Harrogate’s cycle path future is now completely in doubt claim disappointed campaigners

The remarks by Kevin Douglas, chair of Harrogate District Cycle Action Group, follow North Yorkshire County Council’s announcement it would not be going ahead with phase two of the much-vaunted and long-delayed Otley Road cycle way because of the public’s reaction to a recent consultation.

"We are very, very disappointed by the decision,” said Mr Douglas, “the county council must have known about all the issues involved in changing Otley Road before they began the project.

"This was their scheme, they secured the funding for it. It was their idea.

"The decision makes no sense.”

Having completed Phase one of the new cycle way in January 2021, albeit in a manner which cyclists argue does not encourage cycling, North Yorkshire County Council announced last week that, in their opinion, there was insufficient public support for any of the options required to create a new cycling route all the way to Victoria Avenue to go ahead with its plans.

The county council is now proposing that the remaining funding of up to £500,000 secured from the Government’s National Productivity Investment Fund (NPIF) package is used for other measures to encourage active travel, such as:

Improved crossings for cyclists

Better signage for cycle routes

Improvements to bus infrastructure

Cycling groups in Harrogate argue that such light-touch measures would not change the balance between car traffic and non-car traffic in the town’s battle to cut congestion and carbon emissions.

And, despite determined campaigns by individual groups of residents against active travel measures, they claim the results of the Otley Road consultation were far from as negative as the county council portrayed.

"We looked at the results of the public consultation and there are more people in favour of the scheme than against it,” said Mr Douglas.

"The only way you can conclude most people were opposed to the project is if you lump in those members of the public who showed no preference or said they didn’t know.”

Cycling campaigners now question North Yorkshire County Council’s commitment to any of its active travel plans, pointing out that almost all of them have either been delayed, halted or rescinded.

The Harrogate District Cycle Action website at www.harrogatecycleaction.org.uk highlights the following:

Beech Grove Low Traffic Neighbourhood

Oatlands Drive cycle path and one-way traffic

Victoria Avenue cycle path

A59 Knaresborough Road cycle path

After what it sees as a retreat on all the above ideas – and Otley Road – cycling campaigners now doubt whether the £10.9 million Gateway project to boost cycling and walking in Harrogate town centre is likely to progress.

“The question now has to be what is the point of the Gateway project,” asked Mr Douglas.

"The county council has effectively abandoned active travel completely.

"Since active travel talk began on the subject in 2016, there have been no real measures to impact on car travel in Harrogate.

"There has not been enough joined-up thinking."

Harrogate District Cycle Action Group’s chair questions whether North Yorkshire County Council can now mount a successful bid for funding for active travel in future.

"Why would the Government give money to a council which has showed no political will to deliver its own ideas?” is Mr Douglas’s stark assessment.