Harrogate's traffic woes may be solved by new fleet of hop-on hop-off buses

As Harrogate Town Plan Forum works its way toward producing a statutory Neighbourhood Plan for Harrogate, a meeting on the issues facing the town on transportation last month concluded that there had been too much emphasis on the ‘battle’ between cycling versus cars.

Instead, members of the wide-ranging group came up with a series of possible solutions to evade the politics of this controversial issue.

The presentation by Jemima Parker of Zero Carbon Harrogate revealed the data behind Harrogate’s congestion woes.

A number of facts and figures were presented, many of which came from the last Census:

The average distance travelled by a vehicle in Harrogate and Knaresborough is 1.6 miles.

Nearly half of journeys are within that area and 7% are through journeys.

Per capita emission levels are higher than the national average although this is predominantly from main road traffic.

The highest percentage (34%) of emissions from all sources in Harrogate District is from vehicles.

Large parts of the district do not have access to an at least hourly bus or rail service.

Some of the traffic congestion problems experienced in the town are caused by traffic generated from within outlying rural areas where there are no alternatives to car travel.

The founder and chair of Zero Carbon Harrogate concluded that people use cars for many of these journeys because there is not an alternative: there is not a suitable bus route, it is not practical to cycle because of age, disability, children or shopping, or it’s too far to walk.

Among an array of pointers for the future were:

Lots more small electric hop on an off buses on new routes with possible mini bus stations outside the centre.

Make bus services available in new housing estates from day one to get people used to using a bus instead of a car.

Better integrated master plans required to understand the links between transport and new housing developments.

More secure cycle parking.

Utilise the Stray for fast cycle routes around the centre.

An improved bus service will reduce car use particularly where they are linked to new housing.

A relief road may not help Harrogate because we have so many internal journeys.

Spearheaded by Harrogate Civic Society and Zero Carbon Harrogate, Harrogate Town Plan Forum aims to set the parameters of how decisions will be made for Harrogate in the future, in particular, as regards the new Harrogate Town Council which is to be elected by residents next year.

The process of securing the legal status to produce a statutory Neighbourhood Plan for Harrogate is a lengthy one and involves North Yorkshire Council, the new unitary authority.

But the volunteer members of Harrogate Town Plan Forum have already put in a phenomenal amount of work.

It now has working groups to look in more detail at the three main core topics of economy, transport and housing.

If you are interested in joining one or more working groups please contact the respective leader of the groups as follows:

Retail and economy – David Waddington [email protected]

Transport – Jemima Parker [email protected]

Housing – Jonathan Foggitt [email protected]