A campaign group claims new traffic orders issued by North Yorkshire Council would "decimate" Harrogate town centre and threaten the future of local businesses.
Members of Get Away have spoken out after the authority issued new traffic regulation orders (TRO) linked to the £12.5m Harrogate Station Gateway scheme, which seeks to improve public areas and pedestrian links around the town’s railway station.
The group said the orders would reduce parking on the town’s Station Parade North by 87 per cent.
It claims this would cost the town up to 2,000 visitors every week.
The orders would also cut loading bays by 75 per cent and leave just one bay to serve more than 30 businesses along Station Parade North and Station Parade, Get Away says.
Harrogate businessman Steven Baines, who launched the group, said:
“Harrogate traders are outraged, and who can blame them. Between the drastic parking cuts and two years of disruptive construction, it’s clear that footfall will take a serious hit – and so too will businesses in the area.
“What’s especially worrying is that we are yet to see an economic impact report, meaning the council, the community and those who stand to be hurt the most are still in the dark about the full extent of the damage this project could cause.”
He added:
“Increasingly, the Gateway scheme feels less like a considered plan for improvement and more like a blueprint for turning the area into a ghost town.”
Earlier this year, Get Away lost a High Court legal challenge against earlier traffic orders.
The group said it was appealing the decision.
The Get Away campaign is now urging Harrogate residents and businesses to submit objections to the latest TRO before the deadline on September 19.
North Yorkshire Council declined to comment on the criticism.
The scheme includes the redevelopment of One Arch and Station Square, improved traffic signals, a bus lane, a southbound cycle lane on Station Parade, new paving for pedestrians and cycle parking at Harrogate Railway Station.
There will also be improvements to traffic signals on the A61 at the junctions of King’s Road and Ripon Road, and King’s Road and Cheltenham Parade.
A final report on the scheme is due to go to the council’s executive committee in October.
The scheme is predominantly funded through the Government’s Transforming Cities Fund (TCF), which awarded the authority £38m to deliver schemes in Harrogate, Selby and Skipton.
Work started in Skipton earlier this summer, with work in Selby is set to begin in the autumn.
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