Voters head to the polls for Knaresborough Scriven Park by-election

Voters will head to the polls for the Knaresborough Scriven Park by-election today.

The election is being held following the resignation of Conservative councillor Samantha Mearns, who last month announced she had stepped down due to family reasons.

The winning candidate will replace Cllr Mearns on Harrogate Borough Council.

The candidates standing for election are:

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Samantha Mearns was also a member of Knaresborough Town Council and voting to fill this seat will also take place today.

There are three candidates for this vote, including Jaqui Renton (Conservatives), Sharon-Theresa Calvert (Labour) and Andy Bell (Liberal Democrats)

Polling stations will be open from 7am until 10pm.

Harrogate district covid rate continues to fall

The Harrogate district has recorded 69 new covid cases in the last 24 hours, according to today’s Public Health England figures.

It means the district now has a weekly average of 307 infections per 100,000 people, compared with 534 just 10 days ago

The North Yorkshire rate stands at 340 and the England average is 350.

Harrogate District Hospital has not recorded a covid-related death in three-and-a-half months.

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It means the covid death toll at the hospital since March 2020 remains at 179.

However, latest figures show that the hospital is treating nine covid patients compared with just three a week ago.

Elsewhere, 122,607 people have received a first covid vaccine in the Harrogate district and 103,352 have had a second dose.

Ripon citizens panel being set up to shape new vision for city

A Leeds-based architecture firm is seeking the views of Ripon people to help it devise a masterplan to regenerate the city.

Harrogate Borough Council appointed Bauman Lyons Architects in February on an £85,000 contract to devise a Ripon renewal plan.

The plan will provide a framework for future development in the city that also considers current initiatives, such as the regeneration of the former Ripon barracks.

The council said yesterday it wanted to hear from people in the city, in particular young people, to help shape the new vision. As part of the scheme, the council is creating a citizens’ panel, which will involve attending some two-hour workshops this year.

Bauman Lyons haș already consulted with 60 organisations and held a campaign for people aged 16 to 30 to ‘speak up and speak out’ about their ideas for the city.

Among the issues identified are more things for young people to do, fewer cars on the roads around the market place, affordable housing and pedestrian and cyclist priority in the city centre.

There were also calls for better traffic management on Low Skellgate and Westgate and a new green route to link the Workhouse Museum and cathedral.

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Trevor Watson, director of economy, environment and housing at the council, said:

“It is a priority project for us and we want to work with the community in Ripon to build upon the work already undertaken by the local community in drawing up the city’s Neighbourhood Plan and the many other opportunities and assets Ripon has to develop a joined-up and detailed masterplan.”

Irena Bauman, from Bauman Lyons Architects, said:

“Ripon is a wonderful gem, but it needs to adapt to be relevant to young people and to their futures. We are looking forward to working with everyone, especially the young, towards a common vision of 21st century Ripon.”

Ripon people can have their say on the project online here and express an interest in joining the panel here.

Controversial plan for 217 homes on Harrogate’s Kingsley Drive set for refusal

A controversial plan to build 217 homes on Kingsley Drive in Harrogate has been recommended for refusal.

Harrogate Borough Council‘s planning committee will make a decision on Tuesday next week. But council officers have recommended the scheme be rejected.

The council received 388 objections to the scheme and no responses in favour.

The current application, submitted by Persimmon Homes, has seen the number of properties planned on the site reduced from 244 to 217.

The Kingsley ward area will eventually see more than 600 homes built, including developments at Granby Farm and 149 homes on Kingsley Road.

However, residents have raised a number of concerns over Persimmon’s plan, including overdevelopment and traffic congestion.

Officer concerns

Council officers have recommended that councillors on the committee reject the application next week.

Although the site is allocated for housing under the council’s Harrogate district Local Plan 2014-35, which outlines development in the district until 2035, officers have concerns about overdevelopment and inadequate information on surface water drainage and noise.

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Under the plans, a total of 86 homes would be allocated as affordable housing with the rest being market value homes.

It would see a mixture of one, two, three and four-bedroom homes built.

But an officer report due before councillors says:

“Although overall [the plan] would contribute towards maintaining housing supply within the district, the density of the development and its scale and layout would result in overdevelopment of the site.

“The quantum of dwellings, their resultant layout, extent of frontage parking, private drives and lack of adequate cycle parking along with inappropriate drainage arrangements, inadequate air quality and noise assessments and lack of a number of documents are such that the proposal is clearly contrary to the terms of the development plan.”

The council added that the planned number of homes for the site was 173. The current application, when combined with the nearby Stonebridge Homes development, would see a total of 313 houses built if it was approved.

In a planning statement submitted to the council last month, Persimmon Homes said it had sought to address the authority’s concerns and had completed a “comprehensive re-assessment of the scheme”.

It said of the reduction to 217 homes:

“These changes were necessary to accommodate the level of open space, landscaping and space between dwellings so as to create an effective and coherent urban realm.”

“Nightmare” development

One of the residents who objected to the development was John Hansard, of the Kingsley Ward Action Group.

In a letter to the borough council, Mr Hansard said the area would not be able to cope with another development.

He said:

“We now find ourselves faced with the nightmare of a possible fifth development of another 217 houses from Persimmon. 

“This, in an area which simply does not have the infrastructure, road network, amenities, schools to cope with at least another possible 1,000 extra residents and another possible 500 cars. We have had enough and wish this urban sprawl to stop.”

Another resident, Anthony Buck, told the council that the development would “take away our last remaining open space”.

Sarah Knapper, a resident of Kingsley Park, said:

“This area of Harrogate has already been grossly overdeveloped. 

“This has led to a huge increase traffic and pollution. It has led to a loss of habitat for wildlife and reduction in the quality of life for local residents. The local road infrastructure is already overwhelmed.”

Traffic congestion

Hundreds of residents raised concerns that traffic caused by the development would lead to problems.

They said that the Kingsley area does not have the infrastructure to cope with more cars and that another development would cause congestion issues on nearby Knaresborough Road.

Kingsley lorries

A lorry collided with a car in the Kingsley area this year. There are also concerns about the volume of traffic.

In May, residents called for urgent road safety action after a lorry hit a car in the area.

In an email to the county council, residents said they had “repeatedly” said Kingsley Road was not suitable for construction traffic.

They also objected to a one-way system proposed by developers Persimmon, which would stop traffic entering Kingsley Drive or Wreaks Road from Kingsley Road.

Mr Hansard added in his letter of objection:

“The road network is not capable of supporting the extra number of vehicles likely to impinge on our daily life.”

 

North Yorkshire Police taking three times longer than expected to answer 101 calls

North Yorkshire Police is taking three times longer than expected to answer non-emergency 101 calls this month, according to officers.

Lindsey Butterfield, assistant chief constable at North Yorkshire Police, told a police commissioner public accountability meeting yesterday that the force was experiencing a high number of 101 calls to its control room.

In the last six days, it had received on average 95 non-emergency calls per day, she said.

North Yorkshire Police’s target is to answer the majority of 101 calls in two minutes.

Ms Butterfield said so far this month the force was averaging seven minutes and 13 seconds to answer non-emergency calls. She added:

“We know that is absolutely not where we want to be as a service.”

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Philip Allott, North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, approved emergency funding of £70,000 for the force to put an overtime plan in place in order to improve the speed of response to calls.

Mr Allott told the Stray Ferret he expected the response time to 101 to improve in the coming months following the easing of restrictions and after improvements to the service were made.

He said:

“It’s making it so that people get a good service. I recognise that 101 and 999 is front of business and people need to get through.

“The police admit that it is not where it needs to be and they are reporting back to me on a weekly basis.”

Police also hope that new trainee call handlers will be available by next month to help ease pressure on resources.

Meanwhile on Saturday, the force received 470 emergency calls in a single 24-hour period — the most it has ever handled.

Part of the increase is thought to be down to York Races and the ending of covid restrictions.

North Yorkshire Police currently expects to deal with 9,000 999 calls this month.

In June, police received a a total of 35,490 non-emergency, emergency and front desk calls, which was also a record.

At the time, officers said the increase was thought to be down to the easing of lockdown restrictions and an increase in incidents.

Ms Butterfield said:

“We have continued to see excessive demand in terms of calls for service into the control room. It is unprecedented and it is on a national level, although it is having a significant impact on North Yorkshire.”

Harrogate district records 31 covid cases as rate drops dramatically

The Harrogate district has recorded 31 covid cases in the last 24 hours as infection rates continue to decline sharply.

It is the joint lowest daily figure since June 20, when 15 infections were recorded.

According to the latest seven-day figures, the district has an average of 348 covid cases per 100,000 people. It was as high as 534 just nine days ago.

The North Yorkshire rate stands at 376 and the England average is 373.

Harrogate District Hospital has not recorded a covid-related death in three-and-a-half months.

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It means the covid death toll at the hospital since March 2020 remains at 179.

Latest Public Health England figures show that the hospital is treating three covid patients.

Elsewhere, 122,555 people have received a first covid vaccine in the Harrogate district and 103,213 have had a second dose.

Harrogate’s first Lidl set to be given go-ahead

A plan to open Harrogate’s first Lidl supermarket looks set to be given the green light.

Harrogate Borough Council officers have recommended the proposal for Knaresborough Road is approved at a planning committee meeting on Tuesday next week.

If councillors ratify this, it would pave the way for the store to be built on the former Lookers car dealership site.

The multi-million pound proposal includes a 1,263 square metre sales area, an in-store bakery, customer toilets and 94 parking spaces.

It would open from 8am to 10pm Monday to Saturday and 10am to 4pm on Sunday.

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Lidl has also submitted plans for a new store in Ripon.

The German supermarket chain has lodged proposals for a store at St Michael’s Retail Park in the city.

Earlier this month, the application won the support of Ripon City Council.

Cllr Andrew Williams, leader of the city council, said:

“It will bring 40 new jobs, increase choice for Ripon’s residents and also serve our growing population, with the new homes that we have coming on stream.”

Robert Jenrick: Two councils for North Yorkshire would have been risky

Two councils to serve North Yorkshire would have been too risky and was not “credible” geographically, according to the government.

In a letter to council chief executives across the county and York, Paul Roswell, head of governance and reform at the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government, explained why the secretary of state chose a single council.

The move to an east/west model, which was tabled by the seven district council leaders including Harrogate, would have seen the county split into two unitary councils.

The letter said that Local Government Secretary Robert Jenrick found that the proposal posed “significant risks of disruption for some major services” during the transition period.

He also found that it would cause “longer-term risks around the lack of alignment with other key public sector partners”.

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Among the risks were the break-up of North Yorkshire’s children’s services, which are rated outstanding by Ofsted, and “longer-term sustainability” of adult social care.

However, Mr Jenrick recognised that there was good local support for the model, including town and parish councils and business organisations.

He also noted that the authorities would bring £32.5 million per year in financial benefits to the area.

But, the letter said:

“The secretary of state was also aware that the department’s analysts confirmed that in their view the risks of this option would be greater than for the single unitary, although this proposal would produce savings, improve value for money and improve the financial sustainability of local government in the area.”

It added:

“The secretary of state also considered that the two-unitary proposal could not be judged to meet the credible geography criterion. 

“He noted that the populations of the councils in the proposal are within the range of population size set out in the invitation, however the areas would not appear to be based on local identity for either area.”

By comparison, Mr Jenrick found that the single authority could be “easily understood” by residents and retained local identity.

“He [Mr Jenrick] noted that the population of the council is just over the range of population size set out in the invitation, but has an established local identity as referred to in the criterion.”

“Not a good day for democracy” 

In response to the decision last week, Cllr Richard Cooper, leader of Harrogate Borough Council, said he was disappointed with the announcement.

Cllr Cooper, who backed an east/west model, said the government’s decision “flies in the face” of its own criteria.

Meanwhile, Cllr Steve Siddons, Labour leader of Scarborough Borough Council, the move to a single council was “not a good day for democracy”.

He added that the council, which will cover 618,000 residents and cost up to £38 million to set up, was a “dog’s breakfast”.

The plans are now subject to Parliamentary approval later in the year.

Mr Jenrick said the government aimed to have the new unitary council up and running by April 2023.

Another 78 covid cases in Harrogate district as rates drop

The Harrogate district reported 78 covid cases yesterday, according to Public Health England figures.

The reporting of government statistics for July 24 were delayed due to problems with processing data.

Meanwhile, the district’s seven-day covid rate has dropped to 485 cases per 100,000 people.

The North Yorkshire average is 525 and the England rate is 498.

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Figures on the number of covid deaths at Harrogate District Hospital will be reported on Monday. Data is no longer published on a weekend.

But, the hospital has so far gone more than three months without reporting a death from a patient who tested positive for covid.

Latest NHS England figures show that the covid death toll at the hospital since March 2020 remains at 179.

So far, 122,325 people have received a first covid vaccine in the Harrogate district and 102,626 have had a second dose.

Devolution: A seismic week for Harrogate and North Yorkshire

This week has been seismic for local government and politics in Harrogate as the council learned its fate over the government’s devolution agenda.

Robert Jenrick, secretary of state for local government, confirmed that the borough council will be abolished and replaced with one authority for the entire of North Yorkshire.

It’s the first time since 1974 that such a shake-up of the system of local authorities and governance in North Yorkshire has been made.

The decision has left politicians and council officials either elated or disappointed – all though wondering what is to come.

It has also raised more questions than answers. For instance, what happens to the borough council’s potential £46.8 million investment in Harrogate Convention Centre?

Another is the future for staff at the borough council and where the decision leaves them and their jobs.

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Much of those who were on the frontline of the devolution debate made their feelings clear this week. 

Here’s what they thought of the landmark decision.

“A dog’s breakfast”

As the saying goes, history is written by the winners.

But that did not stop those in the east/west camp making their feelings known.

Perhaps the most vocal was Cllr Steve Siddons, Labour leader of Scarborough Borough Council, who described the single unitary authority as a “dog’s breakfast”.

He went onto say:

“I am extremely disappointed with this announcement.

“The government appears to have ignored their own criteria and advice and have approved a single countywide unitary that is bigger than any other in the country and far bigger than their recommended maximum size.

“It also leaves York as a unitary much smaller than the government’s minimum size recommendation.

“My prediction is that York will inevitably be swallowed up by this mega county. A dog’s breakfast springs to mind.”

Cllr Steve Siddons, leader of Scarborough Borough Council.

Cllr Steve Siddons, leader of Scarborough Borough Council.

Conservative Craven District Council leader, Cllr Richard Foster, was equally as disappointed.

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, he raised concerns over the future of staff and how councils will now respond to the covid pandemic.

He said:

“The single council model was always the front runner but my biggest annoyance is that this has been a desktop exercise by the government who have not been to North Yorkshire to see the area on the ground.

“To decide the local government future for over 500,000 people in that way is disappointing to say the least.

“We have also always said this is the wrong time to be doing this. We have now got to deal with reorganisation whilst also somehow finding time to deal with our response to the pandemic.

“This will take up a huge amount of officer time when we should be moving forward and getting Craven’s recovery going.”

On the winning side of things, Cllr Carl Les, Conservative leader of the county council, appeared magnanimous and called for councils to work together.

Perhaps the most relieved was Cllr Keith Aspden, Liberal Democrat leader of City of York Council, whose authority would have been swallowed up by the east/west model.

He described the decision as a “huge vote of confidence for York”.

Protecting jobs

Aside from the changes in services, political make-up and council capital projects, the landmark decision strikes at the heart of peoples’ jobs.

Thousands of council staff face uncertainty over where their futures will be in two years time.

Among those to react to the announcement were union officials.

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Wendy Nichols, secretary of the Unison North Yorkshire branch, said the key focus now should be on protecting jobs and minimising disruption to public services.

She added:

“Council workers have been on the frontline in the response to covid – delivering essential public services in the toughest of conditions. Reorganisation was the last thing that they needed.

“But the key now is to see that jobs are protected and vital services maintained.

“We have clear tests that we will judge the reorganisation by. We hope that it meets them.”

Unanswered questions

While it is clear that North Yorkshire will have a new council by April 2023 and the current two-tier local authority system will no longer exist, questions are left over current projects.

Wallace Sampson, chief executive of the borough council, said in a statement on Friday that the authority was committed to its projects, such as the overhaul of leisure services.

Major assets, such as Harrogate Convention Centre, will fall under the new authority’s control. One of Harrogate Borough Council’s last acts could be to spend £46.8 million on refurbishing the convention centre.

Visit Harrogate and the future of district’s new office building at Knapping Mount still need to be addressed.

Mr Sampson declined an interview with the Stray Ferret in which he would been asked far more questions – in the coming months the call for answers to those questions will only get louder.