Letters Archives - Page 4 of 9

Stray Views: Drivers use Badger Hill as ‘speed track’

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.

I live on Badger Hill and have contacted the council about this road. It is now a speed track by the idiot drivers among us.

They use the bridge like a sling shot and accelerate to go up the hill.

The road markings have disappeared, which enable many to cut the corner, which makes our 180 turn to enter Badger Hill scary.

Of course drivers know there is no chance of being caught as the police seem non-existent.

Malcolm Wood, Knaresborough

Bypass project rejected due to ‘misinformation’

The bypass project was rejected by the public as it was called the Nidd Gorge Project and photos of Nidd Gorge were shown in the local newspaper and political documents.

The road was not planned to be built in the gorge but this misinformation influenced the vote.

With this rejection and no alternative route being planned we now have a build up of traffic through Knaresborough and Scotton. What route can the new residents of Killinghall, etc. take to the A1(M) and York?

I also cannot see how blocking off a road assists congestion or helps to get traffic from the A1(M) to Skipton and vice versa.

We now prefer to shop in Northallerton where new roads have been opened recently, by the same councillor who is managing the closure of streets in Harrogate.

Pam Watson, Harrogate

Stray Views: Yorkshire Water ‘sorry they got caught’

How insulting it is that Yorkshire Water blame a shift in “expectations” for their failure to maintain clean and healthy water?

What they meant to say was, “the public have finally cottoned on to the fact that most water companies in the UK are doing an inadequate job of protecting this precious resource and the natural biodiversity that makes the British countryside so very special”.

It sounds like the cliche: you’re not really sorry. You’re just sorry you got caught.

Mark Fuller, Harrogate

Harrogate is ‘dying slowly’

Why are we not talking about the closure of shopping businesses and the lack of keeping retail businesses and putting in place a Wilkinsons or a Home Bargains. Places people want to shop at.

Also the lack of entertainment, there’s no bowling or crazy golf. There is nothing fun to do except for drinking and eating. There’s a cafe opening every week, a bar opening all the time but no real shopping opportunities. Empty retail shops are either going to be a bar or flats.

The council don’t want to do anything, they are just wanting money and that’s it. It’s okay saying go to Leeds, but it doesn’t help people when the trains are always on strike and the traffic is absolutely dreadful. This town is dying slowly.

Chris Firth, Harrogate

Different parties, different policies

Andrew Jones likes to say it’s ‘Yah boo politics’ when someone points out the massive problems created by his party’s policy.

Has Andrew heard that political parties have different policies? That is why there are different parties.

The Conservatives promote privatisation: Margaret Thatcher pushed for the privatisation of water, so England and Wales became the only countries in the world to have fully privatised water and sewage systems.

Tories believe that it’s OK for profits to be made from a basic service like water (or health, or energy, or transport, or education ). Greens don’t.

Tories also believe in removing ‘the red tape’ and ‘the green crap’ (removing regulation and sustainability considerations).

Well, now we are seeing the consequences of 13 years of Tory government.

Trumpeting that he is saving the Nidd is pure hypocrisy, when Mr Jones’s voting record supports privatisation and its dire consequences: including the destruction of nature and theft from the public purse.

He knows perfectly well that Greens would never have let the rivers get into this state in the first place, and we work full-time at all levels to right the wrongs created by his party’s short-sighted policies.

Shan Oakes, former Green Party European parliamentary and local candidate. Currently serving on Knaresborough Town and Scriven Parish Councils

Stray Views: Concern over potential accidents on Boroughbridge Road

As a long-term resident of the Boroughbridge Road area I am ‘pre-warning’ of a potential major accident in the stretch between Stockwell Road junction and Bar Lane Roundabout.

Forgive my ‘remembrance’ but the last time I consulted the Highway Code it stated that “bar special circumstances”, it is illegal to park within 10m of a junction.

There is a constant presence of vans, cars, trucks and 4WD monsters parked on Boroughbridge Road opposite to Somerley Lane, Norwood Court, Norwood Close and even Chain Lane.

Which means that traffic emerging from these roads has to take account of the fact that heavy traffic headed towards Boroughbridge has to divert to lane two to avoid the illegally parked traffic and the traffic heading Knaresborough bound has to both award the turning traffic and the oncoming traffic.

As a vast amount of this traffic is HGV and white vans, there will be a major disaster.

In any event parking on the pavement is also illegal. A good case for lots of yellow lines.

Maurice Johnson, Knaresborough

Motorbikes on the Greenway

Just a quick note to inform that there are now regular instances of motorbikes being ridden on these paths. We back onto the paths at the top end of Bilton Lane and almost daily hear and partially observe the mask-wearing so-and-so’s disregarding other users. Usually in small groups, particularly in the evening.

Would be useful to get this on the police radar before any person or pet are injured.

Richard Chester, Harrogate

Stray Views: Harrogate’s Victoria Avenue should be resurfaced entirely

Victoria Avenue needs the whole road resurfacing not just the potholes. There are many other roads that are in dire need of resurfacing but will miss out on necessary repairs.

Is there an agenda by Highways North Yorkshire to discourage motorists and cyclists from visiting Harrogate?

Maybe we can encourage Chinese investors to Harrogate, they have built many excellent roads all around the world.

Simon Kirby, Harrogate

Re-wilding should be more than ‘not bothering’

Re-wilding should not just be not bothering.

Much of the re-wilding on the edges of the Stray, with splashes of colour from such as buttercups, also manage to look good and purposeful.

The verges on Beech Grove with their proliferation of dandelions and docks, do not.

Chris Graville, Harrogate

Stray Views: Time for councillors to back Harrogate Station Gateway

As a former Harrogate town centre shop owner for 30 years, I was hugely disappointed to read Cllr Mike Schofield says he will not vote for Station Gateway because it ‘may’ be bad for business. In my view he couldn’t be more wrong. He and any councillors who are considering voting to dump this £11m investment in the town centre on similar flimsy grounds would be doing the town the very greatest disservice.

Cllr Schofield is quoted as saying Station Gateway ‘may potentially deal businesses another blow’ on top of covid and the cost of living crisis. He gives no evidence to back his claim.

Along with many others in Harrogate I am confident it will in fact benefit business. It’s true that many local businesses are noisily opposing it. It was the same in the 1980s when Cambridge, Oxford and Beulah streets were pedestrianised. A chorus of local business owners said it would be a disaster. It wasn’t. As the owner of a sports shop in Beulah Street I supported the changes. I thought they would be good for my business and they were. Our business increased appreciably because footfall increased. It also created a considerably more pleasant environment for our staff to work in – quieter and cleaner.

If the councillors reject Gateway they won’t lose ‘just’ the £10.9m for this scheme, they jeopardise much, much more in future funding. North Yorkshire has a lengthening and shocking record of failing to deliver on active travel in Harrogate – Otley Road, Beech Grove, Victoria Avenue, A59 at Knaresborough, Oatlands Drive, the Wetherby Road/Slingsby Walk crossing, declining bus services, no valuable cycle infrastructure since the Showground Greenway in 2014.

Why should the government offer more funding to an authority with such a dismal track record of failure to deliver? The Gateway is the last chance to restore credibility. But it seems some councillors are ready to dump it because they hear some noisy local business people say it ‘might be bad for business’. I’ll repeat – what’s the evidence?

In fact the evidence, time and again, is that making streets people friendly rather than car friendly is good for business. The best known example is probably Waltham Forest. In 2015 there was huge opposition to their mini Holland scheme and the pedestrianisation of the main shopping street, Orford Road. Many businesses and residents said it would be the death of Walthamstow, and carried a coffin along the street in protest. In fact it has been a terrific success and recent polls show that over 98% of local people now support it.

There are many other examples of hostility to proposals to reduce road space and restrict traffic in town centres where the opposition disappeared once the changes had been introduced because people find they actually like them.

Cllr Schofield says there are better alternative designs which should have been considered. The time to put forward those designs was during the consultation. The situation now is the design that’s on the table – which was updated and improved during the consultation process – or nothing.

On Friday, councillors have an extremely rare opportunity to invest £11m to make much of the town centre fit for the 21st century. It’s most unlikely to come again any time soon. Let’s hope they have the good sense and courage to take it.

Malcom Margolis, Harrogate

Crimple Valley homes near ‘extremely dangerous road’

I have lived here for nearly sixty years and the Crimple Valley was once owned by The Earl of Harewood and before him King George 111 and purchased by Harrogate Borough Council as a buffer between Harrogate and the village of Pannal.

The Crimple Valley has always been a beautiful wildlife area.

Anyone brave or foolhardy enough to try to cross the A61 Leeds Road are taking their life in their hands. It is an extremely dangerous road and houses should definitely not be built there.

Over the years planning permission was refused for the existing building which was built with the intention of turning it into a house. Planning permission was refused. Planning permission for this development has been refused before by Harrogate Borough Council so the developers are now trying their luck with North Yorkshire Council and all objectors hope they do not succeed.

Anne Smith, Pannal

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Stray Views: Crimple Valley homes plan ‘unbelievable’

It is absolutely unbelievable that anyone can possibly see any reason to build houses on that site. We need a green space between Harrogate and Pannal.

The access onto that busy steep hill would be incredibly dangerous, so do no building there at all.

Alison Roscoe, Burn Bridge

Time for a ‘rethink’ on Harrogate’s roads

It has been written and discussed recently that the council has been unable to deliver on active travel projects in Harrogate. This is largely true, apart from the Otley Road cycle path, but we might be best to leave that there.

There have been consultations and bids for various projects that might improve active travel in the town, but very few have come to fruition. Now that North Yorkshire Council are in charge, maybe it’s time for a short to mid-term rethink.

I have often believed many cycle schemes are veiled road improvements that are being paid for by active travel schemes. But things have come to a point whereby the roads are now becoming unsafe to cycle on due to the state of the road, not because of the vehicles.

Many roads around Harrogate have deep holes in them that a bit of surface dressing will not fix. The stones and small rocks that are coming out of the pot holes litter the road and the gutter is becoming increasingly difficult to navigate safely.

The road surface is dangerously pitted and uneven making it doubly dangerous for a cyclist to traverse. These road hazards are causing cyclists to swerve or take a different line on the road and this adds further dangers to all concerned. If you need a good example, look at Pannal Ash Road. This is a road with schools on it, where we expect our children to ride their bikes.

I don’t think there will be many arguments with these statements. What I would like to see in the short to mid term is for the council to make a concerted effort to return our roads to a state whereby they don’t cause risk or damage just by using them. Resurface badly damaged roads properly (not just surface dressing), sweep the gutters to remove the debris, and at least allow all road users to be able to travel safely. Active travel schemes are nice to have, but let’s not forget about what have already.

Scott Mordue, Harrogate

Stray Views: Crimple Valley proposed development “insane”

When Harrogate Borough Council published the local plan, it gave the house building industry 35 Christmas presents at once as they massively over-provisioned for the housing needs of Harrogate and turned over vast swathes of previously protected countryside to be turned into building sites.

Yet it seems the developers are not satisfied with that. This site is outside the local plan land dedicated to new houses and is designated as Special Landscape Area.

There is absolutely no requirement for this development and no justification for allowing it.

I believe that people here who value nature and the countryside are sick of the constant bulldozing of green space and just view this as money grabbing greed – selling the soul of the town just so that someone can see a big number on their bank statement.

This is a completely insane place to build. These houses will be so disconnected to any other infrastructure close by — the main exit being the new junction at the base of Almsford Bank.

Anyone who has ever tried to cross the road at this point will recognise just how intimidating it is – cars going north taking a run up round the corner to get up the hill, cars going south with the foot of the brake accelerating downhill. Even if you lowered the speed limit few people would stick to it. It’s an accident blackspot in the making.

The environmental impact of this small estate would be considerable. Few people would be prepared to walk or cycle out of that junction with the footpath being on the opposite side of the A61, so every journey is likely to be by car. I understand there is provision to plant trees to replace those removed, but it will take 50 years for these new trees to sequester the carbon released by those that are to be taken out.

Ian Murdle, Harrogate

Boating lake madness

I’m shocked to see that in its dying days, Harrogate council chose to waste money yet again on a fountain no one wants. They’ve obviously forgotten the disastrous one opposite the railway station that never worked, was constantly dirty, and had eventually to be removed.

I remember falling head first into what was then the paddling pool over 70 years ago. Since then, it has still given pleasure to so many as a boating pool. Now it’s going to be totally useless, just a dirty pool with a very ordinary fountain in it. Not exactly a huge visitor attraction!

That £6000 could have been used in far better ways to benefit the community and I resent this squandering on vanity projects.

Stephanie Wrightson, Harrogate

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We’ll fight to keep Starbeck Baths

Starbeck Residents’ Association has already talked to the council and is in ongoing discussion to ensure our local pool is reopened as soon as possible. We’ve been assured that Starbeck Baths are important to North Yorkshire Council as we know they are to our local community.

The SRA successfully campaigned to save the pool when they were threatened a few years ago and I did the same to get it reopened when it was kept unnecessarily closed long after lockdown.

So the SRA will do everything we can to support our swimming pool.

Chris Watt

Chair, Starbeck Residents’ Association

Stray Views: Knaresborough electric vehicle charging bays ‘an own goal’

Following the furore concerning the installation of 10 electric vehicle charging bays alongside the Chapel Street car park, on turning in to the street yesterday, I was astounded to see a large tour bus parked across eight out the ten bays.

Later, a different tour bus was parked there also. This appears to be yet another own goal by the council, not only do these bays not conform to short stay provision, it appears that tour buses continue to use the site for disgorging their punters into the town.

Nick Bentley, Staveley

Station Gateway proposals ‘highly questionable’

North Yorkshire Councillor Keane Duncan is a welcome breath of fresh air in challenging the supine response of Harrogate Borough Council to the evangelical cycle-lobby which has resulted in many hundreds of thousands pounds being spent on whimsical cycle lanes which the vast majority of Harrogate residents, if properly consulted, would have preferred to be spent on eliminating the pot holes which plague our streets.

There is absolutely no doubt that the public piazza outside the Victoria Centre is tired and needs updating. But the rest of the £11 million plans are highly questionable.

Bus and train visitors would in future have to navigate a two-way cycle lane on what is currently a one direction traffic flow.

The latest London experience statistics show that far less than 50% of cyclists stop at pedestrian lights. At present there are four sets of traffic lights in a 300 metre stretch on Station Parade to help pedestrian visitors to cross the road. It works extremely well. When was the last injury recorded?

Will the plans improve life for cyclists wanting to go to the train station? Not really. They can do that already via the dedicated cycle lanes on East Parade.

Councillor Duncan has promised that “ traffic flows will be revisited and re- assessed”.It is wonderful to me to hear that ,at last, someone on the new NY council seems to be giving balanced consideration to the welfare of residents of Harrogate.

But will the NY council have the guts to turn down the free £ 11m government grant or the wit to redefine the plans to recognise that the interests of many potentially adversely affected residential council tax-payers should also be given due consideration? I have my fingers – crossed.

Tim Emmott, Harrogate

Stray Views: North Yorkshire rural transport ‘desperately inefficient’

Hats off to North Yorkshire County Council for being open about the cost of Demand Responsive Transport (DRT) schemes. The reason that DRT is expensive in rural areas is because it is desperately inefficient.

DRT is supposed to be the answer where demand for timetabled services has dropped to uneconomic levels. But DRT actually makes the problem worse – if the only timetabled bus leaves at 10.30, it may well carry me (who would prefer to leave at 09.30) and my neighbour (who might prefer to leave at 11.30).

But DRT asks us each when we want to travel, and if we are both lucky enough to bag a ride, then the bus will come to our village twice, carrying just one of us each time. And because the schedule is built in random order, as requests come in, the vehicles end up with wasteful gaps when there isn’t enough time to fit in an extra trip, and lots of “dead mileage” as the vehicles zoom around empty from one drop off to the next pickup.

I live in a part of rural Derbyshire that is likely to lose timetabled services soon, and I wanted to see if my fears were borne out by data. Finding no published information on loadings for DRT buses, I made a FOI request to NYCC for detailed information on the Yorbus service around Ripon.

The data, for February, March and April 2022 shows the two minibuses carrying passengers for just a third of their operating time and when they did have passengers, it was rarely more than three. Normal taxis could have been used instead (with far lower costs and emissions) for over 97% of the operating hours. These figures will have improved, a bit, as ridership has increased in the last year, but Yorbus will still be running as what is in effect a badly-scheduled taxi service using vastly oversized vehicles.

Even if you don’t worry about the cost, DRT isn’t even a good replacement for a timetabled service. The marketing materials may talk about flexibility, but for the user that means uncertainty.

NYCC have reported that Yorbus has been unable to meet about 20% of the requests for a ride.

Failure may be OK if you were planning to go shopping: perhaps you will be luckier tomorrow. But what if you had wanted to use Yorbus to get to work? Or to an appointment with a hospital consultant?

John Geddes, Winster, Derbyshire

‘Disgust’ at North Yorkshire County Council view

I read with disgust but no real surprise in the Stray Ferret the view of the North Yorkshire Tory council expressed by the opposition concerning the behaviour of the council.

They describe the behaviour as something like a “Putinesque regime” amongst other descriptors. They then go on to describe actions that are nothing short of abuses of power.

It irks me that this dire council has managed to wriggle out of it’s responsibility to face elections till 2027 as a result of the re-organisation of local government.

Let’s face it, it is likely that the forthcoming local elections are likely to see the Tories, deservedly, wiped off the the face of the electoral map in much of the country. North Yorkshire however remains lumbered with this dismal bunch for another four years.

This thoroughly depressing and damaging state of affairs should not be allowed to stand.

Nick Hudson, Harrogate

Stray Views: What are our MPs doing about food shortages?

Shockingly, the UK has a food shortage. It seems more will follow. Continental friends confirm they have no such shortages. Have our local MPs done anything to press our government and their party to address this urgently? As usual, Nigel Adams, Julian Smith and Andrew Jones have been silent on this matter (confirmed via Hansard records). They could have pressed their government ages ago to prepare for such challenges but just as with the pandemic, it has come as a needless surprise.

EU countries are supporting farmers to ensure the continuity of production (€500 million will be allocated to those most affected by higher input costs). Minette Batters (NFU) raised the alarm about the need for food security to be a major priority in the UK months ago – yet we have food shortages.

Using environmental arguments now to encourage the public to eat seasonally for entirely the wrong reasons, namely as a fig leaf to disguise the dereliction of duty of the government, is outrageous. The effects of climate change on food production have been warned about for years. Far more should have been done a long time ago.

War, covid, weather events and climate change have been affecting all of Europe and elsewhere yet only the UK is suffering food restrictions. It seems to me that the underlying reason for this is that the continent is benefiting from having a plan – and not having Conservative Party MPs in charge.

Friedy Luther, Spofforth

Concern over electric vehicle charging points

I welcome the provision of new electric vehicle charge points in the district but have a couple of concerns.

Firstly instead of contactless payment, users have to sign up for yet another app. When signing up you have to give your credit card details, agree to an initial £10 payment and later adhoc payments. Most ev drivers want contactless in the same way that petrol can be paid for and with no apps.

Secondly these 7 kW chargers are intended in part to benefit ev drivers with no home charging facility. They take eight or nine hours for a full charge so will residents have to pay for long stays? In Knaresborough it might have been better to have some chargers at the long stay car park where day trip visitors are more likely to park.

Ralph Armsby, Harrogate

Why was the press not notified of Ukraine war anniversary?

A friend and I wondered why there were no press present on Friday, 24 February 2023, when an important ceremony at the Cenotaph in the centre of Harrogate took place. One year on to mark the sombre anniversary of the illegal invasion by President Putin.

The Mayor of Harrogate (Councillor Victoria Oldam) came to raise the Ukraine flag. The flying of the Ukraine flag had been agreed by the full council a year before.

It was taken down before the Rememberance Day ceremonies for some reason. A few of us with the help of Councillor Chris Aldred initiated once again that the Ukraine flag flew.

The presence of the mayor and the local MP and a few staff clearly thought it was important that there was an official ceremony sanctioned by the council. All in all there were about 10 of us to witness this event.

A young Ukrainian woman who had place two candles – one blue and one yellow on the steps of the Cenotaph stayed when we told her about the Ukraine flag being raised. This time it flew prominently from one of the two flag poles in front of the Cenotaph.

The mayor and her small party went on to raise the Ukrainian flag outside the council offices.

We are sure that many more people would have come if it had been promoted and the press notified. So why wasn’t it?

Lindis Percy, Harrogate

Bypass project rejected due to ‘misinformation’

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Harrogate is ‘dying slowly’

Different parties, different policies

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Motorbikes on the Greenway

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Re-wilding should be more than ‘not bothering’

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Crimple Valley homes near ‘extremely dangerous road’

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Time for a ‘rethink’ on Harrogate’s roads

Boating lake madness

We’ll fight to keep Starbeck Baths

Station Gateway proposals ‘highly questionable’

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‘Disgust’ at North Yorkshire County Council view

Concern over electric vehicle charging points

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Why was the press not notified of Ukraine war anniversary?