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18
Mar 2023
Call for council to ‘get its act together’ over active travel in Harrogate
A senior highways officer at North Yorkshire County Council has been told to focus on delivering walking and cycling schemes in Harrogate following the scrapping of two high-profile projects in six months.
At a meeting of the Harrogate & Knaresborough area constituency committee in Harrogate today, North Yorkshire County Council highways officer Melisa Burnham gave a presentation to councillors that updated them on the current direction of active travel in the town.
Ms Burnham reaffirmed the reasons for scrapping the second phase of the Otley Road cycle path and said why it decided to not continue with the Beech Grove Low Traffic Neighbourhood after an 18-month pilot. She said both schemes had faced public opposition.
She said the council is expecting an answer from the government tomorrow on whether they have been successful in funding bids for segregated cycle routes on Victoria Avenue in Harrogate and the section of Knaresborough Road between Mother Shipton’s Cave and Harrogate Golf Club.
She also said the results of a long-awaited study into improvements in the Oatlands Drive area will be published next month. In 2021, the council scrapped plans to make the road one-way following fierce opposition from local residents.
In 2019, the council undertook a major public consultation regarding congestion in Harrogate where over 15,000 people responded.
It showed there was an appetite for active travel as 77% of respondents said they would like better walking and cycling routes.
But since the survey, only the much-criticised first phase of the Otley Road cycle path has been delivered and still remains.
Read more:
- Confirmed: second phase of Harrogate’s Otley Road cycle route scrapped
- Funding for Harrogate and Knaresborough cycling projects ‘not guaranteed’
- Council bids for £3m for cycling projects in Harrogate and Knaresborough
This promoted Chris Aldred, Liberal Democrat councillor for High Harrogate & Kingsley, to suggest the people who said they wanted more active travel are being let down by the county council.
He said:
‘Thank you for seeing sense’
Sam Gibbs, Conserative councillor for Valley Gardens and Central Harrogate, thanked the county council for “seeing sense” on phase 2 of the Otley Road cycle path.
The unspent money that was earmarked for the cycle path will now be spent on an as-yet-unannounced scheme in the Otley Road area.
Cllr Gibbs said:
He added:
Ms Burnham also revealed the county council has undertaken feasibility studies into reducing traffic on Leeds Road. She said design options are being developed and will be issued in the coming weeks.
This was welcomed by John Mann, councillor for Oatlands & Pannal.
He said:
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