£827,100 contract to start work on Otley Road cycle path in September

An £827,100 contract is set to be awarded to undertake work on the first phase of the delayed Otley Road cycle route in Harrogate.

North Yorkshire County Council is advertising the contract, known as the West Harrogate Scheme, with the start date given as September 6.

A total of £3.2 million was set aside to build the route in 2018 but the plans have been beset by delays that have frustrated Harrogate’s cycling community.

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Tenders for the contract are due to be submitted by July 16.

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 would also be created between Harlow Moor Road and Cold Bath Road as part of the contract.

Traffic light junctions would also be upgraded.

The county council confirmed that the final two phases of the scheme would also be awarded via open tender.

The second phase of the cycle route will link Arthurs Avenue to Beech Grove and the third will connect Cardale Park to Harlow Hill.

Negotiations with the Duchy of Lancaster over the exchange of Stray land have caused delays.

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.

Cllr Don Mackenzie, executive county councillor for access, told the Stray Ferret a fortnight ago that the authority expected work on the first phase to be completed “within a few months”.

Contractors invited to bid for £60 million Kex Gill works

Contractors have been invited to bid to take on the works for the £60 million A59 Kex Gill scheme.

The North Yorkshire County Council highways project will see a section of the road between Harrogate and Skipton realigned.

The new road, which is expected to take a year to complete, will divert traffic away from the landslip-prone part of the A59 route.

This section has a history of causing unsafe driving conditions and delayed journeys, as well as high maintenance costs

Work on the project could start as early as this autumn. Earlier this year, the government declined to have a final say on the scheme, clearing the way for it to begin.

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Now, contractors have been invited to tender for the works.

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

“We are pushing forward with this scheme to provide a safe, reliable route for residents, businesses and visitors.

“This stretch of road has experienced closures in recent years because of land slips. These have disrupted travel, enforced long diversions and been costly. The realignment of the route will provide much better connectivity for all road users.”

Cllr Stanley Lumley, member for Pateley Bridge division, said: 

“This is another step towards the delivery of this long-anticipated scheme. Locals, commuters and visitors will all benefit from enhanced safety and reliability of the road. We look forward to work beginning.”

Another £3m allocated to controversial Harrogate Station Gateway scheme

Funding for Harrogate’s controversial Station Gateway scheme has been increased from £7.9m to over £10.9m.

The gateway project aims to create a more attractive entrance to the town around Station Parade and James Street and give greater priority for pedestrians and cyclists.

The West Yorkshire Combined Authority, which bid for the initial funding from the UK government, has now allocated an additional £2.6m to the scheme. It will come from the Department for Transport’s Transforming Cities Fund.

A West Yorkshire Combined Authority report said the overall delivery costs of the project have not increased but the extra money was needed for “risk and contingency”.

An additional £300,000 will be match-funded by local councils, taking the total cost of the project to £10.9m.

West Yorkshire Combined Authority has now agreed to proceed with the scheme towards drawing up a full business case.

The UK government has set a deadline of March 2023 for all schemes that received funds from the Transforming Cities Fund to be built.

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The Harrogate gateway scheme is being done in partnership with Harrogate Borough Council and North Yorkshire County Council.

Similar projects are planned in Selby and Skipton but the Harrogate scheme has proved the most contentious.

Some businesses are worried about the impact on trade but many Harrogate residents and environmental groups have welcomed it.

Councillor Phil Ireland, Harrogate Borough Council’s cabinet member for carbon reduction and sustainability, has said the initiative “has the potential to create many more walking and cycling opportunities while transforming the look and feel of the station gateway area in Harrogate”.

 

Stray Views: Do something about these awful bins!

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. See below for details on how to contribute.

Do something about these awful bins!

I totally agree that the large commercial waste bins that seem to be permanently kept in Princes Street are an eyesore.

These bins obstruct the highway (carriageway and footway). A loading bay marked on the carriageway is surely for use by vehicles loading and un-loading, not for waste bin storage.

The county council highways department is surely responsible for ensuring that the highway is not obstructed. The business owners are also responsible for removing their bins to their premises immediately they have been emptied. If these owners do not remove their bins they become liable to prosecution for obstruction.

The county council commercial waste management must manage its waste collection service much better to avoid this public health situation.

Angus Turner, Harrogate

Cycling to work? No, thanks

The whole point of cycle lanes is being missed.

Cyclists will, of course, like them. The issue is that the lanes need to encourage non-cyclists to start riding bikes.

I rode my bike to work from near Harrogate Grammar School to ICI when I was on Hornbeam Park for about three years, every working day, in all weathers.

The difference between cycling and riding a bike to work is immense. If you cannot have a shower on arrival at work you WILL stink all day. If it’s raining you will have, at a minimum, wet legs for half a day.

Once I had a car I only rode my bike for fun, and it can be fun. But as a means of daily travel for work, shopping and the rest? Not for me thanks.

Chris Knight, Bilton

Roads used as race tracks 

I live in a house on East Parade in Harrogate and the road from Bower Road to Skipton Road is used as a race track in the evening for noisy cars.

I can’t understand why all the other roads around East Parade, eg Chudleigh Road, have a 20 mph limit while East Parade, where two cars can’t even pass, has a 30mph limit.

The antisocial driving is well in excess of that 30 mph limit.

Vicky Taylor, Harrogate

Cut the verges

I have noticed on my travels around Ripon, Harrogate and various other North Yorkshire areas the lack of cutting of the grass verges on all types of roads.

There is now a situation on some roads where the height of the grass is impeding the view of oncoming cars, cyclists and motorcyclists

Peter, Ripon

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Do you have an opinion on the Harrogate district? Email us at letters@thestrayferret.co.uk. Please include your name and approximate location details. Limit your letters to 350 words. We reserve the right to edit letters.

 

Could Harrogate get its first bus lane?

Harrogate’s first bus lane could be built on Leeds Road from Pannal towards the town centre, according to North Yorkshire County Council.

The council has had long held ambitions to build a park and ride scheme in Pannal to reduce traffic and ease congestion.

Land near Pannal Golf Club and near Buttersyke Bar roundabout south of Pannal have been identified as potential sites for the park and ride.

A key factor in the location is that it is on the 36 bus route that runs regularly between Leeds and Harrogate. Leeds Road is one of the main routes into Harrogate.

Cllr Don Mackenzie told the Stray Ferret that creating bus lanes in Harrogate town centre itself would be a “struggle” due to the road layout.

He added one could be built on parts of Leeds Road if the park and ride proposal comes to fruition but stressed the plans were still at an early stage.

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Meanwhile, the council is putting together a bid for a share of the government’s £3bn investment in bus services that is part of its National Bus Strategy.

The government has told all councils to publish a Bus Service Improvement Plan before November.

Speaking to the Local Democracy Service earlier this week, Cllr Mackenzie, said:

“In Harrogate we’re looking at park and ride, which will involve a bus contract, and we’re looking at bus priority systems such as bus lanes. So the National Bus Strategy just gives us an extra incentive to press on.

“We would be totally supportive of avoidance of the motor car and reliance upon public transport, whether that is road or rail or sustainable transport with a bit more walking and cycling.”

Great Yorkshire Show still waiting to hear if it can go ahead

The organisers of the Great Yorkshire Show have issued a statement saying it is still awaiting confirmation that the event can go ahead.

The event is scheduled to take place in Harrogate from July 13 to 16.

All social distancing measures were due to be lifted next week but Prime Minister Boris Johnson said last night current restrictions would remain until July 19.

Twenty-four hours after Mr Johnson’s announcement, the impact of this on the show remains unclear.

The Yorkshire Agricultural Society, the agricultural charity that organises the event, has already included various social distancing measures into this year’s planning.

They include holding the show over four days, rather than three, capping daily visitor numbers to 25,000, reducing the grandstand capacity to 30% and adapting the show to use as much outdoor space as possible.

In a statement today, the society said:

“Further to the Prime Minister’s announcement on Monday night, we continue to await confirmation from North Yorkshire County Council public health that we can deliver this year’s Great Yorkshire Show as planned.

“What we can say is that the Great Yorkshire Show has been fully adapted to be covid-safe and we have been working with the relevant agencies every step of the way.

“The show has also been endorsed by Visit England as part of its Good to Go campaign.

“Measures include adapting the show so most of it is held outdoors this year and extending it to run over four days for the first time in its history.

“A full list of measures are here and these were always going to be in place whether lockdown was extended or not.

“Please bear with us while we await news, and a statement will go out as soon as we have a definitive answer.”

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Get set for delays on Ripon bypass

Essential maintenance work on Ripon’s Duchess of Kent bridge is scheduled to start on June 28 and take two weeks.

The bridge, crossing the River Ure, is part of the city’s bypass. It was officially opened by the Yorkshire-born duchess in March 1996.

The arterial road carries traffic around the city, avoiding Ripon’s ancient streets. It is a key route to the A1 and A1M

Advance warning signs are being put in place this week to advise drivers of likely delays.

Councillor Mike Chambers, North Yorkshire County Council’s member for Ripon North, said:

“The maintenance to this well-used bridge will involve replacing the expansion joints and surfacing works to remove the depressions at each end of the bridge.

“The work will be carried out overnight to minimise disruption as much as possible. We apologise in advance for any inconvenience this may cause.”

Photo of the Duchess of Kent Bridge

Work on the bridge will be carried out between 6pm and 6am over a two-week period.

The work will take place from 6pm to 6am using four-way traffic lights and is scheduled to finish on July 10.

At the northern end of the bridge is a roundabout with exits for Ripon city centre and Copt Hewick.

The lights will be removed before rush hour each day to reduce inconvenience to road users.

The council said it was notifying nearby residents directly affected by the roadworks.

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Continuing the best-known name in the Harrogate district

There are few better known names in the Harrogate district than Theakston.

Robert Theakston started brewing beer in Masham in 1827 and his great-great grandson Simon continues the tradition today.

Simon is joint managing director of T & R Theakston, one of two major breweries in the picturesque market town. His cousin, Paul, is in charge of the other one — Black Sheep Brewery.

Despite his strong Masham connections, Mr Theakston is well placed to appraise recent developments in the wider Harrogate district: he lives near Boroughbridge, went to school in Harrogate and represented the Conservatives on Harrogate Borough Council for four terms. He was also chairman of Yorkshire Agricultural Society, the agricultural charity that organises the Great Yorkshire Show, from 2008 to 2016.

But nothing in his long career prepared him for the potentially ruinous overnight impact of covid when the first lockdown began in March. He says;

“We had cellars full of beer that people couldn’t buy and ended up pouring it away.

“Overnight we lost 80% of business. That required us to rethink our business model, baton down the hatches and put ourselves in a position where we could survive as long as possible.”

The furlough scheme saved jobs and the company rapidly converted its visitor centre at the brewery into a fulfilment centre for online orders — something a company that prides itself on tradition had not overly pursued until then. He says:

“Online orders have gone up by a factor of 100, albeit from a modest base.”

Family tradition

The visitor centre is due to reopen on June 21 if the lingering restrictions on pubs are lifted. Monday’s decision will be critical for the industry. Mr Theakston, who is married with two grown-up children, says:

“It’s nice having people going into gardens and seated at tables but it’s much better when people can move freely in pubs.”

Nevertheless, so far the company has survived covid with its 35 staff still intact. It seems a surprisingly low number of employees for an organisation that sells into 20 countries but the business model involves collaborating with other firms, such as Heineken, which handles distribution.

Mr Theakston describes the company as “a medium-sized traditional family brewing company.” And, for all the difficulties of the past year, he remains optimistic.

“Our industry has been through difficulties in the past. We’ve come through two world wars, revolution in Europe, the great crash of the 1930s and all sorts of issues since the Second World War and it just goes to show the robustness of what we do.

“As long as individuals want to meet other people, the role of the pub will continue to be the centre of society.”

Local politics

The future for Harrogate Borough Council, however, is less secure. The local authority, on which he represented Harlow Moor until 2018, is set to be abolished as part of the national government’s devolution agenda. Mr Theakston supports the single council model for North Yorkshire championed by North Yorkshire County Council rather than the east-west split favoured by his former council colleagues in Harrogate. He explains:

“North Yorkshire County Council currently provides about 80% of our services so it wouldn’t be a massive change for it to pick up the pieces. I’m not a fan of lots of layers of bureaucracy.”

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Harrogate Borough Council is pursuing numerous active travel plans, such as the £7.9m Station Gateway project and the pedestrianisation of James Street, to reduce traffic and encourage people to walk and cycle. The plans have proved controversial — does he support them?

“I don’t want to see Harrogate being completely pedestrianised because it will end up like any other town in the country. The idea of being able to pop into town is appealing to people like the elderly. Let’s have a bit of pedestrianisation but not lose the ability to drive into town.

“Harrogate’s such a special town and everything we did during my time on the council was to maintain it as special.”

It has been a difficult year for another organisation close to Mr Theakston’s heart — Yorkshire Agricultural Society — which decided to proceed with the Great Yorkshire Show next month when many other events have been cancelled. Was he surprised?

“The Yorkshire Agricultural Society is nothing if not pragmatic. They will be responding to the demands of exhibitions and members of the public who want to go. It’s more than an agricultural show — it’s our county show.”

Crime and cricket

The Theakston name has also become synonymous with the annual crime writing festival organised by the arts charity Harrogate International Festivals. Under its sponsorship, the festival brings many of the leading names of the genre to the town each year.

Arts and brewing may seem an unlikely match but Mr Theakston talks of beer “providing the social lubricant that lets people enjoy being with other people” and the ventures the company supports also encourage people to mingle convivially.

Recently it has also sponsored poet Ben Taylor, also known as Yorkshire Prose, to wax lyrical about the a pint being a metaphor for social interaction.

Mr Theakston is a huge cricket lover so it’s perhaps no coincidence his company sponsors the Nidderdale Amateur Cricket League and the annual National Village Cup in which some 340 villages compete for the chance to play in the final at Lord’s.

It’s little wonder the name Theakston perhaps vies with Bettys as the most well known in the district — and at least we know for certain the Theakstons exist.

There was a time when its familiarity may have faded. The family relinquished control of the business in the 1990s before buying it back in 2003, and Mr Theakston pledges it will remain in the family, in the heart of Masham.

Can he foresee the day when the business no longer consumes his professional life?

“I haven’t thought too much about when I retire. It’s still a huge passion.”

Shaw Mills residents call for speeding signs after ‘daily close calls’

Frustration is growing amongst residents of Shaw Mills who say the county council has refused to acknowledge how dangerous the village roads are.

The residents have been trying to encourage North Yorkshire County Council to increase speed signage.

Their campaign, headed by Shaw Mills parish councillor Nick Tither, began six months ago after residents got fed up with the number of close calls.

Mr Tither said:

“Anyone who walks through Shaw Mills knows how hazardous the road is. The village is approached by two steep hills, which encourage traffic to come through at speed. There are then tight bends with a narrow bridge and no footway.

“We have had a site visit with the police who agree that the situation is dangerous, not just to motorists but particularly for walkers and cyclists. We have all seen close calls on the bridge and residents trying to get out of their drives get abused because other road users, including cyclists, have been going too fast to avoid them.”

He is calling for ‘no footpath’ signs at the top and bottom of the village, ‘slow’ painted onto the roads and white lines in the middle of the road.

Currently the 30mph signs are in place at the junction between Pye Lane and Law Lane and along Mill Bank near the chapel. But Mr Tither says drivers often don’t acknowledge the speed limit.

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A county council highways officer drove through the village four times in last lockdown but the residents say this is not an accurate representation.

Melisa Burnham, Highways Area Manager at North Yorkshire County Council, said:

“Work has been ongoing with observations completed by our engineers at different times. The results of these observations showed that at this time the road through Shaw Mills does not meet the requirements for the installation of ‘pedestrians in road’ signs.

“However, we have identified a need to install ‘slow down’ signs at each end of the bridge to encourage drivers to slow down as they cross it. We will continue to work with the parish council regarding their ongoing concerns about pedestrian safety.”

Today and on Sunday the residents are holding their own survey; volunteer residents will stand at each side of the bridge over the two days to count the number of vehicles, their position on the road, and near misses.

Their findings will be sent to North Yorkshire County Council in the hope it will then liaise with the parish council about solutions .

Uber-style bus service to be rolled out in Ripon

Uber-style bus services, where people book rides from bus stop to bus stop using an app, look set to be rolled out across North Yorkshire if a trial starting next month is successful.

A year-long pilot scheme will be launched in the Bedale, Ripon and Masham area on July 1.

North Yorkshire County Council is optimistic the scheme, which will cost £1.20 per ride within the zone and also be available to concessionary bus pass holders.

The authority has been facing calls for years from transport campaigners to introduce or at least investigate on-demand services amid protests from some villagers that disappearing bus services left them isolated.

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While the conclusions of the county council’s Rural Commission are expected soon, the Campaign for Better Transport has found between 2010/11 and 2016/17 the council cut bus service support by 78 per cent, among the highest reductions in the country.

Passengers will be able to book a bus ride through an app or by phoning the council’s customer service centre.

The bus drivers will be notified about bookings in real time on a screen similar to a sat-nav, featuring software that calculates the most efficient routes. The software will also prevent bookings where there is already a commercial bus service operating to avoid affecting the viability of those services.

A council spokeswoman said the new service differed from taxis in that they might not take the most direct route, passengers may need to wait to be picked up and the service will operate from bus stop to bus stop.

She said: 

“We do realise it is quite a different way of offering a bus service so we are having quite a comprehensive marketing campaign to highlight to passengers in the pilot area about how they can access and use it, including a series of roadshows in communities.”

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The authority’s leader Cllr Carl Les said he hoped the council would agree upon a bus service improvement plan that included on-demand buses.

He said: 

“We all want to see an improvement in public transport, but we don’t want to go back to the days of empty buses running through our villages, because that’s not good for cost and it’s certainly not good for carbon.”

Cllr Les said transport minister Baroness Vere had stated she was a fan of demand-responsive bus services at a recent meeting, 

He said: 

“I’m really hoping that the pilot will work well, and if it does we will be able to roll it our very rapidly across the county because we will have the support of the minister if that’s what we want to do.”

Cllr Les said while a key plank of Boris Johnson’s plans for a post-pandemic recovery was his Bus Back Better initiative, this raised the question of taking on bus service franchising in North Yorkshire.

He said:

“I don’t agree with that as an approach. We shouldn’t nationalise buses. That might be the approach that Greater Manchester want to take or even West Yorkshire, but I don’t think it’s appropriate for North Yorkshire.”