Harrogate campaigners call for 20mph zones near schools

Lower speed limits are urgently needed on roads outside schools in Harrogate to ensure children's safety, campaigners have said.

They were speaking at a meeting of North Yorkshire Council, which was discussing how speed limits are set.

Councillors rejected calls for a 20mph pilot scheme in Harrogate but approved plans to develop a county-wide speed management strategy over six months.

Campaigners said there was support for 20mph zones, citing recent accidents.

They pointed to an incident outside Ashville College which saw two Rossett High School pupils injured after being hit by a vehicle, and said a recent petition asking for 20mph zones in west and south Harrogate had attracted almost 1,000 signatures.

Hazel Peacock, from the Oatlands Road Safety and Active Travel Campaign, said: "The proposal has strong support from the local community, leaders of 13 schools, local councillors and has been endorsed by the Harrogate and Knaresborough area constituency committee, showing there is an urgent need and desire for this change."

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Jenny Marks from the Pannal Ash Safe Streets Campaign pointed to two recent incidents where pedestrians had been hit by cars near schools.

She also described the impact of the collision outside Ashville College on the teenagers affected.

"It left two Year 10 boys with life-changing injuries," she said.

Campaigners had applied to the council for the creation of a 20mph zone around Ashville College, Rossett High School, Harrogate Grammar School, Rossett Acre Primary School and Western Primary School in 2022, but Ms Marks said they had received no response for seven months.

The council's Conservative executive member for transport and highways, Keane Duncan, said excessive speeds were "not a factor" in the recent collisions and rejected calls for a 20mph pilot in Harrogate.

The council will draw up a comprehensive speed management strategy over the next six months which will seek to reduce speeding in the county's towns and on rural roads.

It said this would generate a rolling pipeline of safety improvement schemes.

"We take road safety seriously in these areas of Harrogate and across North Yorkshire and I'm confident that the council will continue to work in unity with councillors, residents and school representatives to deliver action that is genuinely effective," Mr Duncan said.

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