New cycling proposals revealed for Harrogate’s Victoria AvenueControversial traffic proposal for Harrogate road scrapped

Plans to introduce a left-turn only rule at a junction in Harrogate have been scrapped.

North Yorkshire Council proposed bringing in a traffic order to prevent vehicles from turning right at the junction of Belford Road and Victoria Avenue, opposite the library.

But it said at a consultation event this week the idea had proved unpopular and been dropped.

However, other changes are still in the pipeline as part of a £807,000 scheme to improve active travel on Victoria Avenue.

They include:

The Beech Road junction will be reconfigured to prevent traffic illegally travelling straight on.

However, the plans do not include a cycle lane, which had been seen as a key part of wider ambitions to create an integrated off-road cycle route from the train and bus stations to Cardale Park.

Cyclists branded the decision “unbelievably disappointing“.

Melisa Burnham, highways area manager at the council, told the Stray Ferret at this week’s consultation event at the Civic Centre in Harrogate that the cost of the cycling proposals had spiralled to £1.5 million due to inflation and rising material costs.

The council was awarded funding from the second round of the government’s active travel fund in 2020.

It planned to allocate this on creating cycle lanes but the rising costs, along with an unsuccessful bid to the fourth round of the active travel fund prompted it to propose cheaper alternative measures.

Ms Burnham said the council had written to about 1,500 nearby residents and businesses about the proposed changes and had received about 50 written responses as part of the consultation.

She said the scheme still promoted active travel because it would make Victoria Avenue better for pedestrians and wheelchair users and the council still aspired to create cycle lanes on Victoria Avenue when funding permitted. Ms Burnham said:

“It’s a positive step forward for active travel.”

Victoria Avenue

Consultation on the proposals ends on Sunday, May 12.

To comment, you can email Area6.Boroughbridge@northyorks.gov.uk using ‘Victoria Avenue ATF 2 Consultation’ in the title of your email or letter.

Or post comments to: NYC Highways, Area 6 Boroughbridge Office, Stump Cross, Boroughbridge YO51 9HU.

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‘Unbelievably disappointing’ – cyclists respond to Victoria Avenue plans

A Harrogate district cycling group has described new plans to improve Victoria Avenue as “unambitious” and “unbelievably disappointing”.

North Yorkshire Council announced yesterday it had scrapped plans to create cycle lanes on the avenue in favour of other measures, such as new parking meters and making the Belford Road junction left-turn only.

You can read the proposals here.

The proposals include making it illegal to turn right from Belford Road.

The government body Active Travel England awarded the council £1 million in 2020 for cycling schemes, and £250,000 was allocated towards creating a cycleway on Victoria Avenue.

As recently as February this year the council said the cycleway was a “priority“.

So yesterday’s announcement that it would no longer happen due to “budgetary constraints” has not been well received, particularly as the funding will be spent on other measures to improve the road for pedestrians instead.

In an article on its website, the campaign group Harrogate District Cycle Action said the new scheme “does nothing at all for cycling”.

It added:

“Given that the successful bid for this funding was to build four ambitious cycling schemes, that is unbelievably disappointing.

“North Yorkshire has been making promises of ‘jam tomorrow’ for cycling for at least 10 years. It is always just about to deliver a meaningful cycling scheme, but then at the last minute it changes its mind.”

It cited the second phase of the Otley Road cycleway, the abandonment of Beech Grove modal filters, other undelivered Active Travel England-funded schemes and the watered down Harrogate Station Gateway as examples.

The group has urged people to respond to the consultation by calling on the council to change its mind and support cycling infrastructure.

Beech Grove, pictured from the end of Victoria Avenue.

It called on the council to make Victoria Avenue right-turn only at the junction with West Park to remove traffic from Beech Grove and said the proposed measures would have only marginal benefits.

It said:

“The new scheme for Victoria Avenue is unambitious, and all the cycling elements have been stripped out of it.

“Among other things, the council plans to spend the active travel fund cycling money on car parking ticket machines and a bus stop.

“Whenever we ask for improvements to the cycle network, we are told by the council that it is not possible due to lack of funding.

“Then when they do have funding for cycle improvements, they spend the money on a bus stop instead.”

Have your say

Consultation on the proposals ends on May 12. As part of this, an engagement session will take place from 5pm to 7pm on Tuesday, May 7 at the council office. The address is Stray Room, St Luke’s Mount, Harrogate HG1 2AE.

To comment, you can email Area6.Boroughbridge@northyorks.gov.uk using ‘Victoria Avenue ATF 2 Consultation’ in the title of your email or letter.

Or post comments to: NYC Highways, Area 6 Boroughbridge Office, Stump Cross, Boroughbridge YO51 9HU

 

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Cycle lanes scrapped and new traffic measures proposed for Harrogate’s Victoria Avenue

North Yorkshire Council has scrapped plans to create cycle lanes on Harrogate’s Victoria Avenue.

The council today announced it was holding a month-long consultation on proposals to change the wide avenue where the library is located.

The proposals include making the junction with Belford Road left-turn only and measures to prevent drivers illegally travelling straight ahead from Beech Grove to Victoria Avenue.

The consultation will focus purely on pedestrians and motorists — even though the council had identified Victoria Avenue as a “priority route” for cycling and announced last year it intended to create segregated cycle lanes 1.5 metres wide and buffer zones on both sides of the avenue.

A letter to residents announcing the consultation said:

“Unfortunately budgetary constraints mean that the previously envisaged cycle lanes cannot be included within this initial phase of this Victoria Avenue scheme.

“Following advice from Active Travel England, we have therefore concentrated on improvements for pedestrians and improvements to the public realm.”

The new proposals include:

It is hoped the work will take place in autumn this year.

Victoria Avenue

Victoria Avenue

Victoria Avenue was regarded as a key part of plans to create a joined-up, off-road cycling route from the train and bus stations to Cardale Park.

But with the second phase of the Otley Road cycleway abandoned, along with traffic calming measures on Beech Grove, today’s news is another blow to those campaigning for a greener town centre better suited to cycling.

Active Travel England, the government body that promotes walking and cycling, awarded the council funding to deliver a scheme on Victoria Avenue  in November 2020.

Today’s announcement said “design development work has been ongoing” since then.

The letter to residents said:

“The works proposed support North Yorkshire Council’s desire and vision to increase active travel in and around Harrogate town centre by proposing a number of measures to increase pedestrian safety as well as improved bus provision.

“Whilst unfortunately is it not possible to include the desired cycle lanes within this proposed scheme, the proposed works will not prevent the installation of the cycle lanes in the future, and this will be the ambition within a future funding bid. North Yorkshire Council is committed to delivering a cycle scheme on Victoria Avenue.

Consultation on the proposals ends on May 12. As part of this, an engagement session will take place from 5pm to 7pm on Tuesday, May 7 at the council office. The address is Stray Room, St Luke’s Mount, Harrogate HG1 2AE.

To comment, you can email Area6.Boroughbridge@northyorks.gov.uk using ‘Victoria Avenue ATF 2 Consultation’ in the title of your email or letter.

Or post comments to: NYC Highways, Area 6 Boroughbridge Office, Stump Cross, Boroughbridge YO51 9HU

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Plan to build nine flats on on site of former Harrogate council building approved

A plan has been approved to build nine new flats on the site of a former council office in Harrogate.

The site at 18 Victoria Avenue was previously home to Victoria Park House, which was demolished in December 2021.

Planning permission was granted in late 2018 for an office building to be built by new owner Hornbeam Park Developments. The plans proposed using the original facade, and the stonework was retained to do so.

However, plans have been submitted by Long Marston-based Echo Green Developments, through agent Savills, to create nine residential apartments on the site.

The developer argued that attempts to market the building for office use had failed over a number of years.

Plans for apartments on the site of the old Victoria Park House

Plans for apartments on the site of the old Victoria Park House.

Now, North Yorkshire Council has approved plans for the flats to be built.

In documents submitted to the authority, the developer said the plan will help to meet the need for accommodation in the area.

It said:

“The proposal will be a high quality apartment building in keeping with the Victorian villa’s of the area which will revitalise the site and provides an enhancement to the public streetscape.

“The proposal will provide much needed residential accommodation to the area.”

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Council has failed cyclists in Harrogate, says campaigner

A cycling campaigner has described North Yorkshire Council‘s attempts to improve cycling around the Otley Road area of Harrogate as a “failed project”.

The council announced 10 schemes yesterday costing £585,000 to relieve congestion and improve safety in west Harrogate.

Malcolm Margolis, a member of Harrogate District Cycle Action, said the funding provided by government in 2017 included provision for a cycleway from Cardale Park to the Prince of Wales roundabout in Harrogate.

This has now been abandoned, along with other recent cycling initiatives proposed or trialled by the council.

Mr Margolis said:

“This failed project, it should be noted, was the brainchild of the county council, not of cycling campaigners.

“Six years later almost all the cycling elements have been removed.

“This is hugely disappointing, and adds to the council’s failure to deliver funded cycle schemes on Victoria Avenue, the A59 near Knaresborough and Oatlands Drive, and the removal of the successful modal filters on Beech Grove.”

The £11.2 million Harrogate Station Gateway also looks set to be abandoned after the council admitted it failed to hold a public inquiry before issuing traffic regulation orders.

The council has proposed spending £100,000 to upgrade Nursery Lane for cyclists.

The new proposals include new pedestrian crossings, traffic light upgrades and bus shelter upgrades.

But there is little specifically for cyclists besides a £100,000 upgrade of the no through road Nursery Lane, which is accessed off Otley Road.

A report to councillors about this scheme said it would “investigate the potential of a cycle track order and associated infrastructure works to the surface”. But it adds “third party land would be required”.

New 20mph zone welcomed

But Mr Margolis joined other campaigners in welcoming the proposed 20mph zone covering streets in Pannal Ash and Oatlands.

The zone includes seven schools: 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.

Mr Margolis said this would “make the roads safer for everyone”

Hazel Peacock hands the road safety petition to Elizabeth Jackson of North Yorkshire Council

Hazel Peacock handing the road safety petition to Elizabeth Jackson of North Yorkshire Council in May.

Hazel Peacock, Dr Vicki Evans, Dr Jenny Marks and Ruth Lily, who represent the groups Oatlands Road Safety and Active Travel Campaign and Pannal Ash Safe Streets, said they were “delighted” the council had committed to delivering the proposals they put forward.

In a statement, they said:

“This is a brilliant response to the calls for safer streets by the local community, schools, education leaders and local cross party councillors, who have been fully supportive of the campaigns in recent years.

“These changes will not only improve safety, but will make a significant contribution to the health and wellbeing of the whole community, access to walking and cycling and the environment.

“We look forward to continuing to work with Cllr Keane Duncan and North Yorkshire Council staff on the delivery and specifics of the plan, to ensure the best possible outcomes for children, young people and the local community.”

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Council could sell Harrogate’s Jesmond House to raise money

North Yorkshire Council could sell its offices at Jesmond House in Harrogate to raise money.

The building on Victoria Avenue is next to the town’s Jobcentre Plus and is currently used by adult social care staff working for the council.

When the council was created on April 1, the new council took control of assets held by the seven former district councils, including those owned by Harrogate Borough Council.

The authority is facing a £30m shortfall in its first year and is targeting savings of up to £252m in its first five years.

Officers are currently undertaking a review of properties the council owns so it can save money, raise revenue and operate more efficiently.

The council’s Conservative executive member for finance, Gareth Dadd, said a number of “quick wins” are already underway to vacate spaces across North Yorkshire, including moving staff from Jesmond House to the Civic Centre on St Luke’s Avenue.

This could lead to the building being repurposed, sold or rented out to businesses.

A council spokesperson said that the Civic Centre, which opened in 2017, is not on the list of buildings that are at risk of being sold.

Gary Fielding, North Yorkshire Council’s corporate director strategic resources, said:

“We are looking at all council accommodation with a view to consolidating our use of buildings so we make the maximum use of the space we have, reduce our carbon footprint and bring down costs.

“This is in the early stages of detailed work looking at all the buildings, and staff will be consulted.”

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Plans to build nine flats on site of former Harrogate council building

Plans to build nine apartments on the site of a former council office in Harrogate have been met with opposition from nearby residents.

The site at 18 Victoria Avenue was previously home to Victoria Park House, which was demolished 18 months ago.

Planning permission was granted in late 2018 for an office building to be built by new owner Hornbeam Park Developments. The plans proposed using the original facade, and the stonework was retained to do so.

Now, however, plans have been submitted by Long Marston-based Echo Green Developments, through agent Savills, to create nine residential apartments on the site, arguing attempts to market the building for office use had failed over a number of years.

Documents submitted as part of the application said the proposed building was of “traditional design” but that retaining the facade would no longer be possible. They said:

“Due to the viability of the previous application, which was office use, the client is now seeking residential use based on market advice.

“However, to provide a high quality residential development, we are unable to work with the floor to floor levels of the original build and hence cannot recreate the original front facade.”

In response to the proposed change to residential, North Yorkshire Council‘s economic development unit said it accepted there was a limited market for commercial offices and there was plenty of vacant space elsewhere.

Plans for apartments on the site of the old Victoria Park House

Plans for apartments on the site of the old Victoria Park House.

But the change of plan has drawn criticism from Harrogate Civic Society, for whom Henry Pankhurst wrote:

“We are told by the architects that the client wanted a building that looked of an historic design. What better than to have an actual and important historic building at the heart of the conservation area that currently lies demolished on the site.

“The application should be refused.”

While the five objections received from members of the public were not against residential development, they raised other concerns.

Several residents of The Osborne apartments on South Park Road, which backs onto the site, have expressed worries about overshadowing from the new building, which has a larger footprint than the former office building.

Each of the three floors would have two two-bedroom apartments and one three-bedroom apartment, and there would be 18 parking spaces on the site.

Victoria Park House was one of Harrogate Borough Council’s five office sites which was sold in 2016 for £1 million. Before that, it was home to the register office in Harrogate.

To view the application, visit the North Yorkshire Council planning website and use reference ZC23/01751/FUL.

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Harrogate’s Victoria Avenue to close overnight for pothole repairs

Harrogate’s Victoria Avenue will be closed overnight for two nights this week as roadworks are carried out.

The road will be closed from 6pm until 11pm on Wednesday (May 24) and Thursday (May 25).

Parking bays on Victoria Avenue will also be suspended.

The move comes as North Yorkshire Council’s highways department is set to carry out work on the road.

It will see potholes filled on the street.

According to the council’s roadworks map, the authority will “renew 20 patches” as part of the work.

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‘Grim’ future predicted for Harrogate cycling after funding snub

Cyclists have expressed concern about the future of active travel in the Harrogate district after funding for two schemes was rejected.

The Department for Transport’s active travel fund last month turned down North Yorkshire County Council’s bid for £3.19 million.

It would have paid for segregated cycle routes on Victoria Avenue in Harrogate and on the A59 in Knaresborough between Mother Shipton’s Cave and Harrogate Golf Club.

Coming on the back of the county council’s decision to scrap phase two of the Otley Road cycle route, it has left plans for a connected, segregated cycle route between Harrogate train station and Cardale Park in tatters.

It has also raised questions about whether the council can deliver on active travel schemes despite the rhetoric.

Harrogate cycling campaigner Malcolm Margolis said

“The future for investment in cycling in Harrogate is clearly grim if the council is unable to attract government funding.

“It will only do that if it shows that it can deliver, which it has repeatedly failed to do for many years.

“That’s one of the reasons why the Station Gateway project must go ahead, not only that it would greatly improve the town centre, but that it shows the council has the capacity to turn successful bids to improve the public realm into successful changes on the ground.”

The Harrogate Station Gateway scheme.

Cycleways on Station Parade are a key feature of the Station Gateway.

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Kevin Douglas, chairman of Harrogate District Cycle Action, agreed next month’s expected gateway decision was now of even greater significance given the legacy of failed cycling schemes. He said:

“If the council can’t attract government funding then it isn’t looking good for cycling.

“The government is reducing funding for active travel so it will be more difficult to succeed with bids and without a track record it will be doubly difficult.”

The Conservative-run North Yorkshire Council, which has replaced the county council, has said it will abide by its Liberal Democrat-controlled Harrogate and Knaresborough area constituency committee’s gateway decision on May 30.

‘Immense challenges’

Cllr Keane Duncan, the Conservative executive member for highways and transportation on North Yorkshire Council, said the local authority remained determined to “rebalance transport” in the town and would “not be dispirited” by Active Travel England’s rejection.

He said:

“We know the immense challenges the town is facing in terms of congestion, air quality and road safety. Unless the new North Yorkshire Council takes action to address these problems, they will only get worse.

“Rebalancing transport and promoting more sustainable travel is essential, but with limited financial resources and often vocal opposition, this is not always easy to deliver in practical terms.”

Otley Road cycling

The Otley Road cycleway

Cllr Duncan added:

“The Otley Road corridor remains a challenge, but I stand by the decision to step back from phase two of the cycleway to allow local councillors to consider alternative options.

“And of course, it will be local councillors who will determine the hot topic of gateway once and for all. They will give their verdict and I will respect this. I feel this is the fairest possible approach.

The Stray Ferret asked Active Travel England why it rejected North Yorkshire County Council’s bid.

A spokesman said it couldn’t go into detail until the successful applicants were notified after next month’s local elections. They added:

“Each bid we have received has undergone a robust assessment process that considered a range of criteria. Feedback is being provided to authorities with unsuccessful bids over the next few weeks.

“Active Travel England will support local authorities in designing and delivering schemes that meet national standards for safety and accessibility.”