Skipton could receive over £11m of funding intended for Harrogate if a controversial scheme to overhaul the area outside Harrogate train station is scrapped.
Harrogate’s Station Gateway project is being developed by North Yorkshire County Council alongside similar schemes in Skipton and Selby. All three are being funded using £42m from the government’s Transforming Cities Fund that aims to make town centres more accessible to cyclists and pedestrians.
However, the Harrogate scheme has proved much more difficult for the public to accept than futher down the A59 in Skipton.
A third round of consultation was published in January and revealed a slim majority (46% vs 44%) of people are against the plans. The council’s executive will make a final decision on whether it goes ahead in May.
Conservative councillor Keane Duncan, North Yorkshire County Council’s executive member for highways and transport, said if the project is ultimately scrapped, the council would look to spend the £11.2m on similar projects in Skipton and Selby rather than hand unspent cash back to central government.
There are no further details on how exactly this money might be spent, but it would involve encouraging active travel.
Cllr Duncan told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “This is money for North Yorkshire and I want to see it spent in North Yorkshire.
“My hope is that all three Gateway schemes can go ahead, but the Harrogate scheme has attracted opposition we haven’t seen in Skipton and Selby.
“We will be asking local Harrogate and Knaresborough councillors for their views in May. Do they support the plans, and do they want the project to proceed?
“If the scheme does not go ahead, we will seek to divert the funding elsewhere in North Yorkshire. The alternative would be returning funding back to government.
“To turn down even a single penny of investment in this climate would be unthinkable, so it makes sense for us to try to spend the money on the other Gateway projects here in North Yorkshire.
“Harrogate Gateway’s project is a landmark investment and I remain personally supportive of its aims.”
Skipton Gateway
Skipton’s £7.8m Gateway scheme aims to create a more attractive entrance to the town with improved pedestrian and public transport links.
The proposals had included a cycle lane on Broughton Road between Skipton train station and the town centre, but this was scrapped after concerns were raised over the safety of cyclists and loss of a taxi rank.
Instead, widened footpaths and a 20mph speed limit are now planned for a stretch of the road.
Other plans include transforming the entrance of the train station with a new public plaza, as well as widened footpaths on Carleton Street and improved pedestrian crossings on several streets.
Read more about the scheme at yourvoice.westyorks-ca.gov.uk/skipton
Cllr Duncan said he expects construction on the project to start soon.
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