has, however, had a considerable impact on traffic on nearby streets Victoria Road and Queens Road. But the council claims the data reveals there is “no evidence” to support claims that traffic has increased on Cold Bath Road.

Malcolm Margolis on Beech Grove

Harrogate cycling campaigner Malcolm Margolis conducted his own survey, which produced higher figures for cyclists. He claimed it proved the initiative was working well.

The issue looks set to rumble on throughout the year until a decision is made on whether to continue the experiment after August.

Otley Road: work finally begins

Work finally began on the much-delayed cycle path in winter when phase one of the project, from Harlow Moor Road to Arthur’s Avenue, got underway.

North Yorkshire County Council hopes the path will improve safety and alleviate congestion along the Otley Road corridor.

Phase one work gets underway.

Phase one was due to finish before Christmas but the council blamed ‘severe weather’ for another delay and said work should now finish in January.

Phase two, from Harlow Moor Road to Beech Grove, is due to start in March.

It is unclear when phase three, from Harlow Moor Road to Cardale Park, will start. That stretch of the cycle lane relies on developer funding from housing built in the west of Harrogate.

The county council is currently working on various plans, including a feasibility study, for phase three.

Oatlands Drive plans scrapped

North Yorkshire County Council announced in February it had received £1m from the Department for Transport’s Active Travel Fund for four schemes to improve the infrastructure for cyclists and pedestrians.

Three of the schemes were for the Harrogate district. They were: the A59 Harrogate Road, Knaresborough, between Badger Mount and Maple Close; Oatlands Drive, Harrogate between Hookstone Road and Knaresborough Road and Victoria Avenue, between the A61 and Station Parade.

The projects for Knaresborough and Victoria Avenue are still due to proceed.

But plans to make Oatlands one-way to traffic and improve the narrow cycle lanes were shelved after 57% of consultation respondents opposed the proposal. They cited the impact on school buses and the creation of a ‘rat run’ on surrounding residential streets at peak times.

Oatlands Drive, Harrogate.

Subsequent traffic proposals for the saints area were also dropped after opposition.

The council said it would commission an Oatlands constituency feasibility study’ to “re-assess opportunities” for infrastructure improvements but so far nothing has been forthcoming.

Traffic continues to park in the cycle lanes on Oatlands Drive. Harrogate Borough Council introduced signs urging motorists not to do it but they appear to have had little impact.

One of the signs on the Stray alongside Oatlands Drive.

A public consultation on the controversial Beech Grove Low Traffic Neighbourhood scheme in Harrogate closes on Saturday.

The sudden decision to close the road to through traffic in February provoked anger, with some cars cutting across the Stray to avoid the newly-installed bollards.

North Yorkshire County Council initially said the move would be reviewed after six months but later extended the trial to 18 months until August 2022. But the consultation ends this weekend.

Don Mackenzie, the executive member for access at North Yorkshire County Council, told the Stray Ferret the intervention had successfully freed up road space for cyclists and pedestrians and there was a good chance of it becoming permanent.

Beech Grove will link up with the upcoming Otley Road cycle route, work on which is due to begin on September 6.

Cllr Mackenzie said:

“Its been successful. There’s been views in both directions but most residents have accepted it as a positive.

“I see it continuing after 18 months. It’s a part of town where we are making changes to sustainable travel. I can see the Low Traffic Neighbourhood remaining in place formally.”

Read more:

• Skipton Road bridge replacement could lead to long-term Harrogate travel delays
• Harrogate motorists face eight-mile diversions due to road closure

Kevin Douglas, of Harrogate District Cycle Action, said early teething problems, such as motorists driving on the Stray, had been overcome and the scheme was now working well.

He told the Stray Ferret:

“We think it’s been a good thing. It’s working well.

“The problem is they haven’t done the Otley Road cycle route yet.

“We need to keep the Low Traffic Neighbourhood. It’s a key link into town.

“There’s been a noticeable number of cyclists and pedestrians using it. That’s a good reason to keep it and it will only improve.”

‘Just pushes traffic elsewhere’

The Conservative government has set aside funding for active travel schemes that aim to reduce car usage. Over the past couple of years, many other Low Traffic Neighbourhood have cropped up across the country.

Harrogate resident Anna McIntee, co-founder of the group Harrogate Residents Association, launched a petition calling on North Yorkshire County Council to scrap the scheme. It has over 400 signatures.

She told the Stray Ferret she believed all the scheme had achieved was to push traffic elsewhere in the town.

She said:

“The general feedback from speaking to residents is that access is a lot harder for them, especially the elderly who rely on their vehicles but also delivery vehicles and emergency services.

“The traffic has been pushed onto Victoria Road which is narrower and double parked, which is dangerous, as well as the surrounding roads, two of which have schools. This is causing more standing traffic and congestion leading to an increase CO2 emissions.

“There is no denying Harrogate is congested and we all need to work together to reduce our carbon emissions by easing congestion but blocking off random roads isn’t necessarily the solution.”