Major Harrogate road to reopen after 18 long months for residents fed up with explosion of new homes

Gary Tremble is a member of Kingsley Ward Action Group, which was formed by residents in the Kingsley area of Harrogate in 2020 in an angry reaction to a swathe of house building and waves of dust, disruption and the loss of green space.

As well as concern over the suitability of Kingsley Road and Bogs Lane for the extra car journeys created by the rapidly expanding population in the area, they argue that, so far, only lip service has been paid to the need for new paths to give people access to the area by foot.

Now, after six noisy and frustrating years which has seen residents’ anger sometimes boil over, come two pieces of good news at the same time:

The creation of a pedestrian path near the railway bridge to link Bogs Lane to Kingsley Drive.

The imminent reopening to car traffic of Bogs Lane.

Mr Tremble said: "‘After more than six years of pointing out the obvious dangers of Bogs Lane, we finally have a path for pedestrians.

"It took the road to be closed for 18 months but they got there in the end.

"No longer will families risk their lives traversing what was the most dangerous stretch of road in Harrogate.

"Unfortunately, because it is now open to traffic again, we will see the return of the notorious rat run and the entrances to the new developments and Kingsley Drive will again become possible accident black spots.”

Bogs Lane was initially closed to cars in November 2022 to allow work to begin on the then latest housing development in the Kingsley and Bogs Lane area - 133 new homes at Kingsley Manor.

Various hoped-for dates for reopening an important, if narrow, road which is often utilised by motorists attempting to get round the heavily-congested Knaresborough Road in Starbeck, have come and gone in the 18 months since then.

But North Yorkshire Council’s highways authority says the road will reopen early next week.

The council’s Assistant Director of Highways and Transport, said: "The temporary closure of Kingsley Road and Bogs Lane will come to an end on Monday, May 6, once the resurfacing is completed and traffic signals go live.

There had been talk that Bogs Lane would be closed to vehicular traffic – except for the lorries required to build new housing estates – on a permanent basis.

But North Yorkshire Council has now confirmed that the idea has now been dropped.

In the view of local residents in the Kingsley area, the first bit of good news since new houses started to be built in their area not far from Harrogate High School as part of the Local Plan agreed by councillors in 2019 does not mean peace and quiet has returned.

As recently as January 2024, metal fencing was erected in preparation for the construction of the 162-home Kingsley Drive development.

Nor do residents feel happy about the absence of new infrastructure which, in theory, might have been expected to accompany the construction of nearly 600 new homes in one small part of Harrogate.

The work of Kingsley Ward Action Group is likely to continue.