Controversial £11.2m Gateway plans for Harrogate backed by councillors but with major conditions set by Lib Dems

The Tory-controlled North Yorkshire Council had had effectively handed over the future of the sustainable transport plans to the Lib Dem-dominated Harrogate and Knaresborough area constituency committee.

But at a heated and lengthy meeting at Harrogate Civic Centre where members of the public passionately opposed to the scheme made their voices heard time and time again, an alternative option to a straight 'yes' or 'no' was passed by ten votes to three.

Several – but not all - Lib Dems spoke against the Government-funded project in its present form and a straight-forward result was never likely after the committee's chair, Lib Dem Coun Pat Marsh, declared she was against the plans for pedestrianisations and reduced lanes for car traffic, but only in their present form.

In advance of today's meeting, North Yorkshire Council had said the Harrogate Gateway project centred on the Station Parade area was essential to counter-act the challenges facing the retail sector in the town centre, as well as hitting targets to reduce carbon emissions and tackle traffic congestion.

But the committee ultimately opted to vote to welcome the investment in theory but to demand the scheme be reassessed in practice to, in effect, prove it was capable of impacting positively on local businesses, traffic congestion and carbon reduction in the way North Yorkshire Council had pledged – and with more input from businesses.

The next big moment for Gateway will come when councillors on North Yorkshire Council's ruling executive on May 30.

Whether that is truly the end of the story...

If the scheme is given the go-ahead, the final business case would need to be approved by the West Yorkshire Combined Authority to release the funding, with construction expected to begin before the end of the year – in theory.

Find more information about the Transforming Cities Fund programme at www.westyorks-ca.gov.uk/TCF