A Harrogate woman has received a suspended prison sentence after being found guilty of assault.

Elaine Manaley, 55, of Dene Park, attacked the woman who was named in court on August 2 last year.

She denied the offence, which occurred at Dene Park, Bilton, but was found guilty at York Magistrates Court on Monday.

Court documents described it as an “appalling assault on a member of the public”.

Manaley was also found guilty of damaging a pair of glasses and a wrist watch worth £120 belonging to the same victim. She denied the charge.

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A warrant was issued for the arrest of Manaley when she failed to appear in court on Friday last week to answer the charges against her.

York Magistrates Court. Credit: Flickr.

She was subsequently arrested and appeared before magistrates on Monday where she admitted three instances of failing to submit to custody having been released on bail.

Manaley was sentenced to nine weeks in prison, suspended for 12 months.

She was also ordered to pay a total of £894. This consisted of £620 to the Crown Prosecution Service and £274 compensation.

Building work has begun to create Harrogate’s first mosque, which could be open in time for Ramadan next Spring.

The building on the corner of Tower Street and Belford Road has stood derelict for several years but Harrogate Islamic Association is bringing it back into use.

Around 100 Muslim worshippers, from a diverse range of backgrounds, currently meet in the Quakers’ Friends Meeting House in Harrogate and Chain Lane Community Hub in Knaresborough.

Unique project

Converting a former hospital, masonic hall and home guard club into a mosque has to be one of the most interesting building projects in Harrogate.

After completing the sale in May, there have been some nasty surprises.

The roof was in a much worse state than previously thought and then partially collapsed, which could have thrown the whole project into doubt.

Interior image of the building

Thankfully, the collapse hasn’t damaged the integrity of the walls, leaving workers able to press on with repairing the roof.

HIA member Zahed Amanullah said:

“There was a concern that the roof was degraded so much that we’d have to replace it, which we hadn’t anticipated and would be prohibitively expensive. Even logistically, we weren’t sure replacing the roof would even be possible.

“But a roofer gave us another opinion that has meant it can be saved. We just needed to progress with removing the actual tiling of the roof, investigating which parts are damaged, then restoring it.”

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Getting it watertight

Scaffolding has now gone up around the building and will remain there for the next two or three months whilst roofers make sure the building is watertight ahead of winter.

Work will also take place to smarten up its exterior and will include adding a new render and restoring the windows.

Mr Amanullah hopes the ground floor will be safe and clean by the end of this year so it can open for some congressional prayers.

He said the HIA may need to fundraise again to complete the upper level of the building, but he is confident all the uncertainty and hard work will be worth it in the end.

He added:

“Developers wanted to demolish it and I don’t think the building would have survived another winter. The collapse was quite dramatic.

“Our main goal is always the next Ramadan in March and April. That would be our goal to open for worship.

“We’re confident. It was a big risk to take.”

Harrogate Islamic Association will be posting updates about the project on its Twitter account.

Luxury fashion retailer Jules B is set to open a new store in Harrogate tomorrow.

The boutique, which will be in the former Jaeger unit on Cambridge Crescent, will sell womenswear.

The retailer offers collections by designers including Oska, Holland Cooper, NU London, Rag and Bone and Barbour International.

Owners Julian Blades and his wife, Rhona, opened their first womenswear store in Jesmond in 1984.

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Mr Blades said its brands “will be perfect for the sophisticated customer demographic in Harrogate and surrounding areas”.

He added:

“After years of planning to find the perfect location, our newest and biggest store in Harrogate is an inspiring womenswear shopping destination that covers two fantastic floors.

“We knew the time was right when the old Jaeger unit became available as it perfectly suits the Jules B aesthetic.”

An official launch event will take place on September 22.

Anyone visiting Harrogate town centre recently will have noticed colourful doodles on footpaths by Station Parade, James Street and Cheltenham Parade.

It’s not a conceptual art project and has an important purpose, according to North Yorkshire County Council who painted them.

Paint is sometimes added to footpaths before roadworks take place to help engineers identify underground services such as water pipes, electricity cables or broadband.

The £11.2m Station Gateway scheme is arguably the biggest infrastructure project to come to Harrogate in decades and the sheer scale of the project means there is now “gateway graffiti” splattered in front of many shops, cafes and restaurants.

NYCC said the paint is semi-permanent and will wear off, but it could still be there during Harrogate’s busy Christmas period.

North Yorkshire County Council’s assistant director of highways and transportation, Barrie Mason, said:

“The markings are necessary to identify underground services as part of the planning work for the proposed Harrogate Gateway scheme, if the decision is taken for the project to go ahead, and is routine practice to help avoid problems in many situations where contractors will be working.

“The paint is semi-permanent and will wear off over a matter of months but care is taken to keep its use to a minimum.”

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When will work start on the Station Gateway?

The project is still yet to be given the final green light.

A third round of public consultation recently ended.

But last night, Cllr Keane Duncan, executive member for highways and transportation at NYCC, told businesses that work is likely to start next year if councillors approve it.

Cllr Duncan also discussed whether inflation will increase the final cost of the project.

A Harrogate solicitor has said there is “no legal requirement” for employees to be given a day off for the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II.

The government has announced that Monday’s state funeral will be a national bank holiday.

Consequently, many businesses plan to close and give staff the day off. But there is confusion over whether they are legally obliged to do so.

James Austin, from Harrogate-based LCF Law, today clarified the situation.

Mr Austin, who specialises in employment law, said although it was likely many employees would be given time off, it was not a legal requirement for all employers.

He said:

“For example, employees may be eligible if their contract of employment states that they are entitled to say ‘20 days holiday plus bank holidays’. However, if the contract refers to the employee only being entitled to ‘the usual bank holidays,’ this wouldn’t apply.

“In addition, they might not get the day off if, for example, the contract refers to 28 days’ holiday including ‘bank holidays,’ which could mean an employer simply deducts a day’s holiday from the non-bank holiday entitlement.”

Mr Austin added:

“However, this is a unique national moment so we suspect the majority of employers will give staff the time off, which is what we saw with the Jubilee.

“Where employees are entitled to the day off, but the employer wants them to work, the contract will usually state whether the employer can require this and, if so, whether the employee is entitled to extra pay or time off in lieu.”

LCF Law employs more than 125 people at offices in Harrogate, Leeds, Bradford and Ilkley.

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Business Breakfast is sponsored by Harrogate law firm Truth Legal. 

Ripon Business Improvement District is urging businesses who are looking for help or advice with navigating the ever-changing business cost market to get in touch.

Appointments with the BID’s cost-saving expert, Rishi Sood of Place Support Partnership (PSP) were originally planned for September 19, but have re-scheduled to October 20, following the Queen’s death.

BID manager Lilla Bathurst (pictured) said:

“Our aim is to deliver on issues that are important to our member businesses and cost saving in the current economic climate is considered high priority.

“In response to business needs, PSP were commissioned by Ripon BID to support local businesses through our Place Saving Programme focussing on business critical spend areas including energy, telecoms, merchant services and water.”

Appointments can be made via info@riponbid.co.uk or by calling call 01765 530 910.

The new units on Cambridge Street.

Project to bring Harrogate retail unit back into use complete

A project to bring a vacant Harrogate retail unit back into use has been completed.

The boarded-up shop on Cambridge Street was purchased by Broadland Properties in 2020 and the 25,000 sq ft former Topshop store has now been reconfigured into a mixed-use retail and leisure development.

It now includes Cosy Club, Sainsbury’s Local and Skipton Building Society.

Matt Harriman, associate direct at GV&Co which project managed the scheme, said:

“It’s great to see this scheme come to such a successful conclusion, with an impressive line-up of new retail and leisure tenants taking their place on this busy Harrogate high street.

“The unit had been vacant since 2017 and we managed the extensive enabling works to divide the property into separate units, with new services and several structural changes to suit the revised layouts, as well as external refurbishments over three phases. These included new windows, stone cleaning, and stonework repairs.

“Now fully let and brought back to life with Sainsbury’s, Cosy Club and Skipton Building Society all in place, we have thoroughly enjoyed working with a big project team that included engineers, GGP, architects, DLA, RGP building control specialists, Ball and Berry letting agent, Robinson Webster managing agent, Ryden, Brentwood Consulting Engineers, and contractor JP Wild for Broadland Properties.”

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A Harrogate man has been disqualified from owning pets for five years after being found guilty of neglecting two dogs.

Charlie Nelson, 28, of Woodfield View, was found to be in breach of the Animal Welfare Act at York Magistrates Court yesterday.

The court heard Nelson did not take reasonable steps to look after a mastiff called Rocco and a lurcher called Smudge at High Street, Harrogate, on March 18 last year.

Court documents reveal he was banned from keeping animals “to ensure no animals suffer at the hands of the defendant during this period”.

They also show an order was made under section 33 of the Animal Welfare Act 2006 depriving him of ownership of a dog and for its disposal.

Nelson was also ordered to pay costs of £200 and a surcharge of £95 to fund victims’ services.

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North Yorkshire Police issued warrants in July for the arrest of Nelson and his brother Robbie Nelson after they failed to turn up in court to face animal cruelty charges.

Robbie Nelson, 24, of Woodfield View, was subsequently banned from keeping animals for five years.

The RSPCA said Rocco and Smudge were malnourished and living in a flat covered in faeces and with carpets soaked in urine.

An RSPCA picture of the flat where the brothers kept dogs.

The kiwi and marlin sculptures are being removed today from the New Zealand garden in Valley Gardens due to rot.

The garden commemorates Harrogate’s twinning with Wellington and the country’s airmen being stationed in the town during the Second World War.

Chainsaw sculptor Mick Burns carved the marlin, kiwi and a carved Maori bench in 2010.

In 2020, suspected vandals also ripped chunks out of the Kiwi bird and hastened its decline.

Friends of Valley Gardens, a charity that helps Harrogate Borough Council look after the park, said:

“It was always known that when these sculptures were carved that they had a limited life, the softwood rots naturally, but they will be sadly missed.”

The Stray Ferret has asked Harrogate Borough Council if it has plans to replace the sculptures.

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A notorious thug has been jailed for biting a police officer following a disturbance in Harrogate town centre.

Adam Snowdon, 31, was arrested following a drunken incident in Parliament Street and brought into Harrogate Police Station, where he bit one officer and allegedly assaulted two others.

He was charged with affray and assaulting three police officers. 

He initially denied all allegations but admitted affray on the day of trial. 

Snowdon, of Lupton Close, Glasshouses, was tried by a jury on three allegations of assaulting a police officer.

At York Crown Court yesterday (Monday, September 12), he was found guilty of one count of assaulting a policeman but not guilty of attacking the two others.

The substantive charge on which he was found guilty was biting a named officer at the police station on Beckwith Head Road on May 1. 

Prosecutor Ben Whittingham said that Snowdon was on a community order at the time for previous offences, including violence against police officers. 

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Defence barrister Allan Armbrister said Snowdon was “very much a loner” who desperately needed help after years of mental-health issues. 

He said Snowdon had not yet received that professional help and would now “lose that chance” due to the inevitable jail sentence for his “awful behaviour” in the town centre in May.

He added that Snowdon had recently become a father but any hopes of family life were now “completely lost” because his now-ex partner didn’t want “anything more to do with him”.

Snowdon, who was no stranger to prison, had been diagnosed with behavioural problems as a child.

Judge Sean Morris, the Recorder of York, said he had “taken a chance” with Snowdon when he gave him a community order earlier this year, but jail was now the only option because of his “bad” record for violence.

He said although Snowdon didn’t start the violence in the town centre, it was a “prolonged incident thereafter, on a busy street where people are fed up with…drunken violence”. 

Jailing Snowdon for 19 months, the judge said he would reserve all future cases involving the Harrogate man to himself and would “come down on you like a tonne of bricks if you cause trouble in North Yorkshire’s towns and cities”.

Snowdon will serve half of that sentence behind bars before being released on prison licence.

Plans have been submitted to convert the Herald Buildings in Harrogate, which was most recently home to the Slug & Lettuce pub, into four retail units and apartments.

Built in the 1850s, the buildings were also the headquarters of the Harrogate Advertiser newspaper for much of the last century until it moved out in 1990.

The Slug & Lettuce chain then occupied part of the buildings for nearly 30 years before closing in May last year.

Plans were submitted last week by Leeds-based developer Rushbond PLC to give it a new lease of life.

It hopes to subdivide the downstairs pub into four retail units and convert the upstairs area into five apartments.

It’s in the Montpellier Quarter which is a popular area for boutique shops.

The plans have been designed by Harrogate-based SPX Architects. Documents say the development would “enhance the area’s reputation” as a destination for independent boutique-style shops.

It says:

“The proposals generate a sustainable, long-term use for the upper floors of this locally designated heritage asset and simultaneously improve its energy efficiency and visual contribution to the area.

“Moreover, the replacement of a large public house and its associated outdoor eating and drinking areas with a scheme providing a complementary mix of small high-quality ground floor retail units to those found on Montpellier Mews, Montpellier Parade and Montpellier Street only serves to enhance the areas reputation as a destination for independent boutique style shops.”

HBC will decide on the plans at a later date.

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