A blanket 20mph speed limit across the south side of Harrogate is “urgently needed”, a councillor has said.

The proposal would see all streets between York Place and the southern edge of Harrogate limited to 20mph.

The petition has been set up by parents Hazel Peacock and Vicki Evans, who founded the Oatlands Road Safety and Active Travel Campaign. They say it is vital to ensure children can travel to and from school in safety.

The pair presented the case to councillors on Harrogate and Knaresborough constituency area committee yesterday.

Ms Peacock told councillors that the group wanted “safer streets for the community” and pointed out that the petition had already reached 700 signatures.

She said:

“Maximum speed limits of 20 miles per hour have been delivered in other rural and urban areas of Yorkshire and the UK including Calderdale, Cornwall, Oxford, Edinburgh and the Scottish Borders and London with positive effects.”

Read more:

• Pressure grows as politicians join calls for road safety outside Harrogate schools
• Accident reignites calls for safe routes to Harrogate schools
• Hundreds sign petition for 20mph limit across south Harrogate

She highlighted recent crashes on Beechwood Grove and on Yew Tree Lane, where two teenagers from Rossett School were seriously injured and required hospital treatment.

In the wake of the incident on February 2, headteachers from almost every primary and secondary school in the area met at Harrogate Grammar School to urge representatives of North Yorkshire County Council to take action.

During the meeting, Cllr John Mann, who represents Oatlands and Pannal, said he backed the proposal and described it as being “urgently needed”.

He said:

“I support the Oatlands road safety petition.

“I have written to the head of highways and the cabinet member for highways saying that I support the petition. 

“I have also called for Yew Tree Lane, Green Lane, Hookstone Road and Beechwood Grove to have 20mph speed limits.

“In my view, as a member for the area, this change is urgently needed to improve road safety and reduce air pollution.”

Melissa Burnham, area highways manager for the county council, said the authority was meeting with the group to discuss the proposals.

Next week, the group is due to meet again – this time at St Aidan’s Church of England High School – and will be joined by a caseworker for Andrew Jones, the Conservative MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, as well as the county council’s transport lead, Cllr Keane Duncan, and local councillors whose divisions are affected.

The meeting of more than 30 people will follow a walk around the Pannal Ash area led by the parents, for councillors and school representatives to discuss the issues.

A petition calling for a blanket 20mph zone across an area on the south side of Harrogate has received more than 600 signatures in support.

The proposal would see all streets between York Place and the southern edge of Harrogate limited to 20mph.

The petition has been set up by parents Hazel Peacock and Vicki Evans, who founded the Oatlands Road Safety and Active Travel Campaign. They say it is vital to ensure children can travel to and from school in safety.

They wrote:

“We want safer streets for the children, young people and wider community when travelling to school and other locations in the area, from their home to their destination.

“Road safety has been of particular concern from school leaders, parents and carers of school children and local residents in Oatlands and the wider Harrogate area for many years.

“A maximum speed of 20mph is now urgently needed to reduce road collisions, improve safety, reduce air pollution and create a better environment for walking, wheeling, cycling and scooting to schools, shops, workplaces and local amenities.”

Dr Evans and Ms Peacock will present their proposal to a meeting of North Yorkshire County Council’s Harrogate and Knaresborough Area Constituency Committee on Thursday.

Their proposed 20mph zone covers as far east as Wetherby Road and extends west to West End Avenue and Green Lane.

There, it links with another existing petition for a 20mph zone and additional safety measures, including crossing points, proposed by campaigners Jenny Marks and Ruth Lily.

Dr Marks presented those plans to the Harrogate and Knaresborough Area Constituency Committee in November.

Read more:

• Pressure grows as politicians join calls for road safety outside Harrogate schools
• Accident reignites calls for safe routes to Harrogate schools

Since then, pressure on NYCC’s highways department to improve road safety has grown, particularly following a serious collision on Yew Tree Lane that left two 15-year-old boys from Rossett School with leg injuries.

In the wake of the incident at the beginning of February, headteachers from almost every primary and secondary school in the area met at Harrogate Grammar School to urge representatives of NYCC to take action.

After the meeting, Rossett School’s acting headteacher, Pete Saunders, told the Stray Ferret:

“Speaking to the family of one of the boys [who was injured], they said that was one of five incidents that has affected just their family since their children were small.

“It’s a very pervasive issue. We will do whatever we can to support changes being made.”

Next week, the group is due to meet again – this time at St Aidan’s school – and will be joined by a caseworker for Andrew Jones, MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, as well as NYCC’s transport lead, Cllr Keane Duncan, and local councillors whose divisions are affected by the concerns over safety.

The meeting of more than 30 people will follow a walk around the Pannal Ash area led by the parents, for councillors and school representatives to discuss the issues.

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.

New Tesco would be ‘horrendous’ for nearby residents

Proud to be Harrogate, not London

I note that a new fitness studio wants it to bring ‘a London feel’ to Harrogate and recall that the restaurants associated with The Everyman Cinema was also intended to be ‘London-centric’, whatever that means.

Can someone enlighten me regarding this strange desire to be like London when Harrogate, and indeed Yorkshire as a whole, has so much distinctive to offer? It seems to me that this desire to be like London is a strange business proposition. Of course I wish all the local businesses concerned well, despite my feelings about their PR.

Tim Hurren, Harrogate

Speed limits should be reduced

I read your article about North Yorkshire County Council refusing a blanket introduction of a 20mph speed limit in built-up areas.

The council’s executive member for access, Cllr Don Mackenzie, said the county’s roads were becoming safer and safer, and 20mph zones should only be created on a case-by-case basis.

I have tried for years to get the speed limits reduced. I believe Councillor Mackenzie does not listen to anyone — where does he get his information from on safer roads? Cars around Harrogate are now more powerful and speeding is paramount throughout the town and on country roads. When is someone going to challenge this man and when will he listen?

Mike Fisher, Cornwall Road, Harrogate

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Calls to introduce a default 20mph speed limit in built-up areas across North Yorkshire have again been unanimously dismissed after the highways authority said it would target road safety funding where it could make a bigger impact.

A meeting of North Yorkshire County Council’s executive saw a series of changes to the authority’s 20mph policy and agreement among all the leading councillors that a targeted approach to low speed zones be continued.

Councillors said a blanket approach could cost up to £12m to introduce, leading to a council tax hike.

The meeting heard from numerous pressure groups, parish councils and residents who claimed the authority was out of step with both a growing national and local desire to lower 30mph limits in towns and villages.

The move was backed by parish councils in the Harrogate district and prominent Harrogate environmental campaigner, Malcolm Margolis.

Ian Conlon, of the 20s Plenty for Us campaign group told the meeting some 59 parish councils in the county had voted for 20mph limits.

He said: 

“Parish councils are your eyes and ears to the ground by reporting ongoing problems.”

Mr Conlon said the authority’s policy was frustrating the key government policy of encouraging active travel, as well as affecting community cohesion.

He emphasised that perception of danger was important, rather than just accident statistics, which the council appeared to rely on.

Read more:

• Council urged to consider social benefits of 20mph North Yorks speed limits
• Four Harrogate district parish councils join campaign for 20mph limit
• Police ‘would not support’ blanket 20mph limit in parts of North Yorkshire

The meeting heard that Department for Transport figures highlighted how each fatality cost the pubic purse some £2m, and serious injuries cost about £250,000.

Monaco Grand Prix

Mick Johnston, of Thirsk and Malton Labour Party, said the council needed to undertake a “radical rethink” rather than look at old government circulars and outdated reports, and end the “interminable process of application and assessment” for residents wanting 20mph zones introduced.

After suggestions that numerous groups had been overlooked by the council’s review, officers said North Yorkshire’s policy was consistent with national guidelines and that the review had been thorough.

The authority’s opposition leader, Cllr Stuart Parsons, said police carried out no speed enforcement in the large area in Richmond that was covered by a 20mph zone.

He said: 

“On many an evening we have what seems like trial runs of the Monaco Grand Prix on the streets of Richmond.”

Cllr Parsons called on the county council to exert pressure on the police to enforce speed limits so 20mph in built-up areas could be introduced as a default.

However, the council’s executive member for access, Cllr Don Mackenzie, said the county’s roads were becoming safer and safer, and 20mph zones should only be created on a case-by-case basis.

He said the available money for road safety should be focused on exceptions, such as young and older drivers, motorcyclists, cyclists and drink and drug drivers.

He said: 

“One area where we see very few casualties and where we are very safe indeed, without being complacent, is in built-up areas and accidents caused by speed. This is an area of very, very small amounts of incidents on our roads.”

A prominent environmental campaigner from Harrogate is urging more parish councils to support an initiative to reduce some speeds limits from 30mph to 20mph.

Malcolm Margolis has been lobbying parish councils since September to join the 20’s Plenty for Us movement.

The movement consists of 500 local groups campaigning for 20mph to be normal on residential streets and in town and village centres

So far, four parish councils in the Harrogate district have signed up for the initiative. They include Bishop Thornton, Shaw Mills and Warsill, Tockwith with Wilstrop, Goldborough and Flaxby and Haverah Park with Beckwithshaw which have pledged support to 20’s Plenty.

Malcolm Margolis

Mr Margolis said he does not believe every 30 mph limit should be reduced to 20mph but that the move would be welcome on roads where people live, work and go to school. He told the Stray Ferret:

“I am definitely hoping to get more parish councils signed up. There are a few councils which will be debating the matter at their next meetings.

“We are confident there is huge, overwhelming support across North Yorkshire. Not only would it save lives but it would also reduce air pollution.

“I do not understand the reasons North Yorkshire County Council has given as to why it could not do this. It would not cost very much and would be policed as much as 30mph roads.

“Unfortunately all that is stopping the movement is a few people, mainly politicians.”

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However, North Yorkshire County Council, which is the highways authority, said it has consulted with North Yorkshire Police and other interested parties and does not believe speed reductions would be appropriate.

Karl Battersby, corporate director of business and environmental services, said:

“We are committed to making the network as safe and accessible as possible for all road users and will continue to talk to communities to consider options to allay road safety concerns.

“A revised 20mph speed limit policy is currently going through its approval process following a review by a task group set up by the Transport, Economy and Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

“This review, which reported its conclusions this year, heard from traffic engineers, road safety and public health officers, North Yorkshire Police and the 20’s Plenty campaign group.

“The task group resolved that it is not appropriate to apply a countywide default 20mph speed limit.”

Mr Battersby added that speed is not a major cause of collisions in North Yorkshire and that it would require significant investment, as well as future maintenance costs.

Villagers in Burnt Yates have launched a campaign to reduce the ‘dangerous’ speed limit of the main B6165.

Loraine and Sid Hines have lived in Burnt Yates for 30 years and worry that speeding cars and ‘boy racers’ will cause serious injury or death.

The speed limit through Burnt Yates is 30mph, with a 20mph section near the school. However, the section of the B6165 leaving the village has a 50mph limit and Ms Hines said more vehicles were exceeding this in recent years.

They have set up a Burnt Yates Speed Committee and launched a petition to reduce the limit to 30mph. So far the petition has had 123 signatures.

Ms Hines said she has written to North Yorkshire County Council requesting a speed limit reduction but has received “brush-offs”.

She added:

“North Yorkshire County Council is reactive, not proactive.

“We want something done about the sheer volume of speed and blatant disregard for the rules”.

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North Yorkshire County Council told the Stray Ferret it did not support a reduction in the speed limit.

Nigel Smith, head of highway operations, said:

“Our local highways team has thoroughly investigated residents’ concerns. As always, our priority is public safety, so we must ensure that we use our resources where they are most needed.

“Police support is needed for any change to the speed limit, and the police work to government guidelines set out by the Department of Transport. This section of road does not meet these requirements for a speed limit change to work. Everything that can be done regarding speed limit restrictions is already in place.

“Accident reports for the past five years have been reviewed to look for any patterns, frequency or root cause that would support a change in the speed limit or the introduction of traffic calming measures. This review shows there has been one serious accident in the Burnt Yates area in the past five years. This was attributed to driver error.

“We need to consider the risks against the benefits for this and other locations across North Yorkshire to ensure our resources are best deployed to improve road safety.

“Given the accident history of this section of the B6165 and the guidance on which the police’s decisions have to be based, we cannot, at this time, support the request for a reduced speed limit.”

Engineers behind decisions over the introduction of 20mph speed limits across North Yorkshire have been urged to consider the social benefits of such a move.

Councillors who helped shape North Yorkshire County Council’s new 20mph zone policy said numerous communities and schools, which had spent years trying to get consent for the low speed limit had recently been left frustrated again, due to highways officers sticking to a fixed and often unachievable set of criteria.

The policy is currently under review and a number of recommendations have been made, including the council compiling a list of schools which have 20mph limits outside them.

However, a full report on the new policy is not expected until a later date.

Councillors said despite the apparent change in policy designed to enable more communities to feel safe, the council’s criteria for a 20mph zone appeared to have remained “quite stringent”.

They were told value for money and accident statistics were two criteria highways engineers considered.

But Harrogate Bilton and Nidd Gorge division member Paul Haslam said figures such as deaths from vehicle emissions and the social return for a community could also be examined.

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• Police ‘would not support’ blanket 20mph limit in parts of North Yorkshire

Meanwhile, the committee’s chairman Cllr Stanley Lumley told officers: 

“There has to be a technical element to this with regard to data collection, but we strongly recommended to the executive this shouldn’t just be about numbers.

“It should be about local perception and local need. That part of the recommendation is the bit that’s failing in my experience since that report went back. This committee felt local need should have more weight than just statistical evidence.”

Senior officers said although residents’ feelings would in future be given further consideration the authority would need to continue to use Department for Transport guidance when setting speed limits.

They added combining statistics with subjective factors was difficult, but that the authority had been receiving money from the government’s Safer Roads Fund for a few years to tackle areas with perceived rather than actual road safety issues.

An officer told the meeting:

“We are guilty in the past of looking more at that statistical side of things, there’s a need for that, but the mindset is changing, certainly over the last 12 months.”

Blanket 20mph policy

Meanwhile, the committee heard a key recommendation of its inquiry into whether a blanket 20mph zone should be launched in all built up areas of the county was that residents’ perceptions should be prioritised in decision-making.

Ainsty division Cllr Andy Paraskos told the committee a speed survey in a small, linear village in his area had revealed it had a clear speeding issue, but highways officers had concluded £100,000 of works would be needed just for the village to meet the criteria for having a 20mph speed limit.

Cllr Paraskos said while there was no way a small village could raise £100,000, it would also struggle to meet the criteria as the road was too narrow to include a cycle lane and there were too few verges for a roadside route.

North Yorkshire Police has said it would not support a blanket 20mph limit policy in towns and villages in the Harrogate district and across the county, despite calls from campaigners.

North Yorkshire County Council is facing calls for another review of its road safety policy just days before councillors consider a series of nine recommendations to update its 20mph speed limit policy.

It comes as schools in the Harrogate district have called for 20mph to improve road safety for children.

Last September, Killinghall Primary School headteacher, Sarah Bassitt, urged the authority to take action before a child is killed or seriously injured on the 30mph stretch of main road outside its building.

Campaigners have claimed the county council, which undertook a 15-month inquiry into its 20mph zone policy, has ignored crucial evidence as well as the benefits of introducing the limit across all towns and villages.

Read more:

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The authority’s transport scrutiny committee will examine proposals to make its policy more explicit in considering 20mph speed limits around schools, as well as extending the distance traditionally considered around schools in order to encourage greater use of active modes of transport.

Other key changes it will consider include the production of a list of high-risk collision areas using three years’ worth of data to examine whether an area would benefit from a 20mph speed limit.

However, a meeting of the council’s Thirsk and Malton constituency committee heard campaigners remained unhappy with the recommendations.

Campaigner Ian Conlon claimed the support of Philip Allott, the county’s police, fire and crime commissioner, “for default 20mph zones in all towns and villages”. 

He added children, elderly and vulnerable people were being “disproportionately excluded from public space” by allowing cars to travel at 30mph in towns and villages.

Mr Conlon said the council was not addressing the positive impacts of 20mph zones, such as people feeling safer and children playing outside.

He said: 

“It does not assess the evidence from other area that have developed 20mph speed limits. It is only looking backwards, at what North Yorkshire has done, rather than what it could do.”

Councillors heard North Yorkshire Police would not support a blanket 20mph limit and that they needed to be self-enforcing, either through driver behaviour or physical measures.

In addition, ahead of being elected in Mr Allott pledged he would only “support and implement 20mph in urban locations, where local authorities are prepared to support it”.

Mr Allott told the Stray Ferret that he would support local authorities judging 20mph zones on a “case by case basis”.

He said:

“It’s sensible that local authorities do not have their hands tied. Providing that a local authority supports it [a 20mph zone], I will support it.”

The council’s deputy leader and former highways boss Cllr Gareth Dadd told the meeting it “would be foolish to usurp the findings” of the inquiry,

Meanwhile, a member of the investigating team, Cllr Roberta Swiers, said although she had initially believed a blanket 20mph limit would be a good idea, the evidence had proved it was not “the safe answer”.

Harrogate residents have called for the 20 mph speed limit outside four schools in the town to be enforced.

So far more than 150 people have signed an online petition, which can be found here, urging safety action on Pannal Ash Road.

Pannal Ash Road used to have speed activated signs but they were removed to save money last year.

The petition highlights a North Yorkshire County Council survey that found 80% of drivers exceeded the speed limit on Pannal Ash Road.

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In just one day, the council found that out of 3,974 drivers only 366 drove at the 20 mph limit. The majority drove between 20 and 30 mph but 613 drove between 30mph and 50mph.

Ruth Lily, who created the petition with her neighbour Jenny Hayward, told the Stray Ferret:

“Ten years ago my daughter was walking to school and her friend was hit by a car. They thankfully made a full recovery.

“After that the council put in some measures to control the speed but the signs were removed last year.

“Ever since then I have noticed that cars have started to drive at increased speeds on Pannal Ash Road.”