Fresh calls to reinstate Harrogate Wedderburn bus

Fresh calls have been made to reinstate a Harrogate bus service which was scrapped more than three years ago.

The 104 service between Wedderburn Road and Harrogate town centre was removed in November 2018, despite efforts from residents and councillors to save the service.

Locals say the scrapping of the service has left elderly and disabled residents cut adrift and forced to pay for taxis to get into town.

However, with North Yorkshire County Council bidding for a £116 million to help fund bus services, there have been renewed calls to reinstate the service.

Removal was a ‘slap in the face’

Lynne Hallums lives on Stonefall Drive, which the bus used to serve as part of its circular of the Wedderburn Estate.

She has chronic nerve pain, fibromyalgia and has to wear a hearing aid. Lynne used to take the 104 into town around four times a week.

She said the bus used to serve a large elderly community, all of which knew each other. It was also a means of getting to Mowbray Square medical centre and the hospital.

But now she says the removal of the service has left them without regular transport and cut them off as a community.

Lynne said:

“When they said they were going to take it [the bus] away, it was like a slap in the face.”

After the removal of the 104 bus, a voluntary service known as “dial-a-ride” was put on to serve the estate. 

Read more:

However, Lynne says that the voluntary service needed to be booked in advance and did not help those who wanted to go into town regularly.

Meanwhile, elderly and disabled residents are forced to either walk to Wetherby Road or Knaresborough Road to catch a bus.

Lynne bought her house on Stonefall Drive 12 years ago and said the bus stop outside her house was a key selling point.

However, she says she is now considering moving after two years of covid lockdowns and the lack of a regular service to get into town and meet people has had an affect on her mental health.

“I need to get out of this house, my mental health is suffering.

“We do not get to see anyone. We cannot support the local businesses.”

Renewed calls to reinstate

The subsidy for the 104 service was withdrawn in May 2014 when North Yorkshire county councillors agreed that town services should no longer be subsidised.

The decision was made in an effort to save the council £1.1 million and Connexions, which operated the service, subsequently stopped running the bus in 2018.

Craig Temple, director of the company, said the removal of the subsidy was the starting point which led to the service being stopped.

He said:

“I did not want to take it off. The people were lovely and it is not something that we wanted to do.

“We looked at other ways of reintroducing it. I would love to put it back on, the people were great customers and it breaks my heart.”

He added that the loss of subsidy, drop in passenger numbers due to covid and the lack of small buses in its fleet to be able to serve Wedderburn meant it was unlikely that the company would be able to reintroduce the service.

However, residents, local councillors and Andrew Jones, Conservative Harrogate and Knaresborough MP, have called for it to be reinstated.

Ahead of the county council bidding for funding for improved bus services, Mr Jones said he hoped a Wedderburn service would be included in its proposal as the removal of the service had “cut off a whole section of our community from the hospital, the medical centre at Mowbray Square and the town centre”.

Cllr Chris Aldred (left) and Andrew Jones MP.

Cllr Chris Aldred (left) and Andrew Jones MP.

Cllr Chris Aldred, the Liberal Democrat councillor who represents the Fairfax ward on Harrogate Borough Council, to the Stray Ferret that while the removal of the service may make sense commercially, he was “not convinced” it served residents well.

He added that he had raised the idea of reinstating the service as part of the county council’s bus improvement strategy, which it has bid to government for £116 million of funding for.

Cllr Aldred said:

“Despite this strategy, I cannot see it returning. There does not seem to be anything in that strategy for local services.”

£116m bus strategy

The council’s plan asks for £116 million of government cash over the next eight years to fund support for existing and new services, a simpler ticketing system, better information on journeys and other measures.

The aim is for services to cover the whole of North Yorkshire and has been dubbed an “enormous challenge” by Cllr Don Mackenzie, Conservative executive county councillor for highways.

It is hoped these targets will be also met through so-called enhanced partnerships where councils agree to infrastructure improvements in return for better services from bus companies.

The Stray Ferret asked the county council whether any restating of the 104 service to Wedderburn was included in its plan and, if it wasn’t, what measures does the authority intend to implement to help elderly residents with public transport.

Michael Leah, assistant director for travel, environment and countryside service at the county council, said:

“Our Bus Service Improvement Plan does not include details of individual bus services or journeys yet instead outlines how we aim to expand services and support those which already exist. We continue to provide a discretionary £1.5 million budget to subsidise local bus services which provide fixed route and timetabled bus services that are not discretely commercially viable.

“In partnership with our operators, we aim to increase passenger numbers and therefore, through increasing commercial viability in this way, seek to extend the bus network as well as increase frequency of services.

“Through the plan, and based on funding received, we are committed to delivering more flexible, on-demand services following the successful YorBus pilot in Bedale, Ripon and Masham. YorBus is fully accessible, with low floor access and a ramp access for users of wheelchairs, pushchairs and those with mobility difficulties.

“We have just concluded the public consultation on proposals in our enhanced partnership plan. A report incorporating the feedback will go to our executive in March to consider the enhanced partnership with bus operators, with a view to that partnership coming into effect from April 1, 2022.”

North Yorkshire councillors clash over £56 council tax hike

Fiery exchanges erupted as North Yorkshire County Council approved levying close to the maximum permitted council tax rise after hearing residents were facing a financial “perfect storm”.

The last full meeting of the authority ahead of elections for a new unitary authority in May saw the authority’s chairman repeatedly intervene in debates to restore “dacorum and dignity” to proceedings as councillors accused each other of failing to protect the most needy residents.

Conservative councillors claimed as much of the rise was to cover soaring social care costs, it would be “reckless not to fund our responsibilities”, while opposition members told the meeting the increase would prove impossible to meet for many households.

Proposing a below-inflation council tax rise of 3.99%, which will mean the authority’s bills for the average Band D property increase by £56 to £1,467, its deputy leader and finance boss Cllr Gareth Dadd said the council’s budget aimed to protect services for vulnerable people while leaving “a legacy” for the new authority to inherit.

Read more:

He told the meeting the increase struck a balance between those key ambitions and protecting taxpayers as “our instinct has always been to maintain a council tax rise as low as practically pragmatically possible.”

Cllr Dadd said the authority had “gone some way to reducing the burden on the tax-paying public of North Yorkshire” by not levying the maximum 4.49 per cent council tax precept increase.

Cllr Stuart Parsons, leader of the council’s Independent group, said the authority was banking on residents not noticing the council’s precept increase, alongside others being levied by the police and fire services and borough, district and parish councils, due to the government’s £150 council tax rebate for some households.

He said: 

“What we have to remember is that £150 will disappear in a year. Then there is the cost of living crisis and we do not appear to be making any effort to help people with that.”

Cllr Parsons said there was a significant section of society that just missed out on financial help such as free school meals that could not afford the council tax increase.

Harrogate district council tax hikes 2022/23

Total Band D bill: £2,079.59

Independent councillor for Malton Lindsay Burr added with high inflation, wages effectively falling and national insurance increases being introduced at the same time as the council tax hike in April, the authority had a chance to ease pressures on residents.

She said: 

“Surely there has never been such a justified time to freeze the council tax and listen to all those residents who are pleading with us to try and help them. Average families are now having to use food banks.

“The perfect storm is gathering as we all know. Maybe it is time we stop and help a little bit and not add fuel to the fire.”

Cllr Bryn Griffiths told the meeting was Liberal Democrat group was also opposing the rise as adult social care was an urgent national issue.

Ahead of 53 councillors voting for the increase, three abstaining and three against the rise, Cllr Eric Broadbent said the Labour group “reluctantly” supported the regressive tax increase as “the last thing we want to see is any reduction in critical services”.

‘Smart bins’ to be trialled in Harrogate from this month

“Smart bins” which use sensors to send alerts when they need emptying are to be trialled in Harrogate from this month.

The joint project by Harrogate Borough Council and North Yorkshire County Council will see sensors fitted in up to 87 public bins on streets around the Valley Gardens area of the town.

The sensors will measure how full the bins are, as well as their temperature and whether they have become damaged.

Cllr Andy Paraskos, cabinet member for environment, waste reduction and recycling at Harrogate Borough Council, said the sensors will help make the best use of resources and staff time.

He said: 

“Understanding when a bin needs emptying or whether it might need inspecting will enable us to make the most efficient use of our resources.

“These sensors will allow us to use the data and focus on those that need to be emptied more often.

“As a result, we’d expect to see a reduction in travel, meaning a saving on fuel costs and a reduction in carbon emissions.”

Read more:

The sensors are being funded using cash from £3.6 million awarded to York and North Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership from the government’s Getting Building Fund.

North Yorkshire County Council said the trial is a first for the county as well as an early example of studies into how new technologies can be used in public areas for other purposes.

This will include sensors being used to capture live air quality data and monitoring traffic flow.

Sensors will also be used for people counting in town centres to identify busy times and locations to help businesses plan.

Cllr Greg White, executive member for customer engagement at North Yorkshire County Council, said: 

“The smart bins pilot will enable us to assess the time and money saved and any other benefits.

“If it is successful, we will look to extend the scheme to other suitable locations.

“We are at an early stage of the ‘smart places’ project, working alongside borough and district colleagues, but the possibilities of the so-called Internet of Things – embedding sensors in everyday objects to enable them to send and receive data – are hugely exciting.

“These early studies with our partners will help to reveal the potential for systems that can improve the environment, support health and wellbeing and enable more effective delivery of public services.”

Cycling group to meet council to raise concerns about Otley Road cycle path

Harrogate District Cycle Action will meet officers from North Yorkshire County Council next week to discuss concerns over the Otley Road cycle path.

Work has now been completed on the path from Harlow Moor Road to Arthurs Avenue in Harrogate. It is the first of three phases on Otley Road.

Kevin Douglas, chair of HDCA, told the Stray Ferret members of the group will meet council officers at Otley Road on Tuesday next week when they will share their positive and negative thoughts on the route.

Mr Douglas said he had ridden the path and described the experience as “mixed”.

He said:

“There are some good points and some things that need to be addressed, the best way to do that is meet them and talk them through it.

“The major Harlow Moor Road junction is not safe for pedestrians and cyclists. They have widened the road to make it better for cars. It’s a major concern.

Read more:

Mr Douglas said he hoped the council would take on board its concerns for phase two, work on which is set to begin in April. Phase two will see the path extended from Arthurs Avenue to Beech Grove.

He added:

“Some people are concerned it switches from dedicated lane to shared use, that’s always going to be the case with tight space and not wanting to remove the trees. A shared use footpath is never as good as segregated.”

North Yorkshire County Council has reached an agreement with landowner Yorkshire Water to widen the path on Harlow Moor Road.

Melisa Burnham, highways area manager, said:

“The designers and project manager will be carrying out a walk through with the cycle group. We will of course listen to any concerns and act if necessary.”

 

Harrogate residents group raises concerns over ‘dangerous’ cycle path

A group behind campaigns to stop the Beech Grove Low Traffic Neighbourhood and the Station Gateway has now written to councillors about what they call the “very dangerous” Otley Road cycle path.

North Yorkshire County Council has now completed the initial stretch of the path from Harlow Moor Road to Arthurs Avenue. It is the first of three phases on Otley Road.

However, the project has got off to a difficult start with the council facing criticism about the design of the route, which weaves on and off a shared path with pedestrians.

Anna McIntee and Lucy Gardiner, co-founders of Harrogate Residents Association, have written to every councillor on North Yorkshire County Council expressing fears somebody could get hurt.

They wrote:

“The creation of these paths has been hugely expensive and disruptive. Now, all pedestrians of differing ages and disabilities have to share the path with cyclists and electrics scooters.

“It is very dangerous and there could be an accident.”

Harrogate District Cycle Action has called part of the route unsafe and business owners, including the landlord of Charlie’s Place pub, believe there could be an accident between cyclists and pedestrians due to the way the route has been designed.

The council has also been forced to correct two erroneous signs, including one that points to Harrogate in the wrong direction.

Read more:

As well as work to build the cycle path, contractors widened the junction on Harlow Moor Road for motorists, which involved the felling of 10 trees.

Two trees were felled for the cycle path.

Flooding fears

Ms McIntee and Ms Gardiner added:

“Environmentally, it’s also been disastrous as 12 healthy, mature trees have been removed, replaced with concrete and tarmac. Not only were these trees essential for carbon sequestering, but also each tree absorbs litres of water per day.

“This will not help with the continuing flooding at the Prince of Wales roundabout and surrounding area.”

A North Yorkshire County Council spokesperson said it would be issuing a response to Harrogate Residents Association.

Conservative Cllr Don Mackenzie, executive member for access at the county council, told the Stray Ferret last month:

“There has been some criticism about the fact that it is shared access with pedestrians and cyclists, but that has always been part of the design.

“We have reached an agreement with Yorkshire Water so we can widen the path. I cannot give a date on when those works will start.”

 

Moves to close Woodfield School in Bilton to begin next week

Formal moves to close Woodfield Community Primary School in Bilton will begin next week.

North Yorkshire County Council revealed plans in October to ‘technically close’ the school and merge it with Grove Road Community Primary School.

Now, after a two-month consultation, the wheels are to be set in motion.

A report by Stuart Carlton, corporate director for children and young people’s services at the council, recommends councillors vote to approve the closure on Tuesday next week.

If they agree, the council will issue statutory notices on March 3 proposing to amalgamate the schools from August 31 this year.

Mr Carlton’s report says:

“While it is acknowledged that the proposed closure of Woodfield Community Primary School will cause uncertainty and disruption for pupils, parents and staff, Grove Road School would work closely with parents, as both schools do now, to meet the needs of individual children.”

Read more:

Woodfield has been unable to find an academy willing to take it on since it was rated inadequate by Ofsted in January 2020.

The council says it therefore has little option but to close it.

Walking bus between sites

Two online public meetings were held on January 10 and 17 as part of the closure consultation.

According to council notes of the meetings, concerns were raised at the meetings about problems for parents picking up and dropping off children at both sites, leadership arrangements, provision for children with special educational needs and use of the Woodfield site.

Woodfield School parents

Parents rallied to oppose the closure when it was announced.

If the plans go ahead, all nursery children would be based at the current Woodfield site from September and all other children would be at Grove Road. From September 2023, reception children would join nursery children at Woodfield and eventually all early years and key stage one children would be located at Woodfield.

There are plans to organise a ‘walking bus’ between the two schools, which would see pupils move between the two sites accompanied by staff via the Nidderdale Greenway cycle route, the iron bridge and a school crossing patrol on Skipton Road.

One parent said during the consultation that children would be:

“Absolutely freezing and there is going to have to be half an hour at either end of the day to allow for walking. It doesn’t seem feasible.”

Another parent raised safety concerns.

There are plans to re-open a rear entrance to the Woodfield site to shorten the journey.

Pupil numbers fall to 41

Documents to councillors reveal that pupil numbers at Woodfield have slumped from 49 to 41 since the closure proposal was announced.

Some parents told the consultation that the closure was already a done deal, with one saying “the children will have to suffer for it”.

But another response said it provided “unprecedented” opportunities, adding:

“I believe the benefits to our current pupils and prospective ones will be enormous.”

 

Another error spotted on Otley Road cycle path

A reader has alerted the Stray Ferret to another error on the Otley Road cycle path in Harrogate.

A bicycle has been painted on the ground on the wrong side of the path as it heads up Harlow Hill.

It contradicts the blue sign alongside it, which suggests bikes should be in the lane closest to the road and could lead to confusion for pedestrians and cyclists.

On Monday, the Stray Ferret reported that a town centre sign for the cycle path was built pointing in the wrong direction.

North Yorkshire County Council appointed Hull-based PBS Construction to build phase 1 of the project, in a contract worth £827,000.

Melisa Burnham, highways area manager, said it was a “genuine mistake” by the contractor.

She added that the error will be amended as soon as possible at no cost to the council.

The county council previously called the firm “the standout applicants” following a tendering process.

Read more:

The long-awaited cycle path has been called a step forward for cycling in the town by Harrogate District Cycle Action but even its supporters would admit it’s had a bumpy ride so far.

Work to build phase 2 of the route, which will extend to Beech Grove, is set to begin in April. Funding for the third phase has yet to be finalised.

£72 rise in Harrogate district council tax bills set to be confirmed

Final approval is set to be given for a hike in council tax bills this week as North Yorkshire County Council decides how much it will charge.

Total council tax is based on the amount charged by the county council, Harrogate Borough Council and North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner. Some villages also charge a small sum too.

The county council will become the last to vote on its budget plans in the days ahead.

County councillors will meet on Wednesday to make a decision on a planned 3.99% hike in the authority’s share of bills, which equates to a £56 increase.

If approved, the move would see total bills for ratepayers in Band D households rise to £2,079 for the year. This would be £72 more than the current £2,007, which represents a 3.58% increase.

Cllr Carl Les, leader of the county council, said previously that the decision to increase council tax was a difficult one.

However, he added that the authority continues to lobby for reform of the council tax system.

He said:

“We continue to feel that residents in North Yorkshire pay too much council tax, particularly in comparison to London, and urge the government to press on with funding reform to create a fairer solution for rural counties.”

Harrogate district council tax hikes 2022/23

Total Band D bill: £2,079.59

Last week, both the borough council and North Yorkshire’s police commissioner signed off on increases in their share of the rate.

For Harrogate, the share of council tax will increase by £5 despite concerns from opposition councillors for the council to use its reserves.

Read more:

Cllr Pat Marsh, leader of the opposition Liberal Democrat group on Harrogate Borough Council, said the authority should be using more of its cash reserves to ease the pressure on residents.

However, Cllr Graham Swift, the borough council’s cabinet member for economic development, dismissed the idea of not increasing council tax as “nonsense”. He said the authority faced increasing costs and had to keep services running and staff paid.

Meanwhile, North Yorkshire Police will see a £10 increase and North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue’s rate will rise to £75.61.

Lorry fears over million-tonne Masham quarry extension plan

Plans have been unveiled to extract a further one million tonnes of sand and gravel from a quarry near Masham, despite concerns over the impact of rising numbers of HGVs on rural roads.

Tarmac has lodged a proposal with North Yorkshire County Council to extend the life of Nosterfield Quarry by seven years to 2031.

This comes as the county council continues to examine Lightwater Quarries’ plan to extend and restore the nearby Gebdykes Quarry, which could see the daily number of HGV movements rise from 138 to 206.

As Tarmac’s plans have only recently been submitted community leaders said they had not yet formed a view over its potential impact.

However, they said it had been noted the firm’s proposals would see many more HGVs for years to come on the rural roads than if Nosterfield Quarry stopped being worked in 2024, as agreed in its previous planning permission.

Read more:

Bedale division councillor John Weighell said while the roads in the area were already much used by HGVs, the industry was important for the area, so any potential issues for the road network would need to be carefully considered.

Ancient monument

Agents for Tarmac said its proposed 40-hectare Oaklands extension to Nosterfield Quarry would be worked between next year and 2027, producing 250,000 tonnes a year, before a further 470,000 tonnes of the mineral beneath the current plant site would be extracted until 2030.

These phases would be followed by final restoration of the quarry, which is near the ancient monument complex of Thornborough Henges. 

That work would overseen by a group including English Heritage and the county council before the end of 2031, according to the documents.

The papers state: 

“Restoration to date at Nosterfield Quarry has been primarily nature conservation-based, but with a guiding principle of enhancing the understanding of the history of the area and its evolving landscape.

“The group oversees the management and development of the wider area, including the western end of the quarry, and the Thornborough Henges to ensure that archaeological understanding, nature conservation, and public access are all managed in a unified manner.”

Tarmac’s agents said all lorries would use the quarry’s existing access onto the B6267 and that there would be no change to the volume of traffic entering and leaving the site, where ten staff are employed, alongside scores of contractors and hauliers who rely on work derived from site.

The papers state: 

“In terms of road haulage, the extension would see a continuation of the existing haulage operations that result, on average, in 88 vehicle movements per day, which equates to eight vehicles per hour.

“Overall, it is considered that the proposed development can be accommodated on the surrounding highway network without significant impacts and no mitigation measures are required.”

More roadworks coming to Harrogate’s Skipton Road

More roadworks will begin on Harrogate’s Skipton Road next week.

Highways authority North Yorkshire County Council will be carrying out improvements at the junctions with Bilton Lane and Woodfield Road.

At Bilton Lane, the pedestrian island will be removed and the island at the end of King’s Road will be widened.

The left turn from Woodfield Road on to Skipton Road will change from being controlled by traffic lights to being a give way to improve traffic flow and air quality.

The lights in the traffic lights at both junctions will be replaced with more energy-efficient LED lights.

Read more:

The work will begin on Monday and is due to complete on February 27, when half-term ends. However, temporary traffic lights are not expected to be required until February 19 as the initial work will take place off road.

Lights will initially be in place at the Bilton Lane junction before moving to the King’s Road and Woodfield junctions.

The Stray Ferret asked the council how much the work will cost.

Melisa Burnham, highways area manager, said:

“These works are included in our annual highways maintenance budget of around £55 million, which covers planned maintenance programmes as well as responding to problems as they arise.”