Killinghall residents have demanded North Yorkshire County Council create cycling routes as traffic conditions worsen.
A surge in housing developments, busier roads and increase in air pollution has led to many families feeling their travel options are limited only to the car.
Environmental campaigner and member of Harrogate District Cycle Action, Malcolm Margolis, said:
“It seems so obvious that cycle paths should have been provided through developer funding. Many Killinghall and local residents are calling for safe links. For now they are forced to use the A61 which is far too dangerous especially for families with young children. There has been no shortage of funding opportunities with all the new estates that have been and are still being built.
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A local business agrees. Tanya Umpleby, owner of Cooking Fantastic and The Cud Life Campsite and Holiday Cottages said:
“We have a lot of families who stay and want to go out cycling, but won’t because of how busy the A61 road is and there’s only one tiny footpath.”
Harrogate District Cycle Action has been in discussion with Councillor Michael Harrison, who represents Killinghall and Hampsthwaite. In a recent letter the group asked for a cycling route from Killinghall to Harrogate via Otley Road, and another on the A61 Ripon Road.
Cllr Harrison responded, saying that he has pushed for cycle links and improved footpaths but was unsuccessful. He added that North Yorkshire County Council said a 1km cycle track would cost around £400,000.
Yesterday, North Yorkshire County Council submitted a £1 million funding application for sustainable travel. If the bid is won it will be spent on Harrogate improvements, but not Killinghall.
Mr Margolis, who sat on the steering committee of the 4.2 mile Nidderdale Greenway, denies Cllr Harrison’s response. He said:
“The Nidderdale Greenway which opened in May 2013 cost £500,000. North Yorkshire County Council are not interested and property developers are not interested. They are ignoring us.”
Almost 50 new homes will be built on the edge of Killinghall after the government’s Planning Inspectorate overturned a decision by Harrogate Borough Council to refuse the plans.
In October 2018, HBC’s planning committee rejected the application from Linden Homes because it said the development would harm the appearance of the area and that residents will be forced to use their cars because of a lack of more sustainable options.
The council had also warned that trees covered by tree preservation orders (TPO) may have to be removed due to their proximity to some of the proposed 46 homes.
The homes will be built opposite Pharmall animal food store on Otley Road, close to the junction of the A59 and B6161. The site is not designated for development within HBC’s Local Plan.
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Killinghall is one of Harrogate’s main pressure points for new housing and land to the north and east of the site has planning permission for around 345 homes.
However, inspector John Dowsett disagreed with the conclusions of HBC’s planners and said the Linden Homes development “should be perceived as an extension” to an already built-up area on the edge of town.
He added that the homes would not harm the appearance of the area because the existing field is the result of a nineteenth-century division of a larger field and “does not reflect the original, historic, field layout”.
Mr Dowsett also dismissed concerns that any trees with TPOs would have to be removed.
Historic Killinghall pub reopensOne of the oldest pubs in the Harrogate district reopened on Friday – just weeks after planners granted permission to convert the site into a convenience store.
Locals in Killinghall wondered whether last orders had been called for the final time at The Three Horseshoes when it closed for lockdown.
Ilkley company Dynamic Capital Killinghall had submitted plans to Harrogate Borough Council to demolish the building and construct a convenience store and four flats.
When the plans were approved this month, it appeared to herald a new chapter for the site, which has hosted a pub for 150 years.
But the pub reopened at the weekend and the developers have yet to confirm when the conversion will take place.
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Will Rogers, a planner at Planning Potential, which is the agent acting on behalf of Dynamic Capital Killinghall, told The Stray Ferret “the applicant remains committed to the site”.
But he was unable to confirm when work will begin, adding:
“We have a series of planning conditions we need to discharge first and then we’ll know more on timescales.”
One of the council’s conditions was to install six electric vehicle charging points.
Rogers said the convenience store, which will be in the middle of Killinghall on the busy Ripon Road, would open seven days a week from 7am to 11pm and was expected to create 15 part-time and full-time jobs.
How the convenience store will look.
Forty-one individual representations supported the proposal and six opposed it. The council also received a petition signed by 232 people objecting to the loss of the pub.
Councillors decided “the proposal would provide substantial social and environmental benefits” and approved it.
The public body Historic England rejected a proposal this year to grant the pub listed building status.
Punch Taverns, which owns the pub, did not reply to The Stray Ferret’s request for a comment.