Members of the public may ask questions or make statements at this meeting if they have given notice to Melanie Carr of Democratic and Scrutiny Services and supplied the text (contact details below) by midday on Thursday 14 September, three working days before the day of the meeting. Each speaker should limit themselves to 3 minutes on any item. Members of the public who have given notice will be invited to speak:
· at this point in the meeting if their questions/statements relate to matters which are not otherwise on the Agenda (subject to an overall time limit of 30 minutes);
· when the relevant Agenda item is being considered if they wish to speak on a matter which is on the Agenda for this meeting.
If you are exercising your right to speak at this meeting, but do not wish to be recorded, please inform the Leader who will instruct anyone who may be taking a recording to cease while you speak.
Minutes:
There was one public statement submitted by Mr David Mitchell, on behalf of Harrogate Cycle Action as follows:
‘Transforming Cities Fund (TCF) Harrogate Station Gateway is North Yorkshire Council's flagship active travel project. We have supported it throughout the 4 years of its development and continue to do so.
Judicial Review and Democratic Process
A private individual or company is entitled to ensure that the council has followed all the correct procedures, including through legal action if they deem that appropriate and can pay the fees. On the other hand, council transport policy should be decided by the council through the democratic process and in the public interest, not by a private company through the courts.
The Executive made clear at its meeting on 30th May 2023 that it was committed to the ambitious Station Gateway scheme as designed by the TCF team. It should uphold that commitment rather than designing a scheme specifically to appease the applicant for judicial review. We fully understand that there may need to be some compromise, but we do not accept that the scheme should be so stripped of ambition as to be a homeopathic version of the original.
The aims of the TCF funding are to:
• improve public transport and active travel options
• take a significant number of car trips off the road
• contribute to jobs and the economy
• support connectivity to housing and employment sites and
• tackle inequality
Option 1 before the Executive today involves:
• changing the traffic lights to enable more motor traffic to go along Station Parade faster
• different paving stones on the pedestrian areas and
• no cycle infrastructure at all
It does not meet the objectives of the Transforming Cities Fund and it would let down:
• the people who asked for better cycling and walking facilities in the 2019 Congestion Survey (77% of 15,500 respondents) and
• the 832 people who said in the 3rd Station Gateway consultation that the proposed walking and cycling infrastructure would have a positive effect on their travel, vs 743 people who said that it would be negative
Our message to the Executive is that we understand it isn't easy to deliver this scheme, but it's the
right thing to do. The scheme as originally designed meets the objectives of the Transforming Cities Fund, which Council Leader Carl Les signed up to 2019. It also makes a start on achieving the transport decarbonisation goals in the Routemap to Carbon Negative, which has been endorsed by NYC. We are relying on you to use the Transforming Cities Fund money to deliver a transformative scheme.’
As Mr Mitchell was not present at the meeting, the Chair noted that all Executive Members had received the statement prior to the meeting and had the opportunity to consider it in full. He therefore chose not to have the statement read out.
Councillor Keane Duncan acknowledged the submission and gave assurance that it would be taken account of at the appropriate time through the decision making process, as the Authority looked at the options moving forward for the TCF Programme in Harrogate.