Minimum gritting will not affect service, say council bosses

A reduction in minimum salt spreading will not affect the gritting of North Yorkshire’s roads, county council bosses have said.

A report before the North Yorkshire County Council proposes lowering the minimum salting spread rate to 8g per square metre, which the authority says will save a further £75,000 during a “normal season”.

The council recently purchased 18 new gritters for £2.2 million to help spread salt more accurately and reduce the average age of its fleet.

The Stray Ferret asked the county council if lowering the minimum salt spread would mean that some of the new gritters would not be used this winter.

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Barrie Mason, assistant director of highways and transportation at the authority, said the proposal would not affect the “number of gritter runs”.

He said:

“The continual investment in our winter fleet ensures that we have vehicles that are able to spread salt at the appropriate spread rate in line with our winter service policy and industry best practice.

“The number of gritter runs is unaffected by the change in salt spread rate which aims to achieve more efficient use of salt, and routes will continue to be treated in line with our policy and prevailing weather conditions.”

The proposal to reduce the minimum salt spread proved controversial on social media, with some raising concern over the value to taxpayers.

Meanwhile, Cllr Stuart Parsons, leader of the authority’s Independent group, said residents “paid through the nose for the county council’s services”, so they should be able to expect some returns.

True grit – facts about North Yorkshire gritters

Overnight road closures on A1(M) near Harrogate

Overnight road closures are set to take place at junction 46 of the A1(M), which connects traffic to Kirk Deighton in the Harrogate district.

North Yorkshire County Council will resurface the roundabout above the A1(M) at junction 46. The junction gives access to Wetherby and surrounding villages.

Don Mackenzie, executive member for access at the council, said:

“This is a major access point for many people, from residents to visitors arriving in the area to HGV drivers, who use the lorry park within the service facilities.

“This volume of traffic has taken its toll on the carriageway and we appreciate that the quality of the surface at this key location has been a cause of concern locally.

“Our highways officers have always worked to maintain the safety of the carriageway, but I am pleased that funding now enables us to fully resurface the roundabout.”

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Work will be carried out in two phases, from October 4 to 8 for surveys and drainage investigations, then from October 16 to 24 for resurfacing.

Overnight closures of the junction, including the slip roads from the A1(M), will occur between 8pm and 6am during those dates. A diversion will be in place.

Andy Paraskos, member for Ainsty division at the council, said:

“This is a major junction, it’s particularly important to any villagers wanting to travel towards York. The surface is poor, so I am delighted that it is now going to be resurfaced.”

18-month road closure order begins on Starbeck’s Bogs Lane

An 18-month closure order came into place on Bogs Lane in Starbeck today amid ongoing development work in the area.

The street, just off the main A59, is a busy residential area that has been affected by numerous new housing schemes.

Henshaws Specialist College, which has about 80 students with special educational needs and disabilities, is also based on Bogs Lane.

North Yorkshire County Council‘s roadworks map says the closure is for ‘carriageway works’ and is due to end on March 26, 2023.

The Stray Ferret understands residents and businesses will still able to get in and out of the road during the work but we were unable to get clarification from the council on precisely how often the road will be closed over the next year and a half.

With a similar 18-month closure order already in place on Kingsley Drive, locals are already used to dealing with road closures.

Barrie Mason, assistant director for highways and transportation at the county council, said in a statement:

“An 18-month order is processed should there be a need for multiple works on site, for example, surface dressing.

“An-18 month order also allows for changes in the programme if necessary. When the dates are confirmed they are published on our roadworks map.

“Wherever possible we alert residents and road users to roadworks in advance.”

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The road is often used as a cut-through by motorists to avoid tailbacks on the A59 so any closures over the months ahead could increase traffic on Knaresborough Road.

Follow our morning Traffic and Travel blogs for live updates on roadworks and delays. 

Harrogate councillor tables alternative boundary proposals to government

A Harrogate councillor has submitted alternative boundary proposals for the unitary council in North Yorkshire after criticising the current ones as “unfair”.

Under plans due to be lodged to government by North Yorkshire County Council, the number of councillors in Harrogate and Knaresborough would be reduced to 13 with each representing an average of 6,194 residents – more than any other area in the county.

But, Liberal Democrat Cllr Philip Broadbank said the plans left the area underrepresented compared to the rest of the county.

The boundary changes were agreed for submission to the government by county council leader Carl Les at a meeting on Tuesday.

However Cllr Broadbank has now submitted his proposal, which would see 14 councillors in the area and the bring average residents per councillor to 5,751, directly to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.

In his submission, he told ministers:

“The working group set up to look into the matter has put forward proposals concerning the Harrogate and Knaresborough area committee which in my view makes this largest urban area in the county considerably under-represented on the new authority.”

On Tuesday, Cllr John Weighell, who led a cross-party working which came up with the plans, accepted that some residents would be underrepresented. But added that it was “absolutely the only way to maintain community identity”.

Cllr Weighell said the move would divide up town centre boundaries in Harrogate and Knaresborough. Among Cllr Broadbank’s suggestions was to add another councillor to the Stray and Hookstone ward and include Fairfax within the boundary.

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A decision on the boundaries for the unitary authority will be made by government at a later date.

The new boundaries will come into force when a shadow authority is elected to the new North Yorkshire council in March 2022.

They will stay in place until 2027 when the Boundary Commission will carry out a full review.

Borough council leader “content” with proposals

Meanwhile, Conservative Cllr Richard Cooper, leader of Harrogate Borough Council, said he would be “content” with either of the two proposals currently on the table.

He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that the borough council would not be lodging an alternative proposal to government.

Cllr Cooper said:

“I do not believe the difference between having 13 or 14 councillors from the Harrogate district out of around 90 will make a material difference to our area’s influence on the new council.

“I would be content with either proposal although I think that the county council’s proposals have the edge on keeping like communities together.

“Since there are two acceptable proposals it does not seem sensible to try and submit a third.”

Cllr Cooper said the proposals should therefore only be seen as a temporary arrangement and that the “important point” is how key decisions which affect the Harrogate district are made by the new council.

He said:

“The county council is talking about giving power to locality-based committees to decide what is best for their area.

“This needs to be done effectively and, in my view, the county council does not have a great track record on this.

“Communities will find it difficult to trust the new council if it is seen as a means of grabbing power and influence by a remote group based in Northallerton.

“I am sure that the new authority will want to avoid this and will delegate real authority to Harrogate district councillors to make decisions that affect our area.”

Gritting to be reduced to minimum on North Yorkshire roads

North Yorkshire County Council looks set to reduce its precautionary winter salt spreading to minimum levels set out in national guidelines.

A report before the county council reveals lowering the minimum salting spread rate to 8g per square metre could save the authority a further £75,000 during a “normal season”.

In recent years the council has faced calls to review its gritting policies amid claims that a lack of action has seen parts of the county suffer gridlock,

The proposed move follows the authority cutting the amount of salt it spread on the county’s 6,000 miles of roads last winter with the ambition of saving £195,000 of taxpayers money a year.

Under the Highways Act 1980, councils have a duty to ensure within reason that safe passage along roads is not endangered by snow or ice, while the Traffic Management Act 2004 requires authorities to do all that is reasonably practicable to manage the network effectively to keep traffic moving.

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The Local Government Association says with the salt and grit mix costing up to £40 per tonne, this duty can weigh heavily on councils, particularly when there are long, cold winters.

National guidance states authorities must determine their own spread rates that are appropriate for use on their own networks.

‘No negative impacts last winter’

The officer’s report states the further proposed cut follows the experience of last winter’s partially reduced spread rates, along with greater confidence in gritter accuracy, coupled with the recent £2.2 million purchase by North Yorkshire Highways of 18 new gritters.

It states: 

“As no negative impacts were observed or detected, we now propose to reduce the spread rates further in line with the national guidance.

“Whilst any definite cost saving is impossible to predict as it will depend on the prevailing weather conditions, it is expected that these reductions will save around £75k during a normal season.”

Cllr Stuart Parsons, leader of the authority’s Independent group, said residents “paid through the nose for the county council’s services”, so they should be able to expect some returns.

He questioned whether North Yorkshire’s geography would make it suitable for the national minimum salting levels.

Cllr Parsons said: 

“It is fine if you are looking at some of the home counties that are basically flat to go down to the national minimum level, but when you’ve got hill after hill, bend after bend, mile after mile of winding roads with little to no treatment on them they are going to bring the whole of the rural economy to a grinding stop.

“The last people they seem concerned about are the residents, who they now call customers.”

Harrogate and Knaresborough would be most underrepresented under unitary council proposals

Harrogate and Knaresborough residents would be the most underrepresented in North Yorkshire under proposals to change councillor boundaries for the county’s new unitary authority.

The proposal, which will be submitted to the government by the leader of North Yorkshire County Council, would see the number of councillors in Harrogate and Knaresborough reduced to 13 with each representing an average of 6,194 residents.

This would be higher than all other constituency areas in the county.

There would be an average of 5,546 residents per councillor in Skipton and Ripon, 5,472 in Selby and Ainsty, 5,169 in Richmondshire, 5,099 in Thirsk and Malton, and 5,005 in Scarborough and Whitby.

It would also mean one councillor in Cayton, Scarborough would represent 3,680 residents, while another in Knaresborough Castle and Aspin would serve almost double that with 6,690.

The boundary changes were agreed for submission to the government by county council leader Carl Les at a meeting on Tuesday when concerns were raised that residents’ voices would be diluted and councillors’ workloads increased.

‘Unfair on people of Harrogate and Knaresborough’

Liberal Democrat Cllr Philip Broadbank, who represents the Starbeck area on both Harrogate Borough Council and North Yorkshire County Council, said the proposals were “particularly unfair on the people of Harrogate and Knaresborough”.

He said: 

“It just doesn’t seem right that one particular area, for some unknown reason, should be at a disadvantage to the rest of them.

“I do accept that when we tell voters we are going to reduce the number of councillors, most of them will say ‘oh good’.

“But I get angry about this because it is such an important issue. Electoral balance is absolutely vital if we want this new council to work and people to accept it is going to be fair and balanced.

“I just don’t understand why such a large area of people should be underrepresented.”

Cllr Broadbank also put forward separate proposals to increase the number of Harrogate and Knaresborough members on the new authority to 14, which would reduce the average residents per councillor to below 6,000.

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However, this was shut down by Cllr John Weighell, who led a cross-party working which came up with the plans to be submitted to the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government for a decision.

Cllr Weighell said while he accepted some residents would be underrepresented, it would be “completely wrong” to break up town centre boundaries in Harrogate and Knaresborough.

‘Only way to maintain identity’

He also argued many currently serving councillors who sit on both Harrogate Borough Council and North Yorkshire County Council already manage their workloads for a similar amount of residents.

He said:

“I do accept underrepresentation, I always have, but I think this is absolutely the only way to maintain community identity.

“Of the 18 Harrogate and Knaresborough members currently in the borough council area, 16 are twin-hatted and that says everything really.

“Some people are saying ‘we can’t represent that number of residents’ – but they are doing it already.”

If approved by the government, the boundary changes would come into force when a shadow authority is elected to the new unitary council in March 2022.

The new arrangements would then stay in place until 2027 when the Boundary Commission will carry out a full review.

Across North Yorkshire, there would be 89 councillors serving the county’s 600,000 population.

This would be a higher proportion of representatives than the 99 that serve Leeds’ 800,000 residents, but a lower proportion than the 126 councillors who serve County Durham’s 425,000 population.

Calls to stem escalating cyclist vs motorist conflict in North Yorkshire

A local authority that has seen surging numbers of cyclists on rural roads since it staged the Tour de France Grand Depart has defended its record in safeguarding riders.

North Yorkshire County Council’s executive heard yesterday the upward trend in cyclists on the county’s 9,000km road network since the 2014 race had increased sharply since covid.

Opposition members questioned whether more could be done to resolve an escalating conflict between cyclists and motorists in rural areas.

It comes at a time when the council is under sustained pressure to reconsider its policy of focusing on cycling road improvements in urban areas, particularly Harrogate.

Officers told the meeting statistics showed while cyclists and drivers were equally to blame for cycle collisions in urban areas of the county, cyclists were at fault for about 70 per cent and drivers 30 per cent of cycle collisions on rural roads.

Councillor Stuart Parsons, leader of the authority’s Independent group, called for twin educational campaigns to teach motorists what they need to do when encountering a large group of cyclists in places like Wensleydale and to teach cyclists how they should be riding on the lanes.

He said cyclists were “making themselves a great number of potential enemies and therefore dangerous situations by their approach to using the roads, especially when they are not road taxpayers when using it for their cycles”.

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Coun Parsons added:

“Cyclists do drive motorists somewhat insane, especially when they are travelling two or three abreast, which they seem to be doing more and more. On these winding roads it makes it difficult for anybody to pass safely.”

Councillor Don Mackenzie, the authority’s executive member for access, replied that while some cyclists needed to learn not to “create obstructions on the highway”, his sympathies were with cyclists as their equipment weighed a few kilograms as opposed to cars that weighed one or two tonnes.

Highway Code changes

Government changes to the Highway Code this autumn will require drivers to give greater space to cyclists and require cyclists to ride single file to help vehicles overtake.

The council’s Liberal Democrat group leader Councillor Bryn Griffiths said the council’s highways department appeared to be “reactive rather than proactive” over dealing with risks on the roads.

He said despite some roads being riddled with potholes and being popular cycling routes they never appeared to reach the council’s criteria for road repairs.

Coun Griffiths said:

“In industry it is considered good practice to look at near misses and be proactive and engineer or manage out issues that they have.

“Because of the state of the road cyclists are having to meander all across the road to avoid bumps, lumps and hollows and you get near-misses. But these near-misses aren’t recorded and used to help manage the highway.”

Record spending on road repair

The meeting heard the council had higher maintenance standards for popular cycle routes.

Coun Mackenzie said the authority was aware sides of roads tended to get potholes, which forced cyclists to swerve, but added the council had spent a record amount on road repairs this year.

He said near-misses were difficult to measure and because the council had limited funding for road safety it focused on locations which accident data showed were the most hazardous.

Coun Mackenzie said:

“I hear every day ‘this road is an accident waiting to happen’. I’ve heard that about certain roads since I took on this portfolio in 2015 and we’re still waiting for the accident to happen.”

 

Construction starts today on Otley Road cycle route

Construction on Harrogate’s long-delayed Otley Road cycle route is set to get underway today.

Work on the North Yorkshire County Council scheme will be carried out from 7am to 5pm every weekday for 10 weeks.

Temporary traffic lights will also be used and there will be overnight road closures for resurfacing,

The Stray Ferret reported this month that Hull-based PBS Constructed Ltd has been commissioned to construct the first phase of the route as part of a £827,100 contract.

Contracts for the final two phases of the scheme would also be awarded via open tender.

Cllr Don Mackenzie, executive county councillor for access, previously apologised for any disruption caused by the construction of the scheme.

He said:

“The work has been timed to start after the busy summer holiday period, but we realise there will be some disruption, so we apologise for that and thank people in anticipation for their patience.

“Most of the work will be carried out during the day, to minimise noise for residents at night, though some work, such as resurfacing, can be carried out only at night under a full road closure.”

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Work will include widening Otley Road on the approach to Harlow Moor Road as well as the creation of a designated left turn lane on the western approach to Harlow Moor Road and designated right turn lane on the eastern approach.

An off-road cycle route will also be created between Harlow Moor Road and Cold Bath Road as part of the first phase.

Work on the route has been beset by delays due to negotiations with the Duchy of Lancaster over the exchange of Stray land.

Harrogate Borough Council agreed in March to designate a plot of land on Wetherby Road as Stray land in exchange for the loss of grass verges on Otley Road for the new cycle path.

New unitary councillor proposals leave Harrogate ‘short changed’

New proposals outlining the number of Harrogate district councillors for the new super authority leave voters “short changed”, says a county councillor.

Liberal Democrat cllr Philip Broadbank, who represents Harrogate Starbeck on North Yorkshire County Council, is to submit an alternative proposal to government so the borough is “better represented”.

Under current proposals, 89 councillors would sit on the new authority – of which 20 would be in Harrogate district.

This means that each councillor in Harrogate would represent on average 6,194 voters, compared with 5,329 across the county.

Cllr Broadbank said the plan was “not right” and that he will be submitting an alternative which will reduce the average number of people per ward.

He said:

“I’m proposing a new arrangement for Harrogate and Knaresborough. It will affect nowhere else.

“It feels like Harrogate is getting short changed. I’m just trying to get better representation for Harrogate and Knaresborough.”

Some of the wards proposed by North Yorkshire County Council for the new unitary authority.

Some of the wards proposed by North Yorkshire County Council for the new unitary authority.

Under his proposal, the number of councillors in Harrogate and Knaresborough would increase by one but reduce the average people in a ward to below 6,000.

It would also bring the total number of members on the unitary authority to the government’s maximum of 90.

Cllr Broadbank will put his proposal to senior county councillors on the executive on Tuesday. However, he said he intends to submit it to the government as well.

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Ministers at the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government will have the final say on how many new councillors are elected to the new authority.

‘Tinkering too much’ with the proposal

Meanwhile, Conservative Cllr Gareth Dadd, executive county councillor for finance, agreed that the district was “slightly underrepresented”.

However, he warned against “tinkering too much” with the proposal.

Cllr Dadd told a meeting of the Harrogate and Knaresborough constituency committee that he had been lobbied by other “interested groups in the county” to also change the number of councillors.

He said:

“If we succumb to the other two or three ‘lobby groups’, we could end up with 92 or 93 councillors. Where do you stop?

“It’s a debate to be had.”

Two new portable speed cameras to patrol Ripon

Ripon City Council has announced two speeding signs will be purchased for the city.

The initiative is in partnership with North Yorkshire County Council and will see two vehicle activated speed signs for the city.

The signs show the speed of the car as it approaches.

The council has identified a number of roads with cars often spotted going too fast. The roads are heavily used, often with children and families walking on pavements at peak hours.

These include:

The signs will move around these roads from next week.

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Inspector Alex Langley of North Yorkshire Police welcomed the initiative, commenting that the implementation of this new technology should remind the road users of Ripon about excess speed and hopefully educate and encourage them to slow down.

He said:

“North Yorkshire Police fully supports this campaign and we will continue to take positive action against those road users that continue to speed and commit driving offence.”