North Yorkshire Council has been criticised for spending £450,000 on consultants to help improve cycling and walking in Harrogate and Knaresborough without delivering any substantial schemes to date.
At a meeting on Thursday, Harrogate and Knaresborough councillors received an update about active travel from Melisa Burnham, the council’s highways area manager.
Councillors have grown increasingly frustrated at a perceived lack of progress in building new schemes in the area.
They hope better sustainable transport links will reduce congestion and help residents improve their health.
The council has a programme to improve active travel in Harrogate and councillors heard it has paid consultants to work on two studies.
Cllr Andrew Timothy (Liberal Democrat, Stray, Woodlands and Hookstone) revealed the cost of these studies when he referred to a freedom of information request submitted by a resident and shared with him.
The first study for the Harrogate Transport Improvement Programme (HTIP 1), costing £203,000, was completed in 2021 and it looked at what investment is needed across Harrogate and Knaresborough to get people out of their cars.
A second HTIP study, costing £256,000, is set to be published by the end of this year. It will focus on walking and cycling provision, junction improvements, bus priority and park and ride feasibility on the A61 Leeds Road.
There are no guarantees that anything published in the studies will ever see the light of day and sceptical councillors questioned the authority’s use of consultants.
Cllr Matt Walker (Liberal Democrat, Knaresborough West) said: “We’ve spent almost £500k on consultants and delivered nothing. That’s taxpayers’ money. These programmes need to happen. I’m sick of excuses and things not being delivered, it’s simply not good enough.”
Cllr Philip Broadbank (Liberal Democrat, Starbeck) said the amount spent on consultants was frustrating. He added: “It goes on and on and on. Very little gets done.”
Speaking in defence of the council, Cllr Michael Harrison (Conservative, Killinghall, Hampsthwaite & Saltergate) said councillors have at times been to blame for delays as they “set officers up to fail”.
Cllr Harrison said officers have been in a “doom loop” of reworking and altering schemes at their request. He added: “Doing anything in Harrogate and Knaresborough is hard and complex.”
In response to the criticism, Ms Burnham said the council is facing constraints such as having to deliver maintenance to its vast network of roads at the same time as improving active travel.
Five schemes are set to be progressed soon including a £200,000 resurfacing of the Harland Way walking and cycling path between Spofforth and Wetherby and improved crossings on Wetherby Road and Oatlands.
Ms Burnham added:
“The workload in the area is significant, it’s the highest in the county. There are also expectations in terms of active travel schemes that other areas don’t have. I do understand your concerns however we have five delivery dates by the end of the 2024 financial year and it’s a significant outcome. A lot of work has gone in to get to this point.”
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