Harrogate Borough Council is to propose a £5 increase in council tax next year — the maximum amount permitted.

The proposed £5 hike would see the average band D property bill increase from £245.92 to £250.92.

The local authority, which is planning its budget for 2021/22, generated £15.6 million in council tax in the current financial year.

If the £5 increase goes ahead, it will receive an additional £392,000, bringing the total to £16 million.

The council also plans to make £1.14 million spending cuts to balance its books.

This would largely come from a review of its park and environmental services department and by setting up a new company to run leisure facilities.

The £5 increase represents the most a district council can propose for council tax — a 2% increase or £5, whichever is highest.

Anything further would require a local referendum.

Read more:

• County council leaders warn of council tax rise to cover covid costs
• £4.1 million spent on PPE in North Yorkshire
• Scale of Harrogate council’s coronavirus deficit unclear

In a report due before senior councillors this week, Paul Foster, head of finance at the borough council, said the authority faced “unprecedented financial determinant” due to the pandemic.

He said:

“The financial implications are challenging to estimate with certainty as there continue to be a number of unknowns.

“From how long, and to what extent, national and local restrictions will continue to what measures will remain to combat the spread of virus, to what recovery will look like, such as how our customers will behave over time.”

Mr Foster added the council has “not been immune” to funding cuts from central government and has seen its general grant allocation reduced by £8.2 million since 2010.

The budget proposal is set to be discussed at a cabinet meeting on January 6 before going before full council at a later date.

£27 county council rise

It comes as North Yorkshire County Council and North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner are expected to outline plans for their share of council tax this month.

Last month, county council officials said they were considering a 1.99% increase — equivalent to a £27 rise.

The move comes amid pressures from coronavirus and cuts in funding from central government.

The county council had anticipated a funding gap of £186 million by next year due to austerity. However, it has since found £173 million in savings.

Now the authority needs to find £103 million over the next three years to cover loss of central government funding.

The Harrogate district has recorded its highest daily number of coronavirus infections since the start of the pandemic with 101 positive tests.

It takes the total number of cases since March up to 4,412.

The number surpasses the previous daily high of 95, which was reported on November 9 shortly after the second lockdown began.

It comes as North Yorkshire was placed in tier three yesterday amid fears of surging covid cases.

In further bad news, another coronavirus death has been reported at Harrogate District Hospital.

Read more:

• NHS insists Harrogate Nightingale ‘can take patients if required’

• Health chiefs call for patience on Harrogate district vaccines

It takes the total number of deaths at the hospital from patients who tested positive for coronavirus to 107.

Meanwhile, the seven-day rate of infection in the district has increased to 141 per 100,000 people, but remains the lowest in the county.

The county average is 207 and the England average is 414.

Yesterday, senior health officials in North Yorkshire appealed for patience over the vaccination programme amid concern by some people about a lack of information.

Vaccination for the Pfizer-BioNTech jab got underway this month at the Great Yorkshire Showground in Harrogate.

Harrogate Borough Council has been allocated £405,000 to tackle homelessness in the district.

The funding is from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government’s homelessness prevention grant stream.

Grants totalling £310 million have been awarded to local authorities nationally.

The funding can be used to provide temporary accommodation for rough sleepers, to offer financial support for people to find a new home or to prevent evictions.

Kelly Tolhurst, minster for housing and rough sleeping, said the funding would “help councils provide better support to prevent people from becoming homeless in the first place as we look to end rough sleeping once and for all”.

Read more:

• Harrogate council creates temporary homeless shelters
• Strayside Sunday: We are treating the homeless as human cargo
• Harrogate homeless shelters ‘appropriate and comfortable’

Harrogate homeless shelters

The council has erected temporary emergency homeless units on Tower Street in Harrogate for rough sleepers to use when temperatures drop this winter.

However, despite the recent cold snap they have still yet to be used.

The four units are set to be in place for three months.

A spokesperson for Harrogate Borough Council confirmed today the accommodation has yet to be used.

The R number for the Harrogate district has risen above one for the first time in over a month.

It means the virus is now spreading faster in the district than it is being eradicated.

The R number refers to the rate at which the virus is reproducing. The latest increase means every 10 people infected will pass it on to 11.

The sub-districts with the most infections are Starbeck and Ouseburn, Hammerton and Tockwith, which have both recorded 20 in the last seven days.

Read more:

• The Stray Ferret looks back at the effort to build the Harrogate Nightingale
• Will Harrogate district change tier in tomorrow’s review?

It comes as North Yorkshire is braced for a tier review tomorrow which could see the county placed under tougher restrictions.

The Harrogate district recorded a further 47 cases of coronavirus today, according to Public Health England.

It takes the total number of cases since the start of the pandemic up to 4,258.

The seven-day rate of infection in the district has increased to 126 per 100,000 people but remains the lowest in North Yorkshire.

Hambleton is the highest with 291 after its case average has soared in the last week.

Harrogate District Hospital also confirmed its first death since December 10 from a patient who tested positive for coronavirus.

The total number of coronavirus deaths at the hospital now stands at 107.

Another government tier review is scheduled for tomorrow amid rising coronavirus cases across the country.

The Harrogate district avoided harsher restrictions in last week’s review and stayed in tier two, despite other areas being placed in tier four.

However, the district has seen a gradual increase in both infections and the R number since then.

There has also been talk of tougher restrictions everywhere to combat the new mutant strain of the virus.

North Yorkshire Local Resilience Forum, which represents agencies that combat covid, has called an urgent media briefing tomorrow to respond to rising transmissions rates and Health Secretary Matt Hancock’s tier announcement.

Rising case rates

The Harrogate district’s seven-day infection rate has increased since the last tier review on December 23 but remains the lowest in the county.

Last week, the district reported a rate of 86 infections per 100,000 people. That has risen to 115.

Read more:

• The Stray Ferret looks back at the effort to build the Harrogate Nightingale
• R number rises to 1 in Harrogate district

But there is widespread concern about soaring rates elsewhere in the county, which could drag all of North Yorkshire into a higher tier.

Recently, public health bosses expressed concerns about Scarborough’s rate. But the borough’s rate, which was the highest in the county last week at 264, has since dropped to 215.

Hambleton, however, has seen its rate rocket from 100 to 242, according to the most recent figures.

The county-wide average stands at 165, which is still below the national rate.

By comparison, Peterborough, which is in tier four, has a rate of 412 cases per 100,000 people.

The Harrogate district’s much lower rate gives hope it may again escape being moved up a tier.

Hospital admissions

There is widespread national concern about the rise in covid hospital admissions.

Sir Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England, warned the country was “back in the eye of the storm” after figures showed that 20,426 patients were being treated in hospitals on Monday.

The number is an increase on 18,976 recorded on April 12 during the peak of the first lockdown.

Locally, most recent figures show 14 covid patients are currently being treated at Harrogate District Hospital.

People across the Harrogate district woke this morning to festive snow landscapes as severe weather hit the district overnight.

Temperatures dropped below freezing and roads became treacherous in the early hours of this morning due to the conditions.

But the blanket of white snow across the Stray in Harrogate complemented by the bright lights of Christmas decorations created a prime opportunity for photographers.

Elsewhere, people near Beckwithshaw and Boroughbridge took the chance to capture the snowfall outside their homes.

Here a few of our pictures below. If you have any snow day pictures that you would like to share with us, send them to contact@thestrayferret.co.uk.

Snow covering the West Park Stray earlier this morning.

A blanket of snow covered the Stray overnight.

Christmas decorations in Harrogate Town centre complemented by the snow this morning.

Snow pictured near Beckwithshaw.

Picturesque shot of the bridge over the railway near Tewit Well. Picture: Mark Pallant.

Good morning from Harlow Hill #Harrogate. #Snowuk #snow pic.twitter.com/GW8Bbi189F

— HAPARA (@HaparaHgt) December 29, 2020

A slightly snowy #knaresborough this morning #snow #winter #yorkshire pic.twitter.com/S6Mu6IG0oL

— Melanie Ball (@knaresphoto) December 29, 2020

Video of Boroughbridge by Carly Gibson

Read more:

• Homes in Masham and Pannal in peril as flooding strikes
• Treacherous roads in Harrogate district after heavy snowfall

Heavy snowfall overnight has caused treacherous driving conditions on major roads in the Harrogate district this morning.

Many areas woke up to a blanket of snow and ice, causing severe problems, especially in rural areas.

The North Yorkshire Weather Updates social media page showed dire conditions in Boroughbridge, with heavy snow covering streets.

Video by Carly Gibson

The same page also reported large vehicles were struggling to get up the hill on the A59 at Kex Gill due to hazardous road conditions. However by 9am the road appeared to be clear.

North Yorkshire Police warned people to drive carefully due to conditions on the A61 between Ripon and Harrogate.

The Stray Ferret asked North Yorkshire County Council, which is the highways authority, on which days it had gritted the roads since Christmas Day and what its policy is on deciding when to use gritters,

We had not received a response by the time of publication but the council has tweeted this morning that its gritting crews are on call 24 hours a day from October to April and are treating roads.

A similar tweet was posted on Christmas Day but nothing on travel since despite snow and flooding causing problems in the district.

Read more:

• Homes in Masham and Pannal in peril as flooding strikes
• Treacherous conditions on A59 near Harrogate

The Met Office issued a yellow warning for snow and ice yesterday and warned that up to four inches of snow could fall over the Pennines and North York Moors.

The outlook in the district looks set to improve throughout today with light cloud throughout the afternoon into the evening.

However, temperatures are forecast to drop below zero again overnight.

A further 35 cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in the Harrogate District, according to latest Public Health England figures.

It takes the total number of cases since the start of the pandemic up to 4,211.

The seven-day average rate of infection in the Harrogate district stands at 115 per 100,000 people.

However, it is still the lowest rate in North Yorkshire – while Hambleton is the highest at 242.

The England seven-day average stands at 356 per 100,000.

Read more:

• The Stray Ferret looks back at the effort to build the Harrogate Nightingale.
• R number rises to 1 in Harrogate district

Meanwhile, no further deaths from patients who tested positive for coronavirus have been confirmed at Harrogate District Hospital.

The total number of deaths remain at 106. This has not risen since December 10.

A further 32 cases of coronavirus have been confirmed today as the Harrogate district heads into Christmas.

It takes the total number of cases since the start of the pandemic to 4,090.

The district still has the lowest seven-day average rate of infection in North Yorkshire, with 86 infections per 100,000 people.

The seven-day average for North Yorkshire is 142. It is 353 for England.

The R number, which refers to the rate at which the virus spreads in the community, has risen to 0.9 in the Harrogate district.

This means every 10 people infected will pass on the virus to nine people.

Read more:

• Harrogate Nightingale hospital put on standby
• Harrogate’s Nightingale hospital cost £27m to set up
• Harrogate Nightingale remains ‘on standby’ amid new covid strain

North Yorkshire is in tier two, which means three households will be able to mix on December 25 only.

NHS bosses have said the Harrogate Nightingale hospital remains on standby amid fears over the spread of a new mutant strain of coronavirus.

NHS bosses have said once again that Harrogate’s Nightingale hospital remains on standby amid renewed questions about why sites are not being used to treat covid.

The emergence of a new mutant strain of coronavirus has raised questions about why the hospitals, which cost hundreds of millions to set up, are yet to be put to use.

The rapid rise in covid cases has prompted nearby York Hospital to build an additional intensive care unit.

Conservative MP John Redwood is among those calling for answers. He tweeted:

“Time for ministers and top NHS management to explain what increases in all types of capacity they have made, what they are doing on infection control and why they are not using the Nightingales.”

Lord Newby, the Liberal Democrats leader in the House of Lords, has said the Nightingale “simply does not have the staff available to allow it to operate safely” and called for Harrogate Borough Council to resume control of the building.

The 500-bed hospital at Harrogate Convention Centre was built in April and cost £27 million to set up, but has yet to treat a single covid patient.

Read more:

• Harrogate Nightingale hospital put on standby
• Harrogate’s Nightingale hospital cost £27m to set up

The Stray Ferret asked NHS England whether the hospital had plans for the hospital in the wake of the new mutant strain emerging.

A spokesperson said: 

“The NHS Nightingale Yorkshire and the Humber is on standby to care for patients should it be needed and has been operating a clinical imaging service since June to support local trusts in delivering diagnostic and surveillance CT scans, with more than 3,000 patients having now been seen at the clinic.”

Harrogate Borough Council is continuing to bill the NHS over £100,000 a month for gas, electricity and water at the Nightingale.

The council does not charge the NHS rent for the building. However, figures from Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust show the venue, which opened in the early 1980s, incurs significant costs for utilities.

The Stray Ferret has requested interviews with the NHS about the Harrogate Nightingale on numerous occasions but so far has not received one.