Victoria Avenue Pedestrian Crossings to be Built Soon

Pedestrian crossings at the top and bottom of Victoria Avenue, Harrogate, are set to be built soon according to a report by North Yorkshire Council (NYC) in advance of a meeting tomorrow.

The council says:

‘The contract was awarded in early February with works to commence in March 2025…[and] be completed by July 2025’.

The scheme is all that’s left of NYC’s Active Travel Fund 2 (ATF2) programme.

The council was awarded around £1 million in 2020 for three cycle infrastructure schemes in Harrogate and one in Whitby. None of them has been built.

The money has been diverted to the two pedestrian crossings on Victoria Avenue which seem set to be built 5 years after the successful ATF2 funding bid.

NYC still claims that it might put cycling infrastructure on Victoria Avenue:

‘A potential phase 2 of the works is subject to additional funding being awarded, details of future funding opportunities to bid for are still unknown to date.

A feasibility study for a central bi-directional cycle track is currently in development. Once the outcomes of this study are known they will be presented to Environment Executive and next steps agreed’.

The council report is to be considered by the Harrogate & Knaresborough Area Committee tomorrow. As well as Victoria Avenue, it contains updates on other active travel schemes. There are brief details below.

Crossings of Oatlands Drive and Wetherby Road, and Oatlands 20mph

NYC says that the detailed designs and costings for the scheme are complete.

It held an informal TRO consultation, and is now considering the responses received.

The next step is for proposed Traffic Regulation Orders to be advertised for a period of 3 weeks.

Harland Way

Widening (but only to 2.75m) and resurfacing of the Harland Way is under way and expected to be completed by the end of March.

It needs a sealed surface, but it isn’t getting one.

The report says contractors have put stone down, and the final surfacing will be a layer of granite dust.

Crossing of Bilton Lane and Killinghall Build-Out

NYC is supposed to be building a crossing of Bilton Lane for the Nidderdale Greenway, but there is no urgency and the project is dragging on for year after year with no action.

Apparently a Road Safety Audit raised safety issues which need to be resolved.

‘To mitigate the issues raised in the report further land will be required. Whilst it is believed this is NYC land, this does require further work and possible additional costs.

Alternatives have been identified and will be discussed with the local member’.

The council is also supposed to be improving the Killinghall end of the greenway, but appears to be prioritising car parking over active travel:

‘An informal engagement exercise has taken place, concerns have been raised regarding the on-street parking in the area and displacement of these.

Alternatives are being considered and will be discussed in more detail with the local member’.

Otley Road/NPIF Money

NYC made the indefensible decision to divert funding away from the Otley Road Cycleway, having built only a fragment of it.

Now the remaining funds are being spent on a mish-mash of small projects on side streets, and on traffic lights at the Otley Road/Cold Bath Road junction in order to increase the throughput of motor vehicles.

The council’s updates include:

• the traffic light work is to be tendered
• Cold Bath Road informal consultation carried out, and responses being considered before formal TRO advertisement. This includes a proposed ‘uncontrolled crossing’ at Western Primary
• Arthur’s Avenue informal consultation carried out, and responses being considered before formal TRO advertisement

HTIP Leeds Road

The council is still reviewing the consultants’ report on the so-called Harrogate Transport Improvement Programme (HTIP).

The Area Committee will be briefed at some future time.

LCWIP Schemes

The council is at the very early stages of very slowly considering two schemes which were identified by the Harrogate & Knaresborough Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan (LCWIP) in 2019.

They are the Bilton to Hornbeam Park route, and the A59 missing link.

Bilton to Hornbeam Park Route

NYC had a ‘design workshop’ with Sustrans (on behalf of Active Travel England) in November 2024. It now says:

‘Officers have agreed with the designers to concentrate efforts on the more straightforward elements of the scheme at both the northern and southern extents of the corridor.

Traffic surveys are required to inform traffic modelling for three key junctions within the route as the proposed designs will have an impact on network operation due to the reassignment of road space to cyclists’.

In other words:

• NYC’s watchword will be delay, delay, delay over the next decade
• if anything at all gets built, it will be the easiest fragments, which won’t provide a joined-up route
• when it comes the crunch, highways officers will prioritise throughput of the maximum number of vehicles at their ‘key junctions’, and back away from reallocating space to cycling

A59 Missing Link

The missing link is the stretch of A59 between High Bridge Knaresborough and the start of the cycle path to Starbeck.

NYC says:

‘Design work is currently ongoing.

Unfortunately, this is not a straightforward exercise due to the site being very constrained, with limited carriageway width, third party land adjacent to the adopted highway, the narrow listed bridge over the River Nidd, bus stops within the works area, and the need to try and abide by LTN 1/20 guidelines all making it difficult to find a deliverable and cost-effective solution within the space available.

Officers have met with Active Travel England to seek their guidance in January 2025, which was a productive meeting, though concerns remain.

Additional traffic and topographical surveys are needed before a preferred solution can be reached’.

It sounds as though the usual North Yorkshire problems of lack of commitment, lack of technical expertise, and chronic delay are all in play.

It’s positive that Active Travel England are involved in an advisory role, but really they need to take over the project and get it built. NYC has yet to prove that it is capable of getting anything done.