Time to finally abandon inner relief road plan for Harrogate and Knaresborough

Plans for a Harrogate releif road appear to have been dropped.

THE outcome of the North Yorkshire County Council public consultation exercise on the Harrogate Congestion Study is now available.

Unsurprisingly, recommendation 7.4 a) is ‘not to progress the Harrogate Inner Relief Road at this time’.

Why this new relief road will not reduce congestion in Harrogate – Yorkshire Post letters

Congestion in Harrogate is a recurring issue and topic for debwate.

Leader of Harrogate Council, Richard Cooper, and Andrew Jones MP, are to be commended for taking the initiative to point Harrogate towards a cleaner, greener, healthier future.

Switch off traffic lights to cut congestion in Harrogate - Yorkshire Post letters

The report recognises that we are now in the 21st century, where 20th century solutions to today’s problems are no longer relevant as we grapple with the dynamics of climate change and damaging CO2 emissions. On a really positive note, the report is recommending a wide range of sustainable and environmentally-friendly measures to reduce congestion. These include behavioural change including incentives to reduce short vehicle trips and single-occupancy journeys, greater use of buses, addressing school transport issues and improved facilities for walking and cycling.

May we appeal to NYCC after their three failed attempts to breathe life into the Harrogate Inner Relief Road (A59 diversion through Nidd Gorge) – 1986, 1996, 2016 – to finally bury the spectre of this irrelevant road?

Time to finally abandon inner relief road plan for Harrogate and Knaresborough – Yorkshire Post letters