Stray Ferret Readers, Author at The Stray Ferret

Stray Views: Residents ‘up in arms’ at Harrogate gateway traffic orders

Stray Views is a weekly column giving you the chance to have your say on issues affecting the Harrogate district. It is an opinion column and does not reflect the views of the Stray Ferret. Send your views to letters@thestrayferret.co.uk.

Town centre residents are once again up in arms regarding the announcement of road traffic orders for the Harrogate Station Gateway project.

Having raised concerns over the past 18 months by each person writing into object, they have written to every single councillor involved in the scheme and they have democratically voted against it.

The results of the last three consultations results show that the people of Harrogate Town as well as the Granville Road Residents Group are not in favour of this Scheme going ahead.

They have received an ‘Official Notification’ to raise their concerns again, about this scheme, along with any other residents in Harrogate.

However, the local Granville Road Area Residents have concerns on many levels about the whole scheme in its entirety including the construction works and access to their homes during this. Many of the town centre residents also run small businesses and need to access local roads.

They feel democracy is failing them in this ‘consultation process’ after already voting against this gateway scheme, in the last three consultations. Results have shown over 56% of the whole of Harrogate town have voted against the Harrogate Gateway Scheme.

They have now another opportunity to raise their concerns and vote democratically against it, but who is listening and taking notice of these results.

Rachael Inchboard, Harrogate

‘Ugly box’ destroys Knaresborough flower bed

Would someone please take a look at where Swish Fibre have placed an ugly large box at the junction of Manse Lane/York Road in Knaresborough.

Not only have they placed it directly in front of the flower bed (planted & looked after by Harrogate council) but in doing so have also destroyed lots of Daffodil bulbs.

Shaun Carrick, Knaresborough

Do you have an opinion on the Harrogate district? Email us at letters@thestrayferret.co.uk. Please include your name and approximate location details. Limit your letters to 350 words. We reserve the right to edit letters.

Stray Views: YorBus service ‘worse than useless’

John Geddes makes interesting points in his recent letter to you about Yorbus. At first, I was an enthusiastic user of the service.

Although it was quite clearly uneconomic, it worked well for me: and apart from journeys during the lunch hour period which were next-to impossible to arrange, was usually responsive to my needs.

Since it became possible to book rides, the service has become clunky and sometimes worse than useless (it’s no use to me to be able to get somewhere if I can’t get back).

Even booked rides are no longer reliable. I understand the need to offer a 50 minute window in which the ride might come, but then to give 10 minutes notice of its leaving 10 minutes ahead of that offered window often makes the ride impossible to accept.

The drivers are unfailingly friendly and courteous. They, like many users, complain about the quality of the app. But it feels as if suggestions for improvement are not listened to, let alone acted upon.

Perhaps John Geddes’ suggestion of having instead a YorTaxi service is a possible way forward?

Margaret Lawrenson, North Stainley

Victoria Avenue plan ‘utter madness’

First, we had the débâcle of phase 1 of the Otley Road cycleway which wasted time and money resulting in the loss of trees, damage to the environment and the eco systems. The cycling brigade refuse to use it because they consider it is dangerous and does not comply recommended standards.

Second, we had phase 2 of Otley Road cycleway along with Beech Grove Low Traffic Neighbourhood and all the other attempts to make it work. Fortunately for this area of the town these proposals have now been scrapped but again, what a waste of time and money.

Third, we have the meaningless Station Gateway project now leading nowhere.

Now we read NYCC has identified Victoria Avenue as its priority cycling scheme of three in the pipeline. This has raised a number of fundamental questions, including:

1. What is this ongoing fetish with cycling schemes in Harrogate when the council has proved it does not understand the demographics of the town? Remember, there are people who cannot or do not wish to cycle.
2. Why has Harrogate been specifically identified for plans to encourage active travel plans and not Northallerton, Skipton, Scarborough or other towns in North Yorkshire?
3. How can you justify the loss of parking spaces along Victoria Avenue in Harrogate? This is yet another blow to town centre businesses, not just shops but particularly professional offices, dentists etc whose businesses are located along Victoria Avenue.
4. How will it cut congestion? The only way to deal with this issue in Harrogate is by building a proper bypass.

It is utter madness once again and will ruin Victoria Avenue. I hope public consultation will be far better than it has been on any of the various “elements” to date. Myself and a number of other local residents and business people consider it is utter madness once again.

We will strongly oppose this latest meaningless proposal. Why waste yet more money? There are more urgent requirements in Harrogate and also more cost effective ways of improving the appearance and feel of the town for everyone.

Barry Adams, Harrogate

‘No bus service preferable to an unreliable one’

I live in Knaresborough (Eastfield) and I have done so for quite some time.

On Saturday 11th March I arranged to meet a friend in Ripon which entailed my being at the mercy of Transdev.

To my relief, the 1B arrived in Nidderdale Drive on time, and the first stage of my journey was completed to Harrogate without problems. Similarly, the 36 was on time, and I arrived in Ripon at the appointed time. So far so good.

After a convivial afternoon, I gratefully caught the (on-time) 18.11pm no. 22 back to Knaresborough. I couldn’t believe how swimmingly the afternoon was going.

I arrived back at Knaresborough bus station in time for the scheduled 19.15pm no. 1B in order to complete a flawless afternoon.

Of course, Transdev as usual had lulled me into a false sense of security, and of course the 1B didn’t turn up.

A fellow (would-be) passenger consulted the Transdev app and announced at 17.25pm to the waiting many (there were quite a few of us), that the only Transdev vehicle on the road between Harrogate and Knaresborough was a 1A returning from Aspin on its way to Harrogate.

I, in common with everyone else, then set off walking. Having mobility issues, this involved a 30 minute trudge in the cold before I managed to get home. I was also carrying a small amount of shopping which served to compound the problem.

My point is this: that no bus service at all is preferable to a completely unreliable one. I have seen the advertising on Transdev for bus drivers, and I realise that not everyone wants to be one, but either sort it out properly, or else just scrap the whole idea of providing a regular and reliable connective service, and concentrate on the big ticket items like the no. 36.

You would be doing us all a favour, believe me.

James Harrison, Knaresborough

Stray Views: North Yorkshire rural transport ‘desperately inefficient’

Hats off to North Yorkshire County Council for being open about the cost of Demand Responsive Transport (DRT) schemes. The reason that DRT is expensive in rural areas is because it is desperately inefficient.

DRT is supposed to be the answer where demand for timetabled services has dropped to uneconomic levels. But DRT actually makes the problem worse – if the only timetabled bus leaves at 10.30, it may well carry me (who would prefer to leave at 09.30) and my neighbour (who might prefer to leave at 11.30).

But DRT asks us each when we want to travel, and if we are both lucky enough to bag a ride, then the bus will come to our village twice, carrying just one of us each time. And because the schedule is built in random order, as requests come in, the vehicles end up with wasteful gaps when there isn’t enough time to fit in an extra trip, and lots of “dead mileage” as the vehicles zoom around empty from one drop off to the next pickup.

I live in a part of rural Derbyshire that is likely to lose timetabled services soon, and I wanted to see if my fears were borne out by data. Finding no published information on loadings for DRT buses, I made a FOI request to NYCC for detailed information on the Yorbus service around Ripon.

The data, for February, March and April 2022 shows the two minibuses carrying passengers for just a third of their operating time and when they did have passengers, it was rarely more than three. Normal taxis could have been used instead (with far lower costs and emissions) for over 97% of the operating hours. These figures will have improved, a bit, as ridership has increased in the last year, but Yorbus will still be running as what is in effect a badly-scheduled taxi service using vastly oversized vehicles.

Even if you don’t worry about the cost, DRT isn’t even a good replacement for a timetabled service. The marketing materials may talk about flexibility, but for the user that means uncertainty.

NYCC have reported that Yorbus has been unable to meet about 20% of the requests for a ride.

Failure may be OK if you were planning to go shopping: perhaps you will be luckier tomorrow. But what if you had wanted to use Yorbus to get to work? Or to an appointment with a hospital consultant?

John Geddes, Winster, Derbyshire

‘Disgust’ at North Yorkshire County Council view

I read with disgust but no real surprise in the Stray Ferret the view of the North Yorkshire Tory council expressed by the opposition concerning the behaviour of the council.

They describe the behaviour as something like a “Putinesque regime” amongst other descriptors. They then go on to describe actions that are nothing short of abuses of power.

It irks me that this dire council has managed to wriggle out of it’s responsibility to face elections till 2027 as a result of the re-organisation of local government.

Let’s face it, it is likely that the forthcoming local elections are likely to see the Tories, deservedly, wiped off the the face of the electoral map in much of the country. North Yorkshire however remains lumbered with this dismal bunch for another four years.

This thoroughly depressing and damaging state of affairs should not be allowed to stand.

Nick Hudson, Harrogate

Stray Views: What are our MPs doing about food shortages?

Shockingly, the UK has a food shortage. It seems more will follow. Continental friends confirm they have no such shortages. Have our local MPs done anything to press our government and their party to address this urgently? As usual, Nigel Adams, Julian Smith and Andrew Jones have been silent on this matter (confirmed via Hansard records). They could have pressed their government ages ago to prepare for such challenges but just as with the pandemic, it has come as a needless surprise.

EU countries are supporting farmers to ensure the continuity of production (€500 million will be allocated to those most affected by higher input costs). Minette Batters (NFU) raised the alarm about the need for food security to be a major priority in the UK months ago – yet we have food shortages.

Using environmental arguments now to encourage the public to eat seasonally for entirely the wrong reasons, namely as a fig leaf to disguise the dereliction of duty of the government, is outrageous. The effects of climate change on food production have been warned about for years. Far more should have been done a long time ago.

War, covid, weather events and climate change have been affecting all of Europe and elsewhere yet only the UK is suffering food restrictions. It seems to me that the underlying reason for this is that the continent is benefiting from having a plan – and not having Conservative Party MPs in charge.

Friedy Luther, Spofforth

Concern over electric vehicle charging points

I welcome the provision of new electric vehicle charge points in the district but have a couple of concerns.

Firstly instead of contactless payment, users have to sign up for yet another app. When signing up you have to give your credit card details, agree to an initial £10 payment and later adhoc payments. Most ev drivers want contactless in the same way that petrol can be paid for and with no apps.

Secondly these 7 kW chargers are intended in part to benefit ev drivers with no home charging facility. They take eight or nine hours for a full charge so will residents have to pay for long stays? In Knaresborough it might have been better to have some chargers at the long stay car park where day trip visitors are more likely to park.

Ralph Armsby, Harrogate

Why was the press not notified of Ukraine war anniversary?

A friend and I wondered why there were no press present on Friday, 24 February 2023, when an important ceremony at the Cenotaph in the centre of Harrogate took place. One year on to mark the sombre anniversary of the illegal invasion by President Putin.

The Mayor of Harrogate (Councillor Victoria Oldam) came to raise the Ukraine flag. The flying of the Ukraine flag had been agreed by the full council a year before.

It was taken down before the Rememberance Day ceremonies for some reason. A few of us with the help of Councillor Chris Aldred initiated once again that the Ukraine flag flew.

The presence of the mayor and the local MP and a few staff clearly thought it was important that there was an official ceremony sanctioned by the council. All in all there were about 10 of us to witness this event.

A young Ukrainian woman who had place two candles – one blue and one yellow on the steps of the Cenotaph stayed when we told her about the Ukraine flag being raised. This time it flew prominently from one of the two flag poles in front of the Cenotaph.

The mayor and her small party went on to raise the Ukrainian flag outside the council offices.

We are sure that many more people would have come if it had been promoted and the press notified. So why wasn’t it?

Lindis Percy, Harrogate

Stray Views: Rossett Nature Reserve ‘has been slashed back’

I recently walked through the above with my friend (a local resident) and her two small dogs to discover this delightful nature reserve had been cut back in a most unsympathetic manner, in fact for the most part it had been “slashed/hacked”.

I understand that the fellow residents are disgusted with the way in which the reserve has been treated. We realise the newts need to be protected but certainly not by using a bulldozer and other mechanical methods to cut back the foliage.

Patricia Perry, Harrogate

Victoria Avenue plan ‘solves problem that doesn’t exist’

I have read your article about Victoria Avenue. This is a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist from a cyclist perspective.

There isn’t much traffic down this road, it’s slow moving and there is enough space for cars to pass. Why are they spending all this money to solve a problem that doesn’t exist?

Let me tell you. Victoria Avenue’s road surface is shocking. It has pot holes galore and probably needs ripping up and relaying. So, the council have decided we can access money for cycling improvements and use it to relay the road surface and put in a couple of lanes on each side to justify the spend.

Again, people will be left wondering where £1.5m has been spent. Some of us will know – on road improvements that will benefit cars (and cyclists).

Please don’t make the same mistake and report this as an improvement for cyclists, like you have with the Otley Road cycleway.

We all know it’s the council using cycling money to improvement road infrastructure. Not to improve the safety of cyclists.

Scott Mordue, Harrogate

Stray Views: Otley Road cycleway a “scandalous waste of public money”

‘Harrogate’s Otley Road cycleway has cost £2.2m so far’. If this headline is correct, and the figure seems to be confirmed in the details in the article, then this is a scandalous use of taxpayer money.

Do we really have a partly finished and largely dysfunctional cycle track, which is avoided by most cyclists, at such outrageous cost? And how is this supposed to support ‘National Productivity’ which is the name of the the fund from which the money was drawn, even if it was completely operational, which it isn’t?

And why has the lion’s share of the cost gone to surveys, reports and studies rather than work on the ground?

I do hope that I have misunderstood the figures, but I fear I haven’t. Maybe someone in authority from the County Council can explain how we got into this fix.

Tim Hurren, Harlow Hill, Harrogate

Solution to Ripon Cathedral plans

At a recent council meeting at Ripon town hall, the subject of the planned annex for Ripon Cathedral was the major item under discussion. I was dismayed to see the reaction and the split within the Ripon community over the proposed siting of the building.

With that in mind, I would like to offer a solution that should benefit all parties, one that would allow for the business expansion aspirations of the cathedral and the preservation of a much-loved green space.

My suggestion would be to use the buildings to the right of the cathedral, being Minster House, the old coach house complex and another building. As this is already cathedral property, the saving financially to the cathedral would be huge as there would be no need to purchase any land.

The buildings in question are closer to the cathedral than the proposed annex on the other side of Minster Road and there is safe and level access. There would be no crossing of the public highway to access these facilities.

I estimate that the floor space of the three buildings in question is 939m² which falls just short of the 1000m/2 that the cathedral requires. But I believe that this could be regained with use of the car parking area or the extensive gardens.

My idea is:

1. The ground floor of Minster House be used for the retail outlet and the refectory

2. The 1^st floor be used for the song school with the installation of a lift for the disabled choristers

3. The stable block to be used as the toilet block and changing area

4. The other building to be used as storage and meeting rooms

Other combinations are possible.

This then would negate the need to destroy the green space.

I hope you agree with this possible solution and I ask that the cathedral re-submit plans.

Kevin Hill, Ripon

Stray Views: Concerns about housing scheme for Harrogate’s Knox Lane

Knox Lane and affordable homes

The report compiled by the case officer for Harrogate Borough Council about the proposed Knox Lane housing development ignores many facts.

It appears the application submitted in April 2020 is a Stonewater Housing Association/Jomast joint venture.

In the application for 73 homes, only 10 were open market. Fifty homes, including 10 open market ,were proposed on the allocated site, 80% affordable, the remaining 23 affordable homes were on adjacent unallocated land. The number of affordable (86.3%) is more than double Harrogate Borough Council’s HS2 Policy, despite pre-application discussions having taken place with council officers in September 2019. The following statements were included in supporting documentation with the application:

It is important to note that it was the applicant’s aspiration to provide a full affordable housing scheme on the site. However, an element of market dwellings has been introduced at the request of the council based on their reasoning that it would provide a more balanced scheme.

Due to the uncertainty in respect to the length of any lockdown and the fact that the scheme has already been consulted upon and the site is now an allocation, it is considered appropriate to submit the application rather than delay until some form of meaningful consultant can be carried out at some undetermined point in the future. There is a clear and pressing need for the delivery of housing of all forms within Harrogate.

Despite the application not being compliant with Harrogate Borough Council Local Plan policies it remained on the planning portal with consultees being contacted.

The revised application submitted in December 2021 excluded the 23 affordable homes on the unallocated land but included 30 (56.6%) in the new plan, still in excess of Harrogate Borough Council affordable homes policy and contrary to NPPF 47.

Consultations with residents were held in February and March 2018 when the land agent advised a proposal for 100% affordable homes on behalf of Wakefield and District Housing Association. It is now almost five years since these consultations were held yet no further consultations have been.

The link to Knox Country Park was requested by the case officer. He apparently has not considered the impact this will have on the newly planted habitat for wildlife. The extract from the ecological report submitted on behalf of the developer suggests the increase in footfall would.

Knox Lane comprised a single-lane road and associated footpath. It was lined on both sides by tree lines (including that one the western site boundary) and grass verges, with managed agricultural land beyond to the west. The tree lines may offer some nesting habitat for birds and foraging and commuting habitat for bats, but Knox Lane itself offers negligible suitable habitat for wildlife, comprising impermeable, artificial surfaces that are disturbed by human activity on a regular basis. As such, this area was assessed to be of low ecological value.

Catherine Alderson, Harrogate

Pollution and the River Nidd

I have today received a newsletter from the Conservative Party promoting our local MP Andrew Jones. The lead story covering the front page concerns the River Nidd, highlighting the work he is doing to improve the quality of the water in the river.

Can this possibly be the same Andrew Jones who represents the Conservative Party that has reduced the powers of the Environment Agency to prosecute offending water companies? That will not force private water companies, who pay substantial salaries to board members and huge dividends to shareholders, to carry out their duty to the public and refrain from putting sewerage into rivers in the first place.

The sheer hypocrisy is beyond belief.

Graham Dixon, Harrogate

More memories of Hotel St George

Further to Kathleen Mitchell’s letter last week. Bill Pritchard and Eddie Jack were still working at the hotel when my husband John Abel and Peter Pointer bought the hotel in 1970.

They both were excellent porters and I have very happy memories about them both.

So good to see your letter Kathleen Mitchell.

Vivien Abel, Harrogate

Stray Views: Memories of Harrogate’s St George Hotel

I was very sad to read of the recent closure of the St George Hotel in Harrogate. My father, Bill Pritchard, worked there for around 40 years, starting as a hall porter and later acquiring the grand title of front of house manager. I think he would certainly have agreed with Mr Donkin that hospitality was ‘the best job in the world’.

The hotel changed a lot over the years, but the front desk, as it was then (see photo taken in 1954) has long gone. However, at the time, it was the first thing you saw as you went through the rotating doors into the lobby and it was where guests checked in and out and collected their room keys, messages etc. There was also an old-fashioned switchboard where each call had to be put through to a room or the office.

Though my father’s job changed over the years he still maintained customer contact and no more so than when a trade fair was taking place in the town. Toy Fair, for example, was held in Harrogate and I recall being the lucky recipient of a very nice doll or two – thanks to my father’s hard work assisting the sales representatives staying at the hotel.

from L to R: Bill Pritchard, May Barker, Eddie Jack (Head Porter) and Jack)

(From left to right) Bill Pritchard, May Barker, Eddie Jack (head porter) and Jack pictured on New Years 1954.

My mother sometimes worked at the hotel too, as what I think was called at the time an extra duck. My understanding of this is that they were brought in as extra waitresses for big events, such as banquets and balls. I will always remember how smart both my parents looked for work. My mother wore a black skirt and top with white cuffs, collar, hat and apron. My father always dressed smartly; I never saw him looking scruffy. He never owned a pair of jeans or a T-shirt and always polished his shoes.

When The Kinks were staying at the hotel, my father came home with Ray Davies’ autograph for me. Other famous people were guests and he often mentioned that he had met Sir Laurence Olivier.

I don’t recall a car park at the hotel but there may have been some limited parking at the side. My father sometimes mentioned assisting guests by instructing them as they manoeuvred into a space. I’ve always wondered how he did that, as he couldn’t drive and never owned a car.

Kathleen Mitchell

Further blow for Kingsley area

Thank you for giving us residents in the Kingsley area a voice with all that is going on with all the houses being built in the Kingsley Road and Bogs Lane junction area. To read that a sixth housing plot has now been agreed was a further blow as the area can’t even handle the other five – and five that are not even fully populated yet.

Although the infrastructure is not set up in the area for nurseries, schools, hospitals, doctors, dentists etc. (and in my opinion never will be) I am currently more concerned about the effect of the “normal” day to day basics that impact the “everyday person”. Such as getting to their destinations or commute to work, the impact on air quality because it’s just one constant traffic jam, the impact when ambulances can’t get through and the danger to pedestrians crossing.

The through road access between Kingsley Road and Bogs Lane has now been closed several times over the last couple of years which we have had to put up with. Why? So us pesky residents in our cars going about our day to day business in the area that we have brought houses didn’t get in the way of the construction vehicles, so the amenity suppliers could dig the road up over and over again because a long term housing plan hadn’t been thought of by council “planners”?

But we put up with this. Then they resurfaced Bogs Lane – but not Kingsley Road or the bridge that has been wreaked by the lorries – to the point of being dangerous.

Dee Downton, Kingsley

Harrogate drivers to lose out under new regulations

I have just read the information on your website about the new taxi regulations and find myself surprised as to the lack of detail on the impact on Harrogate taxi drivers.

You have failed to mention that prior to the WAV revolution some two years ago, Hackney carriage plates were sold privately amongst interested parties.

These plates were valued at somewhere in the region of £15,000, and often sold for more. Their value now will be nothing, resulting in all Harrogate taxi drivers to lose £15,000 immediately as the new North Yorkshire merge is completed.

Once again, unqualified decision makers with a lack of common sense and knowledge of the taxi trade are failing both local taxi drivers and their loyal passengers.

I dread to think the number of complaints which will arise for OTT taxi fares, when “out of town drivers” fail in their capacity to be able to navigate the numerous roadworks which cause chaos in our day to day operation.

The list is endless as to why not employing local taxi drivers is beneficial.

Peter Brown, Harrogate

Stray Views: Who deserves a pay rise? Councillors? Nurses?

Nurses pay

18 January 2023 -today I have just come out of Harrogate District Hospital after a stay of 6 days.

Every single member of staff deserve better treatment from Government by receiving wages for the hard work, long hours, caring and patience they have for all patients.

The additional hours the majority of members of staff work deserve to be paid in the correct manner and not by someone fiddling figures because of the departments budget.

Additional time off to cover any overtime does not put food on the table or pay the bills.

Margaret Beckingham, Harrogate

Councillor’s pay

What sort of message does a pay hike of 50% for councillors send to public sector workers who are struggling to live on their present wages and being told that 10% is too much to ask for?

Many councillors still have jobs or businesses. Those who don’t are by and large comfortably retired.

As most of the premises and staff of Harrogate Council are apparently being kept on after North Yorkshire take over, where are the savings we were promised coming from?

Diane Stokes, Harrogate

Station Gateway consultation

You have now reported on two Station Gateway consultations. Who are these people who have been consulted? Apparently 2,044 people this time, and about half that number last time, chosen (how?) from over 150,000 residents of Harrogate District.

I am one of those never invited to give an opinion. Had I been asked I would have strongly supported the proposal which would give a much more welcoming appearance to those arriving by train or bus, and would enhance the east end of James Street.

Incidentally, why is no “Welcome to Harrogate” sign together with relevant information displayed in either the train or bus station?

Emeritus Professor Tony Wren, MA, DSc, DEng, Harrogate

Stray Views: Concern over Harrogate’s expansion and healthcare

I refer to your recent article entitled ‘GPs ‘extremely concerned’ about new housing in Harrogate’. I have accessed the planning application mentioned and have read the letter from the NHS in detail.

The more I read the more concerned I have become over the existing and future healthcare provision in Harrogate.

If the NHS is advising that the primary care and community services are already in crisis when considering an application for just 49 dwellings then what of the future and the many large housing developments currently under construction in Harrogate and those remaining within the Local Plan.

Clearly, this is a major admission by the NHS that it cannot cope with the rate of expansion of new housing developments yet the planning authority is continuing to grant planning permission for more and more housing in Harrogate.

The NHS letter specifically states:

“Primary Care and Community Services within the area are already running at, or far beyond their existing capacity.”

Furthermore, it goes on to state:

“In conclusion it is difficult to envisage any rationale for Harrogate Borough Council to consider recommending this application without taking into consideration the impact of further residential development in Harrogate on the delivery of local Primary Care Services.”

The letter also refers to capital funding from developer contributions but these are normally made when planning permission is granted. It is highly unlikely that the building of new facilities will commence when the funding is available and it may be years before these facilities come into operation due to land acquisition and the planning process.

At the time of the public consultation for the Local Plan, numerous comments were made regarding the lack of health infrastructure to support this large increase in population not only for doctors but for the availability of NHS dentists and the lack of capacity at the general hospital.

The NHS has highlighted a very serious ongoing problem and the HBC must act now to put healthcare provision as a major priority ahead of any further large scale planning applications. It must ensure that adequate healthcare infrastructure is in step with the number of new dwellings being permitted.

Roger Jestice, Harrogate

Daughter’s concert one to remember

I am writing to thank you for reporting my daughter Jo’s concert at the Wesley Centre in the Stray Ferret.

Jo was delighted to see so many there. We still haven’t quite come down to earth. We were all totally overwhelmed by the support on a Monday lunchtime in January.

To have Jo’s 93 year old primary school teacher who taught her recorder, as well as Stephen Price, her first horn teacher, and Brian Hunt, the ex-head of music at Harrogate Grammar School there to hear her was quite emotional for us all.

Brian Hunt, the one who got her started on the French horn (she was originally a violinist) was someone we had lost touch with.

He retired 17 years ago and when I phoned the school they were unable to give me contact details. However another teacher saw the article in the Stray Ferret and told Brian about it.

I think both Jo and our elder daughter Sarah have only recently come to realise how loved they were by those they were fortunate to come into contact with while growing up, and who influenced their lives so much.

A day to remember forever.

Maureen Greenberg, Harrogate

Read more:

‘Ugly box’ destroys Knaresborough flower bed

Victoria Avenue plan ‘utter madness’

Read more:

‘No bus service preferable to an unreliable one’

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‘Disgust’ at North Yorkshire County Council view

Concern over electric vehicle charging points

Read more:

Why was the press not notified of Ukraine war anniversary?

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Victoria Avenue plan ‘solves problem that doesn’t exist’

Solution to Ripon Cathedral plans

Pollution and the River Nidd

More memories of Hotel St George

Further blow for Kingsley area

Read more:

Harrogate drivers to lose out under new regulations

Nurses pay

Councillor’s pay

Station Gateway consultation

Read More:

Read more:

Daughter’s concert one to remember