TCF Harrogate Station Gateway started as an ambitious sustainable transport project, designed to reduce reliance on private cars, and to enable more people to use a combination of active travel and public transport.
Now it is primarily focused on getting more motor vehicles along Station Parade faster. This is bitterly disappointing.
The Problem
The latest version of Station Gateway includes a one-way cycle track, southbound, on Station Parade. The problem is that people on bikes need to get to and from the station – they need to go both ways, not one way only.
The challenge now is to find routes that work for people on bikes, so as to salvage something from the wreckage of this project.
There is to be secure cycle parking at the front of the station. How will people on bikes get to and from the station and that cycle parking?
It is essential that the scheme designers can answer that question, otherwise they will be wasting public money. They will be putting in more of the same token and unusable cycle infrastructure that Harrogate has had for decades.
The Solutions
Below are suggested solutions – routes to and from the station from south and west, north and east, and south and east Harrogate.
1) From and To South and West Harrogate
This is a suggested route from and back to south and west Harrogate – a solution to the problem created by not having a bi-directional cycle track on Station Parade.
Points to note on the way to the station:
- Beech Grove is a key link for the whole of south and west Harrogate, and needs to be cycle-proofed. Although outside the scope of TCF, it is vital to making it work
- West Park is not suitable to be part of the route. Asking people to cycle on a very busy dual carriageway is not an acceptable offer and would defeat the object of a scheme to provide safe and convenient cycle infrastructure to enable modal shift
- my suggested route after Beech Grove is therefore Victoria Avenue > Princes Square > Princes Street > James Street
- Victoria Avenue is due to get a central bi-directional cycle track
- contraflow cycling would be needed on Princes Street. Contraflow cycling is generally safe. A cycle lane is not required on quiet low-speed streets (LTN 1/20, para 7.3.4). Ideally, car parking would be removed on one side of Princes Street
- there should be a cycle track across Station Square, and the crossing of Station Parade should be Toucan (to include people on bikes) not Puffin – see image below. This attention to detail, and getting people as close as possible to secure station parking, is key to modal shift. A ‘never mind it’ll do’ or ‘why can’t they just get off and push?’ attitude will result in far less use of facilities and no modal shift
Point to note on the way back from the station:
- provision must be made for people on bikes to turn right from Station Parade onto Victoria Avenue. The draft Station Gateway design shows only a painted cycle lane on the left hand side of Station Parade, which then gives up altogether, and no provision for a right turn onto Victoria Avenue
This route to and from the station should be signposted as part of TCF, as should the other routes mentioned below.
2) From and To North and East Harrogate
This is a suggested route from and back to north and east Harrogate.
It uses Lower Station Parade, which appears to be the route the scheme designers are cycle-proofing; cyclists are to ride in the proposed bus lane southbound. Haywra Street/One Arch is an alternative option that people could use.
Points to note on the way to the station:
- early release for cyclists at the top of Lower Station Parade would help people on bikes clear the junction ahead of any buses turning left into the bus station. See an example of cyclists’ early release in York in the image below
Points to note on the way back from the station:
- there should be early release for cyclists at the junction of Station Parade and Station Bridge
- design work for cycle-proofing East Parade is currently under way as part of the Bilton-Hornbeam Park LCWIP route, funded by the Committee of Harrogate & Knaresborough Councillors
Details of the proposed Bilton-Hornbeam Park route via East Parade can be found in the Project Scoping Form, p221 of the reports pack for an H&K ACC meeting on 30th May 2024.
3) From and To South and East Harrogate
This a suggested route from and back to south and east Harrogate. Different outbound and return routes are used to illustrate that both Oatlands Drive and Stray Rein should be options.
Points to note on the way to the station:
- Oatlands Drive needs to be cycle-proofed. North Yorkshire Council spent a lot of public money on consultants to come up with design options for Oatlands Drive – options which it has subsequently totally ignored
- as discussed above, a design for East Parade is under way
- the suggested route takes people on bikes to the front of the station, because that is where the proposed cycle parking is
Points to note on the way back from the station:
- the route via Marlborough Road > South Park Road > Stray Rein is part of the Bilton to Hornbeam Park route being designed. The 2019 design for this route had a modal filter on Stray Rein, and we would like to see this implemented (outside the scope of TCF)
Update 1st August 2024
Yesterday NYC published some visuals and comments by the Member for Transport and Highways.