Council urged to create 20mph zones in Hookstone area

North Yorkshire Council has been urged to create 20mph zones on Hookstone Drive and Hookstone Road to improve road safety.

The topic of speeding cars is now a regular theme when the Harrogate and Knaresborough area constituency committee meets and Thursday’s meeting at the Civic Centre was no exception.

Council officers gave an update on the 20mph zone that will be implemented on streets in Harrogate including Oatlands Drive as part of a host of measures to improve safety around schools.

However, two roads that won’t see lower speed limits are Hookstone Drive and Hookstone Road.

These are particularly busy in mornings and afternoons and are used by children walking to St John Fisher Catholic High School, St Aidan’s CE High School and Oatlands Junior School.

The current speed limit on these roads is 30mph.

Councillors heard from road safety campaigner Hazel Peacock who queried why Oatlands Drive was part of the scheme whereas these other roads were not.

In response, Melisa Burnham, the council’s highways area manager, said the two roads’ importance to Harrogate’s strategic road network would make them unsuitable for lower speed limits.

Her colleague Heather Yendall said introducing measures such as speedbumps to slow traffic down could also be unpopular with residents due to the noise created when HGVs drive over them.

Cllr Paul Haslam (Independent, Bilton & Nidd Gorge) asked if speed limits could be changed at certain times, such as when schools open and close. He said this would be a “much better way”.