Traffic and Travel Alert: Harrogate district traffic update

Traffic is moving as normal through the Harrogate district this morning.

However, some roadworks are set to begin on main routes in the district next week.

Here is your Stray Ferret traffic update.

Roads

In Harrogate town centre, long-term work on Crescent Road means motorists are unable to turn left at the Parliament Street junction. Traffic coming the opposite way on Ripon Road is unable to turn right.

Meanwhile, motorists should be aware of temporary lights on Cold Bath Road from Monday (October 18).

The lights are part of gasworks being carried out by Northern Gas Networks and are expected to cause delays.

Work is also scheduled to begin on Monday to reconstruct the B6265 at Red Brae Bank, Bewerley, near Pateley Bridge, which suffered a landslip during storms in  February 2020.

The scheme requires the road to be closed from October 17 to December 9. A diversion will be in place via Pateley Bridge; the B6451 Dacre; Menwith Hill Road; Duck Street and Greenhow Hill village. Temporary traffic lights will be in place during the remainder of the work.

Also, lights will be installed on the B6265 at Red Brae Bank, Bewerley on Monday. The road suffered a landslip during storms in February 2020 an a weight limit has been in pace since.

Details of the scheme are here.

Trains and buses

Northern services between Harrogate and Knaresborough going to York and Leeds are scheduled to run as normal this morning.

The Harrogate Bus Company is not currently reporting any cancellations but you can get updates here.

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Harrogate Borough Council installed 76 new CCTV cameras in past 3 years
Harrogate Borough Council installed 76 new public CCTV cameras in the past three years, according to new research.
In total 290 cameras now operate throughout the district.
IronmongeryDirect, a specialist ironmongery, issued Freedom of Information requests to all local authorities in England and Wales and found that almost seven in 10 have increased their CCTV presence since 2019.

The Harrogate district’s increase of 36% over the past three years ranks it above the national average of 22%.

It has experienced the 53rd largest percentage increase in cameras of the 308 councils that replied to the survey.

In Yorkshire as a whole, only York and Doncaster increased the number of CCTV cameras at a faster rate than Harrogate.

Overall the research found the number of public CCTV cameras in the UK has now risen to more than 100,000, with some local authorities more than quadrupling their surveillance over the last three years.

The authority with the highest increase in the UK was Gwynedd, in north-west Wales, where the council now operates 468 cameras – a whopping increase of 363%.

Dominick Sandford, managing director at IronmongeryDirect, said:

“CCTV is an integral part of modern-day society, and cameras have grown more commonplace in recent years as technology and connectivity have improved.

“The increases revealed in our research might raise privacy concerns, but generally CCTV benefits the safety and security of both the public and businesses, and the upwards trend is unlikely to stop anytime soon.”

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Nidderdale road to be repaired – nearly three years after storm damage

Work is scheduled to begin on Monday to reconstruct a road near Pateley Bridge — two-and-a-half years after it was damaged by storms.

The section of the B6265 at Red Brae Bank, Bewerley, suffered a landslip when storms in February 2020 caused the land below the roads to subside.

Since then, the road has been kept open because of the introduction of a weight limit and temporary traffic lights.

Cllr Keane Duncan, North Yorkshire County Council’s executive member for highways and transportation,  said:

“Following extensive ground investigations and negotiations with the private landowner, we are now able to undertake this work to stabilise the land, reconstruct the carriageway and improve the drainage of the road and the land supporting it.

“When this is complete, we will be able to remove the temporary traffic lights and the weight limit.”

The £480,000 scheme will involve stabilising the top of the slope next to the road, reconstructing the carriageway, repairing the highway drainage and stabilising, drainage and landscaping work on the slope below the carriageway.

landslip at Bewerley

The work is expected to take nine weeks, with a planned completion date of Friday, December 16.

The scheme requires the road to be closed from October 17 to December 9.

A diversion will be in place via Pateley Bridge; the B6451 Dacre; Menwith Hill Road; Duck Street and Greenhow Hill village.

Temporary traffic lights will be in place during the remainder of the work.

Cllr Andrew Murday, county councillor for Pateley Bridge and Nidderdale, said:

“We have been waiting for these repairs to be done for a long time. The closure will be very inconvenient for people, but the work needs to be done and when it is complete people will feel the benefit.”

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Traffic and Travel Alert: Harrogate district update

The main routes into Harrogate, such as Wetherby Road, Knaresborough Road and Skipton Road, appear to be flowing normally in the approach to rush hour.

Here is your Stray Ferret traffic update.

Roads

Drivers heading towards Wetherby should be aware of temporary traffic lights still in place on the A661 Harrogate Road near Spofforth.

The lights are in place while Northern Gas Networks carries out maintenance work and are now due to last until October 18.

Elsewhere in Harrogate, long-term work on Crescent Road means motorists are unable to turn left at the Parliament Street junction. Traffic coming the opposite way on Ripon Road is unable to turn right.

Montpellier Road remains closed until tomorrow as Northern Gas Networks carries out maintenance work.

Stop go boards are due to be in place on John Street today and tomorrow.

Roadworks on the Boroughbridge Road at Scriven are likely to cause delays for motorists travelling between Knaresborough and Boroughbridge.

Looking ahead, work is scheduled to begin on Monday to reconstruct the B6265 at Red Brae Bank, Bewerley, near Pateley Bridge, which suffered a landslip during storms in  February 2020.

The scheme requires the road to be closed from October 17 to December 9. A diversion will be in place via Pateley Bridge; the B6451 Dacre; Menwith Hill Road; Duck Street and Greenhow Hill village. Temporary traffic lights will be in place during the remainder of the work.

Trains and buses

Northern services between Harrogate and Knaresborough going to York and Leeds are scheduled to run as normal this morning.

The Harrogate Bus Company is not currently reporting any cancellations but you can get updates here.

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Harrogate district council tax set to fall by £23 under devolution

Council tax bills for a Band D property in Harrogate are set to fall by £23.47 for the next two years as part of the transition to the new North Yorkshire Council.

Harrogate Borough Council currently charges the highest council tax of the seven district councils in North Yorkshire.

An average band D property in the district is currently £1,723.27, compared with £1,586.83 in Hambleton, which has the lowest level of council tax in the county.

The seven councils will be abolished on April 1 as part of the government’s devolution agenda and North Yorkshire County Council is to meet next week to discuss ways to harmonise the level of payment across the county.

Under plans being drawn up, Band D bills in the Harrogate district would fall by £23.47 a year for two years while Hambleton’s bills would increase by £89.49.

However, the rises and falls due to harmonisation do not take into account the annual increase in council tax bills, which is set to be approved by county councillors in February. The figures also relate to just the precept for county and district authorities, and do not include money for North Yorkshire Police, the county’s fire brigade and parish or town councils.

If a Harrogate town council is formed, the precept for people living in the town council area would increase.

Decision on Tuesday

The advent of a new council covering the whole of the county in April means there is a legal requirement to ensure all council taxpayers in North Yorkshire are charged the same amount.

The proposals to phase this in over the next two years will be considered by members of North Yorkshire County Council’s decision-making executive when they meet on Tuesday next week. They are based on recommendations by a cross-party working group of councillors.

The working group, which was established by the county council’s executive in June, considered a range of proposals, including harmonising council tax bills over a period of up to eight years.

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North Yorkshire County Council’s executive member for finance, Cllr Gareth Dadd, who is also the authority’s deputy leader, said:

“The challenge to harmonise council tax bills across the county is obviously a significant one, but it is an issue we have to address before the new North Yorkshire Council is launched in April next year.

“We are acutely aware of the financial pressures which everyone is under not just in North Yorkshire, but across the whole country, as we see inflation rising and the cost of energy soar along with the price of food and drink and other essential items.

“A great deal of work has gone into the proposed scheme to harmonise council tax bills across all seven districts, and we believe that the plan that has been drawn up to introduce the changes over the two years represents the fairest way forward for everyone involved.”

There would be huge variations in the amount of funding generated if the decision was taken to opt for moving council tax levels to the lowest amount seen in Hambleton or choosing to adopt the highest level in Harrogate.

If council tax bills were brought in line with Hambleton, there would be an annual reduction of funding in the region of £21 million, falling from the current level of £401.8 million to £380.4 million.

By comparison, an extra £11.3 million would be generated by increasing council tax bills to the level currently paid in the Harrogate district, with the average across North Yorkshire for owners of a Band D property paying £1,723.27 instead of £1,676.32.

Funding from council tax is used to finance services ranging from waste collection and recycling to highways maintenance and adult social care.

 

 

Traffic and Travel Alert: Harrogate district traffic update

While traffic is moving as normal, drivers should expect the usual queues on Harrogate’s Wetherby Road, Knaresborough Road and Skipton Road during rush hour this morning.

Here is your Stray Ferret traffic update.

Roads

Drivers heading towards Wetherby should be aware of temporary traffic lights still in place on the A661 Harrogate Road near Spofforth.

The lights are in place while Northern Gas Networks carries out maintenance work until October 13.

Elsewhere in Harrogate, long-term work on Crescent Road means motorists are unable to turn left at the Parliament Street junction. Traffic coming the opposite way on Ripon Road is unable to turn right.

Montpellier Road remains closed until tomorrow as Northern Gas Networks carries out maintenance work.

Trains and buses

Northern services between Harrogate and Knaresborough going to York and Leeds are scheduled to run as normal this morning.

Meanwhile, the Harrogate Bus Company is reporting cancellations on its 1, 1C, 7 and 36 services this morning.

You can find out more on the disruption to services here.

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Police start two-week speeding crackdown in Harrogate district

North Yorkshire Police today announced a two-week blitz on speeding motorists.

The constabulary said in a statement traffic officers will be targeting excess and inappropriate speed on county roads “over the next couple of weeks”. It added:

“Twenty-four-hour enforcement activity will take place across the county, with an aim of catching those who put other road users in danger.”

Today marks the start of a three-week nationwide speed enforcement operation, led by the National Police Chiefs’ Council, which represents British chief police officers.

The initiative, which includes National Safe Speed Day on October 19, highlights the risks of speeding and encourages motorists to slow down.

Between January 1 and December 31 last year, there were 85,610 speed violations captured by safety camera vans and safety camera bikes in North Yorkshire.

A North Yorkshire Police speed van

Expect to see more police speed vans over the next two weeks. Photo by Martin Dawes

The last speed enforcement campaign in January this year resulted in almost 5,200 speeding violations during that month alone.

Traffic Constable Ali Hoyle said:

“These figures show just how much of an issue speeding is here for us in North Yorkshire and this is not a huge surprise as we have a vast road network across the county including hundreds of miles of rural roads.

“The reason why we do these types of deployments is because we are trying to prevent serious collisions on our roads and make them as safe as they can possibly be.

“There are so many dangers associated with excessive speeding, not least because it’s a major cause of fatal road traffic collisions. By slowing down and making sure you drive to the conditions of the road, you have more time to react to other drivers and hazards.

 

Ambulance workers in Harrogate district could be set to strike

Staff at Yorkshire Ambulance Service are set to vote on strike action over a government pay offer.

The service employs 7,200 staff and covers all of North Yorkshire, including the Harrogate district.

The GMB Union, which represents 1,500 ambulance workers, said it held a consultative ballot over strike action which saw 90% vote in favour of a walk-out.

Turnout for the vote was 80%.

It comes after the government offered staff a 4% pay increase.

Following the outcome on the consultative ballot, Unions are now set to move towards holding a formal vote on industrial action.

Deanne Ferguson, GMB organiser, said:

“Ambulance staff should not be worrying about how they’ll heat their homes this winter or feed their families, whilst carrying out a crucial service across our communities.

“The service is crumbling, and it is having an impact on everyone – it is only surviving because of the amazing workers holding it together, through goodwill.

“GMB members have had enough, they are angry – and that’s why they want to move to a formal ballot for strike action.

“They’ve made history with their turnout and vote.

“GMB Union will stand shoulder to shoulder with our members as we fight for an above inflation pay rise for our NHS heroes.”

Dates for the formal ballot will be announced in the “coming days”, the union said.

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Harrogate district schools set to take part in Walk to School Day 2022

Local environmental group, Zero Carbon Harrogate, is set to hold its annual Walk to School Day for 2022.

The event will be held on Friday (October 7) with a focus on “building good transport habits”.

A further five walk to school days will be held in November, February, March, May and June.

This year, Zero Carbon Harrogate has changed the format of the walk to focus on taking part and building good transport habits, rather than calculating winners.

A spokesperson for the group said:

“This year, our strategy is slightly different. Instead of calculating winners and announcing our leaderboard, the event simply focuses on taking part, building good transport habits – ideally on a daily basis – and spreading the word.

“At the end of the 2022-2023 school year, we will present gold, silver and bronze certificate awards to all participating schools in the area, depending on the number of events they took part in over the academic year.”

The 28 schools taking part in the event on Friday are:

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Traffic and Travel Alert: Harrogate district traffic update

Traffic is moving as normal in the Harrogate district this morning.

However, commuters are braced for another day of strike action this coming weekend.

Here is your Stray Ferret traffic update.

Roads

While traffic is moving as normal, drivers should expect the usual queues on Harrogate’s Wetherby Road, Knaresborough Road and Skipton Road during rush hour this morning.

Meanwhile, overnight work on the A59 York Road, between Station Road and the A658 at Goldsborough, is expected to end today.

Montpellier Road in Harrogate remains closed until October 12 as Northern Gas Networks carries out maintenance work.

This week, temporary traffic lights are due in place on Cold Bath Road for five weeks as the company carries out maintenance work.

According to North Yorkshire County Council’s roadworks map, the measure will be in place from October 7.

At Blossomgate in Ripon, work is due to take place to replace and reset the kerb and improve the road.

Trains and buses

Northern services between Harrogate and Knaresborough going to York and Leeds are scheduled to run as normal this morning.

However, commuters will face further industrial action on Saturday (October 8) which may affect services from Harrogate and Knaresborough.

Northern, which operates the services, has urged passengers not to travel on strike days.

The strike action comes as rail passengers have also been warned to expect disruption on Harrogate’s LNER services from October 1 until October 9.

Major engineering works in the Newcastle area by Network Rail will affect many services on the LNER route during this period.

Meanwhile, the Harrogate Bus Company is reporting cancellations on its 1A and 1B services this morning.

You can find out more on the disruption to services here.

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