Harrogate Bus Company introduces two-for-one travel on Fridays

The Harrogate Bus Company is introducing a two-for-one travel deal on Fridays as part of a campaign to persuade motorists to cut emissions.

The scheme, which begins in two days, enables two people to travel using a Harrogate one-day ticket costing £5.70

The bus company said today it was supporting the charity Zero Carbon Harrogate’s car-free Friday initiative, which relaunches on Friday this week.

Zero Carbon Harrogate is inviting motorists to sign up online to a pledge to leave their cars at home at least one day a week.

Paul Turner, commercial director of the Harrogate Bus Company, which plans to convert its entire Harrogate fleet to zero-emission electric power next year, said:

“As well as the benefit to our local environment, choosing the bus makes sense in lots more ways – it’s a lot less stressful than driving, and with a full day’s travel anywhere for two people travelling together within Harrogate, Knaresborough, Wetherby and as far as Harewood and Ripley on the 36 at only £5.70 on Car Free Fridays, it’s a lot cheaper than driving into town and paying for parking.”


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Cars make up an estimated 49 per cent of total emissions in the Harrogate district – a percentage that remained almost static over the 10 years prior to the pandemic, while emissions produced by generating power for homes fell by 26.5 per cent over the same period.

Jemima Parker, chair of Zero Carbon Harrogate, said:

“We all know congestion has returned to Harrogate’s roads following the pandemic – and cars are one of the biggest contributors to carbon emissions in our town.

“That’s why we are bringing back our Car Free Fridays campaign, and inviting drivers to sign a pledge to leave the car at home. Doing so will improve air quality for everyone, while walking to the bus stop can also boost our own physical and mental health.”

The deal is available on all Harrogate Bus Company services in and around Harrogate and Knaresborough, plus routes 7 and 8 as far as Wetherby, and the 36 north as far as Ripley and south as far as Harewood.

County council to bid for funding to launch carbon neutral waste trucks

North Yorkshire County Council is set to bid for £300,000 to help improve the environmental credentials of waste collections and a controversial waste incinerator plant.

The authority has applied to the United Kingdom’s innovation agency for funding to investigate addressing barriers for generating low carbon fuel sources on the Allerton Park Waste Recovery site near Knaresborough, either as biomethane or green hydrogen.

The council is hoping to be among 20 nationally to be handed a Fast Followers award by Innovate UK, which aims to equip local authorities with the experience and skills to accelerate progress towards net zero.

The move comes as the authority is consulting with the public on its climate change strategy, which includes increasing access to alternative fuels for vehicles and investigating the feasibility of green hydrogen and other low carbon fuels as technology develops.

The strategy also includes a proposal to investigate how the council’s assets, such as land and buildings, can best be used to generate low carbon energy to offset council carbon emissions.

Significantly, the strategy includes looking for such opportunities at the energy from waste plant and closed landfill sites, and for vegetation management and food waste for anaerobic digestion.


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An officer’s report to a meeting of senior officers and councillors states the potential gases generated at the site would be predominantly to use as a transport fuel for general and recycling waste vehicles as an alternative to fossil fuels, but options for income generation would also be explored.

The report adds other potential benefits would include improved energy security and releasing grid capacity for other renewable energy sources at the sub-station.

The report states after recyclates and organic materials have been extracted from the waste delivered by 70 waste trucks from across the county to Allerton Park, the remaining residual waste is incinerated in the energy from waste incinerator, which generates heat and power.

It states:

“Currently the electricity is sold to the National Grid and the heat is underutilised.

“Decarbonising both the waste plant and the vehicles that transport waste to the site is technically possible, but extremely challenging due to the technological change required, systems change and the costs to deploy.”

Cllr Arnold Warneken, whose division includes Allerton Park, said there was significant debate whether the energy from waste incinerator could be regarded as producing renewable energy as it relied on the production of waste to be sustainable.

Rudding Park installs 12 new electric vehicle charging points

Rudding Park in Harrogate has commissioned 12 new electric vehicle charging points as part of a £50,000 investment.

The charging points will be available to the public and will be powered from the Rudding Park Energy Centre.

The hotel and spa teamed up with Yorkshire-based Utley-EV in order to design and install the facilities.

Managers at the hotel and spa said they intend to increase the number of charging points at the site in order to accommodate drivers of electric vehicles.

Matthew Mackaness, Rudding Park director said: 

“As a responsible business it is vital we do our bit and ensure the environment is at the heart of all business decisions.

“The way to give people confidence to switch to electric is to increase the provision of chargers across the district.

“We are therefore delighted to welcome Harrogate residents and visitors to use our EV chargers.”

Mr Mackaness added that the charging points can be activated on a “tap and go” basis, rather than drivers requiring a mobile app to use the facilities.

Meanwhile, Adam Utley, director Utley-EV said:

“As an independent local business like Rudding Park, we are pleased to support them with their EV charge point design and installation roll out and look forward to working with them in the future.”


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Government help needed to achieve carbon cutting targets, admits council

Senior North Yorkshire councillors have admitted many of the authority’s climate change goals will only be achieved if the government funds them.

Approving a public consultation over its long-awaited carbon-cutting masterplan, several executive members of North Yorkshire County Council emphasised the authority would steer clear of over-promising what it could achieve given funding and powers at its disposal.

Cllr Greg White, the authority’s climate change executive member, said six months after declaring a climate emergency the authority had formed a plan about how it would get its own emissions to net zero.

He said in addition, the North Yorkshire and York Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) had developed its own plan or roadmap for the area, featuring what he described as the “extremely ambitious” target of net zero carbon emissions by 2034 and becoming carbon negative by 2040.

He told executive members they were being asked to endorse, rather than adopt the LEP’s plan, whilst “recognising many of the actions and ambitions are actually the responsibilities of others and not in control of this council” and approve a draft carbon cutting plan for the new unitary authority.

When questioned by Liberal Democrat Cllr Steve Mason over whether the authority would pursue area-wide ambitions, Cllr White replied the authority would be reliant on residents, traders and the government for the latter.

He said the authority was set to endorse the LEP’s roadmap, but would stop short of adopting it as it could not fulfil many of the targets.

Cllr White said: 

“What we are today doing is widening what we do as a council beyond a focus on what we actually do ourselves, in terms of our vans and our buildings, to how we can help across the whole of the council and help with things like homelessness.

“However, we have to be constantly aware we can only do what we can do within the funding that we have available and the powers we have available to us. We want to take a leadership role and that is the most you can hope for.”


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Cllr Mason said the carbon-cutting plans had already taken several years to be drawn up. He added: 

“We are now three years down the line and are still talking about endorsing the plan. To be honest, we need to be taking action.”

Executive member for transport, Cllr Keane Duncan, appeared to question whether some ambitions in the LEP’s plan, such as reducing private car use by 48% and a 900% increase in cycling miles by 2030, were realistic.

He said: 

“It’s very easy for us to agree to a pledge that sounds nice on paper, but when you look at the deliverability of what’s going to be involved in making that happen in reality it becomes much more difficult.”

Cllr Duncan added the public would thank the authority for setting realistic goals.

In order to get the reductions in levels of car use, said Cllr White, there would need to be a huge injection of funds from central government.

He concluded: 

“All we can do is help people move in the right direction.”

Cllr Gareth Dadd revealed following the launch of the unitary authority “an accelerated programme of property rationalisation” would be brought forward to tackle climate change.

He said: 

“Everybody agrees with climate change until it affects them. It’s like housebuilding. Everybody agrees we need more homes until they’re next door to them.”

Harrogate district to get 20 new electric vehicle chargepoints

North Yorkshire is set to receive 140 new chargepoints for electric vehicles under a scheme announced today by the Department for Transport.

The county’s seven districts, including Harrogate, will each get 20 chargers.

The chargepoints will installed at on-street locations and at larger petrol-station charging hubs.

It is hoped the move will give drivers without home chargers more confidence to switch to electric, and reduce ‘range anxiety’ among existing electric vehicle users by helping to ensure motorists are never far from a chargepoint.

North Yorkshire County Council was awarded the funding today.

The council previously suggested that Markington, Pateley Bridge and Conyngham Hall in Knaresborough could receive new chargepoints in the Harrogate district. But it has yet to confirm the locations after today’s news.

Councillor Greg White, the council’s executive member for climate change, welcomed the funding. He said:

“The switch to electric vehicles is necessary as North Yorkshire moves towards becoming carbon zero, but the rural nature of the county presents some significant challenges.

“We worked hard to come up with an innovate scheme which will begin to provide the answers motorists need if they are to have the confidence to go electric.”

The chargers are part of the new Local EV Infrastructure (LEVI) pilot scheme where the council and industry work in partnership.

Companies are putting £200,000 towards the scheme.

The council will install more electric chargers (photo: Andrew Roberts/Unsplash)

Harrogate currently has six public charging points – though the type and number of charging points varies between each station.

Knaresborough currently has two charging points whilst Ripon has four.

National plans

North Yorkshire is one of the first nine areas to receive funding.

A total of £20 million has been allocated for the pilot scheme nationally.

The government plans to eventually invest £450 million into the scheme nationwide.

It intends to grow the network of charging points around the country with more than 1,000 new charging stations set to be installed.

Decarbonisation minister Trudy Harrison said:

“We want to expand and grow our world-leading network of EV chargepoints, working closely with industry and local government, making it even easier for those without driveways to charge their electric vehicles and support the switch to cleaner travel.”

Harrogate firm EnviroVent sets 2030 net-zero target

Harrogate ventilation firm EnviroVent says it hopes to achieve net-zero carbon emissions across its business by 2030.

The company, which manufacturers extractor fans and ventilation systems, has published its ‘Roadmap to Net-Zero’, which it says will generate emissions savings of more than 1,000 tonnes of carbon in the next 10 years.

A business that achieves net-zero emissions means it puts no more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than what it takes out.

To help EnviroVent achieve its target, it will move to a new purpose-built headquarters on Burley Bank Road in 2022. The building will be heated with air source heat pumps and its electricity will be generated via solar panels.

The building will also incorporate an MVHR heat recovery system, which recovers the energy from extracted air to ensure good indoor air quality.


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The company has also committed to planting 5,000 trees per year as part of a new partnership with MoreTrees, an organisation that will plant trees responsibly on the company’s behalf and then manage them for life.

Planting 5,000 trees every year will remove a total of approximately 1,500 tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere, the company said.

Jane McLean, quality & environmental systems manager at EnviroVent, said:

“Environmental sustainability is very important to us as a business and to many of our public and private sector customers.  We’re delighted to be revealing our Roadmap to Net-Zero, which gives a very clear route that we will follow to achieve our environmental targets.

“To add to this, all our products are designed to use minimal amount of energy and we recycle parts from systems we replace, wherever possible. As a result, customers buying our ventilation systems can be safe in the knowledge they are giving back to the planet.”

Security firm to plant over 100 trees in Summerbridge

A security firm has teamed up with a Harrogate environmental business to reduce its carbon footprint by planting 131 trees.

Dardan Security joined forces with Make it Wild to plant the trees to offset its annual carbon emissions.

The company said the trees planted will offset 480 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent each year.

Make it Wild planted the trees at Dowgill Grange in Summerbridge on the company’s behalf. Co-founder Christopher Neave said;

“Where there are unavoidable greenhouse gas emissions, caused by their business activities, our trees will be removing an equivalent quantity and more from the atmosphere as they grow.”

“We will never cut them down and they are destined to become the trees of the future.”

Make it Wild was founded by Harrogate couple Christopher and Helen Neave eleven years ago. They aim to plant over 100,000 trees in the district by 2030.

Their site in Kirk Hammerton is now open to the public as Sylvan Nature Reserve.

Dardan Security has also pledged that any new additions to their transport fleet will be electric or hybrid. Transport fuel emissions currently equate to nearly 90% of the firm’s total carbon output.


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Thirty-one Harrogate schools take part in ‘walk to school day’

Pupils from 31 schools across the Harrogate district ditched their usual method of transport to take part in the ‘walk to school day’ event last Friday.

More than 7,000 pupils in total took part in the Zero Carbon Harrogate (ZCH) initiative, which was aimed at reducing carbon emissions across the district.

Parents and children who travel long distances to school were encouraged to ‘park and stride’ by walking the last mile of their journey or taking public transport instead.

North Stainley Church of England School won the ‘Zero Hero Primary‘ award, with 94% of its pupils taking part.

The event also had the endorsement of Harrogate Borough Council and local MP Andrew Jones, who went to two schools to show his support.


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Fiona Jones, ZCH’s event manager, said;

“This is such an important event for our community. Often children do not feel they have a voice when it comes to climate change, but a Walk to School Day is something that empowers children to cut their family’s carbon emissions through their own actions.”

Coppice Valley pupils after their walk to school.

Pupils themselves also spoke to ZCH about their transport habits. Rosie, aged 10, said:

“I normally walk because I think it’s really important not to take unnecessary car journeys, because pollution comes from the exhaust pipes – it pollutes the planet, but it’s also bad for people’s lungs, especially young children’s lungs.”

And Ben, a Year 10 pupil, said:

“I try to cycle or walk to places as much as possible to try and cut down my carbon emissions. It helps you get fitter as well.”

The event was such a success that it will be continued half-termly, with the next due to take place on October 8.

District’s residents asked for views on emissions targets

North Yorkshire residents are being urged to have their say on targets to cut carbon emissions from road and rail vehicles in the wider region to almost zero by 2045.

The North of England Decarbonisation Strategy aims to slash greenhouse gas emissions by tackling surface transport, which covers people and goods moved by cars, vans, lorries, buses and trains.

‘Net zero’ means a state in which greenhouse gas emissions are at the lowest possible rates combined with policies to mitigate the remaining emissions, such as planting trees.

Transport for the North (TfN), a sub-national transport body, estimated that in 2018 the region saw 26 million tonnes of CO2 emissions from surface transport, which represented almost a quarter of the UK’s total road emissions.

Its consultation document includes four future travel scenarios to suggest how emissions may change depending on how much action is taken.

Proposed measures include phasing out petrol, diesel and hybrid car and vans by 2030, and boosting sales of zero-emission vehicles by 2025.

TfN also wants to encourage higher use of public transport and reduce private car travel, to decarbonise the rail network and suggests authorities could consider introducing clean air zones or congestion changes.

Other suggestions include cycle and e-scooter hire schemes, low-traffic neighbourhoods, and prioritising planning developments close to existing transport hubs to create ’15/20-minute neighbourhoods’


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Harrogate-based councillor Don Mackenzie, the executive member for access at North Yorkshire County Council, said:

“The county council fully supports TfN’s proposed Decarbonisation Strategy. Our county is the largest in the country and residents often have to travel long distances just to reach destinations within North Yorkshire.

“That is why we support improvements in public transport whenever we can to offer alternatives to the private car. We also continue to expand opportunities for safe sustainable travel, and to invest in the county’s digital infrastructure to improve broadband and mobile phone reception.”

The Climate Change Act (2019) commits the UK government to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 100% of 1990 levels by 2050.

This law is linked to 2015’s ‘Paris Agreement’, which aims to limit the global average temperature increase to  no more than 2°C above pre-industrial levels, and try to limit the rise to 1.5°C.

To find out more and respond to the consultation visit transportforthenorth.com/decarbonisation. The consultation opens today and closes at noon on August 31 2021.

Tim Wood, interim chief executive at TfN, said:

“We urge everyone in North Yorkshire to get involved in this vital work and provide their views to the consultation, helping to shape future transport networks that are not only efficient and reliable, but are sustainable too.”

Station Gateway scheme could increase greenhouse gas emissions

A report by consultants on the proposed £7.9 million Station Gateway project in Harrogate has found it could potentially increase greenhouse gas emissions.

The gateway project aims to improve town centre accessibility, particularly for pedestrians and cyclists, and help to achieve a net-zero carbon goal.

But net carbon emissions could increase because the reduced traffic flow in the area affected by the scheme would force some drivers to take longer alternative routes.

North Yorkshire County Council said this would represent a “worst-case” scenario, and it would refine the scheme to ensure it is environmentally friendly.

The report also highlighted the loss of up to 15 trees. They would be replaced by new trees within the scheme area at a ratio of at least one replacement for each tree lost.

In addition, there would be a net loss of parking spaces in Harrogate town centre. The scheme would, however, maintain or increase the number of disabled parking bays in the centre.

Under all versions of the scheme examined, the bandstand at the north end of Station Square would be removed, while the Jubilee memorial on the south side would remain in place. Other improvements include a proposed water fountain and ornamental planters.


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Environmental impact

The report is a preliminary study prepared by WSP, a consultancy firm.

It aims to provide information to North Yorkshire County Council and Harrogate Borough Council, which are developing the Station Gateway scheme, about the potential environmental impacts.

Council planners will use this information to determine whether a formal environmental impact assessment is needed.

The report assesses three different options:

The report forecasts that under the “do maximum” scenario improvements to pedestrian, cycling and public transport infrastructure will encourage a shift away from car use, with a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions of 1,113 tons over 60 years.

However, at the same time reductions in traffic capacity will force vehicles to take longer alternatives, which is predicted to lead to an increase in carbon emissions of 2,576 tons of CO2 over 60 years.

This suggests that the net impact of the scheme will therefore be an increase in emissions of CO2 of roughly 1,400 tons over 60 years. To put this into context, the average UK citizen produces roughly five tons of CO2 per year.

The report notes that:

“…the transformational change from the scheme has the potential to unlock further behavioural change and growth than modelled, in which case emissions reductions may be larger.”

There is no forecast of the change in carbon emissions under the “do something” or “do minimum” scenarios.

More detailed proposals to come

Karl Battersby, corporate director of business and environmental services at North Yorkshire County Council, said:

“At this early stage of development, it is prudent to consider a worst case scenario. It is that modelling that informs the screening request. This worst case shows that at this stage there is potential for a slight adverse carbon emissions impact.

“However, further detailed design will focus on achieving a net-zero position and we will present a more refined carbon assessment when detailed proposals are recommended for implementation.”