Less than a quarter of children eligible for free school meals have accessed a high-profile holidays activities and food programme in North Yorkshire.

Council officials have put the issue down to a lack of public transport in rural areas, an insufficient number of groups and a perceived social stigma among parents.

A meeting of North Yorkshire County Council’s young person’s scrutiny committee heard while the Department for Education had given the authority £1.36m to support healthy eating and activities during school holidays this year, 85% of the funding must be spent on youngsters in receipt of benefits-related meals.

Such is the weight given to ensuring children from poorer backgrounds are the focus of the scheme, which was launched following a campaign by Manchester United footballer Marcus Rashford, that the amount of funding is based on the number of eligible children in the local authority area.

Councillors were told although 2,554 children eligible for free school meals had attended the county’s Food, Entertainment, Art and Sport Together (Feast) programme last summer, they represented just 22% of the county’s children in receipt of free school meals.

The children receiving free school meals had been vastly outnumbered by 3,778 children attending whose parents did not receive benefits.

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The meeting heard the “significant challenge” over reaching children from poorer families had been exacerbated by the number of children eligible for free school meals across the county over the last year rising by 25%, or by some 3,000.

The meeting heard the scheme was seen as vital for vulnerable children, it had been designed to ensure every child from less affluent homes took part in confidence-building activities and learnt about healthy eating.

David Sharp, chief executive of North Yorkshire Youth, said one of the main challenges in attracting primary-aged pupils to Feast schemes was the social stigma parents associated with their children being on the programme.

He said: 

“It comes from parents not wanting their children to know that they on a programme, I’ve had that conversation with several, and also from peers – why have I got a letter and my friend hasn’t got a letter.”

Mr Sharp said Feast organisers were trying to create a strong brand that meant parents know about the provision without its promotion being targeted at them.

A lack of public transport in rural areas meant many North Yorkshire children had effectively been excluded from the scheme, the meeting was told.

Feast organisers said they were working on getting funding to transport children to groups and launch more localised activities.

Councillors were told the authority, charities and providers running the scheme had been given little time by the government to develop it last year and this year would see a significant increase in number of projects, places and activities on offer.

A proposal by the ancestral owner of a 17th century historic house to create a sand and gravel quarry near Ripon could create risks to human health from noise, air quality and vibration, a study has concluded.

North Yorkshire County Council planners have told Newby Gravels Ltd that its plan to extract up to 30,000 tonnes of materials a year from a nine-hectare site at Great Givendale, beside the River Ure south-east of Ripon, would have “significant impacts” and a series of measures would be needed to mitigate them.

Documents submitted to the authority ahead of an anticipated planning application state the firm estimates that quarrying work and restoration of the land would take place over a decade.

They state Newby Gravels, whose director Richard Compton is the owner of the nearby grade I listed Newby Hall, would remove the minerals from the site, which is currently agricultural land in open countryside opposite a Yorkshire Wildlife Trust haven, by 20-tonne trucks making 12 trips a day, joining the public road at Skelton Lane.

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The papers state transportation of the sand and gravel from the quarry, where at least four people would be employed, would be suspended during major events taking place at the hall.

They add the firm is currently exploring the feasibility of the establishing rental holiday lodges at the site following the quarry.

They state:

“Such a leisure activity would complement the existing activities of the hall and wider Ripon area including the Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and Yorkshire Dales National Park.

“Restoration would therefore be to a combination of wetland areas with surrounding amenity woodland and grasslands with up to 20 short-term let lodges for holiday use.”

A council has denied claims its scheme to ensure high social care standards has been designed to “weed out” some care providers.

Hundreds of residential and home care providers and day services have been asked to reapply to be on North Yorkshire County Council’s approved care providers lists.

It is the first stage of a huge transformation of the social care market in North Yorkshire.

A meeting of the authority’s care scrutiny committee heard while some £160m of taxpayers’ money was spent annually buying social care services in the county, the current system allowed providers to set their own rates and give few details about their coverage.

Although many local authorities have been able to set rates for providing care as they dominate their area’s care market, about half of care services in North Yorkshire are paid for privately, so the county council has regularly been forced to watch some providers’ rates soar.

North Yorkshire County Council’s offices in Northallerton.

Councillors were told contracts with care providers would in future be based on a set of service specifications.

Jill Quinn, chief executive of Dementia Forward.

Committee member Jill Quinn, chief executive of Burton Leonard-based charity Dementia Forward, told the meeting completing the new process to be an approved provider was “onerous”.

She added the process appeared to aim to prevent certain providers from being placed on the lists.

She said:

“We understand why it needed revamping and the need for quality markers. Can we reassure people that are applying that it’s not meant to catch them out and that there will be sympathy and support, otherwise I feel we will lose some good people.

“I’m quite seasoned at this and I’m half-way through doing mine and it really is like quite a job.”

The meeting heard trying to maintain quality standards across 155 care home providers and 225 residential and nursing homes was a huge undertaking for the council.

Cllr Michael Harrison, who represents Killinghall, Hampsthwaite and Saltergate and is North Yorkshire County Council’s executive member for adult services and public health, said the process aimed to identify providers who are able to give the level of service that both the 90,000 residents receiving care and the council could afford.

He said:

“We are wanting to make sure the residents who are receiving social care receive a quality that they and we are happy with. We are absolutely not wanting to weed any providers out. ”

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Cllr Harrison said setting clear standards for care was vital, adding the council had moved people out of a residential care home earlier this month after becoming concerned for their safety.

He said:

“That’s a last resort, but it’s also a good example that we’re not prepared just to take any service just because it’s available.

“It’s got to be a service that is safe and appropriate for the individuals receiving it, which include some of the most vulnerable people in society.”

Cllr Harrison (pictured above)  said the changes would ensure a transparent process for people to bid for contracts from the county council and confirm providers were getting the funding they need from the authority to be viable and sustainable, including paying their staff a decent wage.

He added:

“We need to make sure what we pay for the service is delivering what we need. Whilst we need to go through the process, we need to make sure that we don’t put providers off from coming on to our approved provider list because the process is too onerous.”

He said in response to the concerns, the council would offer support to any providers that found the process difficult.

North Yorkshire County Council leaders have pledged they will not be “printing money” to boost its workforce’s wages despite facing its highest staff turnover on record and struggling to recruit staff .

A meeting of the council, which employs some 15,000 people, heard that many staff had left for higher salaries, resulting in a turnover rate of nearly 16 per cent.

The Tory-led authority’s executive heard the county’s significantly lower unemployment level than the region was exacerbating the recruitment issue, and despite launching innovative recruitment campaigns finding staff remained “a significant challenge”.

Liberal Democrat group leader Cllr Bryn Griffiths said that because local government pay had been “significantly suppressed” over austerity and recent pay rises had been outstripped by the private sector. it was not surprising the council had an issue with filling job vacancies.

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Cllr Gareth Dadd, the authority’s finance boss, replied the council had to find a way to respond to workforce competition,

He added while the council had set aside £375,000 in bonuses to boost social care recruitment, “it’s no good just printing money”.

Gareth Dadd

He said it was important the council highlighted the benefits of working in the public sector, adding: 

“Sooner or later local government generally has got to recognise that perhaps its policies and offer isn’t in many cases what it was 40 years ago, we are competing with the private sector.”

Condemning the RMT union’s railway strike as “absolutely disgraceful”, Cllr Dadd said the cost of living crisis was not just confined to transport workers.

He revealed a cost of living crisis action plan would be considered by the authority’s executive next month, coupled with a revised list of priorities, such as council tax reductions, benefits and revenues.

Cllr Dadd said: 

“From that I am confident we will see our priority will be helping those that are really struggling. It is only a small part, but nonetheless it flags up the commitment.”

People in crisis

The meeting heard the council’s Local Assistance Fund, designed to help people in crisis, would be used as part of the initiative, and while the fund had spent almost £200,000 more than its £675,000 budget last year, it would not be capped.

Stronger communities executive member Cllr David Chance said: 

“If there is a need we will consider it.”

He said the council was working in numerous ways to help with the crisis.

Alongside the council injecting funds into the Citizens Advice network, school holidays programmes and a domestic property improvement scheme to reduce fuel bills, and as petrol prices continue to soar trading standards officers were visiting numerous “more remote petrol stations to ensure the equipment they use it accurate”.

He said the authority’s Income Maximisation Service, which works to ensure residents receive the best benefits they can from government, has gained about £45 million in additional funds for the county’s residents.

North Yorkshire County Council’s finance boss has said the new unitary local authority is facing a possible black hole of close to £50 million a year.

Cllr Gareth Dadd, executive member for finance at the county council, said the situation was largely due to deficits it will inherit from district councils and high inflation.

Cllr Dadd said it was far too early for the authority, which will come into existence on April 1 next year, to be considering service cutbacks.

Due to the range of uncertainties facing the authority including the ongoing impact of covid, he likened setting the council’s budgets to “trying to juggle two bowls of jelly”.

He was speaking at a meeting of the Conservative-led authority’s executive where a move to top up a fund to cover the costs of local government reorganisation to £38 million was approved.

Although he did not estimate the total structural deficits that the seven second tier authorities, including Harrogate Borough Council, would have accumulated by the time the new council is launched in April, he said it was believed it would be “substantial”.

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However, it has been estimated the combined ongoing deficits of the district and borough councils could be in the region of £10 million.

In addition, ahead of the recent increasing inflation rate the county authority had been prepared to cover a deficit of up to £20 million.

With inflationary pressures, which include the council’s gas and electricity bill rising by some £3m, it is believed the total deficit could nearly reach £50 million.

Cllr Dadd told today’s meeting: 

“That is a frightening figure, but nonetheless, I think we are right to raise that at this stage.”

‘Higher uncertainty and risk’

An officer’s report to the meeting said: 

“As further savings are required the schemes to achieve these will become more challenging and inevitably contain a higher level of uncertainty and risk. Therefore, it is imperative that delivery of each saving is closely monitored.

“As well as direct costs, higher inflation will feed into increased charges from suppliers and put pressure on wage levels for our own workforce and the wider supply chain. 

“Effective budgetary control will remain critically important in the coming year but this alone is unlikely to be able to stave off unanticipated price increases in delivering the range of council services. 

“This is, of course, at the same time as undertaking key work in transitioning to the new unitary council.”

Cllr Dadd said while the authority had been successful in cutting costs during austerity, it would never be complacent about sound financial management.

The meeting heard the county council’s business case for local government reorganisation had provided for a £252 million saving over a five-year period after £38 million in costs were taken off.

Cllr Dadd said he would be astounded if all of the £38 million was needed for the reorganisation.

A pilot scheme designed to provide public transport in rural areas with little or no services looks set to be extended for a year amid concerns restrictions deterring key potential customers will make it unsustainable.

The introduction of online meetings due to covid saved North Yorkshire County Council £4 million.

An officer’s report to a meeting of the authority’s executive tomorrow reveals the huge amount of money saved as well as environmental benefits.

The staff mileage bill fell by more than £1.7 million In the year to April 2021 compared with the previous 12 months.

Staff drove 4,117,062 fewer miles to meetings than in 2019/20.

The introduction of online meetings by the authority, which employs 15,000 staff, saw a total saving of almost £4 million, the equivalent to more than 2,700 average annual council tax bills.

The report estimates over the two years it saved 369,500 hours, or 49,200 working days, the equivalent to some 233 full-time staff.
It states:

“Over 2,000 employees had moved quickly to work from home at the start of the pandemic and the way in which teams can work remotely and virtually has been transformational.

“There has been a carefully considered approach to developing future ways of working post-covid following whole organisation engagement in 2021.

“Hybrid working has been welcomed by council staff. This new approach provides great flexibility for many roles.”

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The authority, which aims to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2030, reduced carbon emissions by 2,710 tonnes over the two years because of the reduced mileage.

The council aims to generate further post-pandemic savings by rationalising its extensive property portfolio as more work is completed virtually and demand for physical meeting spaces has been reduced.

The officer’s report states:

“It should also be noted these savings are just in terms of travelling to and from meetings.

“The savings to individual members of staff working from home, fuel cost and time, and to the environment, will be significantly bigger.

“Although some of these figures will start to increase again as staff return to the office on a more frequent basis, there will be many other benefits that new ways of working have brought us that can be retained.”

7m fewer documents printed

The report highlights other benefits of changed working practices, including improved attendance at multi-agency meetings, the ability to attend more meetings and arrange meetings sooner than if relying on getting people together at the same place.

With many staff working from home and attending meetings online, there has been a sharp reduction in the number of documents being printed.

In the year before the pandemic the council’s staff printed some 14.5 million sheets of paper compared to 7.6 million last year. Over the last two years the reduction in printing has saved the equivalent of 1,800 trees.

The authority’s deputy leader, Councillor Gareth Dadd, said while it remained unclear as to the level of savings that the work practice changes would produce in the coming years, how technology could be used to cut travel would “feature very heavily in our thinking moving forward”.

Library bosses are examining whether the covid-19 pandemic has caused permanent changes to people’s reading habits.

A meeting of North Yorkshire County Council’s partnerships scrutiny committee heard while library visits in the year to April were at about 60% of pre-pandemic levels, book issues had returned to about 85% of the number being borrowed before March 2020.

Chrys Mellor, the authority’s head of libraries, said despite the continued low numbers of people using libraries in North Yorkshire last year, with 304,549 e-books and e-audio items issued it was clear communities still want to use library services.

She said although the county’s “almost unique model” of largely volunteer-run libraries had only reopened partially following lockdowns last year, it still attracted more than a million visits last and saw nearly 1.5 million books issued.

Ms Mellor said it was noteable that about 3,000 people had become library members during lockdowns to borrow e-books, which now represented about seven per cent of items borrowed, and that most of those people had remained as members.

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Earlier this year a Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy study concluded that “only time will tell if this recent shift to digital will prove to be a long-term model for our use of libraries”.

Referring to the difference between library visitors and books being issued, Ms Mellor said: 

“As yet, it is unclear whether that is the people who came in to use the computers were not coming in quite as much because they had bought them or the people who came in for our social activities who are not quite ready to come back in.

“Certainly these last few months has seen a rapid increase in visits. Whether people were simply coming in less and actually borrowing more, that’s still to be worked out.”

She said North Yorkshire had been among the country’s highest performing areas for last summer’s reading challenge for children, but that it had seen about 50 per cent of the usual number of youngsters take part.

Ms Mellor said: 

“Considering people were still being fairly wary about coming in we were quite pleased with that.”

The meeting heard while libraries were nearly back up to pre-pandemic opening hours, the council was working to help libraries across the county facing issues finding sufficient volunteers to run them.

Ms Mellor said: 

“Some volunteers have decided they have found something different to do in the last year, others are still a little bit wary about coming in. We equally have had reports of a lot of new and younger volunteers joining us.

“We still had over 100,000 [volunteer] hours last year when we weren’t even open full time.”

A Harrogate district Green Party councillor has voiced concerns about plans to build an asphalt plant alongside the Allerton Waste Recovery Centre near Knaresborough.

Tynedale Roadstone wants to produce the roadbuilding material at a new plant next to the recovery centre, which was approved a decade ago by North Yorkshire County Council.

The £1.4bn recovery centre uses an incinerator to generate energy from waste but has been dubbed a blot on the landscape by locals.

Such was the strength of opposition to the incinerator that two MPs and protestors handed in a petition with 10,000 signatures at Downing Street.

The bid to build a second plant alongside it has fuelled fears about industrialisation of the area.

Planning documents state Tynedale claims the asphalt plant is needed on “vacant brownfield land” at Allerton Park, partly for environmental reasons.

The papers state:

“The extent of Tynedale Roadstone’s contracts in Yorkshire is such that a new asphalt facility is required to meet demand and ensure locally resourced product is within easy reach of key contract locations.

“The demand is established and continually fuelled by maintenance works requirements; an additional independent asphalt plant is needed to service it.

“Government and company policies on sustainability, carbon footprints, energy efficiency, transport networks, trafficking and haulage distances are some of the many drivers behind establishing another asphalt plant.”

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The planning documents state the site has been identified as the best location to serve demand, as the nearest asphalt plants to the site are in Pateley Bridge and at Stourton, in Leeds.

The Allerton site is close to the A1(M) and A59 junction. Existing plastics from the waste recovery plant could be reused at the asphalt plant.

Cllr Arnold Warneken

Green Party councillor Arnold Warneken, whose Ouseburn division includes villages closest to the proposed plant, said the firm’s description of the site as brownfield was “absolute rubbish” and that increasing the number of heavy goods vehicles entering and leaving the site would be a cause of concern.

He said:

“There will be very little support for this locally. It is a very rural location which has had a blister of a building put on it. The site has a waste plant next to it, but beyond that you’ve got prime agricultural land in a rural setting.

“The original purpose of the site for recycling and incineration has to be retained. Whilst it is good practice to put two industries that are complemented together, you have got to look at the impact of the vehicles that are coming onto that site.

“To get to the A1 the HGVs will have to use the A168 which has already got heavy traffic on it from the waste plant and a quarry, so it would add to an existing problem.”

“It’s an industrialised function which needs to be alongside true brownfield sites.”

Some Ukrainian refugees have been placed in such remote rural locations in North Yorkshire that they are “entirely dependent” on host families to do anything.

A meeting of North Yorkshire County Council’s corporate and partnerships scrutiny committee heard while experience had shown refugees often prefer being placed in groups of people from their own communities in urban settings, the isolated locations of some well-meaning sponsors meant Ukrainians had access to little or no services.

Around 180 homes in North Yorkshire were made available to Ukraine refugees, with Harrogate taking part in rehoming some of those fleeing the conflict.

The issue was raised after the meeting was told the Home Office was continuing to consider whether to go ahead with controversial plans to launch a centre for up to 1,500 male asylum seekers at Linton on Ouse, a village with few facilities and little public transport.

While a lack of services for the non-detained asylum seekers at the former RAF Linton on Ouse base has been highlighted as a major concern, councillors questioned whether some Ukrainians placed into remote North Yorkshire homes were facing similar issues.

The meeting heard the top priorities for most refugees arriving in the county was getting a job and finding a school for their children, practicalities that were more difficult in rural and remote areas.

Wharfedale councillor Richard Foster, who is also Craven District Council’s leader, said: 

“We have plenty of people giving up their houses and volunteering, but it isn’t the targeted approach taking people to areas we’re used to, it’s very much scattergun across the county.

“In rural areas people must be able to access bus services and that sort of thing. It’s great that people are willing to do it, but it is going to cause issues.”

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The meeting was told the authority had no control over the process, which involved hosts volunteering themselves and basic checks being undertaken by the Home Office.

Councillors heard visas were being issued irrespective of checks, such as housing suitability, that local authorities were undertaking. Host sponsors were regularly contacting the local authority to ask about services once the Ukrainian refugees had arrived, members were told.

Officers told the meeting the voluntary host system was creating challenges, particularly as many of the refugees were “in degrees of trauma” having just left a war-torn country.

One officer said:

“Let’s not underestimate the willingness of sponsors to do that, that’s really great. I’m not entirely convinced that all of them thought through what they were taking on.”

He added while the vast majority of sponsorships were working well, some had broken down for different reasons, including illness.

The officer said: 

“There are people placed in remote rural areas and we as a local authority would not have chosen to locate people there because of the lack of public transport.

“There are some, a small number, who are entirely dependent on their sponsor for absolutely everything. We would always try and place people where there is public transport and they can have some access and independence.”