Results of Autumn 2022 Oatlands Consultation Still not Published

The results of an Autumn 2022 consultation on active travel measures on Oatlands Drive and the Saints residential area still have not been published.

The consultation was part of the so-called Oatlands Feasibility Study, which is referred to in a report on Harrogate Transport Projects presented to a council meeting on 14th September 2023. The report contains a very brief outline of an update on the Oatlands Feasibility Study.

The background is that an ambitious active travel scheme for Oatlands Drive was funded in 2020 from Active Travel Fund 2 (ATF2), but since then nothing has happened except three consultations, with a fourth one promised.

This project has been a demonstration of North Yorkshire’s ability to go round and round in circles looking very busy while getting precisely nothing done.

Timeline

The rough timeline is:

• there was a Phase 1 consultation in February 2021, supposedly only on the locations of the ATF2 schemes
• by the Phase 2 consultation in March 2021, North Yorkshire had dropped the ambitious scheme and instead consulted on a design which would not have made a meaningful difference and did not meet the funding criteria
• in May 2021, North Yorkshire dropped the Oatlands Drive scheme altogether
• the DfT and then Active Travel England agreed that North Yorkshire could use the money ‘to develop alternative proposals for active travel in the area’. This project to develop alternative proposals is sometimes referred to as ‘the Oatlands Feasibility Study’

Consultation Responses and Traffic Surveys

The new Oatlands report says that the original consultation responses were combined with traffic and transport surveys. The Autumn 2022 consultation was also launched, using the Commonplace platform.

Although the results of the Commonplace consultation have not been published, there is a little bit of information about it in the report to the 14th September council meeting.

Apparently ‘discussions with stakeholders’ suggest that two of the biggest areas of concern are:

• ‘indiscriminate parking’ and
• the reduction in bus services and bus penetration into smaller side roads

Data collection shows that:

• a large proportion of vehicles in the area are making through trips
• traffic speeds on some roads are higher than the posted speed limit and
• there is a lot of commuter parking

In the public engagement (presumably the Commonplace survey), responses mentioned:

• ‘indiscriminate parking’
• traffic speeds
• issues in crossing the road

It’s not clear how ‘indiscriminate parking’ is defined. Either people are permitted to park their vehicles or they’re not. The suspicion is that it might mean ‘other people parking their vehicles where I would like to park mine’. Residents-only parking on some streets could be a solution.

People who responded to the consultation wanted to see:

• less parking
• reduced traffic volumes
• cycle lanes
• slower traffic and
• easier ways to cross the road

I would agree that less parking and reduced traffic volumes are desirable. Although people like the idea in theory, will they support practical measures that actually take parking space away and make driving less convenient?

Possible Next Steps

The report says that officers have been ‘meeting with local schools and organisations to discuss how support for behaviour change initiatives might reduce the numbers of people travelling into the area each day by car’.

This is cart before the horse. North Yorkshire won’t do the hard work of creating safe walking and – more particularly – cycling infrastructure. Instead they are trying to persuade people to use unsafe routes. This will not work.

This is what the report says about possible infrastructure improvements:

‘Designs are currently being reviewed and it is envisaged that residents will be consulted later this year. Results of the consultation will be presented to the ACC in the New Year, alongside recommended improvements. Currently no budget is available for delivery’.

para 5.10 of the harrogate transport projects report

Consultation Paralysis

We’re 3 years into this project, and what has been achieved? Three consultations, with the results of the third one not published nearly a year after it took place. A fourth consultation is promised later in 2023.

It appears that the original infrastructure funding has been spent without building any infrastructure at all.

The Area Constituency Committee will be presented with another report in ‘the New Year’. Experience shows that this does not mean January 2024 – it could mean any time next year, or not.

Will the council ever have the backbone to stand up to noisy opposition and take road space away from motor vehicles? Will it in put in quality walking and (more to the point because the current facilities are so bad) cycling infrastructure?

Will any of this happen this decade?