£3m from parking fines won’t be spent on Harrogate’s Station Gateway if costs rise

The £11.2 million project has been in development for three years after funding was won from the government’s Transforming Cities Fund to make the town centre more accessible to cyclists and pedestrians.

However, the rising cost of building materials and high inflation has led to concerns that the project, if approved, could go over-budget.

When the gateway scheme was first announced it had an anticipated cost of £7.9m.

Parking surplus

Before the unitary council was created on April 1, NYCC had responsibility for on-street parking in the Harrogate district.

According to a report that will go before councillors today, the council has a parking enforcement surplus for the new financial year of £3m which includes £2m collected in the district.

As part of the local government reorganistion changes, the council was required to invite proposals from the outgoing borough councils on what it should spend the money it has collected through parking enforcement on.

The new council already said the surplus should be spent on highways improvements and to encourage sustainable modes of travel.

The report includes a letter sent by Trevor Watson, Harrogate Borough Council’s director of economy, environment and housing to Barrie Mason, assistant director of highways at North Yorkshire County Council.

Dated April 2022, the letter says some of the surplus should be put aside for contingency if Station Gateway costs rise.

Mr Watson said: “With inflation rising it would be prudent to budget for additional match funding from CPE surplus expenditure.”

However, the report pours cold water on this request and says match funding through the surplus “would not be possible.”

Instead, it lists projects such as the Whitby and Scarborough park-and-ride schemes, the A1 (M) junction 47 changes and other highways improvements as beneficiaries.

A spokesperson for North Yorkshire Council said “it’s too early to speculate about final costs” of the Station Gateway.

Next steps

A final decision on the scheme will be made in the summer before a full business case is submitted to the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, which made the original bid for government funding.

The council hopes if approved, work could begin by the end of this year.

Conservative councillor Keane Duncan, who has responsibility for highways on the council’s decision-making executive, has in recent months twice spoken to business leaders at Harrogate District Chamber of Commerce about the controversial scheme.

In September last year, he discussed what impact inflation may have on its overall budget. Cllr Duncan said: “My aspiration is that we will have a high quality scheme.

“The last thing I would want to happen is us compromising on the public realm because that is a key part of the scheme and what we are wanting to deliver.

“If there are inflationary pressures with this particular scheme, then we are going to have to look at potentially what we can do around those costings. But that is not something we have discussed or are expecting at this point in time.”