Committee to rule on Harrogate's need for relief road

Members of the County Area Committee for the Harrogate District were told last week that on December, 7 they will be consulted on whether they believe congestion across Harrogate has reached the point that it now requires options such as a new relief road, more sustainable transport and a Killinghall Bypass.

Although no final decision over the plans will be made at this future meeting it will however influence the options North Yorkshire County Council could take to a public consultation, which has been scheduled to begin in December and run longer than usual due to the holiday period.

Andrew Bainbridge, North Yorkshire County Council Team Leader for Transport and Planning said: "We intend to bring forward information gathered across the year, it is part of a number of processes to identify schemes to look at which can go into the report that will be put before this committee. This is to be completed for the next meeting set for December 7.

"We will seek the committee's views on intervention, is congestion within the district big enough that something needs to be done? If so what options are available to address this congestion? This will include the options of including the introduction of more sustainable transport and a relief road."

He added: "The public consultation is planned for December and run until February, it will take place before the Christmas period but exhibitions will be organised well after the Christmas period.

"This will give residents the time they need to go over information before the these take place."

Due to the significant traffic growth since the 1990s within the district NYCC has been investigating the potential to introduce a relief road to address this. Five relief corridors are currently being considered, including two inner, western, northern and Killinghall routea. All of these options would include a Killinghall Bypass.

As part of the meeting an overall update was given which revealed a delay had been caused by the call for a snap General Election in April. Stakeholder engagements became problematic because of purda, which meant councillors could not attend.

Described as 'slippage' the events were able to take place in June and July, with face to face meetings also held with groups including the Harrogate & District Cycle Forum, and the Chamber of Trade. The information collected through these meetings is to be put before the committee for it's next meeting for how a case could proceed.