Harrogate Transport Improvement Programme Has Cost £459,000 to Date

The Harrogate Transport Improvement Programme (HTIP) has cost £459,186 in consultants’ fees to date. It has so far produced no on-the-ground improvements.

2019 Congestion Survey

HTIP emerged from the 2019 Harrogate & Knaresborough Congestion Survey, in which 77% of 15,500 respondents asked for better walking and cycling infrastructure.

HTIP Progress to Date

In theory, the council then started work on sustainable transport improvements. In practice, they commissioned consultants to write a report.

The first consultants’ report (HTIP1) was ready early in 2021. It recommended developing a Major Scheme Business Case.

A second report (HTIP2) was commissioned, focused on cycling and walking provision, junction improvements, bus priority, and Park & Ride.

According to para 9.1 of a Harrogate & Knaresborough Active Travel Update report in advance of an Area Committee meeting on 12th September 2024, the HTIP2 report is currently being ‘reviewed internally’.

‘HTIP2 study report is currently being reviewed internally by officers for comment. Once the report has been reviewed the findings will be report back to members in autumn/winter’.

HTIP and the West Harrogate Transport Strategy

Meanwhile, different consultants were commissioned to write a West Harrogate Transport Strategy (‘the Strategy’) to accompany the West Harrogate urban expansion.

The Strategy covers 30 junctions, including six on Leeds Road. It is a long-term strategy from 2024/25 to 2035/36.

Since HTIP and the Strategy both cover Leeds Road, they should be integrated, but North Yorkshire has not integrated them. HTIP was excluded from the brief to the consultants who wrote the Strategy.

They were told that ‘no results or proposals’ from HTIP were available to consider.

As a result, the Strategy is entirely focused on capacity expansion for motor vehicles on Leeds Road, and elsewhere. The are no Leeds Road sustainable travel plans in the Strategy.

Different Approaches to Sustainable Travel and Capacity Expansion for Motor Vehicles

North Yorkshire takes entirely different approaches to sustainable travel, on the one hand, and capacity expansion for motor vehicles on the other.

Sustainable travel proposals are delayed by years or decades as consultants are commissioned to write reports, and excuses about funding are made. Capacity expansion for cars goes directly into the Strategy for delivery, with no questions asked about funding.

Freedom of Information Request

It was a recent FOI request that revealed the £459,000 cost of HTIP to date.

The full reply to the enquiry was:

‘The Harrogate Transport Improvements Programme (HTIP) study, has focussed on assessing the improvements that larger scale investment in sustainable transport could deliver, following the government’s guidance on business case development.

HTIP1 considered a number of travel corridors in Harrogate and Knaresborough, to try to establish where the greatest opportunities for investment might be, and also what types of investment could be most beneficial. It has been recognised that ultimately, whilst smaller schemes do have a role to play, to deliver more significant congestion reduction improvements investment on a larger scale is needed. However, the costs to deliver such a scheme are high, and far beyond our own funding for schemes. Therefore, the aim of the study process is to develop a green book compliant business case for funding, for submission to Government.

At the end of the HTIP1 process, it was recommended that development of a multimodal corridor on the A61 Leeds Road would be a good initial focus for further feasibility work. That work is currently underway. The HTIP2 study is focussed mainly on walking and cycling provision, junction improvements, bus priority, and park and ride feasibility (this element looks at the wider Harrogate area) along the A61 Leeds Road. 

The cost of the studies are as follows:

HTIP 1 – £202,836

HTIP 2 – £256,350

Officer time focused on these projects:

Information not held. North Yorkshire Council does not hold the amount of officer time that has been focused on these projects therefore it is not possible to calculate the time’.