Court of Appeal has given the green light for a review of the judge’s original decision on the basis that the grounds have real prospects of success
The Court of Appeal has granted permission for the review of the judge’s original decision to dismiss a legal challenge brought against a number of Traffic Regulations Orders (TROs) made to implement the £14m plus Harrogate Station Gateway project funded by the West Yorkshire Combined Authority. Permission has been granted on the basis that the court has stated that the grounds brought forward “have real prospects of success”.
Get Away, the campaign group, which is highly concerned about the impact that the highways proposals of the scheme will have on the town centre, in addition to the chaos of two years of construction, said that the Court of Appeal’s decisionto grant permission was a vital step forward in seeking to stop the development from going ahead and a vindication of the campaign continuing its fight.
Earlier this year, a judicial review was brought against the lawfulness of four TROs made by North Yorkshire Council to implement the scheme. It was argued that the council failed to: gauge support of the scheme through public consultation,consider the totality of the impacts of the scheme, substantiate claims with adequate evidence and reasoning and take into account material considerations. These arguments were dismissed by the judge in August and an appeal was immediately launched.
At the time of the judge’s decision, Cllr Malcolm Taylor, the council’s executive member for Highways and Transportation reportedly claimed victory by saying that the decision not only vindicated the thorough and transparent process thecouncil followed, but also allowed the scheme to move forward.
Steven Baines, spokesperson for the campaign group, commented: “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.”
The appeal of the high court’s ruling to dismiss the legal challenge is based on the assertion that the judge has not acknowledged key legal and procedural issues. At the time of seeking permission to appeal, the group and legal counselargued that the judge had got it wrong.
Added Baines: “Despite this latest development it has been reported that the council is now seeking the funds from the West Yorkshire Combined Authority to progress the scheme’s development. It just shows that the council want to railroadthrough this development at all costs. The Corporate Director of Environment at the council previously classified the scheme as high risk, likely due to the uncertainty surrounding it due to our continued opposition. It will therefore be interesting to see whether the council and the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, who hand out the funding from the Department for Transport, are prepared to risk taxpayers’ money by commencing works with a review of the previous High Court ruling now in progress.”
This latest development also comes fast on the heels of a new survey amongst traders about the scheme. It followed the issue of the latest Traffic Regulation Order (TRO), and has reinforced the consternation amongst businesses over the town centre development.
It revealed that the vast majority of traders in Harrogate town centre are extremely concerned (83%) about the latest TRO and fearful (82%) about what the future holds for them. Nearly two thirds (65%) felt that they had not been consulted on the most recent proposal with less than a third saying the consultation was adequate. 74% revealed their intention to object to the new TRO with just 14% saying they wouldn’t. 62% of traders also said they are now more against the scheme than before after the latest TRO was issued, and 19% stated they were as against it, as they were previously.
The survey also highlighted that 90% of respondents had at least one concern about the proposed development. Key worries were lack of parking in the town centre (52%); limited parking bays (40); the traffic chaos that will be caused by two years of work, including the principal road into the town centre (44%); added burden of the impact of the scheme on trade on top of increases in business rates, rents and national insurance contributions (36%); reduction in short visits to the town centre due to the parking situation (36%); and safety of road users (28%).
