North Yorkshire County Council said today that severe weather had delayed completion of the first phase of the Otley Road cycle path in Harrogate.

The first phase of the much delayed scheme was due to finish today. It has focused on creating the cycle path from Harlow Moor Road to Arthur’s Avenue.

The council, which is the highways authority, said today the majority of work on the footpath and carriageway will be completed by tomorrow.

It added the roads and footways around the construction works will reopen on Saturday for Christmas and New Year while the council pauses the scheme.

New permanent traffic signals are expected to be in operation from Monday and over the Christmas period.

The remaining phase one cycle path works will restart in the week commencing January 3 and are now due to finish by January 14.

A press release issued by the council today said “recent severe weather conditions have delayed completion of the cycle path”.

Read more:

• Majority are negative towards Harrogate Station Gateway, consultation reveals
• Otley Road business owner ‘fuming’ about cycle path works

Highways area manager Melisa Burnham said:

“We have made every effort to complete the work, but the weather has been against us.

“We will lift the works over the holiday period for the convenience of residents and aim to complete the work quickly in January, though this again will be subject to weather conditions.”

Phases two and three

Work on the second phase, which will cover Harlow Moor Road to Beech Grove, is set 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.

The cycleway aims to improve safety and alleviate congestion along the Otley Road corridor.

It will complement other schemes, such as the Beech Grove low traffic neighbourhood and future projects in the town centre, ultimately providing a cycle facility from the west of Harrogate to the town centre.

The owner of IXP Security on Otley Road in Harrogate has said he is “fuming” about prolonged works to build the new Otley Road cycle path, which he believes has put customers off visiting his store.

Work has continued throughout November and December to build the first phase of the new cycle route between Harlow Moor Road and Cold Bath Road, which is part of a package of sustainable transport measures in the west of Harrogate. It is due to end this week.

The security store has been on Otley Road for 50 years and sells safes, intruder alarms, locks and CCTV systems.

Owner Marcus Wayman said footfall has evaporated since work began and he has been unimpressed with the “etiquette” of contractors working on the scheme.

“We’ve been subjected to a significant period of time where we’ve been disadvantaged. I can’t get access to my front door all the time. Whilst I bow to the skill of road builders, their ability to follow etiquette is limited.

“They have travelled across our shop’s apron with great big heavy trucks. That concrete footpath has survived 50 years, it’s all smashed up now.

“I’m fuming about it. Stuff has been strewn all over my apron. I move safes in and out of the showroom, which I can no longer do.”

Read more:

• Otley Road cycle route works set to finish next week
• Upset and anger as Otley Road tree felled for cycle path

To accommodate the cycle path, a bus stop has been moved closer to Mr Wayman’s shop.

He believes this could be hazardous for pedestrians who might have to dodge out of the way of cyclists. He has complained to North Yorkshire County Council but said he has been ignored.

He added:

“NYCC are servants to the voters in this town who pay their wages, but they are absolutely incapable of being talked to. They seemingly refuse to get back to you quickly.

“There aren’t many businesses as old as us in the locality, is this the way to treat people? Where has the courtesy gone in life?

“From start to finish I have had a gripe against the whole scheme, there’s no democracy.”

Melisa Burnham, highways area manager at NYCC, said:

“Feedback from residents and businesses is very important to us and can help shape the delivery of this and future schemes. We will liaise with the business owner and identify how best we can support him whilst the works continue on Otley Road.

“We appreciate works of this nature have an impact on the local community and we would like to extend our thanks for their ongoing patience.”

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.

Station Gateway will benefit far more people than cyclists

It’s good to read letters in Stray Views from Andrew Willoughby, Peter Whittingham and others in favour of the Station Gateway project, countering what in my opinion are unfounded fears about a great opportunity for significant investment to improve the town centre.

The Station Gateway scheme is not ‘to benefit cyclists’. The suggestion by some that the only way into town will be on a bicycle is utter nonsense. The scheme is aimed at ‘improving the public realm’, making the town centre a better place for people to spend time in, and to make it a safer and more pleasant place in which to walk and cycle.

It will mean less traffic, which scientists and governments recognise is essential if we are serious about tackling the climate crisis.

Objectors claim, with great confidence but no evidence, that reducing Station Parade to one lane is sure to cause massive congestion. I don’t agree. I think the conclusion of the county council’s consultants, based on pre-covid data, makes sense, which is that journey times will only be marginally longer even at peak times. What we are more likely to get is traffic evaporation. As this 2019 study found, ‘one of the best kept, and counter intuitive secrets in urban planning [is that] less road space doesn’t increase congestion but leads to a drop in vehicle numbers’.

This is what appears to be happening in the centre of Leeds where a far more radical reallocation of road space than is planned for Harrogate is well underway.

I ran Argos Sports in Beulah Street for 30 years. I believe that the noisy minority of local businesses opposing the scheme don’t know what’s good for them.

They are being offered a £10.9m investment to improve and bring more residents and visitors into the town centre yet they keep their heads firmly buried in the past pretending that their customers must be able to park outside their shops, which they can rarely do even now. Station Gateway will make the town centre more successful, and a much less polluted and more pleasant environment in which to spend time and to go to work.

I fully agree with those who want a feasibility study to look at making West Park and Parliament Street two-way, and with making 20mph rather than 30mph the default speed limit in our town centre and elsewhere.

The local authorities are contributing massively to our traffic problem by allowing one development after another, thousands of new homes, to be built which are car dependent by design, too far from town to walk, poorly served by public transport, and with no useful cycle infrastructure.

I also believe it’s time to stop HGVs from using many of our urban streets without restriction day and night.

Malcolm Margolis BEM, Harrogate

Read more:

• ‘Station Gateway consultation a whitewash’, claim Harrogate petitioners
• Christmas Events: diary of festivities in the Harrogate district

Businesses are right to be worried about Station Gateway

According to North Yorkshire County Council, the outcome of its congestion study was to provide more sustainable transport. It would appear its meaning of sustainable is walking and cycling.

In my view it means frequent, affordable, viable all year transport for all and not just a minority. A total of 22% of the population is over the age of 65.

Have they forgotten the additional congestion and stop-starting which will arise if Station Parade is reduced to one lane? It is a classified major trunk road.

North Yorkshire County Council obviously considered 12 weeks in normal circumstances was required for consultation on the relief road but four weeks during lockdown when residents were advised to stay at home sufficient for the Gateway project.

I understand the Gateway scheme, if it goes ahead ,will start in spring 2022 and take 12 months. North Yorkshire County Council also intend to replace Oak Beck bridge on Skipton Road, with the disruption lasting six months, starting January 2022

It is not surprising that many businesses are concerned about their future.

Catherine Alderson, Harrogate

Gateway is ill-conceived and needs scrapping

Harrogate could get the county’s first ‘Dutch-style’ roundabout as part of the £10.9 million Station Gateway project.

But why is it being proposed and how would it work?

The junction changes have been put forward for the existing East Parade, Station Bridge, Station Avenue and North Park Road roundabout in front of the Odeon cinema.

Inspired by road layouts in the Netherlands, the roundabout would give priority to pedestrians and cyclists with improved crossings and an outer ring for cycling, which in parts would be segregated from traffic.

The aim is to encourage sustainable travel and improve safety for those travelling on foot or by bike. But it would also demand greater awareness from motorists who would give way as they both enter and exit the new roundabout.

‘A big step forward’

North Yorkshire County Council – which is leading on the gateway project – said the proposed layout “balances the need for increased protection and priority for pedestrians and cyclists with maintaining capacity for vehicles”.

The council has also won the support of Harrogate District Cycle Action, whose chairman Kevin Douglas described the proposals as a “big step forward” in the town’s sustainable transport future.

But these roundabouts have not always gone down smoothly elsewhere, with the UK’s first in Cambridge drawing some criticisms.

Read more:

• Tensions flare at first face-to-face Station Gateway meeting
• £10.9m Harrogate Station Gateway will ‘boost business’
• Harrogate businesses set for crunch talks on £10.9m Station Gateway

While Cambridgeshire County Council says the roundabout has improved safety overall, a safety audit team reported several problems, including a risk of exiting drivers finding it difficult to observe multiple cyclists approaching from behind.

Planners up and down the country are keeping a keen eye on the roundabout, and other areas have already shown an interest in replicating it, including Barnsley and North Tyneside.

Mr Douglas said he was confident the plans for Harrogate would improve safety for all road users and that he would like to see more of these roundabouts introduced.

He said: 

“The roundabout will hopefully show people what can be done in terms of improving safety and will only encourage more people to cycle into the town centre.

“At the moment, going into and coming out of a roundabout can be a risk if people don’t see and give cyclists priority, whereas with this you are going to get that.”

He added: 

“If we are going to take action on climate change then we do have to reduce the number of vehicles in the town centre and give people that confidence to go out on their bikes.

“That is what we should be aiming for here – people being able to get into town safely without using their cars.”

A CYLCOPS junction for Harrogate?

These plans are not the only new roundabout proposals for Harrogate, with transport officials currently considering a CYCLOPS (Cycle Optimised Protected Signals) roundabout for the Station Parade junction of Victoria Avenue.

This is part of a separate active travel scheme and would work similar to a ‘Dutch-style’ roundabout but with traffic lights.

An example of a cyclops junction.

North Yorkshire County Council said the CYCLOPS roundabout was put forward as an “aspiration of what might be achieved” at the junction and that it is now being considered at the detailed design stage of the scheme.

Under the gateway project, there are also plans for a part-time pedestrianisation of James Street and a reduction of Station Parade to a single lane of traffic to create room for a cycle lane, as well improvements to Station Square and the One Arch underpass.

The latest consultation on the project is currently underway with residents and businesses having until November 12 to have their say before more detailed proposals are drawn up and a final decision is made.

If approved, it is anticipated that construction will start in spring 2022 for approximately 12 months.

For more information and to have your say visit the consultation page here.

Transport chief Don Mackenzie has agreed to meet sceptical Harrogate businesses for crunch talks about the £10.9 million Station Gateway project.

Many firms in Harrogate have deep reservations about the scheme, which aims to make the town centre more attractive and encourage cycling and walking.

Some fear a reduction in parking spaces, the part-pedestrianisation of James Street and potentially a year of major road works would damage businesses already struggling to recover from covid.

One recent survey of businesses, which received 180 responses, revealed 72% were against reducing the A61 from Cheltenham Mount to Station Bridge to a single lane, which is one of the most controversial aspects of the scheme,

Cllr Mackenzie, the executive member for access at North Yorkshire County Council, which is leading on the scheme, has agreed to take part in a question-and-answer session at Harrogate District Chamber of Commerce’s next monthly meeting at the Cedar Court Hotel on November 8,

Phil Ireland, cabinet member for carbon reduction and sustainability at Harrogate Borough Council, which also supports the gateway initiative, will also participate.

Read more:

• Tensions flare at first face-to-face Station Gateway meeting
• £10.9m Harrogate Station Gateway will ‘boost business’

Members of the project team will give a presentation before chamber members get the chance to quiz them on issues such as what assessments have been made of the likely impact on the town’s economy.

David Simister, chief executive of the chamber, said:

“Our meeting will hopefully put businesses fully in the picture about the Harrogate Station Gateway Project, and the implications for them and their customers.

“I must stress this is a business meeting and open to our members, those in the Harrogate BID area, as well as members of Independent Harrogate.

Those planning to attend the meeting must register their interest in advance on the chamber website.

What is the Harrogate Station Gateway?

The Harrogate scheme is one of three projects worth a combined £42m in Harrogate, Skipton and Selby funded by the Leeds City Region Transforming Cities Fund, which encourages cycling and walking.

They are being delivered in partnership by the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, North Yorkshire County Council, Harrogate Borough Council, Craven District Council and Selby District Council.

A consultation is currently taking place on the revised designs. It is anticipated that work in Harrogate will begin by the middle of next year.

North Yorkshire County Council has officially extended the closure of Beech Grove by 18 months in a bid to encourage cycling and walking.

The experimental closure has been in place since February. The council said at the time it would end in August 2021 but it will now stay until August 2022.

Ahead of August 2022 the council will take a formal decision on how to move forward with Beech Grove.

The closure of Beech Grove has been controversial. Some see it as the way forward but others believe it just shifts traffic onto other roads.

County Councillor Don Mackenzie, executive member for access, said:

“Taking into account the consultation responses, traffic survey data, ongoing site observations and other active travel measures in Harrogate, we have decided to maintain the modal filters until summer 2022.

“A reduction in traffic levels on Beech Grove has resulted in a reduction in the speed of vehicles and an increase in cyclists.

“The various lockdowns have had an impact on traffic levels.

“So an extension means we can collect further data before a decision is made on whether to make the measures permanent or set aside the scheme.”

Read more:

• Victoria Road one-way scheme will stop ‘rat run’, says cycle group
• Transport leader expects Harrogate’s Beech Grove closure to become permanent

Cllr Mackenzie believes that when other projects on Otley Road, Station Parade and Victoria Avenue are all complete there will be a further increase in cycling in Harrogate.

Harrogate Borough Council leader Richard Cooper also said:

“We appreciate that some local residents remain sceptical about these new sustainable transport measures. But extending the trial is important to be able to make an informed decision.

“We cannot pretend that traffic congestion, poor air quality, a diminishing environment and climate change can be solved without radical changes.”

Harrogate District Cycle Action has accused Tesco of greenwash over claims that its proposed new supermarket will reduce car journeys and CO2 emissions.

A Tesco online consultation about its plans to open a supermarket on Skipton Road closed yesterday.

The consultation website claims the new supermarket would reduce car journeys across Harrogate because residents in all the new homes on Skipton Road and Killinghall would have less distance to travel for shopping.

It adds:

“This new supermarket will help create more sustainable shopping patterns in Harrogate and reduce the number of long car journeys across the town.

“We anticipate a reduction in CO2 emissions from the shorter trips customers will be making.”

But HDCA, which campaigns for better cycling provision in the district, said on its website:

“That is greenwash, and based on nothing more than a far-fetched hope, or the desire to say something about sustainability without doing anything about sustainability.

“While some people might make shorter trips to Tesco, it is equally likely that other people will drive to Tesco from the other side of town, going further than before.

“The plans put forward by Tesco are totally car-centric. Doing the same as before will get the same result as before: ever more traffic.”

How the site would look

Read more:

• Tesco Skipton Road supermarket ‘could put us out of business’
• Tesco to revive controversial Skipton Road supermarket plans

Better cycling access

Plans for the new store include a petrol station, 200 parking spaces, 24 cycle spaces and a new roundabout on Skipton Road. Tesco says 100 new jobs would be created.

HDCA said segregated, protected cycle tracks on either side of Skipton Road, linking up to the new housing estates, would improve cycle access to the supermarket. It would also like to see the number of car parking spaces reduced.

The Stray Ferret asked Tesco to respond but we did not receive a response by the time of publication.

Tesco previously said:

“Our new proposals will deliver a much-needed new food store for the north of the town. This will reduce the number of long car journeys across Harrogate and we anticipate a reduction in CO2 emissions from the shorter trips customers will be making.”

Consultation ended 

A public consultation on the new Tesco ended yesterday. A full planning application is expected to be submitted before the end of the year.

Despite opposing Tesco’s bid to build a new supermarket on the site in the 2010s, Harrogate District Chamber of Commerce told the Stray Ferret the housing landscape in the area has now changed and the supermarket could reduce traffic across town.

The Stray Ferret also spoke to Claire Lewis, who has run Number One Shop on Electric Avenue, near the proposed new supermarket, for the last seven years with her husband. She opposes the plan and fears the new supermarket, which would be built behind her small shop, could destroy trade.

The transport boss for Harrogate has said there is still no completion date for the Otley Road cycle path, despite construction finally starting after nearly three years of delays.

Cllr Don Mackenzie, executive member for access at North Yorkshire County Council, said he was unable to give any “exact dates” for the completion of the project, which started last month with work on a first phase between Harlow Moor Road and Arthur’s Avenue.

This phase will be completed in late November but covers only a small section of the entire route, which is designed to connect the town centre with Cardale Park.

Cllr Mackenzie said the uncertainties over the end date were due to negotiations with the government and the Duchy of Lancaster – the landowners of the Stray – over the use of grass verges protected by law.

There are also ongoing talks with housebuilders that have promised to contribute cash – and the outcomes will depend on the publication of the West Harrogate Parameters Plan, a major planning document that has also been long delayed.

Cllr Don Mackenzie, executive member for access at North Yorkshire County Council.

Cllr Mackenzie said: 

“The bylaws required to complete phase one and two have been submitted to the Secretary of State for confirmation, who has agreed the new bylaws in principle.

“Phase three – from Harlow Moor Road to Cardale Park – relies on developer funding from the west of Harrogate urban extension. Plans are currently being worked on which will then lead to more detailed planning, including a feasibility study.

“Since the timescale for the construction of the western end of the cycle path between Harlow Moor Road and Cardale Park depends on developer funding and further work on the parameters plan for the west of Harrogate, we cannot yet provide exact dates.”

Read more:

• Hull company awarded £827,000 Otley Road cycle route contract
• Transport leader expects Harrogate’s Beech Grove road closure to be made permanent
• Highways boss confident Kex Gill reroute will avoid inquiry

Frustration among cyclists

The cycle path is part of a package of sustainable transport measures for the west of Harrogate, which were first announced in 2018 and will cost £4.6m once completed.

But three years on – and after the delays caused by consultations and utility works – campaigners who have supported the project have now expressed frustration at still not knowing any kind of target completion date.

Kevin Douglas, chairman of Harrogate District Cycle Action, said it was “great news” that the works were finally underway, but added he was “disappointed” that the public could not be told when they will be finished.

He said: 

“The worry is that only a small part of the project will be completed and people will look at it and think it is not doing the job we wanted.

“The idea was that the cycle path will link Cardale Park with the town centre.

“That is the council’s ambition, but it needs to be done in one go to make it effective and so people can use it, rather than it looking like it is not going to be of any benefit.

“I am pleased it has started and hopefully it is going to run smoothly, but not being able to say when it is all going to be finished is disappointing.

“There is going to be a huge number of houses on Otley Road and having a complete cycle lane when these new residents move in would be a big plus.

“Whereas now, it may be that the cycle lane comes sometime later.”

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.

Anti-cycling attitudes have turned Harrogate into a car park

As a Byron Walk Mews resident, I had no problem at all with the small numbers of school pupils and town centre workers and visitors who used this path, which is wide enough to safely accommodate both pedestrians and cyclists.

Councillor Sam Gibbs presumably prefers them to take their chances in the traffic on the A61 or Victoria Road.

A similar anti-cycling attitude, plus complete ignorance of our taxation system, is shown by county councillor Stuart Parsons in the separate report about cyclists annoying motorists by using our roads. Apparently he believes they are “not road taxpayers while using it for their cycles”.

Councillor:
1. There is no such thing as road tax. It was abolished in 1937.
2. Cyclists pay general taxation, which funds the roads, just like everyone else.
3. Motorists (who include most cyclists) pay vehicle excise duty, based on the level of pollution they generate, hence a zero rate for electric cars. It has nothing to do with road maintenance.

No doubt these councillors believe there are votes to be had in attacking cycling. Sadly, such attitudes have helped Harrogate town centre become a giant car park choked with traffic. They show no understanding of the town’s potential for a healthier, safer and quieter future.

Marwood Smith, Harrogate

We need more straight-talking MPs like Nigel Adams

Paddling pool closed too soon

It is a shame that the paddling pool in the children’s play area at Borrage Green in Ripon has been emptied of water.

Surely, the council could have maintained its use for a little longer, especially while the early evenings are still light and children can enjoy the outdoors.

Liz Jarvis, Low Grantley

Cycle count is a pointless publicity stunt

Mr Margolis is fooling no one with his publicity stunt on Beech Grove. He says his survey of a couple of hours of observation, picked by himself, ‘proves’ that Beech Grove low traffic neighbourhood is working well. The other day I observed Beech Grove low traffic neighbourhood and didn’t see a single cyclist.

By his logic that “proves” nobody is using it and therefore a complete failure! Did he, by any chance, find out how many of those he did observe would have been going along Beech Grove anyway?

I walk along Beech Grove and don’t see a ‘transformation’, other than many more U-turns.

There’s no change for pedestrians as we walked on the pavement before and still do. Like North Yorkshire County Council, which uses the results of un-scientific, self-appointed surveys filled in by a minority of enthusiasts to ‘prove’ what people want, once again we have misleading information trying to prove a point. Is that the best they can do?

Chris Dicken, Harrogate

Read more:

• Harrogate councillor calls for new ‘no cycling’ signs on Stray
• Tesco launches plans for major Skipton Road supermarket

A Harrogate councillor has called for new ‘no cycling’ signs to be painted on footpaths on the Stray after local residents raised concerns.

Sam Gibbs, a Conservative who represents Harrogate Valley Gardens on Harrogate Borough Council, said calls from concerned residents had prompted him to act.

He told Harrogate and Knaresborough and Conservative MP Andrew Jones’ Community News website:

“Cyclists were using the footpaths and travelling at great speed.

“The Stray should be enjoyed by everyone but cycling should only be on the routes that are permitted.”

Cllr Gibbs said signs should be painted on footpaths around Byron Walk Mews, which backs onto the Montpellier stretch of the Stray.

Read more:

• Calls to stem escalating cyclist vs motorist conflict in North Yorkshire
• £10.9m Harrogate Station Gateway ‘must focus’ on cycling and walking

The 200 acres of Stray land includes some routes for cyclists but they are prohibited to use many areas.

Judy d’Arcy-Thompson, chair of the Stray Defence Association, said:

“One of the best things about the Stray is the freedom but if you’re walking along and a cyclist comes behind you when you aren’t expecting it, it can be distressing.

“If people are getting worried or feel unsafe we would agree with Cllr Gibbs that it was a good idea.”

Kevin Douglas, chair of Harrogate District Cycle Action, said more needed to be done to offer safe routes for cyclists so riders didn’t feel they had to use the Stray:

“Most responsible cyclists don’t use them. But until there is proper, safe cycling infrastructure people will use the Stray.”