Traffic situation 'untenable' at Wetherby Road waste disposal site say Harrogate residents
Residents are complaining about being hit by “traffic chaos” at Harrogate’s only town centre household waste recycling centre.
The Harrogate Advertiser has been contacted by readers who are concerned over the situation at Wetherby Road.
One reader, who wished to remain anonymous, claimed most of the traffic problems near Sainsbury’s superstore were being caused by traffic queueing on Wetherby Road to enter the public waste disposal site.
"The situation is becoming untenable,” said the reader.
"Nearby residents are suffering great inconvenience from motorists attempting to work their way round the problem area.
"It is simply unacceptable to ignore the traffic chaos."
Readers say the traffic problems are particularly acute during school holidays when more people have the time to take their waste to the tip.
"I experienced it myself last weekend,” said the reader.
"It was taking 20 minutes to drive from a point on Wetherby Road outside the hospital, to the traffic lights at Sainsbury’s.
"The queue in the opposite direction was huge as well.
“That is often the case simply because of the Sainsbury and Hookstone Drive traffic lights, and the sheer volume of traffic.
“But the queue approaching the junction with Wetherby Road tailed back hundreds of yards down the hill towards the Morrisons roundabout.
"Glancing back as we made the left on the situation appeared to be the same in the opposite direction as well.”
As to what the solution to the Wetherby Road waste tip traffic problems may be, one suggestion is for North Yorkshire Council, who run all 20 of the county’s household waste recycling centres, to introduce a new traffic order and signs banning queueing beyond a certain point and the same in the opposite direction.
Another idea is to do more to encourage Harrogate households to drive to the town’s other tip located at Penny Pot Lane.
The council recently launched a new registration policy at its waste sites to stop people from outside North Yorkshire using the service free of charge.
The authority estimates people from outside the county using its waste tips was costing taxpayers up to £400,000 a year.