Calvin Robinson Chief Reporter, Author at The Stray Ferret

Council tax increase ‘most difficult decision ever’, says council leader

The leader of North Yorkshire County Council has said increasing council tax during the covid pandemic is the “most difficult decision” the authority has made.

It was confirmed today that a band D property in the Harrogate district will see its bill increase to £2,007 from this April. It is currently £1,947.

County councillors voted for the 3.49% hike, which includes 1.5% for adult social care, in its share of council tax at a meeting today.

Harrogate Borough Council and North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner also agreed increases in their rates earlier this month, which means the final sum is now known.

A breakdown of the potential council tax bill for Harrogate district in 2021/22.

A breakdown of the council tax bill for the Harrogate district in 2021/22.

Cllr Carl Les, leader of the county council, told councillors that it was a “difficult balance to strike” to ask people to pay more while the economy was struggling.

He said:

“I think this is the most difficult decision any of us have had to make at this council.

“Never has the local economy been so hard hit by this dreadful pandemic, but equally never has our community been so tested, and our services so needed.

“We must strike that difficult balance between what we need to do the job, and what our residents can afford to pay.”

But Cllr Bryn Griffiths, speaking on behalf of the Liberal Democrat group, criticised the national government for failing to publish details of its reforms to adult social care, which has prompted councils to increase council tax to pay for it.

He said the precept added onto the council tax bill to pay for the service may be “the final straw” for some people.

Cllr Griffiths said:

“Due to the covid pandemic, many of our residents are in dire financial straits and will find it difficult to pay the proposed increase in council tax.

“Increasing the social care precept to cover the government’s inadequacies in what is a national problem will be the final straw for many.”

Cllr Stuart Parsons, leader of the North Yorkshire Independents, said the government was “transferring the blame” on taxation instead of solving funding problems in areas such as social care.

Meanwhile, Cllr Eric Broadbent, leader of the Labour group, said he “reluctantly” supported the increase, but added that council tax was “regressive” and “penalised” those on low incomes.

The vote to increase council tax and pass the authority’s budget was passed with 59 votes in favour, two against and four abstentions.

Cost of covid

So far, the county council has spent £80 million responding to covid.

It has responded by hiking council tax and dipping into its reserves to balance the books.

The county council will use £8.2 million of its own funds to offset a projected shortfall next year, but officials have warned it cannot continue to use its reserves in the long run.

Harrogate district records 17 coronavirus cases today

The Harrogate district recorded another 17 coronavirus cases today.

There were 51 infections on 1 February but the daily total has not exceeded 36 since then and has been consistently lower still in the last week.

It takes the total number of cases since March to 7,059, according to Public Health England statistics.

The seven-day covid rate for the district stands at 98 cases per 100,000 people.

The North Yorkshire average is 97 and the national rate is 137.

A further covid death has been reported at Harrogate District Hospital, according to today’s NHS England figures.

The death was recorded on Sunday. It takes the covid death toll at the hospital to 147.

‘There is a need’ for A1 service station near Kirby Hill, inquiry told

The company behind a proposed motorway service station on the A1 near Kirby Hill has told a public inquiry there is an “established need” for the facility.

Applegreen Plc, a Dublin-based company which runs filling stations in the USA, UK and Ireland, is appealing a decision by Harrogate Borough Council to reject its plan in 2019.

It is the fourth time the development, just north of Boroughbridge, has been brought before a planning inquiry in 25 years.

David Rose, the government’s planning inspector, opened the inquiry this morning.

The inquiry is also hearing an appeal from Moto Hospitality for a service station at junction 50 near Ripon. The borough council refused the plan in October last year.

The hearings are being held online due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Opening statements were heard from Applegreen, the borough council, Moto Hospitality and Kirby Hill Residents Against Motorway Services today.

‘Urgent’ need for services

Rhodri Price Lewis, who is representing Applegreen, said there was an “established need” for a new motorway service area between Wetherby services and Leeming Bar.

He said the “primary function” of services is to support safety and welfare of drivers.

Mr Price Lewis argued that government policy now required services to be located no more than 28 miles apart and that the distance between Wetherby and Leeming Bar exceeded this.

He told the inquiry:

“There is a need for a motorway service area and the Applegreen site is well placed to meet that need.”

He added the £40 million Applegreen site would create a “substantial amount” of new jobs.

Addressing concerns the site would encroach into the open countryside, Mr Price Lewis said it was “inevitable” and “inescapable” that agricultural land would have to be used “if the need is to be met”.

The site off the A1 northbound between junctions 48 and 49, where multiple plans for a motorway service station have been submitted.

Meanwhile, Peter Dixon, speaking on behalf of Moto Hospitality, said the proposed services near Ripon would better serve the A1.

He told the inquiry that a delay in the upgrade at Leeming Bar, which was given permission in 2012, demonstrated an “urgent” need for a new service station.

Developers “will not take no for an answer”

Stephen Wale, representing Harrogate Borough Council, told the inquiry there was no need for the services.

He added the Applegreen site would encroach into open countryside and harm the landscape.

Mr Wale said drivers already had the benefit of two services within a short distance of each other and that the proposed site was not allocated in the council’s Local Plan, which is the blueprint for future planning in the district.

The motorway service station site, as proposed by Applegreen, on the A1 northbound near Kirby Hill.

He said:

“In short, there is no need for either of the appeal schemes.

“There is an existing motorway service area at Wetherby. There is a motorway rest area at Leeming Bar, controlled by Moto, and development has begun there with respect to a planning permission granted for a motorway service area.”

The inquiry also heard from Gareth Owens, chair of Kirby Hill RAMS, who spoke on behalf of residents.

He said the Applegreen site had already been rejected by councillors, inspectors and the High Court multiple times over the last 25 years.

Mr Owens said:

“The question that local people are asking, sir, is ‘why are we even here again’?

“The answer, sadly, is that this site has a recalcitrant promoter who, despite 25 years of refusal, will not take ‘no’ for an answer, because they have no respect for the properly-taken decisions of the planning system.”

He added that the residents’ group disagreed with claims from the developer that the distance between the two current services was 28 miles.

Mr Owens said the service station was not needed and would be an “unnecessary development”.

The inquiry is expected to continue for 11 days.

A1 service station plan to enter fourth inquiry

After 25 years of multiple inquiries and court hearings, another inquiry into building a motorway service station A1 near Kirby Hill is set to open today.

It will be the fourth time the proposal has gone before a planning inspector since 1996.

The ongoing saga has left residents feeling battle weary. They have described it as “a burden on the village”.

Quarter of a century of hearings

In October 1996, Heaver Ive Associates, a property developer, submitted a planning application to Harrogate Borough Council for a 24/7 service station between junctions 48 and 49 on the A1 northbound.

It would become the first in a long running saga pitting residents against developers that would eventually reach London’s High Court and the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government.

After initially seeing permission granted after a public inquiry in 1999, a High Court judge quashed the decision just 12 months later.

From there, the plans failed to convince both Harrogate Borough Councillors and planning inspectors in 2005 and 2012.

The motorway service station site, as proposed by Applegreen, on the A1 northbound near Kirby Hill.

On both occasions, the Secretary of State opted to approve a different service station to serve the A1.

In 2005, Wetherby services were given the green light to be built. Approval to upgrade Leeming Bar followed seven years later.

After successive refusals by Harrogate Borough Council, Dublin-based Applegreen Plc, which runs petrol stations in the UK, United States and Ireland, submitted a fresh proposal.

The company’s plans in 2018 promised creating a spot to “refresh in a comfortable and welcoming environment”.

But, a year later, councillors denied permission again on the grounds that the site was not suitable for a service station and was not included in the district Local Plan.

The authority said in a decision notice that the development was “unsustainable” and would encroach into the open countryside resulting in “harm to the landscape and irreversible damage to agricultural land”.

Applegreen appealed the decision in January last year, but the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic delayed the subsequent inquiry until this year.

What is the latest proposal?

The latest plans would see a service station built on the west side of the A1(M) north of the B6265 between Boroughbridge and Ripon.

A bridge would connect the site on the northbound carriageway with the southbound, while roundabouts with slip roads would connect the site with the A1.

Included in the application is a filling station, hot and cold food outlets and a drive-through coffee shop.

It also includes parking spaces for 364 cars, 90 heavy goods vehicles, 20 motorcycles, 18 coaches and 13 caravans.

What happens now?

The government’s Planning Inspectorate will open a public inquiry today.

The inspector will hear both the Applegreen and an application from Moto Hospitality for a service station near Ripon at junction 50, which was also refused.

A spokesperson for the Planning Inspectorate said that both would be considered by one inspector “in the interests of efficiency” because they have common issues and are within the same local authority area.

An inspector will hear the case and publish a judgement at a later date.

Four covid deaths at Harrogate hospital

Four further deaths from patients who tested positive for covid have been reported at Harrogate District Hospital.

According to NHS England figures today, two deaths occurred on Friday, one on Saturday and another yesterday.

It takes the covid death toll at the hospital to 146.

Meanwhile, Public Health England today confirmed a further 14 coronavirus cases in the Harrogate district.

The total number of cases since March now stands at 7,042.

The seven-day infection rate in the district has fallen to 97 per 100,000 people.

North Yorkshire’s average now stands at 99, while the national rate is 141

Killinghall and Hampsthwaite is still the sub-district with the most cases, having recorded 25 in the last seven days.

Harrogate East and Starbeck have the second most with both areas reporting 15 cases.

Contactless payments for Harrogate trains and buses to be scrapped

Plans to introduce contactless pay-as-you-go payments on train and bus services in the Harrogate district are set to be scrapped.

Transport for the North (TfN), the regional transport body for the north of England, had planned to roll out the contactless payment systems on rail, light rail and buses in Yorkshire and across the north.

TfN bosses said contactless payments were key to restoring confidence in public transport after the pandemic.

However, the organisation has now proposed scrapping the roll-out of the scheme, which is already implemented on some transport services, due to a lack of government funding.

Last month, the Department for Transport cut funding for the organisation and withdrew funding for smart travel schemes.

In papers due before a board meeting on Thursday, Jeremy Acklam, programme director for integrated and smart travel, will recommend winding down the scheme.

In his report, he says:

“TfN have tried a variety of approaches to DfT to see if even limited funding could be made available for quick wins and we continue to have discussions with DfT’s acceleration unit to look at in-year opportunities.

“However, as yet, no funding has been secured, and any such funding if agreed would be on much more limited basis.

“Therefore, this paper seeks the board’s agreement to wind down the IST programme.”

Government officials decided last month to cut core funding to TfN from £10 million to £6 million. They also withdrew funding for contactless payment systems, of which TfN requested £33 million for the year.

At the time, Ian Craven, finance director at TfN, said the proposal fell “substantially short” of what the organisation needed for its infrastructure projects.

TfN had proposed a phased introduction of smart travel schemes, which included smart cards for season ticket holders, disruption information for bus passengers and eventually a contactless pay-as-you-go system.

Discounted smart tickets were introduced last year for passengers traveling between Harrogate and Leeds.

The tickets were designed to be flexible and gave passengers 10 unlimited travel days for the price of nine valid for six months.

It was part of the £150 million integrated and smart travel programme. The next stage was to deliver more contactless payment technology across the north.

EXCLUSIVE: Great Yorkshire Showground can give 1,800 vaccines in a day

Harrogate’s Great Yorkshire Showground vaccine site can carry out up to 1,800 vaccinations a day.

The site, which opened its doors on December 22, is among four centres which are currently offering vaccines to people in the district.

In an interview with the Stray Ferret, Dr Chris Preece, a GP partner in Boroughbridge and Knaresborough and clinical director of the Knaresborough and Rural District Primary Care Network, said he spent the weeks leading up to Christmas working on the blueprints for the centre.

He said the site had slowly cranked up its numbers, but added there was “a lot more work to do” to vaccinate everyone.

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

Christmas planning

Discussions about the site started in late November after GPs were told they would need to set up vaccination centres.

Seventeen GP practices in the district and the Yorkshire Health Network, the federation of GPs, came together to look for a suitable venue to carry out vaccinations.

Officials scouted sites in Harrogate, Ripon and Knaresborough including halls, swimming pools and supermarkets.

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

Dr Preece and his colleagues spent weeks drawing up protocols, job descriptions and plans for how the site would look.

While others were out Christmas shopping, the team were mapping out and drawing chalk lines on the floor of the hall to mark where dividers would be placed.

Dr Preece said:

“I slept like I’ve never slept before on Christmas Day, because it was my first day off for a month.

“It was a lot of work building it up to that. We were in here [the hall] in whatever the weather getting it all ready and sorted out.”

‘A small army of volunteers’

The site runs on hundreds of staff and volunteers who have given up their time to help with what has been described as the biggest vaccination programme in British history.

GP surgeries from all over the district send staff to the site every day on a rota system.

Some clinical staff have come out of retirement to help with the vaccine effort.

Staff at the Great Yorkshire Showground site helping with the vaccination effort.

Alongside the doctors and nurses is a “small army of marshals” who help to signpost people into the car park and into the centre.

Dr Preece said the vaccination centre would not have been able to operate well without them.

He said:

“All the voluntary organisations have all come together to help marshal this which has been incredibly useful, I don’t quite know how we would done it without them.

“We are very grateful to them.”

Ramping up vaccinations

While the centre runs on the availability of vaccines, it can give up to 1,800 vaccinations a day at maximum capacity.

It’s taken time for the numbers to reach those levels, Dr Preece said, and is dependent on the supply they have.

He said:

“The maximum is about 1,800 now, so we’ve got really big numbers coming through when it’s going at full capacity.

“We are driven by how many vaccines we have got available to us at any one time.

“So, we can have 1,800 in here and 600 in a day at Ripon. We’ve got a good number coming through.”

Alongside the centre, clinical staff started to vaccinate care homes in January after batches of the Oxford-Astrazeneca vaccine arrived. In one weekend, 50 homes were vaccinated.

A total of 175,000 first doses of the coronavirus vaccine have been given in North Yorkshire and York so far.

Last week, surgeries also paid visits to those that are housebound.

As the site presses ahead with first doses, those requiring their second vaccine will begin to filter through gradually.

Dr Preece said he expects it will offer “more work in the short term” as they overlap with first doses.

“Again, it depends on vaccine supply how quickly we can do it.”

Meanwhile, Amanda Bloor, accountable officer at North Yorkshire CCG, told journalists at a press briefing earlier this week that 175,000 first doses have been carried out in North Yorkshire and York so far.

While the numbers continue to increase, health bosses are still urging those over-70 who have not had the vaccine to come forward.

More work to do, but a sense of optimism

As the year goes on, the centre will continue to make its way down the age cohorts until everyone is offered the vaccine.

Dr Preece said the operation is the biggest undertaking of his 18-year career and joked that it was like “putting on the Olympics after a village fete”.

However, he said he was still optimistic about the future but added there was still more work to be done.

He said:

“We have done those first four cohorts of people and we’ve managed to do that on time and on target, which is incredibly pleasing.

“It does give me some optimism and some hope for where we go next with this.

“There is still a lot of work to go, we’ve got all of those to do twice and all the other groups yet to come.

“So, we can’t sit back and relax yet unfortunately. But it is still looking optimistic at the moment.”

Villagers battle weary as fourth inquiry into A1 service station starts

Residents in Kirby Hill have said plans for a motorway service station have been “a burden” on the village for the past 25 years.

Kirkby Hill Residents Against Motorway Services (RAMS) have campaigned against four applications on the site on the A1 northbound, which is just 500 yards from the village.

In a saga which has spanned a quarter of a century, the application has been before multiple council planning committees, faced three public inquiries and been turned down twice by the Secretary of State and the High Court.

Now, residents are set for a fourth public inquiry tomorrow after Applegreen, the latest developer to have submitted a proposal, has appealed against another rejection by Harrogate Borough Council.

Gareth Owens, chair of the RAMS since 2002, said the village is tired of fighting the proposals and expect them to come back every five years.

He said:

“The thing people say to me is ‘when will no mean no?’.

“This is the fourth public inquiry in 25 years and it’s a burden on the village.”

The motorway service station site, as proposed by Applegreen, on the A1 northbound near Kirby Hill.

Mr Owens and his team will once again mobilise for the inquiry tomorrow.

Twenty-two residents will give evidence to the inquiry, which is being held online due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Residents are expected to argue that there is no need for another service station on the A1 and that the development would do more harm than good.

In evidence due before the inquiry, they will say that the Secretary of State refused permission for the Kirby Hill site twice in favour of a station at Wetherby in 2003 and an upgrade to Leeming Bar in 2012. They will also say that the development is contrary to the newly adopted Harrogate district local plan.

Gareth Owens, chair of the Kirby Hill RAMS, speaking against the application at Harrogate Borough Council’s planning committee. Picture: Kirby Hill RAMS

While the last quarter of a century has been difficult for residents, Mr Owens said they are determined to see off another attempt to build on the site.

He said:

“It’s taken up a large amount of time and effort.

“One of the things we say is what we could have done to benefit the community if we were not fighting this.

“But we are determined to see this off. That been said, it has brought the community closer together.”

The Stray Ferret contacted Applegreen for comment, but did not receive a response by time of publication. The company said previously that it would not be appropriate to comment until the appeal had been heard.

Tears of relief at Harrogate vaccination site

People have been left relieved, in tears and very emotional after receiving their first vaccinations at the Great Yorkshire Showground.

Dr Chris Preece, one of the GPs that helped to set up the site, told the Stray Ferret that some were left “very emotional” in the early days of the site.

It comes after health bosses confirmed this week that 175,000 first doses of the vaccine have been carried out across North Yorkshire and York so far.

Vaccinations are expected to move onto those over 65-years-old from next week.

For those groups who were among the first to get their vaccines, Dr Preece said it was an emotional experience.

He said that for some, the staff and the volunteers were the first people they had seen “in months”.

Dr Preece said:

“It’s been really positive and really nice, from our point of view.

“The first couple of weeks especially was very emotional for some people. We have had tears and things like that as people came into the site.

“For a lot of people who come here, particularly in the first couple of cohorts, it’s the first time they’ve left their house for months and months.

“It’s been really emotional for a lot of those people who are coming in.”

Dr Preece said that emotion has been reflected in those working and volunteering at the site too.

He added:

“There’s a tangible feeling that we’re doing something important here.”

Anne from Harrogate was among the first to be vaccinated at the Great Yorkshire Showground.

Among the first to get their vaccine at the showground was 83-year-old Anne, who thanked the health service and hoped it would make “her feel safe and will be the start of the end of isolation”.

Others marked their vaccines in line with special occasions.

Chris and Joan Jackson, aged 81 and 80, went to the showground a week after their 60th wedding anniversary.

At the time, Chris told the Stray Ferret:

“It was a very easy process and we were done in 45 minutes. It was managed quite well.

“It was no different to the flu jab.”

The showground is set to carry on offering first doses to the remaining cohorts, as well as the second doses to those that have had their first jab and completed the 12-week wait.

Health bosses have urged any of those over-70 who have not been offered the vaccine to contact the NHS to book an appointment.

Harrogate district records a further 23 coronavirus cases

A further 23 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in the Harrogate district.

It takes the total cases since March up to 6,983, according to today’s Public Health England figures.

Meanwhile, the district’s seven-day covid rate stands at 111 per 100,000 people.

The North Yorkshire average is 116, while the England rate is currently 166.

No further deaths have been reported at Harrogate District Hospital.

Watch out this coming week on the Stray Ferret for interviews from the Great Yorkshire Showground vaccine site.

Read more:

Cost of covid

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‘Urgent’ need for services

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Developers “will not take no for an answer”

Quarter of a century of hearings

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What is the latest proposal?

What happens now?

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Christmas planning

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‘A small army of volunteers’

Ramping up vaccinations

More work to do, but a sense of optimism

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