Agenda item

Report of the Corporate Director – Business and Environmental Services. 

Replacement report attached.

Purpose: To provide an update, as requested by Committee Members, on the progress of this study.

Considered: A report of the Corporate Director – Business and Environmental Services which provided an update on the progress of stage 2 of the Harrogate Transport Improvements Programme which built on the findings of the extensive Harrogate Congestion Study public engagement of 2019.

Louise Neale (Team Leader Transport Planning, Highways and Transportation) introduced the report and highlighted, amongst other things, that a further report, setting out the findings and recommendations at the conclusion of the study, would be brought to a meeting of this Area Constituency Committee in the first half of 2023.

In response to Members’ questions, Louise Neale confirmed the following:-

·         When the Council received new Active Travel Fund announcements, officers looked back through the full range of previously suggested schemes and brought forward those which were the ‘best fit’ for the criteria accompanying that announcement.

·         A high level assessment was progressing for a stand-alone Killinghall bypass.  A report had been received very recently and officers were currently assessing it.

·         The funding which the County Council had available was Action Travel Fund.  Officers had had conversations with Active Travel England who accepted that the County Council, along with other councils, had not been able to deliver within the very short timescales which were initially set out.  Active Travel England were happy for officers to work with them to come to agreed designs.  There were no suggestions about having to hand funding back.

Members discussed the report and made the following points:-

·         The earlier reports by consultants WPS had included some easy quick wins, eg putting electric signs on bus shelters to show what time the next bus/train would be arriving.  County Councillor Paul Haslam asked to see a checklist of all those easy quick wins, together with information to show what had happened to each. 

·         Consideration should be given to train travel.  In particular, the latest Integrated Rail Transport Policy covering Leeds included a very interesting type of metro system and this should be extended to include Harrogate and York.  Harrogate Borough Council had already written to Leeds to ask for Harrogate to be part of that system.

·         To take traffic off the A61, there should be a train station on Claro Road.  This was supported by the Liberal Democrat Group.

·         A Member asked for a footpath to be provided between Killinghall and the Greenway in order to take traffic off the road network.

·         Any assessment undertaken for a new cycling scheme or a new walking scheme should include a measurement of the number of cars which that scheme would take off the road.

·         It was a puzzle how safe cycling could be introduced along Wetherby Road and Skipton Road, which were amongst the busiest roads in Harrogate.

·         The traffic tail-backs along Wetherby Road were unbelievably long and continuous 24/7, and this road needed to be looked at. 

·         The Showground would be a better location for park and ride rather than Leeds Road.  Leeds Road was so close to the town that it would not encourage many people to not take their cars into the town centre.

·         There were no buses in very large urban Wards so modal switch amongst elderly people would be very difficult to achieve.

·         A subsidised bus service running along Hookstone Chase ran too late in the morning to take people to work or pupils to school.

·         All Harrogate secondary schools were on one side of town.  A new secondary school was needed for the New Park area to decrease the amount of cross-town travel and consequently help tackle traffic congestion.

·         It was really important to progress those Active Travel schemes for which funding had already been secured, despite the impact of staff vacancy levels and LGR which were recognised by Members.

·         Members were frustrated by the length of time, and the number of reports/consultants/investigations, taken to achieve highway improvements. 

The Chairman asked the officers to communicate more with Members because they lived at these locations and understood the problems.  

Resolved –

(a)        That the content of the update be noted.

(b)        That the officers take cognisance of Members’ comments and consider the input which Members have made.