OPINION: Don Mackenzie announces decision to stand down as councillor and looks back on the Harrogate projects he helped to shape

This is my last column for the Harrogate Advertiser.

I will not be seeking election to the new unitary council and my time as county councillor will end in May.

My first article was published in March 2016. Former editor, Jean MacQuarrie, kindly offered me the opportunity to report monthly on matters relating to my Access portfolio, which includes highways, transport, public rights of way, and digital infrastructure.

I set out then the transport priorities, which lay ahead for the Harrogate area: a re-alignment of the A59 trans-Pennine road at Kex Gill, improvement of the Harrogate Rail Line and train services, and a plan to deal with congestion in Harrogate town centre.

I believe that some progress has been made with each of those, but not enough.

Kex Gill:

A landslip had yet again forced the closure of the A59 on January 5, 2016, and it did not re-open until February 27 after stabilisation works costing £500,000.

Regular repair costs, the huge inconvenience and effects of long diversions via Otley and Ilkley, and the harmful effect on local businesses all made the case for re-alignment even more urgent.

The Kex Gill scheme has not yet been delivered but a start will be made very soon.

Funding of £61m for the project is in place, after the Department for Transport accepted the county council’s bid for £56m topped up by a local contribution.

Delays have occurred as often happens when building roads in environmentally sensitive areas of our countryside.

Most of the issues are now resolved and a contractor should be appointed shortly. Once the re-aligned route is complete, the existing road will be dug up and returned to nature.

Harrogate Rail Line:

Train services to and from Harrogate have improved greatly in the last six years.

The introduction of Azuma bi-modal trains in 2019 allowed LNER to run up to seven services a day direct to London via Leeds, whilst the £10m county council-led scheme to modernise track and signalling at Cattal in 2020 enabled Network Rail to dispense with the Victorian-era token system on the line, and cleared the way for train operator Northern to double the frequency of services between Knaresborough and York.

Congestion in Harrogate:

The Harrogate Congestion Study Public Engagement in 2019 attracted over 15,500 replies from local residents, by far the greatest response to a consultation carried out in the town in living memory.

The message delivered was clear: the public did not support investment in a relief road, but wanted the county council to introduce more and better facilities for walking and cycling, to boost the use of buses and trains, and to encourage residents out of their cars for short journeys.

In the last six years, we have successfully bid for £3.6m funding for transport improvements for the Otley Road corridor, for over £1m for cycle paths under the Government’s Active Travel Fund, and, most recently, for £42m from the Transforming Cities Fund for Gateway schemes in Harrogate, Selby and Skipton. In addition to our investment in rail, we are hopeful of attracting significant funding for buses.

Our Bus Services Improvement Plan, valued at £116m over the next eight years, and our bid to the government’s Zero Emissions Buses (ZEBRA) in partnership with Harrogate Bus Company were submitted last year and we expect results in the next two weeks.

What do I consider the most successful projects over the last seven years of my time as Access portfolio holder in North Yorkshire?

The re-engineering of the Bond End junction in Knaresborough in 2018 is certainly one of them.

The project, completed on time and within budget, involved the removal of seven sets of traffic lights, the construction of two mini-roundabouts, and the installation of four zebra crossings, and resulted in a much more efficient junction, which has reduced, and for much of the day removed, queues of traffic, improved air quality and proved to be perfectly safe for pedestrians.

The County Council’s LED streetlight conversion programme has also been highly successful.

Most of the 50,400 sodium lights have been replaced with LED units, resulting in savings of over £1m a year in energy and repair costs.

Originally budgeted at over £12m, the programme was completed at a cost of £8m with a payback time on the investment of just eight years.

This investment has proved to be a huge money saver for our taxpayers, whilst at the same time leading to a remarkable reduction in our carbon footprint.

The county council’s £100m investment in digital infrastructure has also been a significant success and game-changer for many.

The Superfast North Yorkshire project has brought high quality broadband to 200,000 domestic and business properties throughout the county, whilst the county’s Local Full Fibre Network has provided a gigabit-capable fibre backbone connecting up 340 public buildings throughout the county, and providing the means to introduce free public Wi-Fi to 18 town centres, including Harrogate, Knaresborough, Ripon and Boroughbridge.