The Crowd Wisdom Project facilitated the polis poll on the Harrogate Gateway Project, and have now released the following analysis on the findings.
Executive Summary
The Gateway poll was a success, in that residents actively engaged in a productive tone, far less hostile than on social media, despite the poll being anonymous. The poll results show that there are two strongly opinionated groups.
Those for the scheme and those against it, though there are areas of consensus. Those for the scheme believe that the new proposals will make the town more attractive and increase active travel.
Those against it worry about increasingly congested roads with little utilisation of the space sacrificed.
Both sides agree that better bus provision will reduce traffic and that the current scheme does not have enough flora which is not in keeping with the rest of the town.
Background
The Gateway poll opened on 18 January, closing at 11:30am on 24 January 2022.
During this time, 465 voters voted 23,733 times, with the average voter voting 51 times.
In total, voters submitted 223 statements for others to vote upon. The Poll was based on the Pol.is system; it is different to normal surveys as it seeks to understand, rather than to explicitly quantify, what people think.
Areas of strong consensus
- More buses and a park and ride are required to reduce traffic around town.
- The scheme requires more effort to integrate trees and other flora.
- Consultation on council schemes should be improved, both in quantity and in tone.
Areas of weak consensus
- Strong anti-proposal views with some agreement from pro-proposal group
- Strong pro-proposal views with some agreement from anti-proposal group
- NYCC should experiment with the road configuration before deciding.
Most of the traffic comes at peak commuter/school times and is passing though rather than visiting town. This proposal will not help that, but a by-pass would.
An attractive town will encourage people to shop.
| Strong anti-proposal views with some agreement from pro-proposal group | Strong pro-proposal views with some agreement from anti-proposal group |
|
|
The full report from the polis system can be viewed here https://polis.crowdwisdomproject.org/report/r7fhkjprcnp8yjm6nyrvn
Methodological note
This poll did not hope to sample in a structured manner, rather it used self-selection sampling that allowed opinion groups to organically form through individual responses.
Therefore, the size of each opinion group may not represent the percentage of the population that holds those opinions. In general, the results should be interpreted at the opinion group level and not at the poll level.
Don’t waste your breath they are not interested in anyone who disagrees. Like all elitest schemes they are only interested in middle and upper class people. They have no interested in mums with buggies, people with disabilities or low income families without cars. The town centre will become inaccessible to many.
MONEY TO BURN ON A STUPID PROJECT.LOOKS LIKE ONE BIG EMPTY SPACE, WHERES THE GREENERY AND GRASS
I do hope that they make parliament street 2way so the traffic can move.
Or are they still putting all traffic on Cheltenham road u der a bridge that wagons cannot get under.
When are the council going to learn that making the town nearly all pedestrian means people are going to stay away it is not going to get more people into the town centre, look at what has happened to the town since they made a big part of it for pedestrians less people in town more empty shops and less choice for customers and now they want to mess up even more of the town with money that could be better used elsewhere
Jenny how exactly is it that you don’t think increased pedestrianisation would be good for those with buggies or maybe a wheelchair?!
As for people who don’t have a car… how can this possibly make their lives more difficult?!
Moaning for moanings sake .
It’s not just the roads. There will be more schools needed. Doctors, dentists. They are in short supply already. The district is changing and in my opinion not for the better. Enough is enough.