Harrogate Chamber of Commerce to push businesses’ views over controversial £10.9m Gateway project at crucial meeting

Members will hear the views of those at the heart of two major concerns for Harrogate businessses at March’s Harrogate District Chamber of Commerce meeting to be held on Monday, March 13 in Harrogate Convention Centre’s King’s Suite:

Broadband connectivity speeds in the Harrogate area, in particular, the work of NYnet, which is fully owned by North Yorkshire County Council and provides broadband services to business, and City Fibre’s work in and around Harrogate connecting domestic properties to the superhighway.

Road transport initiatives being spearheaded by North Yorkshire County Council, in particular work on the A59 at Kex Gill and the controversial Harrogate Station Gateway Project.

The speakers will include Alastair Taylor, CEO of NYnet; Dr Kim Johnston, Regional Partnership Director, Consumer, City Fibre; and Coun Keane Duncan, North Yorkshire County Council’s Executive Member for Highways and Transport.

David Simister, Harrogate District Chamber of Commerce Chief Executive, said: "The thread for our March meeting is the highway, be it super or public, with each of the speakers giving an overview as to current developments in the Harrogate District.

“Connectivity and superfast broadband speeds are what businesses expect as the norm these days, and anything less could impact on them being able to function properly, and even lose them work.

“We expect Coun Duncan to give an update on the Harrogate Station Gateway Project - three years after it was first put before the business community.”

Mr Simister added that the Chamber, BID, and Independent Harrogate had put forward a number of alternative options for the Harrogate Station Gateway Project in 2020 which had been, he said, “disappointingly overlooked.”

That same year, a survey of Harrogate BID members - which included a number of Chamber members - revealed that of those who responded, that while the majority were in favour of improving the piazza area outside Victoria Shopping Centre, they were opposed to pedestrianising James Street and narrowing Cheltenham Parade and Station Parade to one lane.

Later, at Harrogate Chamber’s November 2021 meeting, an overwhelming number of attendees voted against the scheme per se.

The results of a third round of public consultation, conducted last summer and published in January, revealed the majority who responded were against the £10.9m scheme going ahead.

Organisations against the Harrogate Station Gateway Project in its present form include Harrogate Civic Society, The British Independent Retail Association, Harrogate Resident’s Association and Granville Road Residents Group.

Gateway’s future is to be debated at North Yorkshire Council’s Harrogate Area Committee meeting in May, with the final decision being taken by the county council’s executive a few weeks later.

Harrogate District Chamber of Commerce intends to gauge its members’ opinions before that and present the results to the council.

Mr Simister said: “Following our March meeting, and ahead of May’s area committee meeting, we will again be canvassing the views of our members.

“This is to ensure that our formal position on the project continues to represent the majority of our membership.

"We will then present the findings to the committee.”

Members and visitors wishing to attend the March meeting are asked to register in advance via the Chamber’s new website: www.harrogatechamber.co.uk/events