30 April 2024, 08:33
Cycle lane plans scrapped from active travel scheme – despite council identifying road as “priority route” for cycling
Just a month after it was told to “get its act together” and “step up its game” when it comes to cycling infrastructure, after a series of abandoned and much-criticised projects, North Yorkshire Council has this week decided
to ignore that advice by scrapping plans to install protected, 1.5m-wide
cycle lanes on Harrogate’s Victoria Avenue.
Yesterday, the council announced it was holding a month-long consultation
on proposed changes to the wide avenue, which will begin in the autumn and include a new bus stop, improved pedestrian crossings, measures to prevent motorists from illegally driving straight ahead at a junction, the removal
of some parking bays, and public realm improvements, the Stray Ferret (link
is external) reports.
However, despite the council last year identifying Victoria Avenue as a “priority route” for cyclists and announcing that it intended to install protected cycle lanes with buffer zones on both sides of the road, the new plans include no reference whatsoever to cycling infrastructure of any kind
– a glaring omission the local authority has put down to “budgetary constraints”.
“Unfortunately budgetary constraints mean that the previously envisaged
cycle lanes cannot be included within this initial phase of this Victoria Avenue scheme,” a council letter to residents announcing the consultation said.
“Following advice from Active Travel England, we have therefore
concentrated on improvements for pedestrians and improvements to the public realm.”
Active Travel England awarded North Yorkshire Council funding for the
Victoria Avenue scheme in November 2020, with the road regarded as a
crucial part of plans to create a joined-up, off-road cycling route from Harrogate’s train and bus stations to Cardale Park.
However, since then, the Conservative-controlled council has come under
fire due to its failure to implement safe cycling infrastructure in the
town, after phase two of the widely criticised Otley Road cycleway was scrapped, along with a Low Traffic Neighbourhood on Beech Grove and a
one-way system on Oatlands Drive – prompting Harrogate District Cycle
Action to accuse the local authority of “failing our children” and failing to deliver any “significant cycling infrastructure for nine years”.
Last month, we reported that opposition councillors also took aim at the council’s apparently shoddy cycling record.
“To improve things you have to acknowledge there’s a problem. Active travel is absolutely terrible,” Liberal Democrat councillor Matt Walker said at a council meeting.
“Roads are gridlocked and full of potholes, buses are missed all the time between Harrogate and Knaresborough. We have to make improvements and the council needs to step its game up.
“It needs to get its act together so people can get out of cars and get around in a quick and environmentally-friendly way.”
Green councillor Arnold Warneken: “The frustration of people who want to cycle in Harrogate and Knaresborough isn’t being taken seriously.”
However, in its letter to residents yesterday, North Yorkshire Council said
it is still committed to delivering some kind of cycling infrastructure on Victoria Avenue.
“The works proposed support North Yorkshire Council’s desire and vision to increase active travel in and around Harrogate town centre by proposing a number of measures to increase pedestrian safety as well as improved bus provision,” the letter said.
“Whilst unfortunately is it not possible to include the desired cycle lanes within this proposed scheme, the proposed works will not prevent the installation of the cycle lanes in the future, and this will be the
ambition within a future funding bid. North Yorkshire Council is committed
to delivering a cycle scheme on Victoria Avenue.”
To be honest, I’m not sure cyclists in Harrogate are holding their breath…
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https://road.cc/content/news/cycling-live-blog-30-april-2024-308105>
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