This page is for ideas about St Georges ward. Comments are open to supporters who are logged in. Find St George’s ward on the map of Harrogate District wards.
Routes in St Georges ward
Cycle routes in this ward include:
- Otley Road (important for Harrogate Grammar School)
- West End Avenue
- Arthurs Avenue (also key for HGS)
- Pannal Ash Road & Richmond Avenue (Rosset Acre Primary School & Rossett School)
- (in conjunction with Pannal ward) Green Lane
- the paths between Green Lane & Rossett Drive, and by Rossett Nature Reserve
- Rossett Drive & Parsons Intake
- (in conjunction with Oatlands ward) Leadhall Lane
- Harrogate Cricket Club
- St George’s Road, and the A61 roundabout at the bottom of St George’s Road
Arthur’s Avenue is currently heavily used by school run traffic and has school cars parked most of the length of the road. Most of this traffic is likely to be local and so would be good to target to encourage alternative modes of transport. Without school traffic (i.e. between school run times and during school holidays) the road is very quiet and so installing cycle infrastructure may not be required if people can be encouraged away from their cars. A scheme that has worked very successfully elsewhere is to prohibit motor traffic on school roads during school run times (except buses?) so the roads are safe spaces for pedestrians and cyclists. Arthur’s Avenue sounds like an ideal candidate to try this type of approach. Once Otley Road cycle route is completed, it would make end to end safe cycling routes to the Grammar School viable for a significant number of people if this final section was made safe.
I agree. The Every Child Matters organisation states that the school run accounts for 16 per cent of early morning traffic. I don’t know what the percentage is in Harrogate but I live by St Aidens and there is a lot of traffic and a lot of cars parked on nearby pavements during the school day. By adopting the type of scheme suggested by John, we can reduce air pollution, encourage better outcomes for physical and mental fitness, and address the ‘Being Healthy’ and ‘Staying Safe’ outcomes for children under Every Child Matters (ECM).*
Footpath at end of Norfolk Road which links to Leadhall Drive:
Remove No Cycling Sign.
Widen footpath at both sides to create better shared use space.
Benefits: creates quietway route through Norfolk Road to Leadhall Drive and on to St. George’s and Rossett path.
Natural route from Tewit Well Road and there is a reservation to cross Leeds Road. Tewit Well links to Stray Rein Paths and to Hornbeam Park and Showground.
Comment by Yvonne D on our postcard page:
West End Avenue – traffic coming at you and if on a bike, you’ve nowhere to go given the parked cars on either side of the street, appalling road surface, not safe for pedestrians to cross as they can’t be seen between the parked cars.
Reduce parking, put in one way system, paint in a zebra crossing or two; resurface the whole road properly.
The snicket at the top of Norfolk Road through to Leadhall Drive for many years had a no cycling sign at the Norfolk Road end but not at the Leadhall Drive end. For a long time, it amused me that bicycles were allowed in one direction but not the other. Recently, disappointingly, the council have installed a new no cycling sign at the Leadhall Road end. It took them many months, during most of this time there was a hole in the ground surrounded by barriers. A few weeks later the old sign at the Norfolk Road end was replaced with a new one on a new pole. In addition, on this new pole was a brand new no horse riding sign. I have never in all my days of living in Oatlands area, seen a horse within a mile of this snicket – I’m not sure what problem they’re trying to solve with that sign, but it will keep me amused that while horses are now banned from going westbound, they are still allowed eastbound.
On a more serious note, at a time when the council are trying to promote active travel why are they spending efforts to block cycling from snickets like this? This is a main thoroughfare for kids heading to Ashville, Rossett and Grammar. The alternative routes for bikes would be along either Leeds Road or Leadhall Lane – both very busy roads. ALL snickets around Harrogate should have no cycling signs replaced with shared use signs and a 5 mph sign to remind cyclists to be courteous to pedestrians.
Another point on this – the cricket ground I understand is owned by the council, but these gates at the top of Norfolk Road are always locked. (This may be to prevent travellers getting access.) However, if they unlocked them or put a pedestrian gate through to the snicket there, then maybe fewer Grammar School kids would trudge across the middle of the junior cricket pitch creating a mud bath trail?