Agenda item

Presentation from the Senior Transport Planning Officer.

The following statement was read out by Mark Codman (Democratic Services) on behalf of Gia Margolis (Harrogate District Cycle Action):

 

“Good Morning

 

At successive ACC meetings Councillors have asked for updates on active travel schemes.

 

For many years Harrogate District Cycle Action has tried to help officers deliver on active travel. Yet there has been and continues to be a systemic failure to deliver any of these schemes.

 

At a recent meeting a senior transport officer observed “that the council’s budget for active travel has been slashed since austerity in 2010, leaving little wriggle room to deliver schemes without additional government funding”. Yet the same officer then declared how successful the council had been in winning government funds for active travel.

 

The undisputable fact is that the County Council has received many millions of pounds of government funding most of which has been spent – and much of it apparently wasted - on consultants with virtually no delivery of any significant scheme.

 

The following are examples of three small schemes which should have been delivered but still have no timetable for delivery.

 

1.      The Wetherby Road crossing from Slingsby Walk to Willaston Road by the hospital, is a vital missing link in the cycle network, proposed and discussed for over a decade and fully funded since 2021. Discussions, reports, consultations continue . There is still no timetable.

 

2.      The Oatlands Drive crossing. No timetable.

 

 

3.    The Bilton Lane raised table to the Greenway. A very small scheme for which contractors were booked to start work in August 2023. It was then discovered that another consultation was required and in January 2024 it was revealed that a safety audit, which officers were told last year wasn’t needed, was in fact required. That process has still to take place.

 

Other larger cycle schemes have all been abandoned - for example the A59 Knaresborough Road, Victoria Avenue, Beech Grove, Otley Road Phase 2, Oatlands Drive.

 

There are officers who are keen to deliver projects but it appears that the processes to ensure delivery in a timely way simply don’t exist, that and the lack of meaningful support from senior management add up to a systemic problem which will almost certainly continue to slow or prevent delivery for the foreseeable future.

 

What questions are you going to ask of the leadership team of the ongoing failure of any delivery of any project despite the millions of funding received over the last few years? And what changes will you seek to ensure North Yorkshire at last becomes a champion of active travel rather than a failing authority, as reflected, regrettably but deservedly, in its very low rating with Active Travel England.

 

Mark Codman (Democratic Services) read out the following statement on behalf of the Council’s Highways officers:

 

“North Yorkshire Council is committed to delivering active travel schemes and that commitment and particular demand in Harrogate has been demonstrated by a newly created post to have oversight and manage these schemes. The new Improvement project delivery manager joined the team in November and whilst only being in post for just over four months has helped ensure focused delivery and progress amongst a demanding service delivery requirement across the local team. In previous updates to the ACC the local team have provided information regarding challenges on delivery time scales and the reason for these and details of mitigation measures and next steps.

 

As well as the active travel updates to ACC meetings the team also ensure the local members are updated with key milestones of the projects. The local team met with Harrogate and District Cycle Action Group in January and agreed to focus meetings every 3 months to facilitate information sharing and updates the specific sites highlighted were discussed at that meeting and have also been brought to the team's attention through a separate channel in an email from Mrs Margolis, updates for the scheme's reference are as follows;

 

-        the Wetherby Road and Oatland's Crossing points - officers advised Mrs Margolis in January that discussions were required with third party landowners that these had been had and that they would be engaging with necessary stakeholders and residents and businesses in the vicinity of the works from the end of this month of March. We also advise that there are legal processes to complete which must be concluded before works can start on site. The team are working on a program of program for delivery in the coming financial year and will provide a more detailed update when there is more certainty around the construction program.

 

-        Bilton Lane Crossing - whilst a relatively simple scheme to physically deliver it has not been supported by all. Contractors lined up as part of the forward planning exercise to deliver following a consultation. As shared with Mrs Margolis in January there were a number of objections raised in relation to the proposals and a road safety audit has been requested to review the issues raised and allow the team to consider mitigations this independent audit will help officers ensure risks are adequately mitigated which is in the best interest for all parties

 

-        Victoria Avenue and Oatlands drive - updates were provided to Mrs Margolis and the Harrogate District Cycle Action group in January. Consultation for Victoria Avenue will commence in the spring with a public engagement event to discuss the designs proposed. Design work has commenced for the Oatland's Drive 20 mph implementation and next steps for a wider scheme on Oatlands Drive are currently in discussion.

 

-        Beech Grove and Otley Road Phase 2 - whilst it was determined that Beech Grove load traffic neighbourhood scheme and Otley Road Phase 2 would not commence alternatives have been identified such as the proposed 20 mph implementation in the area and the sustainable transport package which addresses a range of active travel enhancements. Updates for both these projects which will feature on the May ACC agenda.”

 

Alex Kay (Senior Transport Planning Officer) attended the meeting remotely and  began his presentation by covering key points including an update on current Active Travel development progress, further schemes that were being considered and potential funding routes. The information would enable the Committee to consider potential projects to prioritise in the £50k fund allocation for the ACC.

 

The presentation began by giving an overview of key Active Travel national guidance and how that informed active travel development in the Harrogate District. The presentation advised that key corridor routes were in early stage planning for walking routes but were at feasibility design stage for key cycling corridor routes. The presentation went on to give detail about budget and indicative costs for key proposed cycle corridor routes, these were early stage estimates but would enable the Council to begin bidding for funding. Key funding routes for the proposed schemes could potentially be accessed from several sources with the Future Active Travel Fund Tranche and Local Transport Fund being highlighted.

 

-        In response to a question from Councillor Lacey, Alex Kay explained that a value for money rating of 1:6 meant that for every pound invested six pounds would be returned. The key highlighted schemes were the most advanced in design and therefor the closest to being bid ready and the bidding that was being discussed was for external money.

-        In response to a question from Councillor Haslam, Alex Kay advised that he would be able to provide information on uplifts to walking and cycling related to the proposed schemes and he would happily consider any ‘quick wins’ that Members proposed.

-        In response to a question from Councillor Walker, Alex Kay responded that money had previously been awarded  for five proposed schemes, those schemes had not, however, progressed and had now become unaffordable. The Council was in discussion with Active Travel England to use the money previously won for the Victoria Avenue Scheme. The Council had progressed the A59 scheme to the feasibility stage but the remaining £250K had been directed to another scheme under the advice of Active Travel England. In terms of learned lessons the Council was now in good dialogue with Active Travel England and was hopeful of future success in terms of bidding for funding and delivery of schemes.

-        In response to Councillor Haslam, Alex Kay advised that he would look at the proposal to join Killinghall to the Nidderdale Greenway, he would develop a proposal and costs and return to the Committee with further detail.

-        In response to a question from Councillor Broadbank regarding rising costs Alex explained that rising costs were in part due to inflation but also increasing standards of design relating to walking and cycle routes.

 

Members had further discussion regarding quick wins and improvements including improvements to signage and repairing of potholes. Mark Codman (Scrutiny, Governance and Risk Manager) advised that there would be an informal meeting of the committee to consider priority projects for consideration for the 50k fund allocation for the ACC where Members would have the opportunity to scrutinise proposed schemes in more detail and would be able to propose quick wins to the Active Travel Team.

 

The Chair thanked Alex for attending.