This page is for ideas about Valley Gardens ward. Comments are open to supporters who are logged in. Find Valley Gardens ward on the map of Harrogate District wards.
Routes in Valley Gardens ward
Cycle routes in this ward:
- Beech Grove
- Otley Road
- Queens Road
- Cold Bath Road
- Harlow Moor Drive & Valley Drive
- the Valley Gardens (no cycle route at present)
- Harlow Moor Road
There’s a poll where you can vote on the best solution for linking Otley Road to the town centre – see the Beech Grove poll.
Comment by Yvonne D on our Postcard page:
Queen’s Road – potholes, disintegrating speed bumps, more surface, used as a rat run for car drivers and delivery trucks to turn left from Cold Bath Road to Otley Road to avoid the traffic lights on Cold Bath Road. It’s also used as a car park as there are no parking restrictions.
Impose 20mph speed limit, establish parking restrictions for non-residents, renew the surface properly.
Cold Bath Road is a nice local shopping area with a variety of shops, pubs and cafes. It is rather spoiled by the constant through traffic. Most of the people spending money live locally and arrive on foot.
It would be good to reduce traffic. Make it one way, widen pavements and enforce the 20mph limit? Or modal filter?
Beech Grove is a problem – the key link from Otley Road to town, but not a good cycle route because of conflict with traffic caused by limited road space – in turn caused by parked cars.
Protected bike lane or modal filter or cycle path across West Park Stray.
So, the Beech Grove LTN is to be abandoned. However, I have always thought Beech Grove is too narrow for parked cars and two lanes of traffic. In my mind the simplest thing to do would be to make it one way southbound for cars, then put a northbound cycle lane in that is physically segregated from motor vehicles. There’s plenty of space for that. Northbound motor traffic would simply go down to the POW roundabout and up West Park – hardly a massive detour.
Hi Ian,
Thanks for your comment.
The width of Beech Grove is 6m35, and parking takes up 2m05. That leaves 4m30, which is not enough for a traffic lane and a one-way physically protected cycle lane (Desirable Minimum 2m, Absolute Minimum 1m50).
Also, cycling south (uphill) in mixed traffic without dedicated facilities does not comply with Cycle Infrastructure Design guidance, and is not safe enough for 8 to 80 year olds.
Your idea would work if the parking was removed, and a 2-way protected cycle track was put in.
Phase one of the Otley Road cycle track is a real dog’s breakfast. No work should be started on phase two until phase one is sorted out. As a cyclist I felt obliged to try out this novel slalom course. The constant weaving and changing from road to path, to shared path, with each junction being different from the last was really confusing. I’m sure it will be for cars also – only a matter of time before someone gets knocked off their bike by a baffled car driver. Heading downhill, it’s very easy to pick up speed which makes it highly unsuitable for sharing with walkers. I found myself facing pedestrians head on with them not knowing which way to step. It’s lucky no one exited Charlies Place as I went past, or they would have been toast. I nearly took out his A-board. The whole experience was quite hazardous. Never again – I’ll take my chances with the road instead.
The Harlow Moor Road junction has been greatly improved for cars.
So, in conclusion, the route is significantly more dangerous for cyclists and pedestrians, but traffic flow is better for cars. I believe that’s the exact opposite of the original objectives.
I also am extremely disappointed at the loss of street trees in this phase. I understand that they have been replaced by saplings elsewhere, but that’s not really enough. The point is, street trees are on the front line of air quality control, they clean the air at the point of pollution, they give shade and cooling to otherwise wide-open tarmacked areas, they are aesthetically pleasing. The replacements offer none of these things as they are set away from the road and not in public space.
Personally I think it would have been better to route the cycle path along to the water tower and down through the Pinewoods and V Gardens.
It’s 5 years since this was funded, so in my view more delay is not the answer.
This was always going to be a compromise because of the constraints/trees, so not a good place to start creating a cycle network. Since they did choose it, they need to get on and finish it as quickly as possible, learn lessons, and move onto the next one.
One of the main problems is the failure to take space from motor vehicles and, as you say, give even more space to them at the Harlow Moor Road junction. It’s important to say that most of the trees lost were to give more space to cars.
Another is failure to follow the guidance about segregating with a level difference and different colour tarmac, not just a white line.
It’s not suitable for high-speed riding, and most road cyclists stick to the road. The design at Charlie’s Place has been bodged – they should have taken the verge and the parking for a cycle track, instead of making it shared use and far too narrow.
A route in the Pinewoods would be great in addition to this one. The reality is that for commuting etc, people want to use direct routes. Many already cycle on the pavement on Otley Road, so at least it is formalising this arrangement. Parents are not going to want their kids to cycle on the road here.