North Yorkshire transport leader warns county could spend £11m Gateway cash elsewhere if Harrogate abandons project

Coun Keane Duncan, North Yorkshire County Council's Executive Member for Highways & Transportation, said the council remained committed to the idea of bringing more cycling and walking to Harrogate's Station Parade area.

There was still a risk that the money would go back to the Government in the event of the project being scuppered.

But, in that situation, the county council would now seek to have the £11m transferred it to Gateway projects in North Yorkshire.

“The altogether worst situation would be returning the funding to Government to spend in other areas,” said Coun Duncan.

"But that does remain a risk if the Harrogate scheme fails to go ahead.

"If Harrogate Gateway did not proceed, we would seek to spend the £11m on the Gateway schemes in Selby and Skipton.”

After more than two years of debate in Harrogate including three major public consultations, crunch time is looming for Gateway.

The first public consultation on North Yorkshire's plans – including reducing Station Parade to one-lane traffic and the partial pedestrianisation of James Street - took place in February 2021.

Fuelled by 15,000 replies to a public survey on Harrogate’s mounting traffic congestion in 2019 which showed a clear majority in favour of ‘green’ initiatives, North Yorkshire County Council successfully bid for nearly £11m from the Government’s Transforming Cities Fund aimed at promoting active, sustainable travel, such as cycling and walking.

But, despite being backed from the beginning by Harrogate Borough Council and the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, opposition to the plans has grown.

In particular, the town’s business leaders fear the Gateway project may create the worst of both worlds – the same traffic congestion but fewer shoppers in the town centre.

Coun Duncan says the results of the third and most recent public consultation were more positive than had sometimes been portrayed.

"Public opinion in Harrogate about Gateway is very finely balanced but I was quite reassured by the results.

"If you look at the detailed responses in the recent consultation, there is still strong support for the key elements of the scheme.”

Local authority schemes funded through the Transforming Cities Fund need to fit Government criteria on sustainability.

It’s for that reason that Coun Duncan’s predecessor in the role of transport ‘czar’, Coun Don Mackenzie, warned that the £11m could not simply be switched to other public realm improvements or better parking or, as some argued, the return of two-way traffic on the A61 in Parliament Street.

Rather than forfeiting all that Government cash, the county council is now contemplating attempting to use it elsewhere.

"For us not to proceed with a landmark scheme in Harrogate to improve the town – with all the enormous benefits involved – would be a major disappointment,” said Coun Duncan.

"If Harrogate Gateway did not proceed, we would seek to spend the £11m on similar schemes in Selby and Skipton to avoid it leaving North Yorkshire and being spent elsewhere in the country.”

"This would be subject to agreement by the Government and West Yorkshire Combined Authority."