Gateway works 'can start despite legal challenge'

Council chiefs are set to give the go-ahead for work to start on the £12m Harrogate Station Gateway scheme despite an ongoing legal challenge from local businesses.

North Yorkshire Council bosses said key elements of the project were not subject to the legal action brought by campaign group Get Away.

Councillor Keane Duncan, executive member for highways, told councillors at a full meeting this week that the challenge "will not halt construction".

He said: "We are fighting this challenge as strongly and as robustly as we can. We're preparing to fight the case in the High Court."

Get Away says the council did not consider the project's wider impact or consult fully with the public, meaning issuing traffic regulation orders (TROs) would be illegal.

But Duncan said the authority could proceed with elements of the scheme that fall outside of the TROs, including work on Station Parade, the One Arch underpass and changes to the traffic signals.

"A report will be taken to the executive at the earliest opportunity to enable construction to happen," he said.

"It's important we see this project through. To secure £12m of investment, to deliver vital improvements in Harrogate, but most importantly, to defend the democratic decision we have taken and protect the democratic process we're all part of."

Get Away says the work is a waste of money and is neither wanted nor needed, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The group says that more than half of respondents to its survey thought the scheme would harm their business and 94% thought it would not benefit local people or visitors.

The campaign has the backing of Harrogate businessman Chris Bentley, who has accused North Yorkshire Council of being "dictatorial" over the project.

More than £38m in funding has been allocated to the council from the Transforming Cities Fund programme for projects in Harrogate, Skipton and Selby town centres.

Senior councillors have already given authority for officers to enter into construction contracts and accept grants for the Selby and Skipton schemes, with work due to start within weeks.

The legal action prevented council chiefs from fully giving the Harrogate scheme the green light.

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