John Plummer, Author at The Stray Ferret

Fewer than half of 999 calls in North Yorkshire being answered on time

Just 44% of 999 calls in North Yorkshire are being answered on time, according to figures in a new report.

The report by the North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner‘s office said the national target is for 90% of 999 calls to be answered in under 10 seconds.

But between November 2021 and November 2022, only 44% were answered within this time in the county.

The document also revealed that between February and December 2022, the average non-emergency 101 call answer time ranged from 4 minutes and 3 seconds to 10 minutes and 17 seconds. Unlike for 999 calls, nationally there is no imposed target for answering 101 calls.

Police, fire and crime commissioner Zoe Metcalfe has described the figures as “unacceptable”.

Her office has awarded the force control room a £1.8 million a year to improve the times.

The report, which will be debated by North Yorkshire County Council‘s police, fire and crime panel on February 6, said:

“This investment will enable the Chief Constable to fund 36 additional communications officers, 12 additional dispatchers, six established trainers and two additional police inspectors.”

The document highlights how call volume has increased, saying:

“Nationally there has been a 16% increase in 999 calls to the police, and 2022 saw the highest number of emergency calls to North Yorkshire Police ever in one month (over 10,000 in July and August).”

The report also said the commissioner “wants the force to explore how they could deliver a long-term programme of public education and awareness about when to contact the police, and the most appropriate method for doing so”.

North Yorkshire Police usually receives over 10,000 emergency 999 calls a month.

24 bus from Pateley Bridge to Harrogate saved

The 24 bus route between Pateley Bridge and Harrogate has been saved until at least April next year.

The service provides a lifeline for many people in rural parts of Nidderdale, including Birstwith, Darley and Summbridge.

North Yorkshire County Council warned this month it was one of about 80 bus routes in North Yorkshire facing uncertain futures at the end of March.

But councillor Keane Duncan, the Conservative executive member for highways and transport at North Yorkshire County Council, said today:

“The 24 is a key route that many people rely on so I am pleased to announce that we have been able to step in to support this service.

“When the operator notified us that it planned to withdraw most services on this route, we secured short-term funds to cover these until April 2023.

“This allowed us time to investigate a longer-term solution. We have now secured continuation of the service until April 2024, operated by Transdev (The Harrogate Bus Company).

Cllr Duncan added the timetable will continue unchanged, but with most journeys now receiving financial support.

“We hope that passengers will support the 24 service and that usage will build over the coming 12 months.

“This positive outcome on the 24 is part of our efforts to support several at risk routes across North Yorkshire.

“We will continue to work closely with operators in order to protect as much of the bus network as we can through a period of unprecedented pressure.”

Teen arrested on cocaine charge after car overturns in Ripon

A man has been arrested on suspicion of supplying Class A drugs after officers came across a crashed car in Ripon.

Shortly after 3pm yesterday, North Yorkshire Police officers on patrol near Lark Lane in Ripon located a red VW Golf car that had been involved in a collision and was on its roof.

A police statement today said:

“One of the occupants made off from the scene. Following a search of the area, officers located a large quantity of suspected cannabis and cocaine.

“The other occupant, a 19-year-old local man, was arrested on suspicion of possession with intent to supply a Class A drug. He has since been released on bail while enquiries continue.”

Anyone with any information about the incident is asked to contact North Yorkshire Police on 101, quoting reference number 12230015627.

Police closed the road while the incident took place.

Cycling group questions commitment to active travel in Harrogate district

A cycling group has said the expected abandonment of the second phase of the Otley Road cycle route has raised serious questions about the commitment to active travel in the Harrogate district.

Cllr Keane Duncan, executive member for highways and transportation at North Yorkshire County Council, said yesterday none of the proposed Otley Road options had proved popular and he was asking “serious questions” about whether to proceed.

Kevin Douglas, chair of Harrogate District Cycle Action, said his group was one of the council’s consultees on the scheme and he was disappointed not to have been told the news.

He said the council had confidently predicted the scheme would succeed in 2017 and six years later only a third of it had been delivered.

Mr Douglas agreed there were problems with phase one but said shelving the scheme wasn’t the solution. He said he’d like to see alternative proposals and a more consistent commitment to active travel in the district, adding:

“If they do scrap it there needs to be very careful scrutiny of what’s happened here and whether there is a real commitment to doing things properly.

“To do these schemes you have got to be committed to change, like in Leeds and York.

“Let’s get Active Travel England, who are experts, to come in and look at the county council’s proposals and see what they think of them.”

The three-phase Otley Road cycle route was supposed to be part of a wider scheme providing safe cycling between Cardale Park and the town centre. Mr Douglas said:

“If they don’t build phase two I’m not sure how they are going to see that through.”

He compared the lack of progress on Otley Road and other active travel schemes, such as Beech Grove and Victoria Avenue in Harrogate and Harrogate Road in Knaresborough, as well as the Harrogate Station Gateway, with the £70 million realignment of the A59 at Kex Gill, which is about to get underway.

Mr Douglas said removing car parking space on Beech Grove would encourage cyclists to use the road yet it wasn’t one of the options included in the Otley Road phase two consultation.

He said it was wrong to blame cyclists for the scheme collapsing when the real issue was a lack of commitment to active travel.

New Masham restaurant wins Michelin Guide accolade

A restaurant in Masham that opened last year has been included in the Michelin Guide‘s list of favourite new restaurants.

Where there’s Smoke is based on the Silver Street site formerly occupied by Vennell’s for 17 years.

Owned by Jon Atashroo and his wife Arlette, it cooks locally sourced produce over coals and embers.

Mr Atashroo began his career training at the Michelin-starred Aubergine restaurant in Chelsea and was head chef at the fine dining restaurant at London’s Tate Modern before moving to Masham to buy the couple’s first restaurant.

Michelin Guide inspectors were so impressed by what the couple and restaurant manager John Goodyear have created they included Where there’s Smoke in a list of 24 favourite new UK restaurants following anonymous visits.

The organisation said:

“Cooking over coals is the USP here – hence the name – and the lovely aroma will hit you the moment you enter this good-looking restaurant.

“It sits in a delightful market town, and the seasonal set menu is comforting, easy to enjoy and comes from an honest heart.

“The chef-owner is also a potter, so take time to admire his creations; oh, and the bespoke wooden table-tops, he made those too.”

Mr Atashroo told the Stray Ferret:

“It’s great to be put on the map. It’s really exciting for us.

“We are only a tiny restaurant with 16 seats and a small team.”

He said buying his own restaurant had fulfilled a lifelong dream and Masham had proved to be a great location after living in London for 37 years. He added:

“We got the same accolade at the Tate but this feels more special because we have built this restaurant up from the ground.”

The 24 additions to the Michelin Guide precede the naming of the new venues to receive Michelin Stars, Bib Gourmands and Green Stars in March.

Local Liberal Democrats could determine fate of £11.2m Harrogate Station Gateway

A decision on whether to proceed with the £11.2 million Harrogate Station Gateway could depend on a Liberal Democrat-controlled committee of councillors.

The gateway scheme, which would radically transform the area opposite Harrogate train station, has proved highly divisive and controversial.

It would see James Street partly pedestrianised and a section of Station Parade reduced to single lane traffic to make way for cycle lanes.

Funding for the scheme was secured in March 2020 but nearly three years later, and despite three consultations, North Yorkshire County Council has yet to make a final decision on whether to proceed.

Part of James Street would be pedestrianised.

The council’s Conservative-controlled executive has now said the scheme will come before its Harrogate and Knaresborough area constituency committee before a final decision is made. Eight of the committee’s 14 members are Liberal Democrats.

The committee is currently only an advisory body but Cllr Keane Duncan, the executive member for highways and transportation at the council, suggested its views will be crucial. He said:

“It would be very difficult for us to proceed with the scheme if local elected councillors were opposed.

“The people of Harrogate and Knaresborough have elected councillors. The majority of those are not Conservative, they are of a different political persuasion to the executive. We want to listen to what those councillors say.”

Asked whether the Conservatives had passed the buck on such a political hot potato, Cllr Duncan replied:

“It is a hot potato but with great power comes great responsibility. Local people in Harrogate and Knaresborough have elected their councillors and we have all stood on a platform to make difficult decisions.

“The executive of the county council believes very strongly in localism. We want to ask local councillors for their views and we will pay very due attention to their views. That’s the right thing to do.”

Cllr Keane Duncan, executive councillor for access at North Yorkshire County Council.

Cllr Keane Duncan in Harrogate

Cllr Duncan, who lives in Ryedale, said he had no vested interest in the scheme, which he inherited when he took up his role in May last year. But he added:

“Having looked at it as an outsider, I feel there are great advantages in terms of improving the pedestrian and cycle links and making this corner of the town centre easier to access and a better place to spend time, so on balance I’m supportive.”

Consultation was ‘never a referendum’

The third consultation revealed once again more people feel negatively than possibly towards the scheme, albeit by a slender margin of 46% to 45%, with nine per cent neutral.

Cllr Duncan said the consultation “was never meant to be a referendum” and there was “significant support” for key elements of the scheme, including changes to the public realm and better walking and cycling infrastructure. He added:

“If you look at the actual figures there were just 17 more negative responses than positive responses. And if you factor in the nine percent neutral responses, actually that’s a long way away from the universal negativity that many people would suggest, because most people are positive or neutral towards it.

“With all that support that’s been expressed by the public, it would be a shame not to bring this project that’s been ongoing for a very long time to a decision point for councillors to be able to make a decision one way or another.”

Cllr Duncan also suggested scrapping the scheme could damage Harrogate and North Yorkshire’s chances of future funding.

“More than £11 million would be spent elsewhere in North Yorkshire or returned to government. I think that would be a great shame for Harrogate but also it would rock government’s confidence in North Yorkshire and that would be a great shame for Harrogate and the county.”

Cllr Keane Duncan will talk about other Harrogate transport issues, such as the A59 Kex Gill realignment, the proposed park and ride and the threat to bus services in an interview on Saturday.

‘No suspicious circumstances’ in sudden death in Harrogate, police say

North Yorkshire Police has said there were “no suspicious circumstances” in the sudden death of a 77-year-old woman in Bilton this week.

The woman, who has not been named, died in a flat at Dene Park on Monday afternoon.

A 76-year-old man was arrested and later released under investigation.

Police were present at the scene from Monday afternoon until last night.

Police were at the scene until last night.

In an update this afternoon, police said:

“The investigation into the sudden death of a 77-year-old woman at a flat on Dene Park in Harrogate on Monday afternoon has confirmed there were no suspicious circumstances.

“The 76-year-old man arrested in connection with the investigation has been released without charge with no further action to be taken.

“The scene has been stood down at the address and a report has been sent to the coroner.”

Harrogate’s Otley Road cycleway: next phase looks set to be shelved

The second phase of Harrogate’s Otley Road cycleway looks set to be scrapped in the face of continued hostility towards the scheme.

The results of a consultation on options for phase two of the project are due to be released within days.

But Cllr Keane Duncan, executive member for highways and transportation at North Yorkshire County Council, said none of the three options put forward had been well received and he was asking “serious questions” about whether to proceed. He said:

“None of the options have found significant favour with members of the public, including pedestrians and cyclists – the exact people this infrastructure is supposed to benefit. That for me is quite striking.

“If we’ve got pedestrians and cyclists, who are supposed to be the intended users of this infrastructure, saying to us ‘please think again’ that does not fill me with reassurance that we are looking at this in the right way so I’m very reluctant for us to repeat some of the issues that have arisen in phase one again with phase two.”

Phase one of the scheme, between Harlow Moor Road and Cold Bath Road, finished a year ago. The value of the contract was £827,000.

Some of the cycle path is shared with pedestrians.

It was widely criticised for the way the cycle path zigzags between the highway and shared paths with pedestrians. Rene Dziabas, chairman of Harlow and Pannal Ash Residents’ Association, described it as like “crazy golf construction”.

Cllr Duncan said phase two would face the same challenges: the road’s narrow width, protected trees and Stray land and therefore would not be fully segregated or compliant with current government recommendations for cycle infrastructure design.

However, there is still a chance the third phase, leading up to Cardale Park, could proceed.

He said:

“We get hit over the head all the time for schemes that are not compliant. This isn’t. So I want to look seriously at ‘have we looked at this in the round and is there any alternative option that we might need to look at?’. Is this going to achieve the benefits for active travel which it is intended to?

“I am more than prepared for us to deliver active travel schemes in the face of opposition. They are never going to be universally popular.

“But what I’m not prepared to do is to deliver an active travel scheme for the sake of delivering an active travel scheme, that the intended beneficiaries — walkers and cyclists — are saying to me, ‘please think again, this doesn’t make sense and we are not going to use it’.”

Was it a mistake to start?

Asked whether the scheme, which dates back well before Cllr Duncan took up his post last year, was a mistake, he replied:

“I don’t know all the various considerations that went into the proposals. Where things maybe went wrong is that we tried to get the mixture of segregated where we could and shared use where that wasn’t possible. That has led to quite a disjointed cycle route.

“I’m reflecting on that feedback and certainly where there have been problems – and it’s fair to say problems have been created with phase one – I would not want on my watch to repeat those same mistakes.”

Cllr Duncan said funding for the scheme was secured from the government’s National Productivity Investment Fund, which has to be spent on easing congestion in western Harrogate rather than specifically on cycle schemes and if the Otley Road project does not go ahead it would continue to be used for this purpose.

Tomorrow Keane Duncan gives an update on the Harrogate Station Gateway and on Saturday we will publish a full interview in which he talks about Harrogate district transport schemes.

Bid to permanently close Harrogate road to through traffic

North Yorkshire County Council has begun moves to permanently ban through traffic on Bogs Lane in Harrogate to make the area safer for pedestrians.

Bogs Lane, which becomes Kingsley Road shortly after Henshaws specialist college, is often used as a rat run for traffic trying to avoid the busy A59 Knaresborough Road.

The proposal — which is dependent on a landowner — has divided opinion.

Some say it will ease congestion and make walkers and cyclists safer in an area where more than 600 homes are being built; others say the knock-on effect would make traffic on Knaresborough Road “unbearable”.

North Yorkshire County Council’s area highways manager Melisa Burnham said:

“Kingsley Road has been closed recently to facilitate works on a housing development, and at various times over the last few years for roadworks and utility works. During the closures, the A59 Knaresborough Road has been the diversion for those wanting to use Bogs Lane.

“There is a long-term aspiration to close Bogs Lane to through traffic which would create a safe space for pedestrians. This is dependent on securing land from a third-party landowner. As part of this work, a Traffic Regulation Order has been published to seek feedback from the public about the proposal.”

The current Bogs Lane diversion

Chris Aldred, a Liberal Democrat who represents High Harrogate and Kingsley on North Yorkshire County Council, said he supported the move:

“It would do away with the rat run once and for all and make the area much safer for pedestrians and cyclists, particularly schoolchildren who are amongst the main users of the road as pedestrians and cyclists at peak times.

“The closure also allows a safe and accessible link with the Harrogate greenway route from Starbeck.

“Maintaining pedestrian and cycle access during the current Redrow works at the bottom of Bogs Lane has already proved popular, judging by my email inbox.”

‘Driving congestion on to Knaresborough Road”

But Cathy Grimshaw, who lives on Rowan Close, off Bogs Lane, said the closure would exacerbate congestion on Knaresborough Road that has been “unbearable” since the temporary road closure began.

Ms Grimshaw added:

“By closing this through road they’re affecting anyone that uses Knaresborough Road as they’re driving the congestion onto the main road.

“I thought the new estates were on the basis that a pedestrian path would be built over the bridge so is it to avoid this expense?”

She added:

“The safety of pedestrians is imperative and the solution to that would be to build the path, not to close the road and drive 600 houses worth of vehicles onto Knaresborough Road which is already heavily congested.

“They should have thought about the infrastructure before approving hundreds of houses in one area. The new houses in Knaresborough have redesigned roads and built roundabouts to accommodate.”

Another resident, Julie Mooney, also raised concerns:

“Having lived on Kingsley Road and then at the other side of this closure I personally feel it’s a bad solution.

“It’s a difficult situation but one wholly of the council’s making in granting permission for so many new homes in this corridor without planning access.

“So many residents live one side of the railway but go to work or school on the other. It defies common sense to force all this traffic including that from all the new developments onto Knaresborough Road. It’s already at a virtual standstill at rush hour.”

Resident Mark Leng said the move could have benefits by ending the rat run but added “to avoid more congestion they need to halt all future works”.

Landslip-hit Pateley Bridge road finally set to reopen on Friday

A Pateley Bridge road affected by a landslip three years ago is finally set to reopen on Friday.

Temporary traffic lights were installed on the B6265 at Red Brae Bank, Bewerley after storms caused a landslip in February 2020.

The route then closed to traffic in October last year when North Yorkshire County Council began a £480,000 scheme to stabilise the road, which is on the steep slope out of Pateley to Greenhow Hill.

The road was initially due to reopen on December 16 but the date was then pushed back to January 18.

Numerous local residents, including former Pateley town councillor Chris Hawkesworth, have contacted the Stray Ferret expressing frustration over the length of the works and lack of information about when it will reopen. Many face lengthy detours to get in and out of Pateley Bridge.

This week Ken Easton, who lives in Wilsill but drives to work in Grassington, said the detour was costing him an extra £150 a week in fuel.

Mr Easton also said his vehicle suffered a burst tyre and cracked wheel this week when he hit a pothole on the Two Stoops route to Grassington.

Andrew Murday, the Liberal Democrat county councillor for Pateley Bridge and Nidderdale, told the Stray Ferret earlier this month he could understand people’s frustration but the project was “geologically difficult” and progress was subject to weather conditions.

North Yorkshire County Council’s highways area manager, Melisa Burnham, previously said:

“Work has taken longer than anticipated as it became clear that we needed to increase the depth and length of the excavation to lay the foundations. Final works involve reconstructing the surface of the road.”

A North Yorkshire County Council spokeswoman said yesterday:

“The recent wet weather has caused a delay and the reopening is now planned for Friday, January 27.”

Read more:

Read more:

Read more:

Read more:

Read more:

Read more:

Consultation was ‘never a referendum’

Read more:

Read more:

Was it a mistake to start?

‘Driving congestion on to Knaresborough Road”

Read more: