Business Breakfast: Knaresborough energy company appoints finance officer

It’s time to join the Stray Ferret Business Club. Our next networking event is after-work drinks at Manahatta, on May 25th at 5:30.

Don’t miss out on this chance to network with businesses from across the Harrogate district. Get your tickets by clicking or tapping here.

A Knaresborough green energy company has appointed a new chief financial officer.

Harmony Energy, which is based at Conyngham Hall Business Centre, has hired Rob Scott to the position.

Mr Scott, who lives in Boroughbridge, previously worked at Key Group, as well as AA and Saga.

He will be tasked with overseeing finance, IT and human resources at Harmony Energy.

Peter Kavanagh, Harmony Energy’s chief executive and co-founder, said: 

“I am delighted to welcome Rob to the business. 

“He brings with him a wealth of experience and will provide the strategic guidance, insight and leadership we need as we continue to grow, not only in the UK, but overseas as well.”

Mr Scott said:

“Harmony Energy presents an exciting challenge for me, as it’s a business that I believe has the ambition and drive for growth.

“It has a fantastic team led by an exceptional management team who collectively are committed to delivering excellence in the global renewable energy sector.

“The company has achieved great success to date, and I look forward to adding to that as we build on what has already been accomplished.”

Harrogate business group meeting to focus on tourism

A Harrogate business group’s next monthly meeting will focus on tourism in the town.

Harrogate District Chamber of Commerce is holding the event, which will include its annual general meeting, on Monday, May 15.

The meeting will include a presentation from Helen Suckling, destination events manager at Destination Harrogate, about the organisation’s strategy for 2022 to 2025.

The event, which is being held at Windsor House on Cornwall Road, will include a networking session and refreshments for guests.

For more information and to register attendance, visit the EventBrite page here.

Guests can arrive at 5.30pm and the meeting will start at 6.15pm.

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Masham’s Black Sheep ‘trading as normal’ as administration looms

Black Sheep Brewery in Masham is “trading as normal” after announcing it intended to appoint administrators.

The company announced the move, which it said was done to “protect the interests of creditors”, yesterday.

The brewery had launched a strategic review to explore funding options to develop the business, but last Friday confirmed it was no longer considering the sale of the company and then said yesterday it planned to appoint administrators.

The Stray Ferret asked the firm whether the move to give notice on appointing administrators affected jobs or trade at the company.

A spokesperson said that the “business continued to trade as normal” and that staff were being paid.

The firm added “no shares will be traded on asset match until further notice” as a result of the decision.

According to its most recent accounts, Black Sheep reported turnover of £14.3 million as of 31 March, 2022.

However, it also recorded a pre-tax loss of £1.18 million compared to £862,871 profit in the previous year.

‘Gloom’ descends on Masham

The move to appoint administrators was met with concern in Masham, where Black Sheep and Theakston breweries dominate the town.

Ian Johnson, a parish councillor in Masham, told the Stray Ferret that the news was a “difficult situation” which had caused “a bit of gloom”.

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However, he remained hopeful the brewery could turn its fortunes around.

He said:

“Masham is a brewery town. It’s a brewery town full stop.

“I hope there is still a future. We all do. I am sure someone would want the brand.”

In a post on its social media this afternoon, Black Sheep said it had received “supportive messages” since making the announcement.

Thanks for all the supportive messages since our announcement, BUT we've not gone anywhere!

We've just had 22 tonnes of malt delivered and are busily making more beer and can supply everyone as normal. So, if you’d like to help us, get out to your local and sup some Black Sheep! pic.twitter.com/CYHVR8EyIG

— Black Sheep Brewery (@BlackSheepBeer) May 3, 2023

It added:

“We’ve just had 22 tonnes of malt delivered and are busily making more beer and can supply everyone as normal.

“So, if you’d like to help us, get out to your local and sup some Black Sheep.”

Black Sheep, which was founded in 1992 by Paul Theakston, appointed Teneo as its financial advisor to support its funding review in April.

At the time, the company said it was experiencing good sales volumes of its beers, however there remained a significant constraint on funding due to economic conditions.

Police sack Harrogate officer convicted of sexual assault

A Harrogate police officer convicted of sexual assault has been sacked.

Joseph McCabe, 27, was found guilty of one count of sexual assault and given a suspended sentence in March this year.

McCabe was given a six-month jail sentence suspended for two years. He was also placed on the sex-offenders register for seven years, fined £808 and given a three-year restraining order.

Following a misconduct hearing on Friday (April 28), North Yorkshire Police has now dismissed the 27-year-old without notice.

A decision notice published after the hearing, which was conducted by chief constable Lisa Winward, said:

“Having assessed the misconduct here as serious misconduct, which caused both direct harm to a victim that amounts to violence against women and girls, it is also an aggravating factor in respect of the seriousness of the allegations.

“It also has the potential to cause serious damage to the public confidence in the police and bearing in mind that the misconduct was so serious that it also amounted to an offence of sexual assault, in my judgment the only appropriate outcome is one of dismissal without notice.”

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McCabe was sentenced on March 31 at York Magistrates Court for sexually assaulting a woman at a Travelodge at Scotch Corner, where he was attending a wedding with a number of colleagues.

At the time, district judge Tan Ikram told McCabe he had given “no credible explanation as to why (the victim) would make up such a serious allegation”. 

Following the outcome of the hearing, deputy chief constable Mabs Hussain commended the victim for coming forward.

He described the 27-year-old’s actions as “disgraceful”.

Mr Hussain said:

“Our communities need to know that they can have complete trust in their police, and that we demand the highest level of integrity from our officers and staff.

“McCabe’s disgraceful actions fell far below that standard. I commend the victim for her courage in coming forward so we could take action. I also hope the case sends a clear message that there is no place for this behaviour in policing – and that we will secure justice against perpetrators, no matter who they are.”

New terrace and kiosk at Harrogate Town approved

Plans for a new terrace and merchandise kiosk at Harrogate Town’s EnviroVent Stadium have been approved.

The club submitted the proposal for a 100-person terrace near to the north stand turnstiles, to Harrogate Borough Council before the authority was abolished.

It will also see a kiosk installed to serve fans refreshments and Harrogate Town merchandise.

North Yorkshire Council has now approved the proposals.

The club said the new terrace was required because the English Football League will no longer accept perimeter standing at stadiums.

In planning documents, it said:

“The proposed terrace will accommodate spectators which use the existing perimeter standing areas and will therefore not increase the overall ground capacity.

“The small kiosk building will be used for the club shop selling on site merchandising on match days, as well as a replacement (non-alcoholic) drinks servery to replace a kiosk within the AON Terrace that was recently converted to WCs.”

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It comes as the club recently saw its proposal to upgrade its Envirovent Stadium approved.

It will see almost 1,000 seats installed to bring the ground up to EFL standards.

To the south of the ground, the Myrings terrace will see 264 seats installed and the 1919 bar will be demolished and replaced with a new standing terrace.

A total of 603 seats have been installed in the Black Sheep Brewery stand.

The changes will not increase the overall capacity of 5,071 but will see the number of fans that can be seated rise from 1,193 to 2,060.

A strong end to the season has seen Simon Weaver’s team secure their status in Division Two of the EFL. They are currently 19th with one match remaining.

North Yorkshire Police ‘still needs to improve’ on child safeguarding, say inspectors

Inspectors have said North Yorkshire Police “still needs to improve” following a highly critical report into how it safeguards children.

An inspection report by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services, published today, found the force had made some improvements since its previous report in March.

However, inspectors added progress still needed to be made to “provide consistently better outcomes for children”.

Today’s report comes after the watchdog published a highly critical inspection of the force where it found child protection investigations were poor and that the force did not prioritise safeguarding and child protection highly enough.

In a follow-up visit in December, which is the subject of today’s report, inspectors praised North Yorkshire Police for making progress in areas such as identifying children’s vulnerability and making good safeguarding referrals.

However, they added that supervision of investigations were not always effective and there were “excessive delays” in obtaining digital forensic evidence for officers.

The report, which was published today, said:

“North Yorkshire Police still needs to improve some areas of its work to provide consistently better outcomes for children. There has been some progress, particularly in the way the force has trained its workforce to identify children’s vulnerability and make good safeguarding referrals.

“Staff in the force control room have also made improvements so they are better at identifying risk and providing the right level of response to help vulnerable children.

“Despite progress against some of our recommendations, the force has yet to make all the progress necessary to complete its action plan.

“The force is developing performance monitoring and its governance systems, so it is clear leaders fully understand what still needs to be done.”

‘Police have let the public down’

In response to the report, Zoe Metcalfe, North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, said:

“North Yorkshire Police have had a year to progress their action plan following the first HMICFRS report on child protection. My team and I were regularly assured that all concerns would be tackled head on and improvements made at a significant pace but instead, 12 months later, the force is not in the position I expected them to be in. Not enough has been done and there is simply no excuse – North Yorkshire Police have let the public and the most vulnerable in our society down.

“As commissioner and a mother of two children, one of whom is vulnerable and has complex needs I share the frustration, deep disappointment and upset many people will be feeling. I know that it is my responsibility to increase the accountability of and pressure on the chief constable, to demand answers and not accept anything other than immediate and significant improvement.

“Whilst a debrief provided by the inspectorate in preparation for this report revealed North Yorkshire Police still had areas to progress, this progress has been much slower than anticipated – as a result, I am making arrangements for an additional layer of scrutiny – I expect evidence in relation to any assurances I am given.”

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Weekly food waste collections in Harrogate district to be delayed over costs

An introduction of a weekly food waste collection scheme across North Yorkshire looks set to be delayed amid concern over costs.

North Yorkshire Council is set to lobby government over a planned food waste collection scheme after it estimated the scheme will cost a further £6.4 million a year.

The changes, which have been proposed by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, would see councils across the UK provide a free food waste collection service by 2025.

The council already has an existing residual waste contract with AWRP SPV Ltd, which runs until 2043, and has therefore been granted an extension to bring in the changes beyond the government’s 2025 target.

However, senior councillors have raised questions over how the scheme would be paid for.

Cllr Greg White, executive councillor for environment at the council, said:

“We have pledged to try and be carbon net zero by 2030 and to do our bit to help the whole county reach the ambitious goal of being carbon negative by 2040.

“The change to a weekly food collection would give us a unique opportunity to accelerate this process.

“We want to introduce these changes long before 2043, but at the moment there is too much uncertainty around how the new collections will be paid for. At a time when the council is facing a deficit of £30 million alone in its first year, we cannot commit to that level of spending without guarantees from the Government that our costs will be covered.

“Should we get that commitment, then we will look to bring the weekly food waste collections in earlier and start engaging with residents about the changes.”

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The change to weekly collections could cost the council up to an extra £6.4 million annually.

Cllr Carl Les, leader of the authority, has written to Theresa Coffey, Secretary of State for the Environment, to clarify how the project would be funded.

North Yorkshire Council’s executive will consider a recommendation to implement a separately collected food waste service from February 2043, despite the delay meaning the carbon equivalent of an extra 18 million kilometres of diesel car emissions every year.

The council said collecting food waste separately would reduce its carbon dioxide equivalent output by between 2,800 tonnes to 3,300 tonnes each year compared to the current arrangements where food waste is recovered from residual waste at Allerton Waste Recovery Park.

Authority officials have also pledged that the council will reduce its carbon footprint to net zero by 2030.

Business Breakfast: Harrogate businesses invited to free ‘growth networking’ sessions

It’s time to join the Stray Ferret Business Club. Our next networking event is after-work drinks at Manahatta, on May 25th at 5:30.

Don’t miss out on this chance to network with businesses from across the Harrogate district. Get your tickets by clicking or tapping here.

Businesses in the Harrogate district are being invited to free growth events this month.

York St John University, York & North Yorkshire Growth Hub and the Made Smarter programme have partnered together to deliver a programme of free ‘Innovate to Grow’ events for companies.

Designed to appeal to medium and larger sized businesses based in York and North Yorkshire, the event programme starts on May 9 at Eden Camp in Malton and will be running until May 23.

One event will be held at Co-Lab on Kings Road in Harrogate on May 16 from 11.30am until 2.30pm.

Funded by Innovate UK, the events will provide opportunities for networking to collaborate and share ideas for innovation and growth with other local businesses.

Speaking of the events series, Michael Wilson, knowledge transfer manager at York St John University said: 

“We are delighted to be running this series of free events for businesses across York & North Yorkshire.

“Working in partnership with York & North Yorkshire Growth Hub and Made Smarter, we look forward to seeing businesses form connections and to giving them useful information about the business support and funding that is available, whilst they enjoy some of the region’s most interesting venues.”

For more information and to register for the events, visit the York St John University EventBrite page here.

Harrogate manufacturing company hosts engineers day

A Harrogate manufacturing company hosted an engineers careers day.

Belzona, which s based on Claro Road, hosted nine engineering scholars from the Arkwright Engineering Scholarships programme at its facility. 

As part of the event last month, the company devised an agenda designed to provide the scholars with an insight into the career opportunities within maintenance engineering.

Ian Wade, Belzona’s technical service manager, said: 

“It was great to host the Arkwright Industry Connect Day here in Harrogate, investing time and offering developing engineers an insight to the roles available within STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). 

“We hope that the scholars found it beneficial to learn about how Belzona is used across many industries.”

The Arkwright Engineering Scholarships programme is run by the Smallpeice Trust which aims to identify, inspire and nurture future leaders in engineering. 

Pictured above: Andrew Raby, Growth Hub Manager, York & North Yorkshire Growth Hub, Mike Pennington, Business Relationship Manager, York & North Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership, Michael Wilson, Knowledge Transfer Manager at York St John University and Emma Rollason-Taylor, Business Relationship Manager, York St John University Enterprise Centre.

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Masham’s Black Sheep Brewery to enter administration

Masham’s Black Sheep Brewery has announced it is to appoint administrators.

Last month, the company, which employs about 50 staff, launched a strategic review to explore funding options to develop the business. One option was to sell the company.

However, the firm announced in a trading update on Friday it was “no longer considering the sale of the company”.

Today, in a further statement, the company has announced it is set to appoint administrators.

It said:

“On 11 April 2023, the company announced it had commenced a review of its strategic options, including the possibility of an acquisition of the company in all or in part, given constraints on its funding. On 27 April 2023, the company made a further announcement explaining that it was no longer seeking an acquisition of the entire issued share capital of the company, but it was still considering a sale of the business and assets of the company.

“The board of the company has resolved to file a notice of intention to appoint Kristian Shuttleworth and Clare Boardman of Teneo Financial Advisory Limited as administrators to the company and BSB Retail Limited.”

Black Sheep, which was founded in 1992 by Paul Theakston, said it had made the decision to “protect the interests of its creditors”.

It added that “no shares will be traded on asset match until further notice” as a result of the move.

It comes as the company appointed Teneo as its financial adviser to support its review in April.

At the time, Black Sheep said it was experiencing good sales volumes of its beers, however there remains a significant constraint on funding due to economic conditions.

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Police appeal after dog kills lamb in Harrogate district field

A lamb has died and two ewes were attacked following a sheep worrying incident in a field on the edge of the Harrogate district.

North Yorkshire Police said the incident happened in Rainton, five miles from Ripon, on Wednesday (April 26) at around 11.20am.

A large German Shepherd was seen in a field attacking sheep. The dog was chased away but not before two ewes and a lamb had been attacked. The lamb died from its injuries.

Officers today appealed to the public for more information about the incident.

A police statement added:

“Officers are requesting the public’s assistance to help establish the full circumstances surrounding the incident. In particular, they are appealing for information from anyone that might have been in the area at the time and witnessed the incident, or can assist in identifying the owner of the dog.

“Anyone who has information that could assist is asked to email david.mackay@northyorkshire.police.uk or call North Yorkshire Police on 101, select option 2, and ask to speak to David Mackay.

“If you wish to remain anonymous, you can pass information to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Please quote the North Yorkshire Police reference number 12230074349.”

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Harrogate man denies rape of girl under 13

A Harrogate man has denied raping a girl under the age of 13.

Carl Briggs, 42, of Wisteria Gardens, appeared before Harrogate Magistrates Court to face two charges on Friday (April 28).

Briggs, who spoke only to confirm his name and enter a plea, denied two counts of rape of a girl under the age of 13.

He pleaded not guilty to the first charge, which is alleged to have taken place at a house in Knaresborough between September 13, 2013, and September 13, 2017.

The 42-year-old denied a second count, which is alleged to have taken place in Bradford.

Magistrates ordered Briggs to appear before York Crown Court on May 30, 2023.

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