New speed limits will be introduced outside a series of schools in Harrogate under plans for North Yorkshire’s largest ever 20mph zone.

North Yorkshire Council today unveiled proposals for an extensive 20mph zone covering streets across the Pannal Ash and Oatlands areas of the town.

The proposed area for the new zone includes a total of seven schools in Harrogate.

These are Harrogate Grammar School, Rossett Acre Primary School, Rossett School, Ashville College, St Aidan’s Church of England High School, Oatlands Junior School and Oatlands Infants School.

North Yorkshire Council’s executive member for highways and transport, Cllr Keane Duncan, said:

“This is the most significant 20mph zone the council has ever introduced.

“Our plan will see 20mph limits introduced outside seven more schools and on nearby residential streets, meaning thousands of children can enjoy safer journeys every day.

“This landmark proposal is testament to the collective determination of schools, families and councillors to respond to public concerns and deliver ambitious action. It sets a positive example and leads the way for communities across North Yorkshire.”

A proposed £585,000 package of sustainable transport measures for the west of Harrogate has also been announced today.

The National Productivity Investment Fund package will be used to deliver parts of the new 20mph zone, as well as upgraded signals at the Cold Bath Road/Otley Road/Arthurs Avenue junction.

A crossing will be installed outside Western Primary School on Cold Bath Road.

There will also be improvements to bus stops along Otley Road, the crossing outside Falcon Chiropractic on Cold Bath Road, and a new crossing will be installed outside Western Primary School on Cold Bath Road.

Improvements will be made to cycle route signing, the crossing between Green Lane public right of way and Ashville College, and there will be new cycle parking and public realm improvements on Cold Bath Road. Nursery Lane will be upgraded to allow cyclists to use as an off-road leisure route.

Cllr Duncan said:

“We halted unpopular plans for phase two of the Otley Road cycleway to develop an alternative package of measures.

“This decision means we are now able to invest in signal improvements, new crossings, cycling improvements and new bus stops instead.

“This alternative package will be of immense and lasting benefit to all road users – motorists, cyclists, pedestrians and bus passengers.”

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Oatlands Junior School starts scheme

The first School Street initiative started today at Oatlands Junior School, whereby Beechwood Grove is closed to traffic at pick-up and drop-off times to create a safer environment and encourage more children to walk, cycle or scoot to school.

The pilot has been implemented for an experimental 18-month period to allow for its impact to be monitored and assessed. A decision will then be made whether to make the scheme permanent once a review has been carried out.

Members of the Harrogate and Knaresborough area constituency committee will be asked to provide feedback on the proposed 20mph and transport package at a meeting on Thursday, September 14.

The plans will then be considered for approval by Cllr Duncan, with the aim of implementing the measures early next year.

A war of words has erupted over calls to introduce a default 20mph zone across North Yorkhire’s built-up areas, with the founder of a campaign group lodging a standards complaint against the county’s transport chief.

Road safety charity 20’s Plenty is focussing pressure on Cllr Keane Duncan after he questioned the group’s claims, accused them of using increasingly ruthless tactics and asked for time to thoroughly consider whether 20mph zones should become standard in towns and villages.

The authority’s executive member for highways and transport issued the statement ahead of a meeting of Conservative-led North Yorkshire County Council’s Thirsk and Malton Constituency Committee on February 3.

The meeting is scheduled to see a notice of motion proposed by opposition councillors considered, which calls to extend a proposed trial of default 20mph zones across the vast constituency.

The council, which last year sought to relax rules about setting up 20mph zones, is already examining a proposal to trial default 20mph zones in built-up areas around Harrogate, but its leaders have warned introducing it would cost about £1m and impact on its ability to fund road repairs across the county.

The charity’s founder and campaign director Rod King has declined to specify the nature of the complaint to the council. Campaigners in the group have stated it is based on criticisms Cllr Duncan made about the campaign group’s claims.

A 20s Plenty for North Yorkshire spokesperson said the complaint was “on the grounds of Cllr Duncan’s attempts to influence the due democratic process in the committee ahead of this Friday’s meeting  by means of unfounded claims on our integrity”.

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Members of the campaign group have suggested the outstanding standards issue would mean Cllr Duncan will not be able to vote on a notice of motion about 20mph limits at Friday’s Thirsk and Malton constituency committee meeting.

Responding to the suggestion, a county council spokesman said: 

“In the event of any complaint against a councillor, we would follow the relevant members complaints procedure.

“It would usually be a matter for a member to determine themselves whether they take part in a debate.”

‘Exaggerating opposition’

Ian Conlan, 20’s Plenty campaigner, who is also Mayor of Malton, said the group had consistently had 70% support over the years and its local surveys in North Yorkshire had backed that up and that Cllr Duncan was exaggerating the opposition to 20s Plenty.

He said 20s Plenty were pushing the issue at the moment in the hope of getting funding agreed for the pilot scheme in this year’s council budget.

Cllr Conlan said the council had had years to consider default 20mph zones and did not need more time to consider the issue and that Cllr Duncan was trying to influence the democratic process by spreading misinformation about 20s Plenty.

Cllr Duncan said rather than welcoming democratic challenge, the leadership of 20’s Plenty had “resorted to issuing a formal complaint against me and are attempting to block me from voting at Friday’s meeting”.

He added: 

“I will not be intimidated by what I consider to be heavy-handed tactics and I will continue to publicly challenge any misleading and exaggerated claims made.

“Most importantly, I will not allow the council’s review of 20mph limits to be rushed or unduly prejudiced. We will look at all factors thoroughly and only then will we make considered recommendations to improve road safety in North Yorkshire.”

A community-led plan could see five schools in the west of Harrogate involved in a pilot scheme to encourage pupils to walk and cycle.

Harrogate Grammar School, Rossett School and Ashville College, along with Rossett Acre and Western primary schools, would all be covered by a 20mph zone with supporting infrastructure, such as safe crossing points.

Jenny Marks presented the proposal to North Yorkshire County Council’s Harrogate and Knaresborough area constituency committee this morning.

It follows extensive work done by Dr Marks, Ruth Lily and other members of the community to engage with schools, parents and community groups to assess potential support for the scheme. Dr Marks told the meeting:

“We are speaking from a position of significant collective concern for the safety of nearly 5,000 schoolchildren and for all of those who use the network of roads around these schools on a daly basis, including residents and users of Rossett and Ashville sports centre, Busy Bees nursery and Rossett Nature Reserve.

“We’re speaking from a strong position of local knowledge and support, having spent the last 18 months consulting schools, local residents and other stakeholders in order to better understand their needs.”

Dr Marks said the extensive consultation had enabled the group to formulate a detailed plan for the area which would help to make walking and cycling safer, encouraging people out of their cars.

She said the changes would be increasingly important as more and more homes were built in the area, increasing the number of children travelling to local schools.

She received support from across the chamber for the plan, which followed the committee voting to support 20mph zones around schools at its previous meeting last month.

Read more:

• 20mph speed limits to be investigated in Harrogate and Knaresborough
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Councillors praised the work the group had done to engage with the local community, including speaking at Harrogate and Pannal Ash Residents Association’s AGM.

Cllr Michael Schofield (pictured above), whose Harlow and St George’s division includes three of the five schools involved, said:

“I was fortunate enough to grow up in my division and attend two of the schools, as did my wife. The schools then were very safe to walk to, very safe to cycle to.

“My two children have been to three of the schools – one Rossett Acre and Rossett High, one Rossett Acre and the grammar school. The traffic now is absolutely atrocious.

“Because of the lack of a safe active travel scheme round there, it’s turning into a bit of a self-destruction merry-go-round.

“Parents feel that the roads aren’t safe enough for their children to cycle on to school, so they then jump in the car and take them to school, adding to the problem.”

Highways department to decide

The proposal for the zone will be submitted to North Yorkshire County Council’s highways department, which will consider whether the 20mph zone could be introduced. Highways officers are expected to report back to the area committee at a future meeting.

However, Cllr Pat Marsh, who represents the Stray, Woodlands and Hookstone division, said a 20mph limit had been outside Hookstone Chase Primary School for 15 years but was ignored. She added:

“I think we are all supportive — it’s not that we’re negative at all, because we do want to protect particularly schools, our children, and encourage them to get out of cars onto bikes or walking.

“We have got to go through the due process and for me, I want the police here, I want the police to monitor them, because without that we’re lost.

“We can have all the signs we want, but until somebody starts to fine the people who abuse it, we don’t go anywhere.”

A councillor has claimed the majority of people in his ward now support a 20mph speed limit — but enforcement issues mean any change is unlikely.

Paul Haslam, who represents Old Bilton on Harrogate Borough Council, raised the issue with Zoe Metcalfe, the North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner.

Speaking at a meeting of Harrogate Borough Council’s overview and scrutiny committee last week, Cllr Haslam asked Ms Metcalfe:

“In my area, Bilton and Woodfield, I would say the majority of residents want the whole area to be 20mph. At what stage will police enforce this?”

Campaigners across the country are calling for a speed limit of 20mph to be normal on residential streets and in town and village centres as part of the 20’s Plenty initiative.

Ms Metcalfe said the police and the council “don’t have the resources to be constantly enforcing a 20mph zone”, adding:

“I don’t necessarily agree with 20’s Plenty because for every one person that says they want 20mph there is one who says they don’t.”

She added she could see 20mph limits working “in certain circumstances, like outside a school,” but not as a general measure.

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Tom Thorp, assistant chief executive at the commissioner’s office, said “police enforcement of 20mph limits is difficult”. He said:

“The types of road that want to go 20mph are very residential urban roads and it’s simply not possible necessarily to do the enforcement on those roads easily.”

Mr Thorp and Ms Metcalfe agreed that although police enforcement was problematic, local authorities could introduce more targeted speed restriction measures, for instance speed humps and chicanes, in specific areas, such as near schools. Mr Thorp said:

“There’s an awful lot that we should be doing around prevention before we get to actual enforcement.”

He added North Yorkshire County Council already did this through the  York and North Yorkshire Road Safety Partnership, which is a partnership of agencies working tp reduce road deaths.

More speed cameras?

Cllr Haslam questioned why Bilton and Jennyfields appeared to have different approaches.

“If you go to Jennyfields you will see the whole Jennyfields estate is 20mph and I don’t see any reason why the residents of Bilton and Woodfield can’t have the same scenario.”

Cllr Haslam said “camera enforcement works” in 20mph zones in London, adding “I don’t see why we can’t look at that”.

But Mr Thorp said:

“There’s a significant cost to camera enforcement and if we were looking to do that across the piece I wouldn’t like to hazard a guess as to what that would cost.

“In terms of managing expectations, sometimes putting in 20mph makes it worse.”

Ripon City Council has asked North Yorkshire County Council to approve its request for 14 vehicle activated speed signs.

The county council, which is the highways authority, has the ultimate say over where the signs can be placed.

It has indicated it will approve use of the signs, which are intended to encourage drivers to obey speed restrictions rather than punish them, on no more than eight Ripon streets.

But Ripon councillors have identified 14 hotspots for the traffic-calming measure and hope they will all be approved.

The signs show drivers their speed and whether they are going too fast. The cost of adapting each lamp post to include a sign is £500 plus VAT.

Paula Benson, clerk to Ripon City Council, told February’s full council meeting the county council had said it was prepared to approve the use of the signs on no more than eight Ripon streets.

Councillors voted unanimously to call on the county council to approve more locations.

They also said that if additional money was required for signs and installation it should come from the city council.

City, Harrogate district and county councillor, Stuart Martin, said:

“Members of the public have told us where these signs are needed.

“We should stick with the locations that have been identified and requested.”

Council leader Andrew Williams added:

“Ripon is not a small village, it’s a growing city with more traffic and therefore increased risk to pedestrians.”

Whitcliffe Lane – one of 14 locations on the city council list for a speed awareness sign.

Because the signs are mobile, they can be moved around the city and put in selected traffic hotspots for a few weeks at a time.

Councillor Pauline McHardy, said:

“It’s a way of educating motorists driving in different parts of Ripon, by making them aware of their speed.”

Among the locations on the city council list is Kirkby Road, where residents have likened a 300-metre stretch with no white lines to a ‘race track’.

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Across the city, Whitcliffe Lane has also been put forward as a street in need of a speed sign.

The lane is alongside a new housing development at the former Ripon Cathedral Choir School site, which has increased traffic.

This situation is being repeated in other parts of Ripon, where new housing schemes are coming on stream.