Harrogate road reopens in town centre after 'sudden' closure

There had been complaints earlier in the week after a part of Station Parade was closed to traffic because of building work.

Lawyer and resident Russell Davidson has told the Harrogate Advertiser that the southern end of Station Parade had been enormously inconvenienced by the completely unannounced closure of the road on two successive days.

Mr Davidson, who works in offices at Royal House on the opposite side of the road to Waitrose store, also claimed there had been a lack of notice of the road closure.

He said: "The foreman on the Southfield development opposite tells me he was granted a four-day road closure permit by the county council.

"But nobody from the county council gave us advance notice and there were no statutory notices posted up on lampposts."

Harrogate Council says Stray fencing will start to come down soon

Mr Davidson also said the closure had created problems for traffic.

He said: "it has caused huge inconvenience to the whole of the town, with traffic backing up and being diverted along Victoria Avenue and Robert Street.

"This kind of work should be done at the weekends, not on days when people are working in affected offices.

"Road users and adjacent property occupiers should not be treated like this."

But Coun Don Mackenzie, North Yorkshire County Council's executive member for highways and passenger transport, said there had been a warning on the county council's online map of the road closure and it would be a two-day closure only.

He said: "The one.network map shows permit issued for closure from 8pm on November 11 until 5am on November 14 for purposes of “lifting stairs and concrete slabs” as part of adjacent construction."

He added he was currently checking whether any other notice had been given.

What Harrogate Council thinks about rates and rents controversy