Harrogate Station Gateway plans now not set to be released until summer

North Yorkshire Council has said it now does not expect to release plans for the £12.1 million Harrogate Station Gateway until summer.

Work is due to start on the town centre transport scheme in September — even though the full details have not been made public.

The council said previously the plans would be made available in spring.

This prompted Rachael Inchboard, a member of Granville Road Residents’ Association, to submit a freedom of information request to the local authority asking for the plans to be made available urgently so people could have their say. But the council has declined to do so.

Its response, seen by the Stray Ferret, acknowledged the council should be transparent, there was “local interest in the gateway project” and the public should be able to hold the council to account.

But it said the public interest would be met once the council published the information, adding:

“Publishing revisions to plans ahead of schedule would involve duplication of the effort necessary to prepare it for publication and create a significant separate workstream which would detract from the work currently being carried out in its preparation and completion. The information will be published as soon as it is practical to do so.

“There is a public interest in the information being ratified before publication so it can be ensured that the information is accurate. If inaccurate information is published it could cause unnecessary concern.”

The response also indicated the timeframe for releasing the plans had slipped from spring to summer. It said:

“The council intends to present the detailed design alongside the information made available for the Traffic Regulation Order that will be required. This is likely to be in the summer as the TRO requires detailed design to be complete.”

The scheme has been ‘descoped’ after the council admitted its previous plans, which included pedestrianising part of James Street and reducing a stretch of Station Parade to single lane traffic, were legally flawed.

West Yorkshire Combined Authority gave the green light for the revised scheme to proceed last month when it approved the full business case even though a report ahead of the meeting branded it “poor value for money” and said it would “mainly disbenefit highway users”.

Cllr Keane Duncan, the council’s executive member for highways and Conservative candidate to be North Yorkshire mayor, said preparatory work would begin soon after approval was granted.

Some details of the revised scheme have been revealed to the media: they include retaining two lanes of traffic and creating a southbound cycleway on Station Parade, creating a bus lane, junctional signal improvements and improvements to Station Square and the One Arch foot tunnel.

The council’s response to Ms Inchboard said the main elements “are unlikely to change” but “the detail may be subject to change”. It added the detailed design “is currently being progressed”.

Ms Inchboard was disappointed in the response. She said:

“Perhaps they are trying to delay any challenges by informing the public about the gateway plans very close to the deadline.”

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‘Station Gateway consultation a whitewash’, claim Harrogate petitioners

Harrogate residents described the Station Gateway consultation as a “whitewash” when they delivered a petition today.

Consultation on the revised plans for the £10.9 million scheme, which would see Station Parade reduced to single lane traffic and James Street partly pedestrianised, closes today.

Five members of Granvillle Road Area Residents Association took the petition to Harrogate Borough Council‘s Knapping Mount office at lunchtime today.

They are concerned that re-routing traffic off Cheltenham Parade and Cheltenham Mount through the nearby residential streets where they live will increase traffic and pollution and make it more difficult to park.

Dan Harper, executive officer economy and transport at Harrogate Borough Council, received the petition, which had about 140 signatures. He declined to be photographed by the Stray Ferret.

The residents expressed frustration over the consultation process, claiming it was difficult to get hold of information or people to address their concerns.

Catherine Ward-Brown, who lives on Cheltenham Mount, where traffic will be diverted if Cheltenham Mount is made one-way, said:

“They are trying to force commercial traffic on to residential streets and ignoring valid points made. They are hellbent on sticking to their views. It hasn’t been a consultation — it’s been a whitewash.”

Andrew Jones ‘not willing to engage’

Antonia Lowe questioned why Andrew Jones, the Conservative MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, had not meaningfully replied to residents’ questions about the scheme.

“He was willing to engage with the process to relocate the post office but isn’t willing to engage with us.”

Rachael Inchboard said:

“He is passing the buck and refusing to engage. He has a duty to the Harrogate residents who voted him in to engage with this at the earliest opportunity. We would like to see him come to Granville Road.”

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The petitioners are considering paying to monitor air quality in their local streets as well as launching an online fundraising appeal to pay for an environmental impact assessment, which Harrogate Borough Council did not deem necessary.

The Stray Ferret has approached Mr Jones for comment.

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 on the revised designs ends today. It is anticipated that work in Harrogate will begin by the middle of next year.

To take part in the online consultation, click here.

 

Harrogate residents form group to fight £10.9m Station Gateway

Harrogate town centre residents have formed a group to oppose the £10.9m Station Gateway project, which they say will increase traffic and pollution and reduce the value of their homes.

Granville Road Area Residents Association is a long established group representing about 250 homes in the streets close to Cheltenham Parade and Cheltenham Mount.

Members are now setting up a Gateway Action Group to oppose the gateway scheme. They say the consultation has been rushed and fails to take into account their views. They are also upset that a full environmental impact assessment wasn’t deemed necessary for such a major scheme.

Karl Battersby, corporate director, business and environmental services at North Yorkshire County Council, which is leading on the gateway, said it doesn’t think the project will have a significant impact on streets off Cheltenham Parade.

But residents aren’t convinced and formulated plans to act at two meetings at North Bar this week.

Jo Bagley, chair of Granville Road Area Residents Association, said the scheme would push traffic away from the largely commercial Cheltenham Parade into residential areas such as Granville Road, Back Granville Road, Mount Parade, Back Cheltenham Mount and Strawberry Dale Avenue. She said:

“The consultation questions were not relevant for people who live in the area affected. We don’t go into Harrogate — we are in Harrogate,

“A lot of us run businesses and we need to be able to get in and out and I forsee the area being gridlocked.”

Computer data

Colin Anderson, who lives on Granville Road, said his main concern was the volume of traffic that would be diverted on to the narrow Mount Parade if plans to make a section of Cheltenham Mount one way are approved.

He added:

“Traffic will be sitting here with their engines running. Those in charge of the scheme haven’t stood here watching the traffic — they use computer data.”

Mount Parade traffic gateway

Traffic on Mount Parade today.

Resident Nick Karpik said those leading the scheme had “manipulated” numbers from the previous consultation to falsely claim the scheme had public support.

Rachel Melvin, who has lived on Granville Road for 28 years, said:

“They are not solving the problem. They are moving it to a residential area and it will increase noise and pollution.”

Ms Melvin added that even if claims traffic would only increase in each street by two cars a minute were correct, that could still amount to more than 2,000 cars per day in the area.

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Residents also face the loss of four parking spaces on Cheltenham Parade, for which they have permits. They say this will make parking more difficult, and the knock-on effects of reduced parking throughout Harrogate would encourage more motorists to use the disc zone area in streets outside their homes.

Rachael Inchboard, who is a member of Harrogate Civic Society as well as a local resident, said the gateway scheme would have a profound impact on Harrogate conservation area yet most residents weren’t aware of it until they received letters from the council on October 22 giving them notice of the intention to develop. They now have just nine days until the consultation ends.

The council’s response

Karl Battersby, corporate director, business and environmental services, said:

“We don’t envisage significant impacts on the streets off Cheltenham Parade. Traffic modelling has assessed the potential impact of the proposed changes. In the worst-case scenario, which is the afternoon peak hour, we do not anticipate a significant increase in vehicles on these streets.

“The streets where the greatest increases are predicted in this hour are Bower Road, with an average increase of two or three vehicles per minute, and Cheltenham Mount, with an average increase of one or two vehicles per minute.

“We are in the middle of a public consultation in which we encourage as many people as possible to make their views known. All views will be taken into account before final decisions are made on how we will take the proposals forward.

“In addition to the online consultation – which I encourage people to complete at yourvoice.westyorks-ca.gov.uk/harrogate – project officers have seen many residents face to face at drop-ins in the Victoria shopping centre. If people have not yet given us their views, I urge them to do so before the consultation ends on 12 November.”

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.