Harrogate’s Victoria Road scheme delayed due to bin wagon concerns

A scheme to stop vehicles in Harrogate turning from Victoria Road onto Otley Road has been delayed because bin wagons will find it difficult to turn.

North Yorkshire County Council was due to introduce the initiative before the end of September as an 18-month trial to improve safety for cyclists using the forthcoming Otley Road cycle route.

A barrier would have been placed at the junction, and one-way only and no entry signs installed.

However, the scheme has been delayed while the council draws up a new design that accommodates turning bin wagons. The council does not know when the project will now be introduced.

Melisa Burnham, highways area manager at the council, said:

“The original design needs to be amended to accommodate the safe turning and manoeuvring of bin wagons and making sure the proposed one-way filter lane doesn’t have any other impacts on waste services.

“We anticipated this design stage to be concluded by the end of September.

“We are currently working with Harrogate Borough Council to agree a revised design before the introduction of the 18-month trial of a one-way filter lane on Victoria Road.

Read more:

The council wants the Victoria Road scheme to join up with other active travel schemes in the town, including the nearby Beech Grove low traffic neighbourhood, the scheduled new cycle path on Victoria Avenue, and the Harrogate Station Gateway project.

Construction on the much-delayed Otley Road cycle route began last month.

There are still uncertainties over when the project will be completed due to negotiations with the government and the Duchy of Lancaster – the landowners of the Stray – over the use of grass verges protected by law.

Driver shortage causes bus cancellations in Harrogate district

A Harrogate district bus company has said a shortage of drivers has forced it to cancel “a small number” of services.

Transdev, which operates the Harrogate Bus Company, said in a statement today is has 95 trainee drivers waiting to get out on the roads.

It said the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency, which conducts tests, was taking three times longer than usual to confirm test dates and provide licences.

Read more:

Transdev has said it has been forced to cancel 0.8% of services for the Harrogate Bus Company as a result.

Delays to drive training is a national problem. The Confederation of Passenger Transport has warned that the delays have caused a shortage of 4,000 drivers.

Alex Hornby, chief executive of Transdev, said:

“We understand entirely how frustrating it is when journeys are cancelled, and it’s the last thing we want to do.

“Right now, we have 95 new colleagues at The Academy, our in-house driver training facility in Yorkshire and Lancashire.

“They just want to be out on the road serving our customers – but instead, they’re waiting over three times longer than usual to get licences

“Most of our buses are running as normal and we are attracting new drivers, so the current delays to licensing and testing are very frustrating.”

Transdev has asked the government to speed up the licence application process and free up the availability of theory and practical tests.

Calls to improve safety of children walking to school in Starbeck

A parent in Starbeck has called on North Yorkshire County Council to install a path and street lights on Kingsley Road to improve safety for children walking to school.

Darren Leeming and his family recently moved to the Kingsley Meadows estate, a new housing development on Kingsley Road in Harrogate.

Ten children from the estate, including two of his own, walk to and from Starbeck Primary Academy using Kingsley Road each day.

Mr Leeming believes the winding road, which has no street lights or footpath, is dangerous for the children who he thinks could be hit by a motorist.

He said:

“There is no lighting and no path. It just takes one kid to run out.”

“It’s an urgent need for the safety of children.”

Read more:

The section of the road that Mr Leeming says is dangerous

Mr Leeming said he has observed cars going above the speed limit of 20mph and he thinks many motorists use the road as a rat-run to avoid the Starbeck rail crossing.

He added:

“It’s supposed to be 20mph but there are cars that exceed the limit.

“If there’s nothing done there will be a fatality. I don’t want to wait until there’s a fatality of a child. It’s irresponsible of the council.”

A spokesperson for NYCC said Mr Leeming can request a highways improvement such as street lighting through its website.

Calls to stem escalating cyclist vs motorist conflict in North Yorkshire

A local authority that has seen surging numbers of cyclists on rural roads since it staged the Tour de France Grand Depart has defended its record in safeguarding riders.

North Yorkshire County Council’s executive heard yesterday the upward trend in cyclists on the county’s 9,000km road network since the 2014 race had increased sharply since covid.

Opposition members questioned whether more could be done to resolve an escalating conflict between cyclists and motorists in rural areas.

It comes at a time when the council is under sustained pressure to reconsider its policy of focusing on cycling road improvements in urban areas, particularly Harrogate.

Officers told the meeting statistics showed while cyclists and drivers were equally to blame for cycle collisions in urban areas of the county, cyclists were at fault for about 70 per cent and drivers 30 per cent of cycle collisions on rural roads.

Councillor Stuart Parsons, leader of the authority’s Independent group, called for twin educational campaigns to teach motorists what they need to do when encountering a large group of cyclists in places like Wensleydale and to teach cyclists how they should be riding on the lanes.

He said cyclists were “making themselves a great number of potential enemies and therefore dangerous situations by their approach to using the roads, especially when they are not road taxpayers when using it for their cycles”.

Read more:

Coun Parsons added:

“Cyclists do drive motorists somewhat insane, especially when they are travelling two or three abreast, which they seem to be doing more and more. On these winding roads it makes it difficult for anybody to pass safely.”

Councillor Don Mackenzie, the authority’s executive member for access, replied that while some cyclists needed to learn not to “create obstructions on the highway”, his sympathies were with cyclists as their equipment weighed a few kilograms as opposed to cars that weighed one or two tonnes.

Highway Code changes

Government changes to the Highway Code this autumn will require drivers to give greater space to cyclists and require cyclists to ride single file to help vehicles overtake.

The council’s Liberal Democrat group leader Councillor Bryn Griffiths said the council’s highways department appeared to be “reactive rather than proactive” over dealing with risks on the roads.

He said despite some roads being riddled with potholes and being popular cycling routes they never appeared to reach the council’s criteria for road repairs.

Coun Griffiths said:

“In industry it is considered good practice to look at near misses and be proactive and engineer or manage out issues that they have.

“Because of the state of the road cyclists are having to meander all across the road to avoid bumps, lumps and hollows and you get near-misses. But these near-misses aren’t recorded and used to help manage the highway.”

Record spending on road repair

The meeting heard the council had higher maintenance standards for popular cycle routes.

Coun Mackenzie said the authority was aware sides of roads tended to get potholes, which forced cyclists to swerve, but added the council had spent a record amount on road repairs this year.

He said near-misses were difficult to measure and because the council had limited funding for road safety it focused on locations which accident data showed were the most hazardous.

Coun Mackenzie said:

“I hear every day ‘this road is an accident waiting to happen’. I’ve heard that about certain roads since I took on this portfolio in 2015 and we’re still waiting for the accident to happen.”

 

‘It’s working well’: Campaigner counts cyclists using Harrogate’s Beech Grove

Harrogate cycling campaigner Malcolm Margolis spent two hours yesterday counting cyclists using the new Beech Grove low traffic neighbourhood.

Mr Margolis was spurred into action after reading a Stray Ferret article on Wednesday, which reported that on average around three cyclists per hour over a 24-hour period used the road.

The figures came from North Yorkshire County Council following a freedom of information request.

The county council closed Beech Grove to through traffic in February, initially on a six-month trial to encourage walking and cycling. It later extended the trial to 18 months.

The seemingly low number of cyclists using Beech Grove bemused Mr Margolis, who said he used the road several times a week and saw many more cyclists than the council’s survey suggested.

So he put up a camping chair next to the planters and took out his notepad and pen to count them himself.

He counted 17 cyclists from 8am to 9am and 21 cyclists from 2.45pm to 3.45pm. He said his survey proved the scheme is working well.

“The figures didn’t make sense to me. So I woke up this morning and thought, ‘let’s go down and spend an hour there to see how many I can count’.”

The Stray Ferret joined Mr Margolis for an hour in the afternoon to join him counting cyclists. We also counted three cyclists illegally crossing the Stray, and seven motorists performing U-turns in the road after realising they could not pass through.

Mr Margolis accepted that his own survey was not totally scientific because it was performed on a sunny day during peak hours. But he said the reality of the low traffic neighbourhood is that the road has been “transformed” for cyclists and pedestrians.

Passionate debate

Several curious onlookers stopped, including a man called David who was on his way to Western Primary School to collect his two children.

He said:

“It’s made it so much easier to walk to school with my children.”

Read more:

Another cyclist called Quentin said the scheme had wider benefits than just promoting cycling.

“We need to do something to tackle climate change. This is not just a benefit for cyclists, we see far more walkers.”

There were some dissenting voices, however. A couple called Sarah and George, who live together on Cold Bath Road, told Mr Margolis they were not in favour of the scheme, which prompted a passionate debate on the merits of the closure, with other passers-by joining in.

Sarah said:

“It’s backwards. It’s pushing traffic onto Cold Bath Road.”

Mr Margolis told the couple that the scheme will help create a cycling culture similar to those in Holland, Germany or Japan.

Sarah responded:

“It will never happen! We don’t have enough space.”

With the trial set to continue until August 2022, the Low Traffic Neighbourhood will continue to be debated for some time to come.

Live: Harrogate district traffic and travel

Good morning and happy Monday it’s Leah with you today bringing you all the latest traffic and travel news. With Schools back this week, traffic is expected to get busier throughout the mornings.

Ring me on 01423 276197, if it is safe, or get in touch on social media.

Let’s help everyone have a better journey by letting me know so I can add it to the blog, brought to you by the HACS Group.

9am – Full Update 

That is it from me this morning, Suzannah will be back in with you tomorrow from 6:30 with regular updates.

Roads

The roads are starting to look busier this morning with schools heading back from the summer holiday. But, keep an eye on the blog to see how it goes today.

Traffic Hotspots:

Traffic is building here:

Road closures:

Temporary lights

Trains

Buses

8.30am – Full Update 

Roads

The roads are starting to look busier this morning with schools heading back from the summer holiday. But, keep an eye on the blog to see how it goes today.

Traffic is building here:

Road closures:

Temporary lights

Trains

Buses

 

8am – Full Update 

Roads

The roads are starting to look busier this morning with schools heading back from the summer holiday. But, keep an eye on the blog to see how it goes today.

Traffic is building here:

Road closures:

Temporary lights

Trains

Buses

 

7.30am – Full Update 

Roads

The roads are starting to look busier this morning with schools heading back from the summer holiday. But, keep an eye on the blog to see how it goes today.

Traffic is building here:

Road closures:

Temporary lights

Trains

Buses

 

7am – Full Update 

Roads

The roads are looking quiet so far this morning with schools still away for the summer holiday. But, keep an eye on the blog to see how it goes today.

Road closures:

Temporary lights

Trains

Buses

 

6.30am – Full Update 

Roads

The roads are looking quiet so far this morning with schools still away for the summer holiday. But, keep an eye on the blog to see how it goes today.

Road closures:

Temporary lights

Trains

Buses

 

Crackdown on utility companies that leave North Yorkshire roads in a poor state

A highways authority experiencing a huge cut in road maintenance funding has signalled its determination to crackdown on utility companies that fail to properly restore roads after digging them up.

A meeting of North Yorkshire County Council’s executive this week heard shoddy reinstatement of roads by sewage, water, electricity, gas and communications firms was responsible for “well over half” of potholes across the country’s largest road network.

The meeting discussed ways to get utility firms to “sharpen their pencils” and improve performance.

One idea was to introduce road metering whereby firms would be charged according to the amount of time they spent on site, meaning putting right poor workmanship would prove more costly.

The Department of Transport announced this year North Yorkshire County Council would receive £37 million to maintain roads in 2021/22, £12.6 million less than the previous year. Whitehall bosses estimated the £16.5 million earmarked specifically for potholes in the county could repair 329,000 cavities.

The funding announcement came two years after the Department for Transport launched a consultation to help councils tackle the potholes by making utility companies ensure the safety of roads for up to five years. However, it has emerged the proposal has been postponed due to fears of creating “unintended consequences” for utility firms.

Read more:

Street Works UK, a trade association representing utility companies, has said the five-year rule would be unnecessary and that the sector’s roadworks performance is much better than local authorities.

The debate has also seen the RAC Foundation describe potholes as “the bane of road users’ lives” and call for utility firms to be held responsible for the quality of their road repairs.

‘Utility firms must be held to account’

Nevertheless, Councillor Stanley Lumley, a Conservative representing Pateley Bridge and chairman of the authority’s transport, economy and environment overview and scrutiny committee, told the executive there were clear variances in the condition of roads across North Yorkshire and utility firms needed to be held to account.

“It’s a great shame that we invest a lot of money in maintaining these roads and then a utility company can come along and do a poor reinstatement and that results in a bad reflection on the county.”

Councillor Don Mackenzie, a Conservative representing Harrogate Saltergate and the council’s executive member for access, said he believed well over half the county’s potholes were caused by poor remedial works following excavations. But he stressed only three per cent of the county’s principle roads were in need of repair.

“Unfortunately there’s nothing we can do to stop the utility companies breaking into our highways. They have a statutory right to access their equipment, replace or repair it.

“It is something that we must monitor very closely and is something that I personally am very concerned about. We shall ensure that we continue to improve the quality of those reinstatements.”

Cllr Mackenzie said the council had introduced a roadworks permits scheme a few years ago, which had generated funding to employ people to monitor utility firms’ work and led to financial penalties being imposed on utility companies for poor workmanship.

Live: Harrogate district traffic and travel

Good morning, it’s Connor with you today on this cloudy Thursday morning. I’m here to help you have a smooth journey in the Harrogate district.

Any delays? New roadworks? Let me know by calling me on 01423 276197 or commenting on social media.

Let’s help everyone have a better journey by letting me know so I can add it to the blog, brought to you by the HACS Group.

9am – Full Update 

That is all from me this morning. Hopefully you found the service helpful. We really do appreciate when people send us any reports, it makes a big difference for other drivers. I am heading over to the news desk now but Leah will be back with you tomorrow morning.

Roads

The roads are quieter with schools on holiday but there are a few areas to look out for this morning. As well as the road closures and temporary lights, our traffic system is showing congestion on Wetherby Road.

Road closures:

Temporary lights:

Trains

Buses

8.30am – Full Update 

Roads

The roads are quieter with schools on holiday but there are a few areas to look out for this morning. As well as the road closures and temporary lights, our traffic system is showing congestion on Wetherby Road, Skipton Road and A59 High Street in Starbeck.

Road closures:

Temporary lights:

Trains

Buses

8am – Full Update 

Roads

The roads are quieter with schools on holiday but there are a few areas to look out for this morning. As well as the road closures and temporary lights, our traffic system is showing congestion on Skipton Road, Harrogate Road near North Rigton and Wetherby Road.

Road closures:

Temporary lights:

Trains

Buses

7.30am – Full Update 

Roads

The roads are looking quiet so far this morning with schools still away for the summer holiday. Make sure to keep checking in as the morning goes on.

Road closures:

Temporary lights:

Trains

Buses

7am – Full Update 

Roads

The roads are looking quiet so far this morning with schools still away for the summer holiday. Make sure to keep checking in as the morning goes on.

Road closures:

Temporary lights:

Trains

Buses

6.30am – Full Update 

Roads

The roads are looking quiet so far this morning. Make sure to keep checking in as the morning goes on.

Temporary traffic lights are in place here:

Trains

Buses

Fallen tree blocks busy Harrogate road

A large tree has fallen in Harrogate and partly blocked a busy road, causing problems for traffic this afternoon.

The tree fell at around 2pm on Forest Lane near Hookstone Chase Primary School.

Nobody is believed to have been hurt even though the road attracts heavy traffic.

Our traffic system is showing congestion on nearby Wetherby Road and Hookstone Chase as a result.

It is unclear at this time how long it will take to clear the blockage or whether anybody was injured in the incident.

The Stray Ferret has asked North Yorkshire Police for further details but has yet to receive a reply.

Lesley Thompson told the Stray Ferret:

“I was just travelling down the road when I saw the road was blocked. It looks like a massive bough has fallen off of the tree.

“When I saw it I went to make sure that nobody was hurt and I could not see anyone or any cars in there.”

 

Live: Harrogate district traffic and travel

Good morning. It’s Connor with you on this cloudy Thursday morning. The roads have been a little quieter in the last few weeks but make sure to let me know if anything slows you down.

This blog, brought to you by the HACS Group, brings you live travel updates until 9am.

Were you stuck in a jam? Are there some new roadworks on your route? Let’s help everyone have a smoother journey by letting me know so I can add it to the blog.

Please give me a call on 01423 276197 or join our Facebook group ‘Harrogate district traffic and travel’ to give any updates.

9am – Full Update 

Thank you for getting involved this morning. We do have a system to keep an eye on the traffic but it cannot beat local reports. So do keep getting in touch. Leah will be back with you tomorrow from 6.30am. I am heading over to the news desk now.

Roads

The roads are looking quiet so far this morning but there are a few areas to look out for across the Harrogate district, mainly around construction works.

Our system is showing heavy traffic here:

Temporary traffic lights are in place here:

Trains

Buses

8.30am – Full Update 

Roads

The roads are looking quiet so far this morning but there are a few areas to look out for across the Harrogate district, mainly around construction works.

Our system is showing heavy traffic here:

Temporary traffic lights are in place here:

Trains

Buses

8am – Full Update 

Roads

The roads are looking quiet so far this morning but there are a few areas to look out for across the Harrogate district, mainly around construction works.

Our system is showing heavy traffic here:

Temporary traffic lights are in place here:

Trains

Buses

7.30am – Full Update 

Roads

The roads are looking quiet so far this morning but there are a few areas to look out for across the Harrogate district, mainly around construction works.

Temporary traffic lights are in place here:

Trains

Buses

7am – Full Update 

Roads

The roads are looking quiet so far this morning but there are a few areas to look out for across the Harrogate district, mainly around construction works.

Temporary traffic lights are in place here:

Trains

Buses

6.30am – Full Update 

Roads

The roads are looking quiet so far this morning. Make sure to keep checking in as the morning goes on.

Temporary traffic lights are in place here:

Trains

Buses