Pop-up cycle lane to be installed in Harrogate as county council's active travel bid revealed in full

And the authority has pledged to deliver all of the measures despite only being awarded half of the Department for Transport (DfT) money.

Documents show the council will create a pop-up cycle lane on Beech Grove in Harrogate - as well as more cycle parking at locations across the county.

It will also use the cash to cover the costs of social distancing barriers already installed in Harrogate, Knaresborough and Ripon.

Parking bay suspensions, road closures and new road layouts at other locations outside of the Harrogate district make up the rest of the bid.

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David Bowe, corporate director of business and environmental services, said the council is now "pressing ahead" with its proposals despite the Department for Transport's "disappointing" decision to only award £133,000.

“The focus of our bid is the temporary measures we have already put in place to enable people to visit town centres safely so that they can support reopening local businesses and to travel confidently on foot or by bicycle wherever possible", he said.

"We will continue to fund and maintain these temporary measures through the summer, as set out in our bid, even though we do not have the full funding allocation from the DfT.

“Ours is very much a countywide bid. We have 28 market towns across North Yorkshire and, like other rural counties, we have had to balance the need to enable access to our towns with our present primary focus on supporting shops and hospitality businesses in reopening successfully after months of closure."

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Cycle campaigners in Harrogate had criticised the council for lacking "ambition and innovation" after it was revealed the authority failed to secure all of the money it had been allocated.

The council is now preparing a bid for the second phase of the fund, where a larger sum of around £1.1million will be made available for longer term projects.

Mr Bowe said: “We are studying feedback from the DfT on our first tranche bid and will use that to help us to consider how to achieve the maximum allocation in tranche two, when the larger sum of almost £1.1million will be on offer.

"We have yet to receive guidance on the tranche two bidding process from the DfT, but it is likely to focus on permanent improvements to walking and cycling infrastructure.”

The council said it will take around seven weeks to create the pop-up cycle lane on Beech Grove in Harrogate.

Separately, the council has submitted a bid to the government for £3.3milllion to upgrade town centre footways.

Talks are also being held with Transport for the North and central government over a potential £75million package of improvements to cycling and walking facilities in Harrogate, Scarborough and Selby.

By Jacob Webster, Local Democracy Reporter

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