Otley Road in Harrogate to face six weeks of roadworks

Two-way traffic lights will be installed on Otley Road, between Harrogate and Beckwithshaw, from Monday until Friday May 6.

North Yorkshire County Council will put the lights next to Persimmon Homes’ Harlow Hill Grange development whilst roadworks take place.

According to the council’s website, works include installing new street lights and signs, connecting gullies to a ditch and building a new footpath.

Motorists using the section of Otley Road closer to Harrogate have faced over a year of disruption due to the construction of the Otley Road cycle path. Phase two is set to start later this year.

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Ripon car park could be resurfaced by Friday — and has bigger bays

Ripon contractors are on target to complete the resurfacing of the city’s cathedral car park a week ahead of schedule.

The work by A E Duffield & Sons as part of a £106,000 contract is due for completion on February 11, but progress suggests it could be finished by this Friday.

In an additional boost to motorists, a city council request for bays to be increased in size, to make parking easier, has been taken on-board.

A contractor told the Stray Ferret:

“The bays are now a minimum of 2.4 metres wide, compared with the previous ones that were 2.2 metres.”

photo of parking bay at Cathedral Car park

The parking bays have been widened to 2.4 metres 

To accommodate the enlargement of the spaces, it is estimated that a dozen of the car park’s 193 bays will be lost.

Ripon City and Harrogate district independent councillor Pauline McHardy, who led the call for the bays to be increased in size, welcomed the progress made this week.

She said:

“I’m pleased with the positive response from Harrogate Borough Council to our request and thank them for that.

“I’m also delighted that the resurfacing work has gone smoothly and with it likely to be completed early, that will mean a week’s less disruption for people coming into the city who need somewhere to park.”

A E Duffield & Sons has recently been awarded another contract by Harrogate Borough Council to resurface the Fisher Street Car Park in Knaresborough, at a cost of £30,000.

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Cars drive over Stray to avoid Harrogate road closure

Harrogate motorists have been avoiding the closure of Beech Grove by driving over the Stray.

The road closed to through traffic yesterday but already some vehicles have taken the law into their own hands by mounting the kerb and cutting across the Stray, leaving behind mud and tyre tracks.

A chaotic first night saw most motorists, confronted by road blocks for the first time, performing u-turns. But the Stray Ferret has photographic evidence, as well as verbal reports by witnesses, that some engaged in illegal manoeuvres.

Besides driving on the Stray, motorists also drove through the car parks attached to the residential apartment blocks on Beech Grove. They also drove the wrong way along the one-way street that connects Beech Grove and Victoria Road to avoid a detour.

North Yorkshire County Council, the highways authority, is now considering ways to prevent motorists taking the law into their own hands.

Cllr Don Mackenzie, executive member for access, told the Stray Ferret:

“I am very sorry that motorists have decided to drive across the Stray to avoid the road closure on Beech Grove.

“That is extremely poor behaviour. They are also committing a driving offence.”

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Judy D’Arcy Thompson, chair of the Stray Defence Association, told the Stray Ferret:

“It is outrageous that cars are being driven onto the Stray. We understand drivers’ frustrations as they are probably unaware of the closure until they have actually entered Beech Grove.

“However, this does not excuse angry and potentially dangerous driving.

“The hideously ugly planters appear to have been placed well into the route to avoid the increased flooding which now occurs on West Park Stray, spreading as it does across the road.

“As always our concern is for the protection of the Stray and we are engaged in conversation with both North Yorkshire County Council and Harrogate Borough Council about this.”

Beech Grove will be closed to through traffic for six months before North Yorkshire County Council, which is consulting on the scheme, decides whether to make it permanent.

It is hoped the move will encourage pedestrians and cyclists. It will link to the new Otley Road cycle path, work on which is due to begin in spring.

Residents, refuse collections and emergency services will still have access to the area.