Live: Harrogate district traffic and travel

Good morning, it’s Connor back on the traffic and travel desk early this morning hoping to help you avoid disruption on the roads and rail lines.

These blogs, brought to you by The HACS Group, aim to keep the district running smoothly.

If you get stuck in traffic or spot something, and it is safe, then give me a call on 01423 276197.

9am – Full Update 

That is all from the traffic and travel blog this morning.I will be back from 6.30am tomorrow.

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Road closures:

Temporary lights:

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Buses

8.30am – Full Update 

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Road closures:

Temporary lights:

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8am – Full Update 

Roads

Road closures:

Temporary lights:

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7.30am – Full Update 

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Road closures:

Temporary lights:

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7am – Full Update 

Roads

The roads are looking quiet so far this morning, with no hotspots just yet.

Road closures:

Temporary lights:

Trains

Buses

6.30am – Full Update 

Roads

The roads are looking quiet so far this morning, with no hotspots just yet.

Road closures:

Temporary lights:

Trains

Buses

Harrogate police officer keeps job after running red light and crashing

A Harrogate police officer who was found guilty of dangerous driving after running a red light at 50 miles per hour and crashing has kept her job.

DC Quita Passmore was responding to reports of an officer in distress on May 5 in 2018 when she drove through red lights at the junction of Otley Road and Cold Bath Road.

Patricia Bulmer and Janet Roberton, who were travelling in the car she hit, sustained severe injuries, including broken bones as well as a punctured lung.

Passmore received a 10-month jail term, suspended for two years, and was disqualified from driving for two years at Bradford Crown Court in February.

North Yorkshire Police subsequently held a misconduct hearing, two years after the incident, in May this year.

During the trial, Passmore admitted that her conduct amounted to gross misconduct and the panel agreed. The panel, which had the power to dismiss her, opted instead to issue a final written warning.

Following the outcome, the Stray Ferret has written several times to both the Crown Prosecution Service and North Yorkshire Police to ask when CCTV from the night of the crash, which was shown in court, would be released.

The CPS did not respond numerous times before passing the enquiry onto North Yorkshire Police. North Yorkshire Police told us it was in fact the responsibility of the CPS.

We were then told by both organisations this week that the video was “no longer contemporaneous” and would therefore not be released.

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Last week North Yorkshire Police released a compilation of video footage showing what it described as “some of the worst driving” in the county by members of the public as part of a new “fatal five” campaign focussing on the most common causes of fatalities.

A spokesperson for North Yorkshire Police said:

“The officer faced the allegation that she had breached the standards of professional behaviour Duties and Responsibilities and Discreditable Conduct.

“The officer admitted that their conduct amounted to gross misconduct and the panel concluded the same. The outcome was a final written warning.”

Harrogate food hall to close after just six months

Harrogate’s first food hall is to close just six months after it opened in the former Jamie Oliver restaurant on Parliament Street.

Solita Food Hall Harrogate, which is set over two floors and a rooftop terrace, started serving customers in May.

It has six different stalls, all under the Shoot The Bull brand, and also welcomes other independent businesses on board. It created 30 jobs.

Founder Chris Harrison, chief executive of Shoot The Bull, told the Stray Ferret earlier in the year he hoped Harrogate would welcome the concept with open arms. However, Mr Harrison confirmed today that the Harrogate venue will close at the end of the year.

He added that staff would be offered employment at the next restaurant set to take on the building.

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Tomahawk Steakhouse, which had been planning to move into the empty Bistrot Pierre restaurant on Cheltenham Parade, is now planning to move into Solita Food Hall’s space.

The steakhouse had planned to open in January but with the change of location it is unclear at this stage when it will open for business.

A post on its Facebook page said:

“We’ve decided to go BIG and move into the former Jamie Oliver site on Parliament St! Expect an amazing roof garden that will be usable 52 weeks of the year!”

Co-founder Howard Eggleston has been planning to bring his steakhouse brand to Harrogate for four years.

Harrogate district gears up for comic convention with giveaway

Libraries will give away comic books on Friday as the Harrogate district gears up for the arrival of a comic art convention this weekend.

More than 400 artists and exhibitors are set to attend the Thought Bubble Comic Art Convention on Saturday and Sunday at Harrogate Convention Centre.

Fight Club author Chuck Palahniuk and Batman and Sin City artist Frank Miller are among the guests.

Other artists include Joelle Jones (illustrator and writer for Batman and Catwoman) and Doug Braithwaite (artist for many Marvel and DC comics, including Wolverine, Thor and Batman).

Attendees are encouraged to come dressed as their favourite characters, and there will be a competition for the best homemade cosplay outfits.

North Yorkshire County Council, which runs libraries, has teamed up with Thought Bubble to offer free comics and graphic novels for people to take home or give to friends on Friday.

The comic books will be available on a first come, first served basis at libraries throughout North Yorkshire. The giveaway includes titles from Marvel and DC, including stories about the likes of Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, the Avengers and more.

Harrogate’s library will also host an exhibition of artwork, fan-made zines and comics created by art and design students at Harrogate College.

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County Councillor Greg White, executive member for libraries, said:

“Comics are not only fun, but can be a great way for children to develop their love of reading, so this giveaway is not to be missed.

“The county’s libraries has an extensive range of comics and graphic novels for children and adults – both in branches and online – so anyone who enjoys comics or wants to rediscover them should visit their library or search our online catalogue to see what’s on offer.”

Comics will be available from the libraries in Harrogate, Ripon, Knaresborough, Skipton, Northallerton, Selby, Pickering, Malton, Whitby, Filey and Scarborough.

Live: Harrogate district traffic and travel

Good morning, it’s Connor back on the traffic and travel desk early this morning hoping to help you avoid disruption on the roads and rail lines.

These blogs, brought to you by The HACS Group, aim to keep the district running smoothly.

If you get stuck in traffic or spot something, and it is safe, then give me a call on 01423 276197.

9am – Full Update 

That is all from the traffic and travel blog this morning. The stop/go boards on the A61 Leeds Road near the junction with Leadhall Lane should be gone by tomorrow.

Roads

Road closures:

Temporary lights:

Trains

Buses

8.30am – Full Update 

Roads

Road closures:

Temporary lights:

Trains

Buses

8am – Full Update 

Roads

Road closures:

Temporary lights:

Trains

Buses

7.30am – Full Update 

Roads

The A59 near Flaxby is busy this morning with reports of temporary lights in the area, close to where work continues on the A1(M) junction.

The A61 had heavy congestion last night due to construction works at Harewood but this seems to be clear early this morning.

Road closures:

Temporary lights:

Trains

Buses

7am – Full Update 

Roads

The roads are looking quiet so far this morning, with no hotspots just yet. The A61 had heavy congestion last night due to construction works at Harewood but this seems to be clear early this morning.

Road closures:

Temporary lights:

Trains

Buses

6.30am – Full Update 

Roads

The roads are looking quiet so far this morning, with no hotspots just yet. The A61 had heavy congestion last night due to construction works at Harewood but this seems to have cleared early this morning.

Road closures:

Temporary lights:

Trains

Buses

North Yorkshire Police appoints new deputy chief constable

North Yorkshire Police has appointed a new deputy chief constable following the retirement of Phil Cain, who had been with the force for more than 20 years.

Mabs Hussain, who is currently with Greater Manchester Police as assistant chief constable, will take up the role on January 3.

Prior to his time in Manchester, Mr Hussain spent 22 years at West Yorkshire Police where he served at every rank as a detective.

As chief superintendent, he was the commander for Wakefield and also spent time as commander for the Leeds district. He was awarded an MBE in 2018 for his services to charity and policing.

Mabs Hussain

Mr Hussain said:

“Yorkshire is very close to my heart, as I was born here and I also live here. I will be working hard to ensure that North Yorkshire remains one of the safest places to live and visit in the UK.”

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Chief constable Lisa Winward added:

“His extensive policing background and experience will be a credit to the force and I am very much looking forward to working with him as part of our chief officer team.”

Jenni Newberry, acting North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, said:

“Our executive management team has been involved in this selection process which was made difficult in the best of ways by the quality of the candidates being considered.”

Mr Cain is paid £123,648. A North Yorkshire Police spokeswoman said it didn’t have the information yet on Mr Hussain’s salary.

Pictured: (left to right): New North Yorkshire Police deputy chief constable Mabs Hussain, acting police, fire and crime commissioner Jenni Newberry and chief constable Lisa Winward.

Still no decision on future of Harrogate’s Crescent Gardens

A decision on the future of Harrogate Borough Council’s former Crescent Gardens offices is still to be made, almost two years after the building was sold.

Impala Estates, a property investment company in Harrogate, bought the building in January 2020 for £4 million.

It submitted a planning application in March this year to transform the building into offices, a gym and a rooftop restaurant.

Under the plans, the empty building, which was built in the 1890s, would be refurbished and extended by adding two floors.

The Stray Ferret approached Impala Estates to ask how the plans were progressing. However, the developer did not reply by the time of publication. It has not provided an update on its Crescent Gardens website since April 1.

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Harrogate Borough Council confirmed that its planning committee had not yet set a date to hear the plans.

The council planning portal, which has 120 documents relating to the document, indicates that the developers are currently responding to concerns from consultees, such as Yorkshire Water and North Yorkshire County Council.

How the rooftop restaurant would look. Photo: S+SA Architects.

The saga of Harrogate Borough Council’s former offices

The future of Crescent Gardens, which has been empty for four years since the council relocated to Knapping Mount in 2017, has become a long-running saga.

Harrogate Borough Council announced when it moved into its new offices that local developer Adam Thorpe would buy the site for £6.31 million.

Mr Thorpe said he would spend £75 million on a refurbishment, which would include an art gallery, underground car park, swimming pool, restaurant and luxury apartments.

Two years later he said he had agreed the sale of 10 of the 12 properties but Mr Thorpe’s company, ATP Ltd, then collapsed with debts of almost £11million, including £24,394 to the council.

The site then went back on the market and was eventually sold to Impala Estates.

More than 500 excess deaths in North Yorkshire during coronavirus

There have been 559 excess deaths in North Yorkshire during the coronavirus pandemic, new figures have revealed.

Excess deaths are a measure of how many more people are dying than would be expected when compared to previous years and can be used to show the overall impact of the pandemic.

Figures presented to a meeting of North Yorkshire’s Outbreak Management Advisory Board showed 11,347 deaths from all causes were expected during the weeks of the pandemic based on the five-year average.

A total of 11,906 deaths from all causes were recorded up until 1 October – giving an excess of 559.

Dr Victoria Turner, public health consultant at North Yorkshire County Council, told today’s meeting that these figures were “largely reflective of the national position”. She said:

“The largest peaks of excess deaths, unsurprisingly, were during covid’s first and second wave.

“This was followed by periods where deaths were actually a bit below the expected number, however, those periods were not enough to offset the very high numbers of excess deaths that we saw during both wave one and two.”

According to Public Health England figures, there have been a total of 1,227 deaths in North Yorkshire where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.

Read more:

The recent rate of Covid deaths and hospital admissions has increased slightly since the end of summer, however, the figures are lower than previous waves.

20 patients still in intensive care

Despite this, Sue Peckitt, chief nurse at NHS North Yorkshire Clinical Commissioning Group, said the heath service was still facing “unprecedented” demand with 171 Covid patients currently in the county’s hospitals.

She told today’s meeting that the majority of these patients were over-65 and that 20 were in intensive care:

“We continue to see high demand into our primary and emergency care departments.

“Whilst we are seeing high numbers of Covid infections in our younger population, it is the older population that is presenting into hospital.”

Ms Peckitt also said the vaccine rollout was continuing with a focus on booster jabs for over 50s and increasing uptake for 12 to 15-year-olds who will be offered their single dose by the end of November. She added:

“The schools programme for 12 to 15-year-olds is now rolling out through our provider Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust, but we have also opened up three sites on the national booking system.

“These are the pharmacy site at Knaresborough, the Askham Bar site at York and the Riverside Stadium in Middlesbrough.”

Harry Kane’s World Cup shirt auction to fund community groceries

Harry Kane has donated his signed shirt from the England v Poland World Cup qualifier to Resurrected Bites for an auction to raise money for a community grocery project.

The Tottenham striker and England captain scored in the fixture which ended 1-1 on September 8.

Kane’s shirt was signed by all of the players and also comes with a letter of authenticity.

Resurrected Bites usually takes in surplus food but this special donation was thanks to the team’s relationship with Gareth Southgate’s assistant manager Steve Holland.

Michelle Hayes, the founder of Resurrected Bites, said:

“Steve is the nephew of my step-dad Tony. Tony is one of our volunteers and washes up at one of the Resurrected Bites cafés every week.

“When he told Steve about Resurrected Bites, Steve offered to help us with our fundraising. We were over the moon to receive Harry Kane’s shirt which has been signed by all of the England players.

“We think this shirt could really make an exceptional Christmas present for someone. That is in addition to raising much needed funds for our organisation.”

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The auction is being held on the Resurrected Bites Facebook page, where people are invited to share their bids by commenting below the post.

Bidding will end at 8pm on Sunday, November 7. The auction started off at £100 and has already reached £340.

Steve Holland with Gareth Southgate.

All of the money raised will go towards the community grocery project.

Resurrected Bites set up its first grocery at New Park Academy Community Hub but plans to open a second in Knaresborough in December.

At the community grocery people pay £5 a year to sign up as members. They are then entitled to pay £3, £5 or £9 depending on the size of their family, for items that would typically cost £30.

It stocks a wide range of tinned, fresh food and frozen food as well as toiletries, sanitary products and nappies in various sizes.

Harrogate creeps back up to third highest covid rate in North Yorkshire

The Harrogate district has creeped back up to the third highest covid rate in North Yorkshire.

It comes as the area records another 198 coronavirus cases today, according to the latest Public Health England figures.

That takes the seven-day coronavirus rate for the district up to 524 per 100,000, which is only lower than Craven and Ryedale in North Yorkshire respectively.

North Yorkshire’s average is 504 per 100,000 and England’s is 438.

Although daily cases remain relatively high, Harrogate District Hospital has not reported any further covid patient deaths today. It reamins at 93 covid deaths in total.

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The hospital was treating 19 covid patients as of Monday.

It was also announced this week that 12-15 year olds can now book their covid vaccines appointments.

As of today, a total of 130,616 first doses have been delivered and 122,087 second doses of the vaccine. No figures are currently available for boosters.