Angry Harrogate residents fear new yellow lines will lead to parking nightmare

After enduring six years of dust, disruption, construction traffic, the loss of green fields, potholes and road closures since 2019 which have resulted in approximately 600 new homes off Knaresborough Road by a variety of housing developers including Barratts, Stonebridge, Persimmon and Redrow, so far, people living in the Kingsley Road/Bogs Lane area almost expect bad news.

But that doesn’t make it any easier to live with.

Members of Kingsley Ward Action Group, which was formed by residents in 2020, thought the appearance of a new deep cavernous pit on their doorsteps less than five metres from existing homes, which they have labelled “open cast mining”, was the most important new problem.

Now, they say, the introduction of parking restrictions by North Yorkshire Council is a headache they didn’t see coming.

The order saying waiting will be prohibited at all times applies to parts of Kingsley Drive, Kingsley Road, Leyland Road and Rydal Road.

Talking about the prospective yellow lines on residential streets, Gary Tremble of KWAG said: “I bumped into one of the householders on Kingsley Drive who had no knowledge of the yellow lines let alone given his permission and the owner was less than pleased.

"It’s my opinion that yellow lines cannot be implemented outside a residence without the homeowners permission.

"Residents in the Kingsley area currently tend to park outside their houses as they have very little alternative.”

Another local resident told the Harrogate Advertiser: “There are no lines at the moment.

"The council’s plan seems to be to put them down the entire side of Kingsley Drive, which is fine apart from the section the contains houses 101 - 109 where apparently they must get permission from the home owners.

"This has clearly not been done and, judging by the response I got, there is no way owners will agree.”

As for the new pit, it turns out it is named “Persimmon Long Lands View Excavation”.

Kingsley Ward Action Group said: “We report with anger, astonishment and disbelief the current situation with the Persimmon Long Lands View development on Kingsley Drive.

"It looks like they are now conducting open cast mining.

"There is a huge area that has been excavated just feet from the road itself and less than five metres from the homes of worried residents.

"There is even a sign warning of deep water.

"This was never a suitable area for mass development and this just goes to once again prove what we have said.”

In correspondence with KWAG, a spokesperson for Persimmon explained: "Upon the commencement of any new development site, it is first necessary to install vital infrastructure such as roads, sewers and surface water attenuation.

"For health and safety, as well as basic practicalities, this work must be done prior to the construction of any new homes and is often undertaken by specialist contractors.

"We value all feedback and strive to be good neighbours to existing residents close to where we are building new homes."

Just as in the case of the yellow lines, there is no suggestion that anyone is doing anything wrong at all.

But, once again, those left feeling the pain are the residents.