Planters moved as Harrogate’s Beech Grove reopens

Harrogate’s Beech Grove has re-opened to through traffic.

North Yorkshire County Council introduced an experimental order in February last year closing the road at the junction with Lancaster Road.

The move was initially brought in as a one-year trial but was later extended to 18 months.

It aimed to encourage cycling and walking and there were suggestions the closure could become permanent.

But the council announced this month the order would end.

The decision proved popular with some residents and motorists, who said it merely increased traffic on neighbouring streets, but upset some cyclists, who had been told Beech Grove would be a central part of plans to create an integrated cycle route between Cardale Park and Harrogate train station.

Today the planters enforcing the closure were removed, two days before the experimental order was due to expire.

A council spokesman said this afternoon:

“Beech Grove and Lancaster Road are now open to vehicles.”

But what happens next is unclear.

North Yorkshire County Council’s executive member for highways and transport, Cllr Keane Duncan, said it will review the situation and then “bring forward a detailed and coordinated plan, connecting active travel initiatives such as Otley Road and Station Gateway together”.

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