The leader of North Yorkshire County Council has said he is “hopeful” of a government decision on a planned shake-up of local councils this month.

Ministers are currently considering two proposals for the county, both of which would see Harrogate Borough Council and the county council no longer exist.

Cllr Carl Les, leader of North Yorkshire County Council, described the shake-up as the biggest change in local government in the county since 1974.

The county council’s proposal would see one unitary authority for North Yorkshire, while the district councils’ model would see two authorities operate on an east/west split.

Cllr Les told the Stray Ferret the county was currently “in limbo” and he was hopeful of a decision before parliament goes into recess on July 22.

He said:

“I’m optimistic that the minister will sign up to our model. That is the one that we believe is best for the county.

“I’m hopeful that a decision will be made any time in the next weeks.”

Robert Jenrick, Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, invited councils to submit proposals for the reorganisation back in October.

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At the time, the government said any unitary council plan would aim to be established by April 2023

However, the government has yet to announce a decision on which proposal it prefers.

The Stray Ferret asked the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government when it intended to make a decision and what the timetable would be for implementation.

A spokesperson for the department said a final decision on which model to back would be announced “in due course” along with publication of consultation responses.

Ninety-eight new covid cases have been reported in the Harrogate district today, but hospitalisations remain low.

Latest figures from Public Health England show the total number of infections since last March has increased to 8,545.

But the number of patients being treated for covid in Harrogate District Hospital is just three.

No covid-related deaths have been reported at the hospital since April 11, according to NHS England statistics.

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

Meanwhile, the district’s seven-day covid rate stands at 175 per 100,000 people.

The North Yorkshire rate is 159 and the England average is 173.

Liberal Democrat councillors will next week call for a parish council to be created in Harrogate after Harrogate Borough Council is scrapped.

Cllr Matthew Webber, who represents Harrogate New Park, will table a motion at a full council meeting on Wednesday.

The motion calls for Harrogate Borough Council to “strongly recommend” whatever council succeeds it reviews its governance and considers establishing a parish council for the town.

The motion says:

“That this council strongly recommends to any successor unitary authority in North Yorkshire that a community governance review for the town of Harrogate is initiated and the creation of a parish for the town is considered.”

As part of its devolution agenda, the UK government plans to scrap North Yorkshire’s seven district councils and its county council and replace them with either one or two unitary authorities.

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Currently, Scarborough and Harrogate are the only areas without a town or parish council in the county.

Cllr Carl Les, Conservative leader of the county council, said if the authority’s plan to have one council for the entire of North Yorkshire was accepted, it would listen to any proposal.

He told the Stray Ferret:

“It is part of our proposals to offer powers to parish councils should communities request that review.

“It will not be done to them. This will be delegation, not abdication.”

What would a town or parish council do?

Town and parish councils run services such as community centres and play areas, as well as maintaining bus shelters. Councillors are elected to serve on them.

The councils can also charge a precept as part of council tax bills to fund the services provided.

Under its plans, the county council has promised further powers for towns and parishes in a move it describes as ‘double devolution’.

The districts’ plan for an east/west model has also pledged to hand further powers to parishes, if they want it.

It would see the councils able to run services and take on additional responsibilities.

Harrogate Borough Council officers have given final approval for 145 homes in Ripon.

Harron Homes will build the homes at Bishop’s Glade, off Bellman Walk.

The developer already had outline permission for 131 homes, which was granted by the council in 2017. But the company sought approval for a further 14 last year.

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The council’s planning committee deferred the application to the council’s chief planner to approve in June last year.

Now, the development has been given final permission to go-ahead.

The proposal will include a mixture of three, four and five-bed homes. The developer has also agreed to allocate 58 homes as affordable housing.

Harron Homes describes the development as “a hidden gem which borders picturesque woodlands and open fields easily accessible for a morning walk to set you up for the rest of your day”.

The number of cases of the Delta variant in the Harrogate district has nearly quadrupled in the last two weeks.

According to latest Public Health England figures, 233 people tested positive for the variant in the week to June 23.

The figure is almost four times as high as it was in the week to June 9, when 61 confirmed cases were recorded.

Health managers first reported a “small number” of cases of the Delta variant were confirmed in North Yorkshire last month.

Weekly cases of the Delta variant in Harrogate district. Graph: the Stray Ferret. Data: Public Health England.

However, despite a surge in infections in recent weeks, just three people are currently being treated at Harrogate District Hospital for covid, according to the latest government data.

Daily cases of covid in the Harrogate district have reach double figures throughout June.

The graph below highlights how since the relaxation of lockdown measures on May 17 daily infections have increased. But over the same period the number of people in hospital with covid has remained low.

Additionally, no covid-related deaths have been recorded at Harrogate District Hospital since April 11, according to NHS England data.

This suggests the vaccination programme is keeping people alive and out of hospital.

A total of 211,352 vaccinations have been given across the Harrogate district. Of those, 115,764 were first doses and 95,588 were second doses.

Daily new infections of covid (blue line) and number of patients (green line) in Harrogate District Hospital since May 17. Graph: the Stray Ferret. Data: Public Health England.

Meanwhile, the district’s seven-day covid rate of infection has risen to 151 per 100,000 people.

The North Yorkshire average is 134 and the England rate is 147.

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Housing company Avant Homes Yorkshire has bought land in Green Hammerton to build a £21.5 million, 80-home development.

The development, which will be called Ambretone Park, will be built on land off the A59 between Harrogate and York.

Avant Homes has bought the land from Leeds-based Loxley Homes, which originally submitted plans for the development.

Harrogate Borough Council approved the proposal in March 2021 despite fierce opposition, with 229 residents in the village objecting on the grounds that it was over-development.

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The scheme is set to include one, two and three-bedroom homes and 40% of the properties will be designated as affordable housing.

Chris Coley, Avant Homes Yorkshire managing director, said: 

“We are very pleased to complete this land purchase and move plans forward for our Ambretone Park development.

“Green Hammerton is ideally situated for buyers that are keen to be close to York, Harrogate and Knaresborough while also benefitting from its rural setting. We are now looking forward to commencing initial groundworks this summer.”

The Wakefield-based company said groundwork on the site was due to start next month.

The first residents are expected to move into the new homes in spring 2022 with the total development build taking approximately two-and-a -half years.

Green Hammerton has also been designated as the site of a new 3,000-home development by Harrogate Borough Council.

The Harrogate district today recorded its highest daily number of covid infections since January.

According to the latest Public Health England figures, there were 57 new cases of covid.

The number is the highest daily figure since January 19 when 63 infections were reported.

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However, no covid-related deaths have been recorded at Harrogate District Hospital since April 11, according to NHS England data.

The hospital currently only has three covid patients, compared with 68 at the peak of the second wave in February.

Elsewhere, the district’s seven-day covid rate stands at 151 per 100,000 people.

The North Yorkshire average is 134 and the England rate stands at 147.

An £827,100 contract is set to be awarded to undertake work on the first phase of the delayed Otley Road cycle route in Harrogate.

North Yorkshire County Council is advertising the contract, known as the West Harrogate Scheme, with the start date given as September 6.

A total of £3.2 million was set aside to build the route in 2018 but the plans have been beset by delays that have frustrated Harrogate’s cycling community.

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Tenders for the contract are due to be submitted by July 16.

Work will include widening Otley Road on the approach to Harlow Moor Road as well as the creation of a designated left turn lane on the western approach to Harlow Moor Road and designated right turn lane on the eastern approach.

An off-road cycle route would also be created between Harlow Moor Road and Cold Bath Road as part of the contract.

Traffic light junctions would also be upgraded.

The county council confirmed that the final two phases of the scheme would also be awarded via open tender.

The second phase of the cycle route will link Arthurs Avenue to Beech Grove and the third will connect Cardale Park to Harlow Hill.

Negotiations with the Duchy of Lancaster over the exchange of Stray land have caused delays.

Harrogate Borough Council agreed in March to designate a plot of land on Wetherby Road as Stray land in exchange for the loss of grass verges on Otley Road for the new cycle path.

Cllr Don Mackenzie, executive county councillor for access, told the Stray Ferret a fortnight ago that the authority expected work on the first phase to be completed “within a few months”.

A total of 250 stickers are set to be offered to Harrogate businesses to show they welcome disabled customers.

Funded by Harrogate Business Improvement District, the stickers will be handed out by the charity Disability Action Yorkshire to shops, bars and restaurants in the town centre.

It is part of the charity’s ongoing accessibility campaign, which has recently seen it work with independent retailers on Commercial Street.

Jackie Snape, chief executive of Disability Action Yorkshire, said: 

“I’d like thank Harrogate BID for funding these widow stickers, which will alert disabled people to the fact these businesses have a different approach to accessibility.

“What they say is if people can’t physically enter the premises, then staff will be more than happy to come out to them, which more and more shops are now happy to do.

“We have recently been working with Commercial Street businesses, and they have been incredibly receptive to our accessibility campaign, and this is where our BID-sponsored stickers are first appearing.”

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Matthew Chapman, Harrogate BID manager, said: 

“One of our key aims is to increase footfall into Harrogate town centre by making safe, welcoming and accessible for all, and Disability Action Yorkshire’s accessibility campaign falls into all three of these categories.”

Harrogate’s Great Yorkshire Showground vaccination site administered more than 117,000 vaccines in its six months of operation, the Stray Ferret can reveal.

The centre gave its final jab on June 19.

Doctors involved in setting up the site have said they are “immensely proud” of what it achieved.

Dr Cath Dixon, Yorkshire Health Network Director and GP at Knaresborough’s Stockwell Road Surgery, told the Stray Ferret that it was a “privilege” to be part of the vaccination programme.

She said:

“It was a real privilege. 

“I was one of the doctors working there in December when it opened and it was a privilege to work with those patients who had been hibernating for so long.

“The emotions ran high that day.”

Dr Dixon said the site was a “great challenge” to set up, but that GPs achieved what they set out to do and vaccinate the vulnerable.

She added that the site would not have been able to do that without the many volunteers and marshals who kept the centre running on a daily basis.

Six months of vaccinations

In total, the Great Yorkshire Showground site carried out 117,371 vaccines in the six months it was open.

A total of 17 GP practices came together to help open the site, which administered its first jab on December 22, and 450 people have worked on the vaccination programme.

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Practitioners settled on the showground because of its size and the need to keep batches of the Pfizer vaccine refrigerated on site.

At full capacity, the centre could give up to 1,800 vaccines a day and reached its 100,000th jab in April.

Dr Chris Preece, a GP partner in Boroughbridge and Knaresborough who helped to draw up the site plans

Dr Chris Preece, clinical director of the Knaresborough and Rural Primary Care Network, one of the GPs who helped set up the centre, said:

“We are proud to have been part of the largest NHS vaccination programme in history, but it’s clear that this would not have been possible without the help of our many partners.

“In particular, we are grateful for the use of both the YEC and Ripon Racecourse sites, and to their teams who helped to both establish the sites and to keep them functioning.”

He added:

“It would have been impossible to achieve what we’ve achieved without the tireless assistance of our volunteers, provided by a raft of extraordinary voluntary sector organisations across the Harrogate and rural area – as well as our own staff, both those who have combined duties with their ongoing work at GP surgeries and those who came out of retirement in order to make this happen.”

Vaccinations will still carry on at Ripon Racecourse, Pateley Bridge and Knaresborough pharmacies.

The Ripon site has so far given 24,218 vaccines and is set to continue offering appointments for second doses.

Other large-scale vaccination sites, such as Elland Road stadium in Leeds and Askham Bar in York, will also be available to Harrogate residents who have yet to have the vaccine.

Anyone aged over the age of 18 can now book a vaccination through the NHS National Booking Service website, or by calling 119.