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12

Aug 2020

Last Updated: 11/08/2020
Harrogate
Harrogate

West Park Stray opening is 'frankly dangerous,' says SDA

by Connor Creaghan

| 12 Aug, 2020
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Harrogate Borough Council took the orange fencing down yesterday to allow people back onto the grass after spending £130,000 on its restoration.

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The Stray Defence Association (SDA) has written to the council to call West Park Stray "frankly dangerous" - after it opened to the public for the first time in 11 months.

Harrogate Borough Council took the orange fencing down today to allow people back onto the grass. It has spent £130,000 on its restoration.

The council said that the West Park Stray would be "returned to its former glory" following the UCI World Championships when the work started earlier this year.



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However, the SDA has said that the opening yesterday was premature and called for the council to carry out an immediate inspection of the grounds.

Judy D'Arcy Thompson, chair of the SDA, has written a strongly worded letter to the leader of Harrogate Borough Council:

"Whilst, from a distance the area looks beautifully green and as though it could be back to its former glory, it is far from it. Whilst the Stray Defence Association is most anxious to have the Stray reopened to the public as soon as possible it must only be at a time when it is safe to allow full access for any habitual activity."


Mrs Thompson fears that people playing sports on West Park Stray could "severely injure themselves" by falling on one of a "large number of stones" and that "the stones themselves were never present on the surface prior to the reparations".

She also raised concerns about "tyre tracks" and "dips in the grounds" as well as "old divots or sods of the previous grass which was not cleared before reseeding".

When restrictions were lifted for the UCI Championships to be held, the council was given a legal duty to return the Stray to how it was before the event.

The Stray Ferret has contacted Harrogate Borough Council for a response to the SDA's letter.