In this article, which is part of a series on the 12 stories in the Harrogate district that shaped 2022, we look back at plans for active travel in the Harrogate district.

Few topics have generated more heat over the last 12 months than schemes to promote walking and cycling in Harrogate. But for all the sound and fury, little has changed.

A decision on whether to proceed with the £11.2 million Station Gateway still has not been made. Beech Grove reopened to through traffic after an 18-month experimental closure. New cycle routes on Victoria Road and Harrogate Road in Knaresborough remain a distant dream, even though funding is in place. Oatlands Drive is once again the subject of a consultation.

The only significant development was the opening of the first phase of the Otley Road cycle path — to almost universal condemnation.

Critics wonder why cycling gets so much attention; cyclists and environmentalists wonder when anything will ever actually happen. Here's what happened to the key schemes.

Station Gateway stalemate

In January, North Yorkshire County Council indicated it would proceed with the scheme despite concerns from businesses and residents about the impact on trade and delays on the roads — but warned it would take a year longer than expected. The proposed starting date was put back to this winter.

Don Mackenzie, the council's Harrogate-based executive councillor for access who hailed the gateway as the “greatest investment in decades” in Harrogate town centre, did not seek re-election in May's local elections. His successor, Cllr Keane Duncan, said he remained committed to the scheme and planned to "crack on".

In June, the council opened a second consultation on the scheme. A third would follow in autumn.

Summer also saw the commercial property firm Hornbeam Park Developments Ltd threaten a judicial review against the council's handling of the gateway.

Soaring inflation sparked concerns in autumn the quality of the scheme could be compromised due to rising construction costs — a claim Cllr Duncan denied.

Months of silence suggested enthusiasm was waning until Cllr Duncan said this month the council remained committed to the project. But he added it was still evaluating the results of the third round of consultation and would ask Harrogate and Knaresborough councillors for their views before deciding whether to proceed.

The anticipated start date was put back another year to late 2023.



Despite the delay, in December the council submitted a planning application to destroy the tempietto outside Victoria Shopping Centre to make way for changes to the public realm that would be part of the scheme, along with making some of Station Parade single lane to traffic and partly pedestrianising James Street.

The application was submitted even though a final decision on whether to proceed with the gateway project has not been taken. A council spokesman said the little temple would only be removed as part of the gateway works.

---

Beech Grove plans are beached

If ever a picture symbolised the state of active travel in Harrogate, it was the DPD van that got beached on a snowy Stray in February.

The van driver had attempted to evade the planters preventing traffic through traffic on Beech Grove.

Beech Grove is seen as a key route in wider plans to create an off-road cycling route from Cardale Park to Harrogate train station and the planters had been in place for a year to prevent vehicles using the street as a cut through between West Park, Otley Road and Cold Bath Road.

But the 18-month experimental order closing the road to through traffic expired in August and, with no new plans in place, traffic returned to how it was before.

The planters, however, have not been taken away. They remain by the side of the road pending another consultation.



This consultation did not start too well when one of three proposals put forward was described by Harrogate District Cycle Action as so dangerous it shouldn’t even be offered.

The proposal suggests making traffic heading out of town on Beech Grove one-way and creating an unprotected cycle lane on the opposite side.

Harrogate District Cycle Action said there wasn’t enough width for parking, a traffic lane, and a contraflow cycle lane. It added the contraflow cycle lane “would be a narrow ‘murder-strip’ putting cyclists' lives in jeopardy from oncoming traffic.

A decision on what to do with Beech Grove and neighbouring streets is expected next year.

---

Otley Road's 'crazy golf' design 

The first of three phases of the route finally opened in January. There were immediate concerns about the safety of a junction, which led to an agreement between North Yorkshire County Council and Yorkshire Water to widen the affected area.

As time went on there was further criticism of the design, ranging from the width of the cycle path not conforming to latest government guidance to the route zig-zagging between the highway and shared pedestrian routes.



Rene Dziabas, chairman of Harlow and Pannal Ash Residents’ Association, described it as like “crazy golf construction”.

He said a survey of residents and businesses along Otley Road revealed “very heavily negative” attitudes, with only two positive comments received.

The council staged an at-times heated meeting to discuss the latest proposals for Otley Road and Beech Grove in October but some residents did not receive letters from the council about the event before it took place.

There is little prospect of work starting on phases two and three anytime soon. A contractor has yet to be appointed for the second phase and funding has not been secured for phase three.

---

Read more:

• Otley Road cycle path could be re-routed with new traffic restrictions


• Transport chief still 'committed' to Harrogate Station Gateway, despite inflation fears


• Are the Beech Grove planters set for a comeback?

---