Local MP to Government: “Compensate businesses for roadworks disruption”

The MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, Tom Gordon, has called on the Government to compensate businesses for disruption in their trade caused by the seemingly never-ending roadworks that have blighted Harrogate and Knaresborough in recent months. 

Tom’s intervention in Parliament comes after he threw his support behind an amendment to the Planning and Infrastructure Bill earlier this month. The amendment would have seen businesses compensated for loss of revenue resulting from roadworks that disrupted their trade. 

Roadworks have been happening on most of Harrogate’s major roads throughout the last few months, often happening on multiple roads at the same time. North Yorkshire council has claimed that they don’t allow all major routes to have works at the same time, but that does not seem to have been properly considered in the last few months. 

There are also concerns as to whether North Yorkshire Council are properly checking that after works have been completed that the roads are resurfaced properly. 

Commenting, Tom said: 

“The quantity of roadworks blighting our town over the past 6 months has beggared belief. Whilst the works might well be necessary, there is clearly very little planning going into the scheduling of roadworks. The situation in Harrogate, where we have had multiple routes disrupted at once, is unacceptable in a town already blighted by congestion. 

“North Yorkshire Council need to ensure that their process for planning and permitting roadworks is transparent, so that residents can see what is going to happen when. 

“But we also need to see recognition from North Yorkshire that roadworks are more than just an inconvenience. There are real, tangible effects on businesses too, and a compensation scheme for them should be in place.”

ENDS