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Aug
‘Trust waning’ over lack of cameras at Harrogate school safety scheme, say campaigners
Campaigners for a car-free zone outside a Harrogate school say their trust is “waning” amid fears that installation of automatic number plate recognition cameras could be delayed further.
Beechwood Grove, which leads to 360-pupil Oatlands Junior School, is the only School Streets initiative in North Yorkshire.
The scheme, which bans cars from 8.30am to 9am and from 3pm to 3.45pm on schooldays, was introduced after a pupil was taken to hospital following a collision on the street in 2023.
However, Hazel Peacock, who led the campaign for the car-free zone, said the scheme was under threat due to a lack of automatic number plate recognition cameras to monitor and enforce the initiative.
At a Harrogate Town Council planning committee meeting on Wednesday (July 29), Ms Peacock said campaigners’ “trust in the process was waining” as North Yorkshire Council revealed that a separate project to install ANPR cameras had been delayed.
The council had previously said that school street sites, including the one at Oatlands School, would be a contender for ANPR once the authority had completed a trial at a site in Gowthorpe in Selby.
Hazel Peacock
But, in an email from Karl Battersby, corporate director for environment at the council, which was read aloud to the meeting, Mr Battersby said the Selby scheme was due to be up and running in early 2027 — a delay from summer this year.
Ms Peacock told the committee that campaigners, parents and residents were now starting to become concerned over the progress being made at Beechwood Grove.
She said:
I’m sure you can understand that our trust in the process is waning. There is a lot of concern from the school, parents and residents.
Ms Peacock said she wanted the cameras to be installed in time for this year's autumn term.
Councillors on Harrogate Town Council’s planning committee resolved to write to the council and York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority requesting that the school street in Harrogate is allocated an ANPR camera.
The committee also requested an explanation for the delay in implementing the Selby scheme.
The council said previously that it had made no commitment over enforcement at Oatlands School.
However, it added that school street sites, including the one at Oatlands School, would be a contender for ANPR once the authority had completed its trial in Selby.
It said:
North Yorkshire Council have said that school streets sites will be contenders for the introduction of this sort of enforcement. But at no point has North Yorkshire Council ever made a commitment or promise to ANPR enforcement at Oatlands School.
Given the ongoing trial, we do not have a timeline for enforcement introduction at Oatlands School. We are engaging with the York and North Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority on the potential for the combined authority to fund camera installations at school street sites in North Yorkshire including Oatlands.
As these discussions are ongoing, I cannot provide any further reassurance or timescales at this stage. The traffic engineering team are actively pursuing camera funding options with the combined authority and should money become available we will look to introduce the cameras at the earliest opportunity with any lessons learned from the Gowthorpe site.
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