• North Yorkshire County Council are set to introduce experimental traffic restrictions in Harrogate to encourage walking.
  • The scheme will begin later this month and will affect Beech Grove and Lancaster Road.
  • Non-residential through traffic will be prevented from entering these roads to create quieter streets.

North Yorkshire County Council are set to introduce experimental traffic restrictions in Harrogate to encourage walking and cycling.

The council’s highways team will impose restrictions on Beech Grove and Lancaster Road to prevent non-residential traffic from passing through in an effort to create quieter streets.

And the council believes the much-anticipated scheme, which will start to come into effect on 15th February, will mean residents feel safer when walking and cycling in these areas.

The roads will continue to be accessible to residents, their visitors, deliveries, emergency vehicles, refuse collections and taxi / private hire vehicles.

The County Council is implementing a Low Traffic Neighbourhood (LTN) experimental order, which will see planters put in place at the junction between Beech Grove and Lancaster Road, blocking the street.

The scheme will be trialled for sixth months with a view to making it permanent, depending on the outcome of a public consultation.

County Councillor Don Mackenzie, Executive Member for Access, said:

“We are committed to improving facilities for active travel and the Beech Grove scheme, alongside other similar active travel projects underway in Harrogate, will do much to encourage active travel, to ease congestion and to improve air quality.

“We look forward to receiving the views of residents on the Beech Grove measures during the course of this experimental order. Those views will be taken into account as part of an ongoing review of the scheme.”

As this is an experimental scheme, the public has a six-month period to share their views. The County Council will then consider whether to make it permanent, extend the experiment or set it aside.

Councillor Richard Cooper, member for Harrogate Central, welcomes the active travel scheme:

“I know that some local residents are sceptical about these new sustainable transport measures. I understand that and I respect that view while not agreeing with it.

“The fact of the matter is that we cannot pretend that traffic congestion, poor air quality, a diminishing environment and climate change can be solved without radical changes to our transport infrastructure and our personal travel habits.”

Any comments should be emailed to area6.boroughbridge@northyorks.gov.uk before the deadline of August 14th 2021.

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