“Desperately disappointing”: Cycling group urges council to stand firm after legal challenge puts active travel project “in jeopardy”

A cycling group in Harrogate has urged North Yorkshire Council to stand firm after the local authority made the “desperately disappointing” decision to pause progress on an active travel scheme, following a judicial review launched by a commercial developer which claimed that the project would damage businesses in the spa town.

Harrogate District Cycling Action believes the £11.2 million Harrogate Station Gateway project – which the council initially claimed would “transform the area into one where you can walk, cycle, or take public transport more easily” – is now “in jeopardy”, after Hornbeam Park Developments, one of the town’s biggest commercial property companies, instructed planning lawyers Walton and Co to mount a legal challenge against the scheme, the Harrogate Advertiser reports.

The scheme, which aims to introduce a number of bus and cycle lanes, as well as pedestrian zones around Harrogate’s railway and bus stations, has been criticised by local business owners, who claim it will harm footfall in the town centre.

Last week, North Yorkshire Council put a halt to the project after a judicial review was launched, claiming that the council had failed to hold a public inquiry before issuing traffic regulation orders for measures such as the partial pedestrianisation of James Street and reducing traffic on a 300-metre stretch of Station Parade to a single lane.

The legal challenge also claimed that the council did not disclose a climate change appraisal which concluded that motorists would be forced to take longer alternative routes as a result of the new active travel infrastructure and that overall “user emissions are anticipated to increase as a result of the scheme”.

The council later confirmed that it had “quashed” its previous decision, made in May, to proceed with the scheme, citing a desire to “avoid any further exposure to costs and time delays”.

“The possibility of fully defending the legal challenge was considered and to have this mattered determined by the courts,” a spokesperson for council said.

“However, due to the necessity of having a public inquiry before confirming the relevant traffic regulation order, it was considered prudent to accept this ground of challenge.”

Following the Conservative-controlled council’s decision to pause the project, the party’s local MP, Andrew Jones, argued that the local authority should waste no further time and resources trying to keep a “dead” scheme alive.

“The key consideration is that the latest challenge means that the deadline to spend the cash allocated to this area is certain to expire,” Jones said, according to the Stray Ferret. “It is time therefore to stop spending public money trying to drag what is effectively a timed-out dead scheme – the good parts regrettably and the bad too – over the line.

“The council must start talking to government about retaining the funding and re-positioning it to other projects in Harrogate and Knaresborough. I am happy to help with that process.”

The MP continued: “There are parts of the scheme I think that are welcome – the emphasis on sustainable transport, tidying up the area as you come out of the bus and train stations, the improvement of the public realm, changing the crossing arrangements on Lower Station Parade, improving the shabby one arch and so on.

“There are elements of concern too, such as the narrowing of Station Parade for a short stretch outside the bus station and how deliveries to businesses will work and I have consistently asked the council to address these concerns.  It is clear that significant numbers have not been reassured by the explanations that have been given.”

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However, Harrogate District Cycling Action (HDCA) has criticised Jones’ appraisal of the project, which they say “does not make any sense”.

“How can you put the emphasis on sustainable transport if you don’t give it any road space? You can’t,” the campaign group posted today on social media.

In the group’s latest newsletter, titled ‘Harrogate Station Gateway in Jeopardy’, the HDCA appealed to its members to put pressure on the council to ignore their local MP and keep the scheme alive.

“The Harrogate Station Gateway project appears to be at risk,” the group said. “The threat of legal proceedings is not new, and North Yorkshire Council held the third consultation on the project specifically to deal with objections previously raised by the applicant.

“North Yorkshire Council’s reaction to the formal start of proceedings was to rescind their decision to proceed with Gateway. That is very troubling.

“If you would like to help, email Council Leader Carl Les… and Executive Member for Transport Keane Duncan and ask them to maintain their commitment to proceed with the scheme.

“Time is of the essence – they need to hear from local residents quickly.”

In a social media post today, the HDCA added: “It is desperately disappointing to see the council’s commitment to Harrogate Station Gateway wobble. North Yorkshire Council should of course follow the correct procedures, but maintain its commitment to this project, which will improve Harrogate town centre and prioritise active travel and public transport.”

A report setting out the council’s next steps is due to be presented to the local authority’s ruling executive on 19 September.