Opponents of North Yorkshire Council's plans to improve transport links and public areas in Harrogate are to take their case to the Court of Appeal.
Campaign group Get Away has been granted permission for a review of a High Court decision to dismiss its legal challenge against traffic regulation orders made for the £14.3m Harrogate Station Gateway scheme.
The scheme includes better pedestrian and cycling links near the transport hub, as well as improvements to public areas.
But Get Away, which was launched by several Harrogate businesses including A&E Baines Limited and Hornbeam Park Developments, says the TROs were issued illegally.
Steven Baines, spokesperson for the campaign group, said:
“The council has not undertaken a thorough and transparent process with regard to the Harrogate Gateway scheme – far from it.
“The judge got the decision wrong to dismiss our legal challenge and the Court of Appeal’s move to grant us a review of the judge’s ruling, on the basis that our case has real prospects of success, says a lot about what we are fighting for and how the council has conducted itself.”
Members of the council’s executive will meet to give approval for work to continue on the project.
A report prepared for the meeting acknowledges the continuing legal challenge but says work to assess the costs and secure funding for the scheme has continued.
The report states:
“To deliver the scheme in full requires the implementation of a number of TROs, four of which were made by the council in January 2025 and upheld after the recent challenge (at) the High Court, with permission to appeal refused by the judge.
“They are now seeking to appeal to the Court of Appeal, but at this point in time the council has a decision in its favour and is entitled to rely upon that.”
The report estimated that the scheme will now cost £14.3m, which includes a £1.1m contingency in case costs increase further.
The report notes that there is currently a limited allowance within the budget to fund future legal challenges which may arise.
Legal costs which exceed this amount may have to be funded by the council, councillors will be told.
The project is being funded predominantly through the Government’s Transforming Cities Fund (TCF).
North Yorkshire Council was originally awarded £38m to deliver schemes in Harrogate, Selby and Skipton, with work already underway on the Skipton improvements and Selby due to start this winter.
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