Half of 999 calls to North Yorkshire Police were not answered on time last month, according to the force’s own figures.

The force’s control room received 9,572 emergency calls — the highest ever number for the month of August.

However, 50 per cent of those were not answered within the 10 second target set nationally.

Half of calls met the target and 45 per cent were answered within five seconds, according to police.

Read more:

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Deputy chief constable Phil Cain told a North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner accountability meeting yesterday that on average the force answered 999 calls within 22 seconds last month.

He said:

“We want to get a lot better at that.

“The challenge for us is balancing against the volume increase of three nines we are receiving since the easing of lockdown restrictions versus some of the staffing challenges we have got in the control room.”

DCC Cain said police were creating long and medium term plans, which include using technology and additional staff, to improve response times.

Overtime plan

The move comes as the county’s police, fire and crime commissioner, Philip Allott, approved £69,000 worth of funding in July for the force to create an overtime plan and hire six more call handlers for busier times.

An additional £70,000 was set aside should more funding be required until the end of October.

A decision notice on the commissioner’s website said:

“The requirement for this available funding will be reviewed at the end of October and the commissioner expects to see proposals brought forward through the next round of budget setting to ensure the longer-term sustainability of the force control room.”

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

Teenagers aged 16 and 17 in North Yorkshire are being urged to get vaccinated against covid “as soon as possible” ahead of the return to school and college next week.

Those who fall into this age group were first offered a vaccine dose last month, but unlike others no second jab is being scheduled.

The government set a target of offering everyone aged 16 and 17 their first dose or the chance to book one by August 23, and Louise Wallace, director of public health for North Yorkshire, said they should now take up the opportunity “as soon as possible”.

Speaking at a meeting of North Yorkshire Local Resilience Forum, which is a collaboration of agencies fighting covid, today, she said: 

“The key message does remain the same for everyone across the county who is eligible for a vaccine to come forward. It is still the best form of protection.

“If you are 16 or 17 years of age, please come forward and get vaccinated as soon as possible – and ideally before you go back to school.”

Her plea coincides with NHS England beginning to draw up plans for a possible extension of the vaccination programme to all 12 to 15-year-olds.

Read more:

• Pateley Bridge says thank you to vaccine volunteers

• Ripon Racecourse vaccine centre closes after giving 27,000 jabs

However, experts on the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, which advises the government, have yet to make a final decision on whether it should go ahead – and there are national reports that they may opt against it because of fears it could disrupt the programme of boosters for older people.

School bubble groups scrapped

School distancing rules, ‘bubble’ groups and staggered starts have now been scrapped, although ventilation measures and extra hygiene precautions will still be in place.

All secondary pupils are also being urged to get tested either at school or in the community before term starts. After that, pupils will be encouraged to carry on with the twice-weekly testing regime in order to keep cases under control.

Ms Wallace said it was “massively” important that pupils now made a return to school.

She added: 

“All schools and colleges are advised to keep continuing with regular hand washing, cleaning regimes and keeping spaces well ventilated.

“And of course, we will give support from a local public health perspective to any school or college if they see a spike in cases.”

Harrogate Borough Council has given approval for 420 solar panels to be installed on the town’s Hydro leisure centre.

The move is part of a wider decarbonisation initiative, which could also see 1,000 solar panels installed at Harrogate Convention Centre.

Council officials said in planning documents that the panels will help to improve energy efficiency and cut emissions at the ageing facility, which replaced the old Coppice Valley pool when it opened in 1999.

It added that the scheme could reduced the council’s annual Co2 emissions by 577 tonnes.

The council successfully bid this year for funding from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy‘s public sector decarbonisation scheme, which will help fund the panels.

The bid saw the council granted £2.4 million for projects at the Hydro and convention centre.

Read more:

• Plans to install 1,000 solar panels on roof of Harrogate Convention Centre
• Civic society cautiously welcomes plan to redevelop former Debenhams building

A total of £1.8 million will be spent at The Hydro to install the solar panels as well as replace gas boilers with air source heat pumps and put in place new energy monitoring and control systems.

Kathryn Daly, head of place-shaping and economic growth at the council, previously said:

“We have ambitious plans to ensure our own operations and buildings will be clean, efficient and have a net zero carbon economy by 2038.

“This government funding provides a significant step to allow us to achieve this.”

Every month the Stray Ferret tries to find out what our local MPs have been up to in their constituencies and in the House of Commons.

In August, parliament was in recess for the summer. However, MPs were recalled to the House of Commons due to the escalating situation in Afghanistan.

However, none of our district MPs contributed to the debate on August 18.

We asked our three Conservative MPs, Harrogate & Knaresborough’s Andrew Jones, Skipton and Ripon’s Julian Smith, and Selby and Ainsty’s Nigel Adams if they would like to highlight anything in particular that they have been doing this month, but we did not receive a response from any of them.

Here is what we know after analysing their online presence.

Andrew Jones, Harrogate and Knaresborough MP.

In Harrogate and Knaresborough, here is what we found on Mr Jones:

• Mr Jones posted twice on his MP’s website in August. One post saw Mr Jones call for people to help to reduce their carbon footprint after the publication of the Independent Panel on Climate Change report.
• On August 14, Mr Jones updated his website to back a local bus service bid by North Yorkshire County Council of up to £20 million.
• Mr Jones was branded a “hypocrite” over a post he made on his Community News website about food banks. He did not respond to requests for comment by the Stray Ferret.
• Mr Jones’ Twitter account is for ‘retweets only’.

Julian Smith, MP for Ripon and Skipton.

In Skipton and Ripon, here is what we found on Mr Smith:

• Mr Smith updated his website once in August. The post reflected on what he did in his constituency in July.
• He tweeted six times in August. Among his social media posts were to congratulate Damian Hinds MP for being appointed security minister.
• Mr Smith posted six times on his Facebook page. He encouraged 16 and 17 year olds to get their covid vaccine after becoming eligible.

Read more:

• Local MP accepted £6,000 worth of free Euro 2020 tickets

• Ripon MP Julian Smith extends £3,000 an hour advisory role

• MPs watch: Football, Yorkshire Show and covid vaccines

Nigel Adams, MP for Selby and Ainsty which includes rural parts of Harrogate.

In rural south Harrogate, here is what we found on Mr Adams:

• A regular Twitter user, Mr Adams tweeted 12 times in August.
• Among his tweets were support for the Paralympic Games and congratulating Indonesia on its independence day.
• On August 23, Mr Adams visited an Afghanistan Crisis Centre set up by the Foreign Office. He said it was a “great to see all the fantastic work” the centre had done.
• He tweeted on August 25 that he and the Foreign Office would continue to resolve the crisis in Myanmar and paid tribute to the Rohingya muslims who have lost their lives.
• Mr Adams updated his website once in August. This was to publicise the North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner’s consultation on priorities for fire and policing over the next four years.
• According to MPs register of interests as of August 23, Mr Adams had received £6,000 worth of free hospitality tickets to England’s Euro 2020 games.

A Hull-based engineering company has been awarded an £827,000 contract to construct the first phase of the Otley Road cycleway in Harrogate.

North Yorkshire County Council appointed PBS Construction for the project, which is known as the West Harrogate Scheme, with a start date earmarked for September 20.

The company has largely carried out projects in East Yorkshire and northern Lincolnshire, but has previously repaired the Kirkby-Masham bridge in North Yorkshire at a cost of £229,500.

The firm is also a sponsor of Hull FC rugby league club.

According to government procurement documents, the contract is valued at £827,100 and is set to end in November this year.

Melisa Burnham, highways area manager at the county council, said:

“The bid process allows any interested companies to bid. All tenders are evaluated and in this case PBS Construction Ltd were the stand-out applicants.

“Work is scheduled to begin in September and we will be issuing an update shortly.”

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.

Read more:

• More road changes around Beech Grove and Otley Road
• Transport leader expects Harrogate’s Beech Grove road closure to be made permanent

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

Traffic light junctions will also be upgraded.

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

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.

A proposed 560-home development on Harrogate’s Otley Road has sparked fears over traffic.

Homes England, which is the government’s housing agency, wants to build the homes at Bluecoat Wood Nurseries, which is where the charity Horticap is based.

Homes England has submitted an Environmental Impact Assessment Scoping Report to Harrogate Borough Council for the 26-hectare site, which is required ahead of a formal planning application.

The report proposes building 560 homes on the site — 25 per cent more than is allocated in Harrogate District Local Plan 2014-35, which outlines development in the district until 2035.

Council officials consulted a range of bodies on the environmental impact of the development and what would be needed to be addressed, such as traffic and infrastructure.

Read more:

• Controversial plans for 200 homes in Pannal Ash halted indefinitely
• Government to build 800 homes in Harrogate and Ripon
• Homes England submits final plans for 390 homes near Ripon

Henry Pankhurst, of Harrogate Civic Society, which was among those consulted, said it objected to the plan on the grounds of traffic, encroachment onto greenfield land and adverse affect on the landscape.

Mr Pankhurst told the council in a letter:

“It seems logical that a much more intensive use of the land must have adverse consequences. The increase in dwellings, 110 units, from 450 to 560, is very significant – almost a quarter more.

“Traffic will increase, any buffer zones at the boundaries may well be reduced and amenity space both private and public may be compromised. Intensification in these and other ways will harm the special landscape area and harm the setting of the green belt.”

Meanwhile, the Harrogate Group of the Ramblers Association said the site had no recorded public right of ways or bridleways.

It said:

“With a site of this considerable size we would like to see a number of footpaths created through the site, and incorporated within natural green spaces.

“These should be of generous width, with a suitable surface, and routed logically. The routes should fulfil anticipated need.”

Homes England projects in Harrogate district

The proposed development is one of three sites in the district that Homes England has purchased for housing.

One of the other sites is the former Police Training Centre on Yew Tree Lane, which is earmarked for 200 homes. That site is in the Local Plan for 161 homes and faced similar criticism for “unjustifiable planning creep”.

The government agency has also submitted final plans for 390 homes at a site in Littlethorpe.

Homes England said previously that the environmental impact assessment for the Bluecoat site was an “early stage of the planning process” and that further consultation will be required for a formal planning application.

Another 82 covid infections have been reported in the Harrogate district, according to today’s Public Health England figures.

The district’s weekly infection rate now stands at 296 per 100,000 people. The North Yorkshire rate is 309 and the England average is 312.

According to the latest figures, Harrogate District Hospital is treating 10 patients for covid.

The hospital has not recorded any covid deaths in the last 24 hours, according to NHS England statistics. However, two people have recently died at the hospital after testing positive for coronavirus.

Read more:

• Harrogate hospital reports second coronavirus death in a week
• Harrogate district covid rate increases for sixth day in a row

Those two deaths followed a four-month period at the hospital when it did not record any coronavirus deaths.

It means the number of people at the hospital who have died from covid since March 2020 stands at 181.

Elsewhere, 124,161 people have received a first covid vaccine in the Harrogate district and 113,458 have had a second dose.

North Yorkshire Police has said it will not “resort straight away” to criminal prosecution of travellers who set up illegal encampments.

Travellers have pitched up at Hay-a-Park in Knaresborough and on the playing field at Ashville College in Harrogate this month.

Asked today by a member of the public why officers did not use the Criminal Disorder Act 1984, which prohibits trespassing, deputy chief constable Phil Cain said the police always looked to resolve the matter at “the earliest opportunity”.

But he added the force had a “graduated response” to dealing with such incidents.

DCC Cain, speaking at a North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner public accountability meeting, said police had to balance the human rights of all those involved, particularly as the travelling community often has families with small children.

He said:

“The graduated response from North Yorkshire Police, as it is with other forces, is that we will not resort straight away to criminal prosecution. We will engage with the travelling community and the land owners as we have done on this occasion.

“We will seek to resolve the matter at the earliest opportunity using the least intrusive means possible. That includes graduating up through private land owners utilising powers in civil courts for unlicensed travellers settlements all the way through to the final element, which would be criminal prosecution.

“On this occasion, local officers have engaged with the travelling community and they have agreed to move on without the need for us to resort to criminal prosecution.”

Read more:

• Travellers set up camp at Harrogate’s Ashville College – and demand £5,000 to leave
• ‘Significant hurdles’ could delay moves to evict Ashville College travellers
• Travellers leave Ashville College without causing damage

“It’s not that we are not prepared to use these powers, it’s that there has to be a graduated response and we have to show that graduated response in order to show that we are complying with the Human Rights Act.”

Last week travellers set up camp on Ashville College’s rugby pitch and demanded £5,000 to leave, according to a college spokesperson.

However, after less than two days the travellers hitched up their caravans and moved on. The college said they left of their own accord.

Hay-a-Park rugby field in Knaresborough was sealed off by police and deemed to be a health hazard due to the amount of human excrement after travellers departed on August 10.

A police cordon sealing off Hay-a-Park rugby field after travellers left.

Nigel Adams MP accepted £6,000 worth of free hospitality tickets to England’s Euro 2020 games, according to the latest MPs register of financial interests.

Mr Adams, who represents Selby and Ainsty, which includes some rural parts of the Harrogate district such as Spofforth and Follifoot, received tickets to three games at Wembley Stadium.

He received a total of £6,038 worth of tickets from three separate companies, including two gambling and betting firms.

He watched England’s semi-final victory over Denmark, which was valued at £3,457 and paid for by Entain, a gambling company based in London whose brands include Coral, Ladbrokes, PartyPoker, and Sportingbet..

Power Leisure Bookmakers, whose brands include Paddy Power and Betfair, paid for Mr Adams to attend the round of 16 game against Germany. The value of the donation was £1,961, according to the register of interest.

Read more:

• Andrew Jones MP branded ‘hypocrite’ and ‘out of touch’ over foodbank picture

• Ripon MP Julian Smith extends £3,000 an hour advisory role

The Conservative Minister for Asia posted a video from the game on his Twitter feed.

https://twitter.com/nadams/status/1412883736463560710?s=20

Heineken UK, whose Tadcaster brewery is in Mr Adams’ constituency, invited the MP to attend the final between England and Italy — a gift worth £620.

The Stray Ferret approached Mr Adams for comment on the hospitality tickets but did not receive a response.

Gambling Act review

MPs have come under scrutiny for accepting tickets from gambling companies to attend games at this year’s tournament.

Seven Conservative MPs and two members of Labour leader Keir Starmer’s front bench accepted hospitality tickets to games involving England.

Former Conservative minister Esther McVey and Labour’s shadow skills minister, Toby Perkins, were among those who took tickets.

It comes as the government is currently undertaking a review of the Gambling Act to consider stricter rules on advertising.

Another 50 covid cases have been reported in the Harrogate district, according to today’s Public Health England figures.

The district’s weekly rate stands at 333 per 100,000 people.

The North Yorkshire rate stands at 309 and the England average is 328.

According to the latest figures, Harrogate District Hospital is treating nine patients for covid.

Harrogate hospital has recorded no covid deaths in the last 24 hours, according to NHS England statistics.

Read more:

• First covid death in four months at Harrogate hospital
• Homeless people blocked off from Harrogate Debenhams
  

It means the death toll at the hospital from covid since March 2020 stands at 180.

Elsewhere, 123,908 people have received a first covid vaccine in the Harrogate district and 111,694 have had a second dose.