Whitby Business Park has developed since the 1970s, with many long standing local businesses located there, as well as some more recent ones. Whilst a business park is typically aimed as an “out of town” location with cars being the typical visitor, many people do want to visit such places either walking or cycling. Moreover, some workers at the business units also want to walk or cycle.
What are the facilities like for pedestrians, people on bikes, or people on mobility devices whether they are customers to the businesses, or whether they work there?
The business park is laid out as shown below.
Cycling Provision
The first thing to note is that there is no explicit provision for cycling whatsoever on the business park. The only ways of navigating around are “on road”, and all are 30mph, hence not compliant with LTN 1/20 and, as such, not where the majority of people will go. In addition there are no cycle friendly crossings to get across the main A171 to the business park.
For use of the retailers on the park, there are cycle racks at Sainsburys, B&M, and ALDI / Iceland, as well as very limited rack space at the Penny Hedge Inn (seemingly thrown in as an afterthought – as far from the building as possible, right next to the road and hence not on CCTV).
The 2 recent planning permissions for new units at the north west and at the east of the park will, when constructed, come with cycle parking, which will be welcome. Sadly that does nothing to make up for the lack of parking in the remainder of the park, nor viable routes to get there.
Walking Provision
Walking provision is limited to alongside roads (orange on the above map) as well as 2 small footpaths through green space (yellow on the above map) – more on these below. There are no other paths connecting different parts of the business park away from roads. Paths of this nature would be very useful to assist workers getting to/from their workplace quicker away from the roads, but sadly little effort has been invested in the design of the park in this respect – symptomatic of a site designed solely for the car, with walking being an afterthought (and cycling not even reaching that level).
Fairfield Way is notorious for cars being parked fully on the footpath, preventing pedestrian access. Cholmley Way is not much different in this regard, the difference with that road being that businesses there generally have inadequate parking space.
The appalling parking stems from the following
- The design of the business park solely for cars, yet not providing adequate (off street) parking, particularly in the areas like Cholmley Way and some parts of Fairfield Way.
- Entitlement of vehicle drivers, thinking about their vehicle rather than the people who need to use the footpath.
- Lack of enforcement by North Yorkshire Police. See below, obstruction of the footpath is currently a criminal matter and can be pursued by the police. Only if there is a law change could this become a civil enforcement matter for North Yorkshire Council to manage.
IMPORTANT : It is an offence to obstruct a pavement – via Regulation 103 of The Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986. The definition of obstruction is not spelt out, but many vulnerable people need a pavement width of 2 metres, e.g. someone needing a guide dog, or in a wheelchair, or groups of parents with buggies.
North Yorkshire Police could prosecute such obstruction of the pavement, as it is a criminal matter. There was a consultation by the Johnson UK Government to convert this to a civil matter that could be dealt with by local authorities such as North Yorkshire Council; sadly the results were never published and so we are currently reliant on North Yorkshire Police in this respect.
Here we present some examples of the “parking” along the length of Fairfield Way on just one day. It would be impossible for a pedestrian to utilise the footpaths without having to walk on the road for significant distances.
The end result is that pedestrians have to walk on the road, putting their lives at risk with HGVs passing. It also means that anybody in a mobility device (wheelchair, mobility scooter, etc) needing to get to any of the business units on this site have to navigate the whole of Fairfield Road on the road since there are no dropped kerbs either. The whole area is in breach of the Equality Act 2010 due to the flagrant abuse of parking (and lack of enforcement by North Yorkshire Police).
Edit : Please note, we haven’t even looked at the detailed requirements for such as people who are blind or partially sighted, since these paths are currently a no go zone due to this level of illegal parking. Should the illegal parking ever be addressed, be assured that this assessment would then be updated accordingly to include such as tactile paves and dropped kerbs.
Green Space Footpaths
As mentioned there are 2 paths through the green space across the central swathe of the business park. One (connecting to Cholmley Way) is nothing more than a mud path (becomes unusable after wet weather) with no lighting at all, and unusable for disabled people. The other (connecting to Fairfield Way) does have an asphalt surface but has very limited lighting as well as being overgrown. These 2 small paths are potentially very useful for workers to get to/from their business, however, the path connecting to Cholmley has severe limitations as mentioned. As a result it would be unsafe for, say, a female worker walking home alone after a shift in the dark to use this path. There are no other paths connecting different parts of the business park away from roads.
Click on an image below to zoom.
Vegetation Encroachment
Parts of Fairfield Way are subject to bushes and trees blocking the passage of pedestrians along footpaths.
Additionally, the green space swathe through the centre of the business park is left largely unmaintained, and so does not fulfil its potential. This is an issue for North Yorkshire Council.
Lighting
There are parts of the business park that have insufficient lighting. There are areas of car parking with little lighting, and additionally the path across to Cholmley Way has no lighting whatsoever. This results in the safety of pedestrians being put at unnecessary risk.
Conclusions
In a recent survey (Nov 2024) for the Whitby Neighbourhood Plan, many businesses reported parking issues as being one of the main areas of concern with the business park – both a lack of on-site parking in some areas, as well as illegal pavement parking. This is particularly an issue when wanting to provide active travel, with valuable space that should be allocated to vulnerable road users being taken up by vehicles.
If we look at the current active Local Plan (2011-2032) we find the following
- Policy INF1 “promoting sustainable modes of transport other than the private car;”
- 5.19 “Applicants will also have to demonstrate that there are safe access and servicing arrangements for vehicles, cycles and pedestrians.”
Given that there are absolutely no paths suitable for cycling, and the only footpaths present are either alongside roads which carry HGVs, or are overgrown paths with little to no lighting, it is a reasonable assessment that the Local Plan aim to promote sustainable modes of transport has been an abject failure in the area within this business park.
Given the utter lack of enforcement of Regulation 103 of The Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986 by North Yorkshire Police, it is also clear that the lives of pedestrians and mobility device users are being put at unnecessary risk by the design of the business park, the illegal actions of vehicle owners, coupled with North Yorkshire Police’s lack of enforcement. With the exception of the retail units along the A171, the business park is effectively a no-go zone for disabled people currently.
Active Travel Proposals
Whilst retrofitting a sane design on the Whitby business park is clearly not cost effective, there are things that could be done to improve the situation for vulnerable road users.
Vehicle Parking on footpaths
As said, this is an offence, and North Yorkshire Police could run an education campaign about parking on pavement before any enforcement in this park area. Should that not be effective, then enforcement would be required. Otherwise, much more expensive redesign of some of the roads and parking areas may be needed.
Access for less able-bodied (Equality Act 2010).
As the assessment says, currently much of the business park is currently an effective no-go zone for disabled people. Following removal of the illegal parking problem above, there should be a thorough assessment of the needs of disabled users, such as mobility scooters, wheelchairs, blind or partially sighted, and so on. This would involve consideration of dropped kerbs, tactile pavings etc.
Active Travel paths through green space
These should be developed to provide a 3m wide multi-use (shared) path (length would be 250m) through the central part of the business park. Such a path would also require lighting for its full extent. This would be an effective way of “promoting sustainable modes of transport” and offsetting the over reliance on vehicles around the estate. The aim would then be to eventually provide complete compliant active travel routes for workers to get between home and their location of employment.
Bicycle Storage
Whilst new business units will be getting bike storage, there is still the issue of providing bike storage for the many existing units. Either a central store could be provided near the green space in the central area next to Fairfield Way, or employers be encouraged to provide this for their employees. If any employers on the site do indeed provide bike storage on their unit, please let us know.
