Accident highlights why a Harrogate community is ‘fed up’ with the impact of new housing

Members of Kingsley Ward Action Group, which was formed by frustrated residents in 2020, say there has been no let up since house building began in 2019 adding approximately 600 new homes to Kingsley Road/Bogs Lane area.

They say their neighbourhood has endured the dust, disruption and physical impact of heavy lorries on an almost daily basis for six years now.

From the beginning, they have also questioned whether their area is actually suitable for so many new developments and whether sufficient attention has been given to transport links and road infrastructure in the crowed area of narrow roads which, they say, are residential roads, not highways.

Last Friday there was an incident in the area which, they say, proves their point.

Residents say a car was in a collision with a house on the corner of Kingsley Road and Olive Walk which completely destroyed a fence and caused damage to a parked camper van.

They say some of them complained at the scene to Harrogate Police about speeding motorists.

North Yorkshire Council’s highways authority is aware of concerns and has previously deployed traffic engineers and introduced some traffic calming measures.

But Kingsley Ward Action Group argues none of this is sufficient, so far, to ensure safety on local roads or deal with the problem of speeding drivers.

In particular, it says a general 20mph speed limit is needed in their area, as well as Vehicle Activated Road Signs (VARS) to show what speeds some motorists are doing.

The council has made it clear that it can only consider installing Speed Limit Reminder Signs (VAS) on the highway, rather than VARS after a policy decision made in 2019.

Kingsley Ward Action Group claims the massive expansion of housing in their area has in itself led to poor road conditions.

No one is claiming any rules are being broken, only that they are not working in the community’s interests.