New Knaresborough primary school delayed until 2026

An opening of new primary school in Knaresborough is expected to be delayed until September 2026.

The school, which will be run by Elevate Multi Academy Trust, is  to be built at Manse Farm and serve pupils from new housing developments in the area.

It will provide 210 places for pupils, with the capacity to be expanded to 420.

North Yorkshire County Council unveiled plans for the school in 2020 as part of proposals “to serve housing growth”.

It was initially planned to open in September 2022, but was delayed twice until September 2024.

The council previously said that the project had been delayed due to an overhead electric cable that runs across the land where the school is due to be built. 

It added that a sub-station needed to be built on the land and the cable diverted before the site could be transferred to the authority.

Amanda Newbold, assistant director for education and skills at North Yorkshire Council, told a Harrogate and Knaresborough area committee on Thursday that work was still progressing on resolving those matters.

She said:

“What I am aware of is that the earliest that school could be delivered at the moment is September 26.

“Once the primary allocations have been distributed in April, we will again review the data and look at the forecasts and gain an understanding of the timescales around that delivery and what it means to pupil cohorts and whether we need to put other provision in.

“As far as things stand at the moment, I understand that work is progressing around the issues that have been long standing at the site. There is still that commitment to deliver this project at the appropriate time.”

Read more:

The new school is expected to cost £6 million and serve up to 1,000 homes as part of the nearby Manse Farm developments.

Knaresborough Town Council has previously expressed frustration at the lack of progress at the school site.

In December, a motion by Cllr Matt Walker, who sits on the town council and also represents Knaresborough West on North Yorkshire Council, was approved to invite developer Taylor Wimpey “to provide an update on the transfer of land at Manse Farm housing estate to North Yorkshire Council so a primary school can be built”.

Plan for 20 new homes in Summerbridge

Developers have submitted plans to build 20 homes in Summerbridge.

Nidderdale Estates Ltd, which is based in the village, has tabled the proposal to North Yorkshire Council for land off the B6165.

The plan comes as a proposal for 24 homes on the site, known as Braisty Woods, was refused by the former Harrogate Borough Council in February last year.

The fresh proposal would see a mixture of one, two, three, four and five-bedroom houses.

The dwellings would range from apartments to detached homes, according to the proposal.

In documents submitted to the council, the developer said that the proposal would also include “high quality outdoor space”.

It said:

“The dwellings will be exemplary and provide living accommodation for modern lifestyles. The development as a whole creates a sense of place by introducing a high quality public outdoor space.

“Overall, this development will provide a special place to live in Summerbridge whilst remaining respectful to the local buildings, ancient woodland and AONB setting.”

North Yorkshire Council will make a decision on the plan at a later date.

Read more:

How a Birstwith man ‘swapped tanks for tennis balls’

“I often refer to it as swapping tanks for tennis balls,” says Birstwith man John Crowther as he reflects on his career.

John oversaw British tennis for nine years as chief executive of the Lawn Tennis Association.

But, his background was not in sport. He moved to Yorkshire from Cheshire in 1990 to work for Vickers Defence Systems, where he rose to become chief executive.

The company had factories in Leeds and Newcastle and manufactured tanks, such as the Challenger 2. But John always had an interest in sport, particularly tennis.

Leading British tennis

Reflecting on his career with the Stray Ferret, he says he sought to get out of the manufacturing industry in 1996.

He applied for the top job at the Lawn Tennis Association, which is the governing body of tennis in Great Britain. He says:

“I was 45 and I decided that I didn’t see myself in manufacturing for the rest of my life.

“I thought sport would be a good thing to go into.”

By his own admission, he did not play sport at a high level – however tennis was his first love.

Much of his time at the organisation was spent improving the governance and helping to develop talent in tennis.

This included introducing licensed coaches, who were made to commit to developing their knowledge and expertise year by year.

Read more: 

But perhaps his biggest challenge was creating the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton.

To do this, the association sold Queen’s Club in West Kensington where its head offices and elite training facilities were based at the time.

“During my time there, I persuaded the LTA council, which is representatives from every county, to sell Queens Club. That raised over £30 million.”

The club was given back to club members on a long term lease and the funds were used to create the National Tennis Centre.

The centre, which opened in 2007, included facilities for strength and conditioning, physiotherapy and boasts more than 20 courts.

John points to the project as one of his proudest achievements and describes it as now being “fully embedded into British tennis”.

“It was my project and it was delivered on time and on budget.

“Andy Murray still uses it and Emma Radacanu uses it. All the best players go there. It’s a one-stop shop.”

Picking Test match venues

John departed the Lawn Tennis Association in 2005 and undertook some consultancy work for a short period.

Around that time, he became involved with the England and Wales Cricket Board after being asked to join by his friend and then ECB chief executive, David Collier.

His role at the board was one which attracts a lot of scrutiny from cricket fans to this day.

John was asked to to join the host venue panel, which chooses where Test matches and other major cricket fixtures are held, and sat on the committee for 17 years.

“Back in 2005, Test matches and other major matches were allocated in a sort of random way by the ECB.

“They were sort of carved up in committee rooms.”

Headingley Stadium in Leeds.

Headingley Stadium in Leeds.

The purpose of the host venue panel was to hand over the designation of test matches to an independent committee.

As a result, the allocation for test matches became based upon a balanced score card which specified what would be required from each ground.

“You had to demonstrate how you as a test match ground would look after the players, look after the officials, look after the media and look after the public.

“What came about over the years were two things: dramatic facility improvements and professionalisation of the county teams to work with the ECB to deliver test matches.”

The role of the host venue panel has come under the spotlight recently after Headingley and Old Trafford were overlooked for the Ashes series in 2027.

John said he was disappointed to see Headingley miss out on an Ashes series, but felt that the venue and Yorkshire County Cricket Club as a whole had a bright future ahead.

‘You only ever remember your good shots’

In recent years, John has chaired in a voluntary capacity. He has held positions at both Yorkshire Lawn Tennis Association and North Yorkshire Sport.

In both positions, he sought to improve the access to sport and increase participation among young people.

These days, he chairs the Yorkshire Tennis Foundation which helps to dispense funds to tennis projects.

For John, being involved in sport is a privilege and one which should not be taken for granted.

“Anybody who can do a job where you are passionate about the outcome of that job is extremely lucky.

“So many people have to go and do mundane jobs. I have done mundane jobs in my life where at 5.30 you’re gasping to get out and go home.

“Whereas sport involves you. It involves you completely. Yes, there are always setbacks but it’s a bit like a round of golf. You only ever remember your good shots.”

If you have any local sporting figures who you think should be featured in Sporting Spotlight, contact calvin@thestrayferret.co.uk.

Petition to protect Bilton’s Knox Lane from housing

A petition to prevent land targeted for homes in Bilton being available for development will be put before Harrogate and Knaresborough councillors next week.

North Yorkshire Council’s Harrogate and Knaresborough planning committee rejected an application by the developer Jomast to build 53 homes off Knox Lane, as reported by the Stray Ferret in September 2023.

Since then, residents have submitted a 2,200-signature petition to the authority calling for the land to be protected from further development.

The Knox Community Conservation Group has called for the land to be removed from the forthcoming North Yorkshire Local Plan, which will replace the current blueprint for where development can take place.

The petition says previous site assessments conducted by Harrogate Borough Council of the Knox Lane site in 2013 and 2016 found it to be unsuitable for development because it “would have adverse or highly adverse effects on historic environment, priority habitats and/or species and landscape”.

In a report due before the area committee next week, Barry Khan, assistant chief executive at North Yorkshire Council, said a consultation on “issues and options” for the Local Plan will be held later this year.

He said:

“In relation to the new Local Plan for North Yorkshire, the site selection process will begin with a call for sites to gain an understanding of what land is available. 

“As part of this exercise, we will also be looking at sites allocated in adopted Local Plans that have not been progressed and we will assess these alongside other sites put forward. 

“The council will need to carry out this assessment and selection process in a fair and transparent way taking into consideration the most up to date evidence and therefore cannot commit to include or exclude any sites at this stage.”

The petition will be put before the Harrogate and Knaresborough area constituency committee on Thursday (March 14).

Councillors will be asked to respond formerly to the petition.

Read More:

The Harrogate service helping to tackle the loneliness epidemic

Four years ago, a new service was introduced in Harrogate with the aim of tackling loneliness and the debilitating mental health conditions that come with it.

It was founded by the local branch of Mind, the mental health charity, and was called the befriending service.

The purpose was to match people who may feel lonely, anxious or isolated with a friend on a regular basis for walks, a cafe visit or any other public activity.

Two years into its operation, it expanded into neighbouring Ripon, Boroughbridge, Knaresborough and Nidderdale.

“It’s the highlight of people’s week”, says Dave Rowson, befriending co-ordinator at Mind Harrogate, who sat down with the Stray Ferret to outline how it was tackling loneliness.

Dave joined the charity in May 2022, around same time that the service expanded its reach.

Dave Rowson, befriending co-ordinator at Mind Harrogate.

Dave Rowson, befriending co-ordinator at Mind Harrogate.

With skills in recruitment and project management from his time at Leeds City Council, he was tasked with expanding the service and matching volunteer befrienders with people.

Currently, he has 21 pairs who meet on a regular basis and a further 10 volunteers in the pipeline.

For Dave, part of the reason for the demand for the service is the informality of it.

“Most of them want to get some normality back and that’s what they do.”

Isolated and anxious

Last year, the World Health Organisation declared loneliness a “global health concern”.

North Yorkshire Council estimates that 30,000 people aged 16 or over across the county experience chronic loneliness – around six per cent of the population.

Meanwhile, an Office for National Statistics survey in 2021 found that 4.7% of adults in the Harrogate District “often or always” felt lonely.

The result is voluntary organisations such as Mind coming up with new services for people in order to help already stretched mental health services.

Dave explains that some of those who use the befriending service are often referred from local community mental health services or their GP.

Read more:

Part of the reason is to continue their recovery from conditions such as anxiety or low mood.

Others come directly to the charity to ask to use the service in order to get out and improve their mental health.

When matching people with volunteers, Mind carries out its own assessment of its participants to find out their interests, needs and what type of person they would like to be matched with.

“The first thing I’ll do is ring them, have a chat with them and find out if they are definitely interested in accessing the service.

“I will try and arrange a meeting with them. I tend to do it here [Mind office in Harrogate] or if they are in the remote areas, I’ll go to Ripon or Pateley Bridge.”

Dave then matches them to a particular volunteer who he feels would be suitable. He supervises an initial meet between the two before organising regular appointments.

His pairs take part in activities such as coffee shop visits to dog walking.

Much of the people using the service range from those with anxiety to young people with autism.

“Generally, it’s the isolated and anxious.

“People who struggle to get out and struggling with the motivation to get out. They see the befriending as a reason to get out. It almost forces them to take that step out of the door.”

‘It means more to them than you think’

The last two years have been a lesson for Dave.

By his own admission, he had a “simplistic idea” of how the service would work for people when he joined.

“At first I wondered ‘what the hell am I doing? I don’t know anything about mental health’.

“I had this very simplistic idea that people were stuck at home and then they would come out and then they would come to a group.

“But, suddenly you work out that these people are very different and some of them will never come to a group. They just want to be on a road to recovery.”

The service has funding to remain in place until 2025 – however Dave hopes it can last beyond then.

Some people have been on the befriending list for a while.

For Dave, the reward comes when he manages to match one of those waiting with a new friend.

“I think the value comes when you read some of the feedback of what it means to them and that it’s the highlight of their week.

“You read it and you’re like ‘wow’. It means more to them than you think.”

Harrogate hospital CEO: ‘I don’t wake up in the middle of the night worried about work’

In the second part of our feature length interview with Jonathan Coulter, chief executive at Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust, he talks RAAC, Ripon Community Hospital and how he handles stress. Read the first instalment here.

Aside from dealing with industrial action and the trust’s finances, Mr Coulter’s position also comes with responsibility for the hospital estate.

In September last year, the trust confirmed that its roof contained reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC).

The material, popular between the 1960s and 1980s, was compared to “chocolate Aero” and made headlines after it was found in public buildings across the UK.

When asked if he was surprised to find the material on the hospital estate, Mr Coulter said:

“It became an issue a few years ago, about three or four years ago.

“Was it a surprise? Well, we built it with that and I guess some of the concerns about the safety and the stability of the RAAC was the thing that came out.

“Once we got that information, we then surveyed the site and identified areas where we have got RAAC in terms of the panels and put in place the steps to manage that.”

The hospital bid for £20 million from government to help eradicate RAAC across the hospital site as part of a trust-wide project.

The therapy services building at Harrogate District Hospital, which is set to be demolished

So far, it has received £2 million which will go towards helping to demolish the therapy services department by creating offices to relocate staff to.

Mr Coulter says the trust is currently awaiting confirmation on £9 million worth of funding, which will be used to hire contractors to flatten the building.

Ripon is still valued

The projects at the trust extend beyond Harrogate.

Ripon Community Hospital is due to open a new community diagnostics centre in April.

The project came as part of £1 million worth of funding from NHS England and means GPs will be able to refer more patients to the hospital for life-saving checks closer to home and be diagnosed for a range of conditions.

Read more:

Despite the major projects in Harrogate, Mr Coulter says Ripon is still valued and that there are wider conversations with the primary care sector about how to make healthcare services more accessible in the city.

“It is absolutely something that we value as part of being in the middle of that community and the services that we need to provide there.

“We are gradually investing in bits of it in terms of diagnostics and maternity services. But, the bigger picture which might take quite a long time is to think how do we provide healthcare services in Ripon for the longer term. That includes primary care and that’s a much bigger conversation to have.”

‘I don’t wake up in the middle of the night worried about it’

Mr Coulter never saw himself becoming chief executive of Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust.

Rather, the opportunity presented itself to him in February 2022 and he took it.

The result of taking that chance has seen matters such as NHS strikes, RAAC, a multi-million deficit and an array of hospital projects come across his desk.

Does he find it stressful?

“No, it’s not stressful.

“It’s really important and it’s really important that we do well. There’s a lot to think about all of the time. But, if you have got a really good team and really good people working in the organisation, that’s how you manage it.

“We can only do so much and it’s really important. You’re accountable and responsible for a lot, but you have got to be of a personality that can allow others to manage that for you and do things for you.

“I understand why people would say it’s really stressful. But, on a personal level, I don’t wake up in the middle of the night worried about it. I’m worried when I’m here in a good way in terms of making sure we do the right things.”

How an anti-semitism row left Harrogate and Knaresborough Lib Dems in disarray

Pat Marsh’s string of tweets which ignited a row over anti-semitism left local Liberal Democrats in disarray this week.

At a time when the world’s eyes are fixed on the ongoing conflict in Isreal and Gaza, Harrogate’s most senior Lib Dem councillor was at the centre of a social media storm in relation to the war.

Cllr Marsh, who has been a councillor in Harrogate and Knaresborough for 33 years, took to X, formerly known as Twitter, over a five-week period to post about the plight of Palestinians.

Some included reposting tweets about the conflict. But others which were posted from January onwards described Jews as “vile”, “evil” and “a disgrace to the world”.

The matter is subject to a North Yorkshire Police investigation, a North Yorkshire Council standards process and an internal probe by the Liberal Democrats.

Cllr Marsh, who was suspended from the party, has remained defiant and has refused to resign as a councillor.

But the matter left the Liberal Democrats in a politically sensitive situation.

Cllr Pat Marsh 

Removal of responsibility

Political moves have already been made on North Yorkshire Council to remove Cllr Marsh from positions of responsibility.

She was replaced as chair of the Harrogate and Knaresborough area constituency planning committee on Wednesday in her absence following a motion by Conservative Cllr Michael Harrison.

In the May 2022 local elections, jubilant Lib Dems celebrated taking control of the council’s area committee with eight of the 13 councillors elected in Harrogate and Knaresborough.

Harrogate and Knaresborough area committee.

Following her suspension, and the earlier defection of Cllr Michael Schofield to become an Independent, the party now has six of the 13 seats on the committee.

As a result, the row over anti-semitism may dilute the party’s influence on major council matters, such as the £11.2 million Harrogate Station Gateway project.

The local party has been tight lipped on the saga this week. A source close to the party told the Stray Ferret there had been “radio silence” from within the Liberal Democrats to its local members. Questions to parliamentary candidate Tom Gordon have been fielded by the national press office.

Meanwhile, Cllr Marsh is subject to a council standards investigation to determine whether she breached its code of conduct.

The code aims to ensure councillors do not discriminate against any person, treat others with respect and do not bring the council into disrepute.

The Local Government Association says a councillor can be removed from their role by the local authority should they be found to have committed a serious breach of the code.

The Stray Ferret asked North Yorkshire Council to ask what the investigation will involve.

In response, Richard Flinton, chief executive of the authority, said:

“I can confirm that our monitoring officer has received a complaint and will look at it in line with the council’s agreed code of conduct complaints procedure.

“In North Yorkshire we expect our elected members and officers to demonstrate strong and positive values and behaviours. Any complaints about comments that do not meet these standards will therefore be taken seriously.”

A council spokesperson added that it would be making no further comment on the issue.

Harrogate MP weighs in

The issue is politically difficult for the Lib Dems in the run-up to a general election.

Mr Gordon will contest the Harrogate and Knaresborough constituency for the party against Conservative MP Andrew Jones.

Following this week’s events, Mr Gordon appears to have removed any picture with Cllr Marsh from his social media accounts, including Facebook and X.

Read more:

However, Mr Jones wasted little time in raising the matter over Cllr Marsh in the House of Commons on Monday, describing the comments as “horrendous” and questioned why the Liberal Democrats failed to act sooner.

Mr Jones accused the Lib Dems of doing nothing to tackle the issue until it was exposed in the media, adding:

“She had hundreds of followers, including many senior local Liberal Democrats; she tweeted over 500 times on the subject, and those tweets were read over 10,000 times, so it beggars belief that no Liberal Democrat knew what she was saying.”

A Lib Dem party spokesperson described the Harrogate MP’s comments as “outrageous” and without evidence.

They added:

“It is telling that Andrew Jones doesn’t use his parliamentary time for the local crumbling hospital or lack of NHS dentist appointments, and instead pushes bizarre claims which have no shred of evidence. 

“It just shows he is on the way out. Andrew Jones is yet again taking the people of Harrogate for granted.”

In a sign that the national party has been eager to get a grip on the matter, any enquiry to local Liberal Democrats has been met with a response from a press officer in London.

With Cllr Marsh still holding her Stray, Woodlands and Hookstone seat, and further repercussions possible, the fallout is likely to continue.

How Andy’s Man Club is helping men in Harrogate to talk

Every Monday evening at 7pm, men arrive at Harrogate College to have a chat with a coffee and a biscuit.

While it may seem mundane, the same is happening at 172 other locations across England at the same time.

Andy’s Man Club was set up with the simple goal of helping men to talk through their issues and help each other deal with their mental health.

Its latest club at Harrogate College was set up in January and saw 63 people attend on its first night.

The Stray Ferret paid a visit this week and spoke with its facilitators Andy King and Jonathan Clipston prior to their third session of the year.

‘I just thought we have got to do it’

Andy and Jonathan, who are lead facilitators in Harrogate, arrive early to set up the room and have the coffee and biscuits prepared next to the entrance — an essential for any meeting.

Andy explains that he has been involved with the charity since January 2023 after losing a friend and work colleague to suicide.

He attended a meeting in Kirkstall and then later in Tadcaster after a particularly low point in his life. He then decided that he should set up a club locally.

“I just thought that we have got to do it.

“We don’t talk about challenges to our best mates. So I thought that this was a place to do that.”

Meanwhile, Jonathan first attended an Andy’s Man Club meeting in York in April 2022 and later trained as a facilitator for the charity. 

He suffered a serious car accident some 30 years ago which led to his right arm being amputated below the elbow.

“There was nothing like this then.”

The charity itself was set up by Elaine Roberts and Luke Ambler after Andrew Roberts, Elaine’s son and Luke’s brother-in-law, took his own life aged 23 in 2016.

Actor Dominic Brunt, aka Paddy from Emmerdale, has backed Andy's Man Club's new Harrogate branch

Actor Dominic Brunt, aka Paddy from Emmerdale, has backed Andy’s Man Club’s new Harrogate branch.

It held its first session in Halifax, Andrew’s hometown, and now helps to support more than 3,000 men on a weekly basis at more than 170 locations.

Harrogate, which became the 173rd location, was launched with the backing of Dominic Brunt, who plays Paddy Kirk in television soap Emmerdale. 

The response has been dramatic. Some 63 men attended the branch on its first night and 47 on its second – 18 of which were attending Andy’s Man Club for the first time.

‘Andy’s Man Club saved my life’

The sessions follow a simple format.

Each meeting has five questions which include “how was your week?” and “anything to get off your chest?” The session then moves onto lighter topics, the questions of which change each week.

There is no obligation to speak, however those that wish to speak will be thrown a ball to signal that it is their turn to talk.

The idea behind the meetings is that they are judgement-free and held in a non-clinical environment.

Sessions are held every Monday from 7pm to 9pm, except on bank holidays.

Read more:

Elliot, a facilitator at Andy’s Man Club in York, is in Harrogate helping Andy and Jonathan with their latest session.

He has been involved with the charity since 2019 and says he “would not be here” without it.

“Andy’s Man Club saved my life.”

He says part of the reason for the sessions is to let the men speak in their own time. But it’s also to create an affinity with each other.

“It’s about bonding the lads. That’s what is really important.”

The following day, the Harrogate club posts that 44 men attended the meeting — 11 of whom came to Andy’s Man Club for the first time.

On its website, the charity describes itself as “a bunch of blokes having a chat over a brew and biscuit”.

But, for some, it is much more than that.

How a Harrogate consultant helped change British elite sport

Harrogate’s Neil Tunnicliffe feels fortunate to have spent his career in sport.

From the London 2012 Olympic Games to women’s football, he has been involved.

Not as a player; rather, he has spent more than 20 years behind the scenes helping to put mechanisms in place for elite sportsmen and women to thrive.

Originally from Wakefield, West Yorkshire, Neil has spent the majority of his life north of the county after his parents moved to Goldsborough while he was studying at Oxford University.

His younger years were spent playing rugby until he suffered a dislocated shoulder.

Despite the setback, he remained involved in student rugby league and was offered a job at the Rugby Football League in 1992. He says:

“It was a role without portfolio. So I sort of floated across the business and spent time working in pretty much every department.”

Six years later, he was appointed chief executive after Maurice Lindsay left to work for the newly created Super League.

His new role gave him a grounding in elite sport as he became involved in negotiating a £26.9 million broadcast deal for rugby league with Sky and BBC.

For Neil, the negotiations with television executives were very different compared to today.

“The landscape nowadays has changed beyond recognition where you have any number of different outlets who want to broadcast sport, including online.

“Back in those days, it was relatively straight forward. You had Sky who were the new kid on the block who had the dedicated sports channel that they needed to fill with content. They were competing with three or at the most four channels in the BBC, ITV and Channel 4.

“The BBC were the longest standing partner of the game and had a real commitment to rugby league. There was a sort of ‘nice chap’ element to negotiations around that. Whereas Sky had a much more commercial approach and were much more hard headed about what they wanted from the game.”

Aiming for the Olympics

As he looked to consultancy and life after rugby league, Neil quickly realised that specialising in media was becoming a competitive market.

Instead, he looked to the National Lottery – which had not long been introduced by John Major’s government after the 1996 Olympics.

In the early 2000s, lottery funding required sports to have strategic plans in place in order to be distributed money.

Neil saw this as an opportunity to help not only sports, but also quangos such as UK Sport and Sport England.

The scheme was “relatively new”, says Neil, and sport councils were trying to figure out what to do with the funding.

“It was trial and error to a large extent across the landscape as a whole.

“But what provided a real focal point was in 2005 when London won the Olympic Games.”

Read more: 

The 2012 Olympics and Paralympics in the UK capital provided an opportunity for Neil to help sports win funding in order to professionalise and put strategies in place to compete at the biggest sporting event on the planet.

Both UK Sport and Sport England saw the Olympics as an opportunity.

For Neil, much of the next seven years was spent trying to help 13 different sports, such as handball, netball and basketball, to reach the landmark event.

“They had not previously been represented at an Olympic Games because they had not qualified.

“But when you have a home Olympic games you automatically get a place there. So, we knew that there were going to be Great Britain teams in each of those sports. But you had seven years to get a team assembled and ready to compete against the best in the world.”

Neil described the process as building some of the sports from the ground up including putting strategies in place to employ coaches, sport scientists and training athletes.

The reward for the hard work was a successful Olympics for Great Britain and strategies remaining in place for those sports some 12 years later.

Women’s sport

Among Neil’s biggest achievements is his work in women’s sport.

In 2016, the FA commissioned him to carry out a review of the Women’s Super League amid concern over a lack of interest in the sport.

Rachel Daly

Harrogate’s Rachel Daly playing for Aston Villa in the Women’s Super League.

The work played into a well trodden path for Neil, who had already helped to set up the women’s netball super league as well as other reviews into participation in women and girls sport.

“We looked at the Women’s Super League and realised that a lot of its problem was that it wasn’t being taken seriously by the clubs involved in it.”

Neil’s review found that players were training four hours a week – which was the same as Harrogate Rugby Club second team schedule at the time.

He told the FA that players had to be training up to 15 and 16 hours a week, which would amount to half-time, or in some cases, full time professionals.

The result has seen the competition catapult into the public’s conscience since then, with Harrogate’s own Rachel Daly among those to thrive from the increase in interest.

‘No stone left unturned’

These days, Neil’s workload includes helping the England and Wales Cricket Board with its academy system across the 18 county championship sides.

His career has spanned multiple sports across different levels and standards. But does he feel he still has more to do?

“I think I’ve been incredibly lucky, really. I’ve been a sports fan all my life.

“When I was young, I was fascinated by the way that sport worked. To be able to have a career playing with that has been an enormous blessing.

“Looking back, I’ve worked with sports that range from large to small. I’ve worked with some of the biggest governing bodies that we’ve got and then I’ve worked with sports like Boccia and British Equestrian Vaulting and things that only a handful of people nationally do.

“I’ve worked in England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and Northern Ireland. I don’t feel there is any stone left unturned.”

If you have any local sporting heroes who you think should be featured in Sporting Spotlight, contact calvin@thestrayferret.co.uk.

Skills and transport: What does the Harrogate district need from the new combined authority?

This week marked the start of a new era of governance across North Yorkshire.

On Thursday, the newly created York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority launched, paving the way for a multi-million pound devolution deal to come to fruition.

The authority, which will be headed by an elected mayor after May, promises power over transport, skills and adult education.

In a packed Guildhall in York, politicians, authority and business leaders gathered to hear what the combined authority would mean for them.

Those in attendance came from all over North Yorkshire and York to brush shoulders with leaders who will be tasked with lobbying for millions in government funding.

Among them was Harrogate College principal Danny Wild.

The Stray Ferret asked Mr Wild what Harrogate would need from the new authority and how it would help him and his students.

Danny Wild.

Danny Wild

He pointed to the adult education budget, which the combined authority will be responsible for from August 2025.

Mr Wild said funding to help people re-train and develop their skills will be important for the Harrogate district as they look for higher skilled jobs.

He said:

“What we are hoping is it will help our adults to upskill and feel they are making a contribution to society.”

However, equally as important is transport. Mr Wild said he has students who come from Boroughbridge who take more than an hour to get into college.

‘You need to connect people to opportunities’

The sentiment over transport and skills is one shared by James Farrar, director of economy and interim head of paid service at York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority.

He said the combined authority and elected mayor will be armed with new money which will allow it to “be ambitious”.

The Stray Ferret asked Mr Farrar if he recognised the concerns raised by Mr Wild over skills and transport in the Harrogate area.

He said:

“Ultimately, you need to connect people to opportunities. It’s fine creating opportunities, but if people can’t physically get there or if they don’t have the skills that those job require then local people are not going to benefit from those opportunities.

“The opportunity that the mayor brings is to operate and think at a place level. At the heart of our planning, we have great places. Obviously, Harrogate and Ripon are two great places in the region.

“We will be looking at those places and asking what it means and how people get around those places and what skills do they have.”

Read more:

But how will the combined authority decide which area is most in need of investment in skills, transport or education?

For Cllr Carl Les, the Conservative leader of North Yorkshire Council, the projects must be “equitable”.

Cllr Les, who was late to the event due to traffic on the A19 coming into York on Thursday, said a lot of his speech was due to focus on looking at North Yorkshire in its entirety.

He said much of the combined authority’s role will be “focussing on the whole” of the county.

“What we have to make sure is that the combined authority looks at the quality of the projects that we want to deliver and make sure that we deliver equitable projects across the piece.”