This is how new car measures in Harrogate look but are they enough ask green groups?

Harrogate's worst burnt-out eyesore may be set for development

Potentially significant sustainable measures may be on the way but they are too piecemeal, argue Harrogate's small army of green campaigners.

Hot on the heels of last week’s news of the introduction of an initially small number of new cycle paths and ‘Low Traffic Neighbourhoods’ in Harrogate, comes another major announcement on ‘sustainable’ travel.

Tomorrow, Friday, will see North Yorkshire County Council brief the media on consultations which will be launched shortly on proposals for the Harrogate Gateway project, funded with £7.8 million from the Government’s Transforming Cities Fund.

The county council’s executive member for transport believes this much-anticipated project is good for the economy and for the environment.

Coun Don Mackenzie said: “The Gateway scheme offers, I believe, the opportunity for significant uplift for the town and a boost to the local economy. The intention is to transform the area around the bus and railway stations, upgrading facilities for walking and cycling and generally overcoming the sense of separation of the transport hub from the town centre.”

With its emphasis on sustainable transport, public spaces and non-car links to the rest of the town, the project is likely to alarm sections of the town’s business community and some members of the public, as did last week’s.

But, to the many groups which now make up Harrogate’s influential green lobby, the problem isn’t one of local authorities doing too much to reduce car use and cut carbon emissions, it’s doing too little, in their opinion.

The Harrogate District Climate Action Network argues there is little wrong with each individual measure but is concerned that a “timid” and “piecemeal” approach will fail to bring the right results while fostering public acrimony .

Speaking on behalf of HDCAN, which consists of 13 groups in the Harrogate District with a total membership exceeding 4,000, Ian Hallett said: “In the face of the scale of climate emergency we need to achieve a modal shift in local travel aimed at drivers to persuade them to leave the car at home.

“We need to build an integrated network of clean travel options including improved electric buses, decent rail service, safe and efficient cycle networks and electric car charging points.

“The changes being proposed so far are too timid, and will not achieve the modal shift in transport choices required to make a difference and end up causing controversy, instead of getting real dialogue with community to agree the radical changes which are needed.”

The ‘Low Traffic Neighbourhoods’ announced last week for Beech Grove and Lancaster Road are aimed partly at allowing the road to act as a key link for bikes travelling between Otley Road and Victoria Avenue when the town’s new segregated cycle link into the town centre is finally built.

Alongside Bilton also being designated a ‘Low Traffic Neighbourhood’, the initiative will go hand-in-hand with another set of new cycle paths funded by the county council’s £1m bid to the Department of Transport’s Active Travel Fund - Victoria Avenue, Oatlands Drive and the A59 between Starbeck and Knaresborough High Bridge.

When added to hopeful signs on the much-delayed new Otley Road cycle path, it might sound like cause for celebration from an environmental point of view.

Indeed, green campaigners in Harrogate have mostly welcomed the moves and are calling on residents to support the new schemes.

Nonetheless, they point to limitations in the progress being made and say what is needed is a ‘whole system approach’ to local transport infrastructure and services in the face of a wave of new housing sweeping the district.

Mr Hallett added: “There will be no complete east-west connectivity from Knaresborough through to Harrogate as the proposed cycle route from Knaresborough stops before Starbeck.

“This will not help to persuade drivers who are already afraid of cycling to choose to travel by bicycle on this route.

“There are currently no proposals for travelling north-south by bike, for example, Killinghall is growing rapidly but there are no plans for cycle paths into town or even to connect up with the nearby greenway."

HDCAN fears in the absence of enough sustainable transport to make giving up car travel attractive and easy - and what it has criticised as the “poor presentation of proposals” so far - the changes coming Harrogate’s way will lead to a severe backlash from residents and businesses.

Harrogate and District Green Party complains that, so far, it is a case of piecemeal tweaks rather than getting to grips with an agreed masterplan.

Shan Oakes, the party’s coordinator, said: “The changes are too timid, so they end up annoying people.

“Surely now, in the face of climate crisis and dangerous levels of toxic emissions, we should be able to welcome change? Why are we scared of a ‘car-free centre?’”

But Coun Don Mackenzie believes the changes which are now starting to happen, do matter.

He said: “I believe all the schemes are potentially a significant step forward for Harrogate and district. The proposals represent some major changes,but it is important to bring members of the public along with us.”

What will Gateway project mean for Harrogate and its drivers, walkers and cyclists

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