Mayor set to hand £500,000 to North Yorkshire Council to spend on Harrogate Station Gateway project

The money will be spent upgrading junctions at the A61 and on improvements to Station Square and the Queen Victoria statue.

According to a report, the changes will “maximise the benefits” of the controversial gateway scheme which is finally set to be built next year.

The majority of funding for the gateway is coming from the government.

However, the council put in a bid for extra money from the mayor this summer.

Mr Skaith will chair a meeting of York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority on Wednesday afternoon where he is expected to approve spending money on a host of projects through the mayoral improvement fund.

At the same meeting, the combined authority is also set to approve £80,000 on designs for a mobility hub in Ripon.

David Skaith, Mayor of York and North Yorkshire, said: “I’m pleased that, as a combined authority, we are in a position to enable important projects right across our region.

"We’re using devolved funds to make a real difference.”

The £12.1m Station Gateway plans now include a redeveloped One Arch and Station Square, better traffic signals, a bus lane, a southbound cycle lane on Station Parade, new paving for pedestrians and cycling parking at Harrogate Station.

But for those hoping to see a more ambitious gateway scheme for pedestrians and cyclists have been left disappointed.

Plans to part-pedestrianise James Street and reduce Station Parade to one lane were abandoned by the council.

This was due to a legal challenge from Hornbeam Park Developments, a property company owned by businessman Chris Bentley.

The council admitted it had made a technical error during the consultation stages.

This meant it had to go back to the drawing board to ensure the legal threat subsided and the project could move forward, albeit on a much smaller scale.

But despite the changes the scheme has continued to court controversy.

A resident-led petition calling for it to be scrapped has now garnered more than 1,000 signatures since it was set up in August.