Unfair to move Skipton Magistrate cases to Harrogate, says solicitor

Harrogate Magistrates Court has been left as “piggy in the middle” as more cases are being transferred from Skipton, says a solicitor.

Keith Blackwell, of Blackwell Solicitors in Keighley, said that the magistrates in Skipton is being “bled dry” due to fewer hearings being held.

The Skipton court used to sit three times a week, but now cases, such as youth hearings, are being sent to Harrogate or York.

Mr Blackwell, who often travels to Harrogate for cases twice a week, said important hearing such as pre-sentence reports and trials were also being held in Harrogate over Skipton.

He said the frequency of cases being moved is unfair on those defendants and their families who are poor and have to travel long distances.

Mr Blackwell, who has been practising as solicitor since 1975, said:

“It is just not fair.

“The people who make these decisions are all driving in limousines. We are supposed to be levelling up.

“Harrogate has been left as piggy in the middle in all this.”

After being threatened with closure in 2001 and 2010, Skipton Magistrates’ Court has not had any scheduled trial time since a review earlier in the pandemic – with not guilty cases reportedly being sent to Harrogate, York and as far as Scarborough.

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Back in 2010, the axe fell on nine of Yorkshire’s courthouses, but Skipton Magistrates’ Court was spared after a campaign backed by Skipton and Ripon MP Julian Smith and the local branch of the Magistrates Association.

The closures were part of national plans to shut 103 magistrates and 54 county courts across the country in a move which was estimated to save almost £37 million in maintenance and running costs.

In a statement, the HM Courts & Tribunals Service said the recent changes at Skipton Magistrates’ Court were introduced to ensure cases could be heard “safely and with minimum delay” during the pandemic.

It said no decision has been taken to permanently remove criminal trials from Skipton and that “special arrangements” can be made to hear trials locally.

A spokesperson for the HM Courts & Tribunals Service said:

“While listing is a judicial function, the pandemic forced some cases to be moved to ensure cases could be heard safely and with minimum delay.

“Skipton Law Courts continue to hear civil and family cases and special arrangements can be made to hear cases locally.

“Although there is presently no scheduled trial time in Skipton, in individual cases travel distance can be considered when the case is listed and special arrangements can be made to hear cases locally.”

Council orders Harrogate Leon developer to remove advertising sign

The developer behind a Leon drive-thru in Harrogate has been ordered to take down an eight-metre advertising sign after it was put up without permission.

Pictures from the Wetherby Road site show a sign advertising a Leon restaurant being erected yesterday.

The developer has applied for the installation of 15 advertising boards, which include drive-thru directions, menus and a height restrictor bar.

However, Harrogate Borough Council has yet to approve the advertisements.

Joe Shields, a resident who lives directly opposite the drive-thru, saw the pole being put in place by contractors at around 8am in the morning. He alerted planning officers to the situation.

Speaking to the Stray Ferret, Mr Shields said he was disappointed that the developer had erected the sign without permission.

Mr Shields said:

“There are changes at the site on a daily basis.

“My impression is that they will just continue wacking this [the Leon] up.”

The current construction site at the Leon on Wetherby Road.

The current construction site at the Leon on Wetherby Road.

A spokesperson for Harrogate Borough Council confirmed that a planning officer attended the Wetherby Road site to order that the advertisement be taken down.

The spokesperson added:

“We have also received an application for advertising at the site. Any works undertaken before the application is at the applicant’s own risk.”

The Stray Ferret asked Euro Garages for a response on the advertisement, but it declined to comment.

£25,000 appeal costs

The move comes as the borough council has agreed to pay Euro Garages £25,000 in appeal costs over the development.

Last year, Helen Hockenhull, a government planning inspector, granted permission for a Starbucks drive-thru on the former Dental surgery site.

It has since emerged that the site will become a Leon drive-thru instead.

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Ms Hockenhull awarded costs against the council after she said it “demonstrated unreasonable behaviour”.

The council turned down the development back in 2019 on air quality and highways grounds, but later withdrew its objection.

The move forced residents fighting the proposal to defend the authority’s reasons for refusal at the hearing.

Police took child protection report ‘personally’, says deputy chief constable

North Yorkshire Police’s deputy chief constable has said officers took personally a critical report into the force’s investigation of child protection cases.

Last week, a report by Her Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services found that the force does not prioritise safeguarding and child protection highly enough.

It said standards of investigation in relation to child protection were poor and arrangements were not “consistently providing either the quality of service or a good enough response”.

Mabs Hussain, deputy chief constable of the force, told a Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner public accountability meeting today that police fully accepted the findings and were keen to improve.

When asked by commissioner Zoe Metcalfe how the criticism in the report impacted on officers, Mr Hussain said:

“Firstly, there was a clear disappointment across the organisation when we received the report. Not because HMIC said what they said about us as a force, but because they have highlighted areas for improvement and flagged areas of concern.

“Nobody who comes to work for North Yorkshire Police comes to work to do a bad job. We have got loads of great people in the organisation.

“We take it personally the fact that we may be letting children down. It’s always quite emotional to our staff and I think it is fair to say when the report first landed there was a huge amount of disappointment that we let children down.”

Mr Hussain added that senior leaders and frontline officers “wanted to know what they could do to make things better”.

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Meanwhile, Ms Metcalfe said she had been assured that issues identified in the report are being addressed.

She told the meeting:

“It is important to note that the report does say that there is evidence that improvements were underway in November 2021 when the inspection took place and I have been assured by the chief constable that these are being continued at pace and that many of the issues identified are being addressed.”

Lisa Winward, chief constable at the police, reiterated her apology to those that felt let down by the findings in the report.

Critical report

The report said in some cases “highly vulnerable” children went missing from children’s homes, but officers would record those incidents as “cause for concern” rather than missing — which meant officers did not look for them.

Inspectors, who conducted the assessment from November 1 to 12 last year, examined 73 cases where children had been at risk. The report said:

“We assessed the force’s child protection practice as good in 13 cases, requiring improvement in 34 cases, and as inadequate in 26 cases. This shows the force needs to do more to give a consistently good service for all children.”

HMIC made a number of recommendations to the force, which included:

Sharow Parish Council continues village pub fight

Residents in Sharow are continuing their fight to keep a former pub in the village for community use.

The Half Moon Inn pub on Sharow Lane was opened in 1822 but closed down back in 2016.

Since then, a long running saga has unfolded over how best to put the building to use.

A working group on the local parish council was set up to look into the viability of the pub for community use.

Alison Da Costa, who is part of the group, said a recent survey by the parish council found that a majority of people from around Sharow, Copt Hewick, Littlethorpe, Marton-le-Moor and Hutton Conyers wanted the former pub to be put to community use.

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The group said the survey received 234 responses via online and the post. Of that number, 95% said they wanted the pub to open with a cafe and shop.

The move comes after Mark Futon, owner of the building, has reapplied to Harrogate Borough Council to change the use of the Half Moon Inn into a four bedroom house.

In documents submitted to the council, Mr Fitton said “all avenues” had been explored to reopen the pub but had proved unviable.

In a planing statement, the developer said:

“It could hardly be clearer that there is no reasonable prospect of the Half Moon Inn re-opening as a viable hospitality venue.

“All avenues for such an opportunity have been fully explored, over an extended period of time, by agents with strong commercial credentials, unrivalled local coverage and a national licenced-premises specialism.”

However, proposals to convert the pub have been long opposed by the parish council.

Harrogate Borough Council will make a decision on the latest plan at a later date.

180 homes in North Yorkshire ready to welcome Ukrainian refugees

Ukrainians who have fled war in their homeland have started to arrive in North Yorkshire, where around 180 households will welcome the refugees into their homes.

Council officials said the first refugees will be housed “very shortly” under the Homes for Ukraine scheme, which allows residents to sponsor a Ukrainian.

Those who have signed up as hosts will have their homes checked by local councils to ensure they are suitable.

A spokesperson for Harrogate Borough Council said the process also includes background checks on sponsors and arranging education for refugee children.

The spokesperson said: 

“In partnership with our colleagues at North Yorkshire Council County, North Yorkshire Police and the other district councils across North Yorkshire, we are working together to do whatever is necessary to help Ukrainians fleeing the ongoing devastation.

“Early data indicates around 180 households across the county have signed-up and are likely to receive guests, some very shortly.”

The government-led scheme has been criticised for not working quickly enough to grant visas to Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion.

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There are also concerns that councils have not been provided all the information they need to run the programme.

Craven District Council has signed up to the scheme and said it was awaiting guidance on when the home checks should take place and how they will work.

It also said it was awaiting more information on how payments will be made to hosts.

Paul Ellis, director of services at Craven District Council, said: 

“Our officers are taking the necessary steps to support our Ukrainian friends escaping the violence in their homeland.

“The government is providing funding of £10,500 per person to councils to enable them to provide support to families.

“This will be reimbursed for paying sponsors £350 per month, tax-free, for up to 12 months. Again, we are awaiting further government guidance on this.”

Unlike other refugee schemes, the government is assuming that all local authorities will participate, rather than inviting them to take part.

As well as individual households – charities, community groups and businesses can also apply to bring Ukrainians to safety, including those with no family ties to the UK.

In the first phase of the scheme, people will need the name of a specific Ukrainian individual or family they wish to sponsor.

The government advises them to “get in contact with them directly, and prepare to fill in a visa application with all their details and yours”.

Those who don’t personally know anyone fleeing Ukraine can still register their interest on the government’s website.

Daleside Garage in Pateley Bridge to relocate this year

A well-known Pateley Bridge garage is set to move this year.

Daleside Garage, which has been based on Bridgehouse Gate for the last four years, is set to relocate to another base in the town.

The garage, which offers MOTs and repairs, will move to a site on Corn Close off Low Wath Road in September.

It follows plans being submitted by Chartwell Barns Ltd to Harrogate Borough Council to build a three-storey block of flats on the Daleside site.

Carly Haley, who owns Daleside Garage with her husband Glenn, told the Stray Ferret that the business will not be closing and will instead relocate to a new site.

She said:

“We’ll still be offering MOTs, repairs and tyre checks as normal.

“We just wanted people to know that we will not be closing down.”

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The building, which is now owned by the developer behind the apartment plans, has been subjected to various planning applications over the years.

A previous application submitted to the council in 2018 proposed to convert part of the garage into storage space, a laundrette and offices.

The latest plans would see 15 new flats built on the site, along with an electric vehicle charging point and 27 car parking spaces.

Harrogate Borough Council will make a decision on the current proposals at a later date.

Harrogate Town made £1m loss in first Football League season

Harrogate Town posted a loss of £1 million during its first season in the English Football League.

The club secured professional league status for the first time in its history in 2020 after winning the National League play-offs.

Town then played its entire 2020/21 season in League Two behind closed doors due to the covid pandemic.

According to accounts filed with Companies House, the club published a loss of £1.019 million for the 12 months to June 2021.

The club said it was not alone in struggling through the pandemic and added that growing its fanbase now that spectators are allowed into stadiums was “a priority”.

The accounts added that the club’s cash flow forecast for the next 12 months was dependent on Irving Weaver, chairman and majority shareholder, not requesting £3.7 million he has currently put into the club in order for it to meet its liabilities.

The accounts said Mr Weaver “does not intend to seek repayment of the amounts due for the period covered by the forecast”.

A spokesperson for Harrogate Town said:

“As with all sporting venues, entertainment and hospitality organisations, the club has had a challenging time during the pandemic with not being able to operate fully so we are obviously still playing catch up.

“As you would expect, as a relatively new league status club, and with fans allowed in for the first time this season since being promoted into the league, we are still growing our fan base and that will remain our priority.

“We have lots going on behind the scenes and will be announcing details of all new developments as soon as we are in a position to do so ahead of the new season but we are still in the planning and negotiations stages on various projects.”

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The club is currently in the process of improving facilities at the EnviroVent Stadium on Wetherby Road following promotion to the English Football League.

Last month Town officials applied to Harrogate Borough Council to build a new clubhouse at the stadium to meet demand from increased fans on match days.

Meanwhile, a new ticket office and turnstiles at the EnviroVent Stadium were approved by the council in April 2021.

Plans to build 15 flats at Daleside Garage site in Pateley Bridge

Developers have lodged plans for 15 new flats in Pateley Bridge.

Chartwell Barns Ltd has tabled the proposal to Harrogate Borough Council to build a three-storey block on the site of Daleside Garage on Bridgehouse Gate.

The proposal also includes an electric vehicle charging point along with 27 car parking spaces.

A total of three one-bedroom, eight two-bedroom and four three-bedroom flats are included in the scheme.

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A previous application submitted to the council in 2018 proposed to convert part of the garage into storage space, a laundrette and offices.

At the time, owner Nidderdale Garages, which owns Daleside Garages, said in a planning statement that the site was “surplus to the business’ requirements” and that the proposal would “make more efficient use of the space”.

Harrogate Borough Council will make a decision on the latest proposal at a later date.

Health officials warn of 12-hour waits at Harrogate hospital A&E

Health managers are warning of waiting times of up to 12 hours at Harrogate District Hospital’s emergency department.

West Yorkshire Association of Acute Trusts, which is a partnership of six hospital trusts including Harrogate, has urged patients to only attend the department for life-threatening injury or illness.

Hospital officials have warned that some patients are waiting as long as 12 hours for treatment.

Latest figures show that Harrogate District Hospital had 4,595 attendances to its emergency department in February 2022.

The national standard for emergency department waiting times is to admit, transfer or discharge 95% of patients within four hours.

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According to NHS England figures, 65% of patients were seen within that time at Harrogate hospital.

Dr Andrew Lockey, consultant physician in emergency medicine with Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust, which is one of the six trusts that belong to West Yorkshire Association of Acute Trusts, said: 

“It’s really important that people only come to an accident and emergency department if they really need to. Our hospitals are extremely busy, and people are having to wait a long time to be seen.

“Over the past two weeks we’ve faced huge challenges with the sharp uplift in the number of people attending accident and emergency. This places additional pressure on our teams who are responsible for treating patients with serious and life-threatening conditions.

“If you are unwell and are unsure which healthcare service you need, call NHS 111. A highly-trained clinical advisor will direct you to the most appropriate service.”

Full list of election candidates in Harrogate district revealed

The list of candidates standing for election to the new North Yorkshire Council in the Harrogate district has been revealed.

Voters will head to the polls on May 5 to elect councillors to the authority, which will replace both North Yorkshire County Council and Harrogate Borough Council.

The Labour Party, Liberal Democrats, Conservatives, Green Party and independents have all fielded candidates ahead of polling day.

Harrogate Borough Council has published a list of election agents and names of candidates. A full list of party candidates will be published today (April 6).

A total of 21 councillors will be elected from the Harrogate district as the council is made up of new divisions.

The deadline to register to vote is Thursday, April 14. You can register here.

List of Harrogate district election candidates

Coppice Valley and Duchy

Valley Gardens and Central Harrogate

Bilton Grange and New Park

Harlow and St Georges

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Stray, Woodlands and Hookstone

Fairfax and Starbeck

Bilton and Nidd Gorge

High Harrogate and Kingsley

Knaresborough West

Knaresborough East

Killinghall, Hampsthwaite and Saltergate

Oatlands and Pannal

Boroughbridge and Claro

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Spofforth with Lower Wharfedale and Tockwith

Pateley Bridge and Nidderdale

Ripon Minster and Moorside

Ripon Ure Bank and Spa

Washburn and Birstwith

Wathvale and Bishop Monkton

Ouseburn

Masham and Fountains