Sainsbury’s Junction is One of North Yorkshire’s ATF5 Schemes

The Sainsburys junction of the A661 Wetherby Road in Harrogate is one of the Active Travel Fund 5 (ATF5) schemes submitted by North Yorkshire Council (NYC) to Active Travel England (ATE).

It’s a very busy junction, and pedestrians and cyclists have to take their chances at uncontrolled crossings since they do not have a phase of the lights.

ATF5

ATF5 was announced on 12th February 2025.

Allocations to English councils were based on their Capability Rating. NYC’s is the lowest, Level 1, and it received £369,709.

It had to submit its proposed schemes to ATE by 31st March 2025.

The focus of ATF5 is schemes that can be delivered quickly such as crossings and School Streets. As a low-level council, NYC was particularly encouraged to consider crossings and School Streets.

The NYC report says:

‘Improving delivery of active travel schemes is a key element of NYC’s Capability Rating and is something that would go toward increasing our Capability Rating in future, which would have a positive impact on future active travel funding’.

Retrofitting routes to existing housing developments with poor provision was another option put forward by ATE.

ATE’s ATF5 assurance criteria include:

• complies with ATF5 funding principles
• design quality and safety as defined by ATE design assurance tools
• Value for Money
• deliverability within the funding window

ATF5 Timetable

Once ATE has finished its assurance process, there will be consultations on the proposed schemes according to para 5.7 of the NYC report.

After that, the ATF5 timetable is:

• funding to be committed by March 2026 (e.g. a contract signed for construction)
• construction completed by 31st March 2027

For reference, NYC’s ATF2 schemes were supposed to be completed by 31st March 2022 but nothing was done by that date. Their only surviving ATF2 scheme is under construction now, in May 2025.

Sainsbury’s Junction Scheme

NYC’s biggest ATF5 scheme is Sainsburys junction on Wetherby Road, Harrogate. It is expected to be funded by ATF5 and NYC’s Traffic Signals Maintenance budget.

The NYC report about it mentions creating a pedestrian phase, but it says nothing about facilities for cycling.

The junction is the link between the Yorkshire Showground Greenway and the Stonefall Park walking and cycling path, and it’s therefore very important that there is a cycle crossing here.

Greenwash

The NYC report includes some greenwash about light bulbs (para 5.1).

It says:

‘The upgrade of the signals will also include enhanced detection utilising the latest technology and adding MOVA control to the current operations which will improve the efficiency of the current junction for all road users.

The new LED signals will replace the current halogen lamp signals which will also contribute to the Authority’s carbon reduction targets’.

The impact on greenhouse gas emissions of the bulbs in the traffic lights is likely to be tiny.

The principal effect of the scheme on emissions will depend on how it impacts transport emissions. If it could increase active travel modal share and decrease motor vehicle use, then emissions would fall.

We know that vehicle miles travelled have to drop considerably for North Yorkshire to meet its climate targets.

By proposing MOVA traffic signals, it appears that NYC is intent on increasing capacity for motor vehicles at this junction. This in turn is likely to generate more motor vehicle traffic, and increase transport emissions.

Other ATF5 Schemes

The other ATF5 schemes put forward by NYC are:

• a parallel crossing for the Nidderdale Greenway at Bilton Lane
• four School Streets
• monitoring of School Streets with intelligent sensors
• a school crossing patrol site at East Ayton

Rejected Schemes

Appendix A of the NYC report has a long list of other schemes, and the reasons why they were not put forward for ATF5 funding.

Among them is the cycling element of the Victoria Avenue scheme. It was regarded as too complex and too expensive for ATF5.