Connectivity via the super and public highway to be explored at Harrogate District Chamber of Commerce’s March meeting
Connectivity via the super and public highway - critical elements of today’s business landscape – is the subject of March’s Harrogate District Chamber of Commerce meeting.
Speakers at the popular monthly business event are Alastair Taylor, CEO of NYnet; Dr Kim Johnston, Regional Partnership Director, Consumer, City Fibre, and Cllr Keane Duncan, North Yorkshire County Council’s Executive Member for Highways and Transport.
The meeting, being help on Monday, March 13, in Harrogate Convention Centre’s King’s Suite, starts with informal networking from 5.30pm, with the speakers taking to the platform at 6.15pm. Harrogate Chamber warmly invites first time visitors to attend.
Whilst Mr Taylor will talk about the continuing work of NYnet, which is fully owned by North Yorkshire County Council, and provides broadband services to business, Dr Johnston will give an update on City Fibre’s work in and around Harrogate connecting domestic properties to the super highway.
It is expected Cllr Duncan will talk about latest transport initiatives being spearheaded by the County Council, in particular work at Kex Gill and the controversial Harrogate Station Gateway Project.
David Simister, Harrogate District Chamber of Commerce Chief Executive, said: "The thread for our March meeting is the highway, be it super or public, with each of the speakers giving an overview as to current developments in the Harrogate District.
“Connectivity and superfast broadband speeds are what businesses expect as the norm these days, and anything less could impact on them being able to function properly, and even lose them work.
“We expect Cllr Duncan to give an update on the Harrogate Station Gateway Project - three years after it was first put before the business community!”
Mr Simister added: “In 2020, The Chamber, BID, and Independent Harrogate put forward a number of alternative options Harrogate Station Gateway Project which were disappointingly overlooked.
That year, a survey of Harrogate BID members - which included a number of Chamber members - revealed that of those who responded, that whilst the majority were in favour of improving the piazza area outside Victoria Shopping Centre, they were opposed to pedestrianising James Street and narrowing Cheltenham Parade and Station Parade to one lane.
And at Harrogate Chamber’s November 2021 meeting, an overwhelming number of attendees voted against the scheme per se.
The results of a third round of consultation, conducted last summer and published in January, revealed that the majority who responded were still against the £10.9m scheme going ahead.
Organisations also against the Harrogate Station Gateway Project in its present format include Harrogate Civic Society, The British Independent Retail Association, Harrogate Resident’s Association and Granville Road Residents Group.
Its fate is to be debated at North Yorkshire Council’s Harrogate Area Committee meeting in May, with the final decision being taken by the council’s executive a few weeks later.
Mr Simister added: “Following our March meeting, and ahead of May’s area committee meeting, we will again be canvassing the views of our members.
“This is to ensure that our formal position on the project continues to represent the majority of our membership. We will then present the findings to the committee.”
Members and first time visitors wishing to attend the March meeting are asked to register their attendance in advance via the Chamber’s new website, here.
