Covid infections in the Harrogate district have fallen to their lowest level since June last year.

Latest figures show the district’s weekly infection rate per 100,000 people currently stands at 47. The last time it was below this level was 15 months ago.

The rate is also well below its record of 1,906 in January when the Omicron variant fuelled a huge wave of infections at the peak of winter.

Adults aged 50 and over

• People aged five to 49 with health conditions that put them at higher risk,
• Pregnant women
• Care home staff
• Front line health and social care workers
• Carers aged 16 to 49
• Household contacts of people with weakened immune systems

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In Harrogate, some walk-in appointments are available at the Great Yorkshire Showground’s Event Centre, although booking is advised via the NHS website or by calling 119.

North Yorkshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) is running covid vaccinations at the site everyday between 9am and 5pm until Friday.

The CCG said those eligible must be aged 80 and over, or work in health and social care, or were previously shielding.

Meanwhile, Harrogate District Hospital currently has 28 covid-positive patients, although only two of these are primarily receiving treatment for the virus.

The hospital last reported the death of a patient who tested within 28 days on 19 August, with its toll since the pandemic began standing at 274.

Longstanding Harrogate butchers Addyman has come up with a creative window display tribute to the Queen.

Keith Addyman has traded on Commercial Street for 48 years and his grandfather previously had a pork butchers at New Park.

His wife, Sue, created a ‘cake’ for this year’s platinum jubilee made out of a crown and containers the shop uses to make pork pies for weddings.

Ms Addyman, who once met Princess Margaret, said:

“I did it for the jubilee and when it ended I removed the crown. When the Queen died I put it back on.”

The pork pie wedding cake

The pork pie wedding cake, as it’s known, now adorns the shop window alongside a photo of Her Late Majesty.

Ms Addyman added:

“A gentleman came in and said ‘you’re one of the only shops in Harrogate doing something to commemorate the queen.”

Addyman will be closed on Monday, when the state funeral takes place.

Read more:

• The Queen’s funeral: Harrogate district arrangements for Monday
• No requirement for staff day off on Queen’s funeral, says Harrogate solicitor

Business Breakfast is sponsored by Harrogate law firm Truth Legal. 

Knaresborough businesses are to be quizzed about the impact of higher energy bills.

Knaresborough Chamber of Trade & Commerce said at its latest meeting it would undertake a survey of local businesses in the coming weeks.

It will attempt to find out how much their bills are increasing by and how much difference recently announced government plans to support them will make.

Peter Lacey, executive member of the chamber, which has about 60 members, said the online survey was likely to go out in the middle of next week and it is hoped members and non-members will respond to provide a fuller picture of the situation confronting businesses in the town.

Harrogate law firm partners with Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust.

LCF Law staff plant hundreds of trees at their first volunteering day.

Harrogate law firm, LCF Law has entered a partnership with the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust.

LCF Law will help the trust, which looks after the Yorkshire Dales, plant 1,000 trees over the next two years.

Simon Stell, managing partner at LCF Law, said:

“We are hugely committed to working sustainably and offsetting our carbon footprint and we also want to leave a long-term legacy.”

Staff at the law firm, which employs 125 people at offices in Harrogate, Bradford, Leeds and Ilkley, will volunteer for the trust as part of the partnership.

In 2021, the trust planted 31,851 trees.

Read more:

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A Harrogate woman has received a suspended prison sentence after being found guilty of assault.

Elaine Manaley, 55, of Dene Park, attacked the woman who was named in court on August 2 last year.

She denied the offence, which occurred at Dene Park, Bilton, but was found guilty at York Magistrates Court on Monday.

Court documents described it as an “appalling assault on a member of the public”.

Manaley was also found guilty of damaging a pair of glasses and a wrist watch worth £120 belonging to the same victim. She denied the charge.

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A warrant was issued for the arrest of Manaley when she failed to appear in court on Friday last week to answer the charges against her.

York Magistrates Court. Credit: Flickr.

She was subsequently arrested and appeared before magistrates on Monday where she admitted three instances of failing to submit to custody having been released on bail.

Manaley was sentenced to nine weeks in prison, suspended for 12 months.

She was also ordered to pay a total of £894. This consisted of £620 to the Crown Prosecution Service and £274 compensation.

It has to be the quirkiest home in the Harrogate district — yet it appears nobody is in a rush to buy it.

Skelton Windmill has seven floors and offers rooftop views of Ripon Cathedral, York Minster and the white horse at Kilburn.

Built in 1822, it was the windmill for Newby Hall until the First World War. It then remained derelict until it was converted to a home in the 1990s.

Wendy Wilby, a priest, and her husband Peter, a composer, have lived in it since 1998 but are now looking to sell. With their children grown up, the four-bedroom, grade two listed building and accompanying half acre of land is too big.

But after four months on the market it remains unsold, with the seven flights of stairs a drawback to some potential buyers. It’s now on the market for £850,000.

The windmill was built 200 years ago.

Ms Wilby said:

“It’s unique and quirky but you have got to love old buildings and feel the poetry of it.

“My husband is a composer and he finds it an extremely inspiring place to live.”

“We love it but we are getting older. I’m 73 and it’s all right now but in another 10 years it won’t be quite so easy.”

The windmill, which is between Boroughbridge and Ripon, has 70 steps leading to a trap door on to the roof.

Harrogate estate agents Strutt and Parker, which is marketing the property, describes the windmill as ‘one of the most complete windmills surviving in the country’ with ‘stunning views across the North Yorkshire countryside’.

Inside the windmill

The windmill comes with half an acre of land.

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A Harrogate man has been disqualified from owning pets for five years after being found guilty of neglecting two dogs.

Charlie Nelson, 28, of Woodfield View, was found to be in breach of the Animal Welfare Act at York Magistrates Court yesterday.

The court heard Nelson did not take reasonable steps to look after a mastiff called Rocco and a lurcher called Smudge at High Street, Harrogate, on March 18 last year.

Court documents reveal he was banned from keeping animals “to ensure no animals suffer at the hands of the defendant during this period”.

They also show an order was made under section 33 of the Animal Welfare Act 2006 depriving him of ownership of a dog and for its disposal.

Nelson was also ordered to pay costs of £200 and a surcharge of £95 to fund victims’ services.

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North Yorkshire Police issued warrants in July for the arrest of Nelson and his brother Robbie Nelson after they failed to turn up in court to face animal cruelty charges.

Robbie Nelson, 24, of Woodfield View, was subsequently banned from keeping animals for five years.

The RSPCA said Rocco and Smudge were malnourished and living in a flat covered in faeces and with carpets soaked in urine.

An RSPCA picture of the flat where the brothers kept dogs.

A leading Harrogate conservationist has said Oak Beck will take three years to recover from this week’s pollution.

Hundreds of fish are believed to have died when the water turned brown over the weekend. The cause is unknown.

Keith Wilkinson has called on Yorkshire Water and the Environment Agency to join efforts to prevent further pollutions in the beck, which he said occur too frequently.

He said:

“Pollution events along the Oak Beck — which is classed as a ‘main river’ by the Environment Agency — destroy wildlife and have implications for public health.

“As chairman of the Nidd Gorge Advisory Partnership I would like to invite representatives from the EA and Yorkshire Water to join the partnership and coordinate efforts to eliminate illegal discharges along the Oak Beck and the River Nidd.

“One toxic spill such as that experienced on 10th September sets back all our conservation efforts for at least three years.”

Oak Beck looking discoloured.

Read more:

• Hundreds of fish killed by pollution on Harrogate’s Oak Beck
• Meeting called to hear concerns about state of River Nidd

Oak Beck rises at Haverah Park and empties into the River Nidd at Nidd Gorge.

Dead fish were first spotted in the watercourse at Oak Beck retail park this morning.

The discolouration appears to have affected the stretch from the Hydro to the far side of Knox Lane.

The Stray Ferret met Mr Wilkinson, who is also honorary secretary of Bilton Conservation Group, at Spruisty Bridge on Knox Lane today.

A dead brown trout in Oak Beck today.

Several residents told us they were concerned about the pollution and how seriously it was being investigated.

One person said dog walkers had been keeping their pets on leads to prevent them entering the water. There have also been reports of dead ducks but none were evident during our visit.

Harmful discharges

Mr Wilkinson said a good year for spawning fish on the beck had been ruined.

He said water quality often suffered from the impact of the number of new homes built, as well as harmful discharges entering the drains.

The beck contains brown trout up to several inches long, as well as minnows, bullhead, stone loach and sticklebacks.

Mr Wilkinson said invertebrates on the bed of the beck were also killed and their numbers needed to recover before fish levels could return to normal.

He added that kingfishers and otters had kept away from the river since the incident.

An Environment Agency spokeswoman said yesterday she was unable to comment on what, if any, action it had taken because it was not responding to media inquiries about non life-threatening incidents during the Queen’s mourning period.

A Yorkshire Water spokesperson said yesterday:

“Our teams, along with the Environment Agency, have conducted initial investigations after reports of a pollution at Oak Beck over the weekend.

“Our tests have indicated the substance entering the beck is not sewage. We are continuing to investigate and will also be visiting local businesses to try and trace the source.”

Harrogate Spring Water has said it is finalising the latest expansion plans for its bottled water plant – more than a year and half after previous proposals were rejected following widespread opposition in the town.

The firm held a consultation on plans for its Rotary Wood site this summer and said it would now provide a further update “in the coming weeks”.

That same phrase was used by the Danone-owned company in January 2021 when it said new designs would be revealed “in the coming weeks” after its larger expansion plans were refused by Harrogate Borough Council.

Twenty months on, there is no new application from the firm.

Harrogate Spring Water was first granted outline permission to expand in 2017, however it failed to get approval for final designs which were 40% larger than original plans and would have seen more trees chopped down at Rotary Wood which was planted by children 16 years ago.

The company later announced it would revert back to its original plans and has now released a new statement this week.

A company spokesperson said:

“We started our public consultation process in June because it was important for us to ensure that, as we look to grow, create further job opportunities and continue to support the local and regional economy, we listen to the local community.

“This process has included individual meetings with community stakeholder groups as well as an open public consultation event, allowing people to have their say on the design and landscaping of the proposed extension and surrounding land.

“We have taken these views on board as we work towards finalising our plans for the reserved matters application.

“We anticipate providing a further update on this matter in the coming weeks.”

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More than 400 objections were lodged against the larger expansion plans which councillors claimed put “profit and plastic before impact on the environment” as they voted for refusal in January 2021.

Harrogate Spring Water previously made a commitment to replace felled trees at a rate of two to one and has since said it is looking at ways to “achieve net biodiversity gain” at its site.

Harrogate Spring Water’s headquarters.

It also said the expansion would create 30 jobs and that there is “potential” to make Rotary Wood more accessible to the public.

Speaking earlier this year, the company’s managing director Richard Hall said:

“We feel it is vital for us as a business to take our environmental responsibilities seriously.

“We also want to work in partnership with the local community on this.

“We want them to help shape the woodland into the resource which they would like to see and ensure our extension blends in as well as it can into the surrounding area.”

Harrogate District Hospital has said it does not expect to cut back on vital health services because of soaring energy bills after revealing its costs have more than doubled from last year.

The hospital’s gas and electricity costs shot up by 132% between April and June when compared to the same period last year, but bosses have insisted the price rises “are being managed”.

This comes amid warnings that some NHS trusts will have to find as much as £2 million extra a month this winter due to the fuel price surge.

The NHS Confederation – which represents trust bosses across the UK – told the BMJ that the energy crisis coupled with higher than expected inflation was already “wiping out large parts of the NHS budget”.

A spokesperson for Harrogate District Hospital said that as part of its own budget planning it would do its “utmost” to take into account further rises, adding:

“Inflation costs above those included in the budget are being actively managed through the trust’s efficiency programme so that we can provide the best possible value for the taxpayer.

“It is important that our community has the best possible healthcare system to turn to when they need it and we are not anticipating that the current fuel rises will impact on the vital services we provide.”

Energy bills for non-domestic customers such as hospitals are not subject to the energy price cap and have therefore been even more vulnerable to surging prices.

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Under Liz Truss’s energy plan, household bills will be frozen at an average of £2,500 for two years and the new prime minister said businesses, charities and public sector organisations would also be offered an “equivalent guarantee” – but only for six months.

Harrogate District Hospital was last year awarded £14 million to reduce its carbon footprint and energy bills as part of its drive to become a “greener, more environmentally friendly organisation”.

The funding is being used for works to install new insulation and glazing across the hospital site.

A hospital spokesperson added:

“Another exciting project currently underway is the drilling of a borehole, from which the heat energy will be extracted from the water, put through a heat exchanger and into our heating system to help reduce our reliance on gas and other fossil fuels.

“We also have a number of other projects that are currently being progressed or will start shortly, including replacing air handling units to increase efficiency and extract heat energy, and installing photovoltaic arrays to generate electricity on the site.

“Through this work we are already seeing big efficiency gains and further projects will continue in the years ahead.”

The councillor in charge of transport in North Yorkshire has claimed inflation will not lead to cheaper materials being used in the £11.2 million Harrogate Station Gateway scheme.

Cllr Keane Duncan, executive member for highways and transportation at North Yorkshire County Council, told Harrogate district businesses last night the scheme would not be “compromised”.

David Simister, chief executive of Harrogate District Chamber of Commerce, told the organisation’s monthly meeting that Harrogate was a “premier town” and “the last thing we want is for the town centre to be cheapened”.

Mr Simister said he would prefer to see any town centre investment spent on improving Cambridge Street and Oxford Street rather than on the gateway project, which would pedestrianise part of James Street and reduce traffic on a stretch of Station Parade to single lane to encourage walking and cycling.

Cambridge Street – in need of investment?

He asked Cllr Duncan if he could guarantee the gateway would be a high quality project. Cllr Duncan replied:

“At the moment there hasn’t been any discussion around compromising the scheme.

“If there are inflationary pressures we will have to look at what we can do around those costings. Does the council look at contributing to any shortfall? That’s not anything we have discussed at this time.”

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Cllr Duncan added all local authorities faced inflationary measures that required “tough decisions” but added:

“The last thing I want to see happen is compromise on the public realm because that is an important part of the scheme.”

Cllr Duncan told the meeting the third round of gateway consultation had now ended and if, as expected, councillors decide to proceed, work is likely to start next year.

Encouraging active travel

He also told the chamber meeting, which focused on carbon reduction,  that “how people shop and get around” was a key part of the council’s plan to be carbon net zero by 2034 and carbon negative by 2040.

Cllr Duncan, who lives in Malton, said there were four strands to achieving this. They were: fleet and logistics; shifting to low carbon vehicles; decarbonising public transport and increasing active travel by encouraging more people to walk distances of up to 2km and cycle distances of up to 8km rather than drive.

Encouraging cycling is a council priority. Photo: Hedgehog Cycling

Responding to a question by a chamber member that the council’s aim to double the use of public transport seemed completely at odds with what is happening, Cllr Duncan agreed the number of bus routes had decreased over the last 20 years, adding:

“We are now at a critical time. Passenger numbers are now at 80% pre-pandemic levels.

“A number of routes that were previously commercially viable are now essentially at a cliff edge situation.”

He said the council was therefore “trying to do things differently”, for instance by introducing the on-demand minibus service for rural areas YorBus, which covers Ripon, Masham and Bedale.

Last night’s chamber meeting at the Cedar Court Hotel in Harrogate also heard carbon reduction-themed talks from Paul White, a procurement specialist at Auditel, Sarah Jones, the founder of Full Circle Funerals and from Danny Wild and Mike Kay from Harrogate District Climate Change Coalition.