New delays hit progress on Harrogate's cycle path future

After first securing funding in 2017 for the creation of a cycle track along Otley Road, North Yorkshire County Council found itself bogged down in talks with worried residents about the precise details of the route and the safety of pedestrians.

It has also struggled to reach an agreement with the Duchy of Lancaster about using a small strip of Stray land for part of the new path.

Keen to get on with it, the county council recently launched a new timetable for the project, splitting the work into three phases from Beech Grove to Cardale Park.

But the Harrogate Advertiser has learned that, after contractors carried out some minor tree removal on Otley Road last week, work has stalled again while utility companies carry out essential work. What’s more, it is unlikely to begin again in earnest for a number of months.

Tim Simpson, senior project engineer for the council’s highways and transportation, said: “The official commencement on site to start the junction upgrade of Harlow Moor Road and the installation of phase one of the cycle route will begin after Northern Power Grid have completed on site.

“No substantive works will begin in the next few weeks. It will be months.”

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Cycle paths: What North Yorkshire County Council says

Coun Don Mackenzie, the county council’s executive member for transport, said he was hopeful a large part of the project would be completed by the end of the year.

“Phase one of the cycle path construction will be from Harrogate Grammar School up to the Harlow Moor Road junction. That section does not involve any Stray land on either side of the road.

“Phase two does include some Stray land but I understand that a piece of land acceptable to the Duchy of Lancaster has now been identified.

“I would be disappointed if the first two phases were not completed well before the end of this calendar year and phase three well under way.”

The county council’s frustration is shared by cycling and environmental groups critical of the slow progress.

Harrogate and District Cycle Action (HDCA) has been calling on its members to press local authorities to get on with building more segregated cycleways in the district.

Kevin Douglas, chair of HDCA, said: “It has now been more than three years since a new stretch of cycle path was developed in the district.”

Cycle paths: What Harrogate and District Cycle Action says

Harrogate and District Cycle Action (HDCA) recently undertook a review of their long term aims and set them out in a ‘Manifesto for Cycling’.

HDCA chair Kevin Douglas said: "With the County Council dropping their plans for the relief road and now looking at sustainable transport options and the Borough Council strongly supporting this approach, we felt now was the time to seek people’s views on what they want to see progressed as part of the cycle network.

"We meet regularly with both authorities as part of the District Cycle Forum and we want to be in a position to put forward what local people want to see developed as part of future plan for cycling in the District.

"There are plans in the pipeline for some development but these have been delayed and progress has been slow.

"It is over three years since a new stretch of cycle path was developed in the District - and we want to be able to make a case for more to be built to help reduce congestion and pollution.

"The local authorities have done a good job in raising the profile of cycling by supporting events in the District and undertaking cycle training in schools but if there is no safe, segregated cycleways for people to use then it just leads to frustration and they will soon lose interest.

Anyone who wants to support the campaign can sign up on the website and comment on any issues relating to cycling in the Harrogate district.

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