Business owners and residents speak out about the impact of the £14m plus development as council announces plans to start works in the New Year
Keith Hammonds, who was born in Harrogate, has been running his tattoo business in the town centre for 21 years and despite a thriving operation, he is now having to face up to the prospect of closing his doors due to a reduction of on-street parking on Station Parade as part of the council’s £14m plus Station Gateway scheme.
Keith, who originally set up North Star Tattoo studio in the town centre in 2004, and employs four people, is facing a bleak future.
He says: “I simply won’t be able to stay open if this development goes ahead. I have built up a good trade here over the last two decades, with 40 to 50 customers a week as the demand for tattoos has grown amongst all adult ages. However, with higher business costs and the expected decline in trade from two years of construction works, there is a very real possibility that I will have to throw the towel in. I really worry for the future of the town centre, and particularly other independent traders like me which are the life and soul of Harrogate.”
Keith, who is registered disabled after a road traffic accident broke his pelvis, also says the reduction in disabled parking as a result of the development, will make it impossible for him to get into work due to his disability.
He adds: “Unless the development is stopped in its tracks, I will either have to move the business across town and risk losing my clientele, or give up the job I love and the business that I have built up. I just hope the council finally see sense and listen to businesses like me who will be massively affected, as they haven’t up to this point.
Keith’s sentiments and future prospects are shared by Jaye Selway (42), who has lived in Harrogate since he was four and is now an engineer. Jaye, a blue badge holder due to a disability caused by joint instability, travels into the town centre providing technical services for a number of venues, including restaurants.
He said: “It’s hard enough to park already but with the proposals being put forward for the scheme, it will make parking close by to my clients virtually impossible, and make my life so much harder. The only place I could probably park is in a multi-storey which would be far from ideal given my disability.
“The council has just not put enough thought into the proposals and not consulted with traders. This development will come at a cost to livelihoods.
Garry Sadler-Simpson, chairman of Mainline Taxis in Lower Station Parade, which has been in operation since 1981, is extremely concerned about the safety of the scheme as a result of bus lanes being added to the road network outside the bus and railway stations.
He says: “Parking will be replaced on both sides of the road where we are located. The side that runs alongside our taxi rank will become a bus only lane, with another lane next to it for general traffic. It means that any of our wheelchair customers will have to be pushed across a bus lane and then an any-vehicle lane by my drivers or their families to get to our cabs on the other side of the road from where we are situated. It’s bad enough for abled bodied people to experience getting across the road, let alone someone whose has restricted mobility and requires a wheelchair. If the delivery areas on the other side of the road are not vacant then there will also be no options for our taxis to pull in to pick up customers.”
He added: “There is no thought for service users, there’s no thought for businesses and even worse there’s a fatal accident waiting to happen for someone wanting to get into a taxi.
“We’ve tried to inform the council that this is an unacceptable situation, but it’s always fallen on deaf ears. They are obsessed with a vanity project that won’t be of any benefit to anyone.”
Garry Johnson, who owns Cirrus, the barbers on Commercial Street is extremely concerned about the safety of cyclists as well as the impact on his own business which he has run for 19 years.
“It seems crazy that we’ll have cycle lanes, bus lanes and traffic coming from the station’s car parks all converging in the same area. I am also equally concerned about the impact of a reduction of on-street parking on my business which relies on being accessible to our clients.”
One resident, who wanted to remain nameless, said: “Our objections to traffic orders continue to be ignored and overruled. This is totally undemocratic, and it is very clear that the council have no care or concern for the opinions of the people who actually live and work in Harrogate.
“We, like many others, object to this utterly unnecessary reconstruction of the main ‘A route through Harrogate, with all the attendant alterations to Station Parade and the area outside the railway station itself. It is a complete waste of taxpayers’ money, both unrequired and unwanted.
“As long-term residents of the town we know that we and many others would not venture into Harrogate both during construction and afterwards. With nowhere to park, thanks to the ever-increasing removal of parking spaces throughout Harrogate, the removal of so many more, in a hitherto busy commercial and hospitality area, would make accessing these establishments all but impossible.”
Says Steven Baines, Lead of the Get Away Campaign, which has opposed the scheme, added: “It is desperately sad to hear some traders say they will not be able to survive the development. Since plans for the Station Gateway were announced, businesses have been crying out to be kept abreast of things and they have been badly let down. This is why we’ve ended up with a scheme that most local businesses do not want. Businesses are also going to feel the pinch after the Chancellor announced a raft of new taxes in the Budget, making things even worse.
“Last week, the council announced that works on the scheme will begin in the New Year and at the same time accused a small group of campaigners for disrupting the project which they claimed the majority wanted. It is clear from both the reaction to this claim on social media and businesses who are saying they are fighting to survive, that the council has completely misrepresented the views of traders towards the scheme.
Feedback from local traders that was published recently by the Get Away Group campaign showed that the vast majority of traders in Harrogate town centre are extremely concerned (83%) about the implications of 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 TRO 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.
