People in the Harrogate and Whitby areas are invited to give their views on proposals to enhance facilities for cyclists and pedestrians.
North Yorkshire County Council has received £1,011,750 from the Department for Transport’s Active Travel Fund to improve the infrastructure for cyclists and pedestrians.
The grant, which must be spent during the 2021/22 financial year, is earmarked to fund work along four corridors to improve access to the town centres for cyclists and pedestrians, allowing for more space for social distancing.
In Whitby, the proposal is for a corridor to connect the Whitby Park and Ride site at Victoria Farm with Whitby town centre. The route would be along Guisborough Road and Mayfield Road. At Prospect Hill, it is anticipated users would continue to the town centre along local routes.
In the Harrogate area, three cycle improvement corridors are proposed:
- A59 (Harrogate Road, Knaresborough) between Badger Mount and Maple Close;
- Oatlands Drive between Hookstone Road and Knaresborough Road;
- Victoria Avenue near the County Court, between the A61 (West Park) and Station Parade.
County Councillor Don Mackenzie, Executive Member for Access, said:
To help us to develop our proposals, we are inviting local people to give us their views on the proposed corridors and potential improvements. Detailed designs will follow, taking account of the feedback we receive, and we will consult further on those later in March.
The County Council bid for the funding last summer, after assessing 300 schemes across the county, including some received from the public, interest groups and county councillors.
Cllr Mackenzie said:
The grant comes with strict conditions. Schemes must be delivered quickly, should reallocate road space from vehicles in favour of cyclists and pedestrians, and offer alternatives to existing, well-used bus routes. All 300 schemes put forward were assessed within the limitations of timescale and cost. Many exceeded by large margins the funding available. While this meant that a number of very worthwhile proposals had to be omitted this time, we are confident that there will be many more funding opportunities for them in future.
People are invited to give their comments by completing an online survey, which will run until 23 February 2021.
The survey for the proposals can be found at www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/NYCCATFMain/
Paper copies of the survey are available on request from the county council’s customer services on 01609 780780.
Covid-19 lockdown restrictions mean it is not possible to hold public consultation events.
The Active Travel Fund allocation is the second phase of funding from the Department for Transport following the Covid-19 lockdown last March. The first phase supported temporary infrastructure to aid social distancing. The Active Travel Fund is part of a £2bn five-year sustainable travel package from the Government.
