‘Exponential’ growth in demand for North Yorkshire children’s mental health services

Mental health services for children are struggling to cope with an “exponential growth in demand” since the pandemic, NHS bosses have admitted.

The warning comes amid concerns the volume of children being referred for treatment could be “just the tip of the iceberg”.

A meeting of North Yorkshire County Council’s young people’s scrutiny committee was told despite increased mental health provision for children across England’s largest county, NHS waiting lists were soaring with the majority of children waiting for three months to be seen.

The extent of the issue in North Yorkshire has been exposed less than a week after a national Nuffield Trust and Health Foundation study revealed the impact of covid-19 had led to an unprecedented increase in demand for mental health services for children.

It warned a generation of children are at risk of being left behind because of a combination of soaring waiting times for services and the pandemic’s disproportionate impact on their mental health.

Rising waiting times, including for urgent cases, have come despite the Government’s response including £79 million nationally to accelerate previous plans to improve children’s wellbeing and mental healthcare provision in education and healthcare settings, as well as other initiatives.

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Tees Esk and Wear Valley NHS Trust bosses told the scrutiny meeting its community-based mental health team was now treating more than 2,500 children across the county, and referrals to its services had risen from about 100 a month at start of pandemic to more than 300 a month during 2021.

NHS and council health bosses emphasised the children’s mental health system was under great strain, exacerbated due to difficulties recruiting and retaining staff and increasing numbers of complex cases.

The meeting heard there had been a particular spike in the number of youngsters needing help for eating disorders.

Councillors were told just one in four of children found to need “urgent” help for eating disorders were being seen within the one-week national standard.

Councillors said they feared children, and in particular pre-school age and teenagers, had not had the normal chances to develop social skills during the pandemic, the impact on their mental health could be in the years to come.

Escrick councillor Richard Musgrave said: 

“I am deeply concerned that we are seeing the tip of the iceberg at the moment in terms of children’s and young people’s mental health.”

Selby councillor Stephanie Duckett added: 

“Rather than being at the peak of the problem we could just be at the start.”

In response, a boss for the NHS trust said it was forecasting an increase in demand for children’s mental health services over the next five years, but declined to reveal the extent of the expected rise.

Concerns over dwindling campsites in Yorkshire Dales

Community leaders say they are becoming increasingly alarmed over the gentrification of campsites in the Yorkshire Dales, claiming camping pod, yurt, log cabin and static caravan developments are “pushing out” young people and those with smaller budgets from holidaying in the area.

Mounting concerns over the affordability for visitors of staying in the national park were raised as the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority agreed to launch enforcement action against over numerous unauthorised changes to the type of accommodation at Bainbridge Ings holiday park near Hawes.

A meeting of the authority’s planning committee in Grassington heard claims that soaring demand for staycations following the pandemic and higher profit margins from using land for glamping rather than camping had added to a rash of campsite closures.

Some members held their heads in their hands as they were shown aerial photographic evidence of how the long-established camping and caravan site at Bainbridge Ings had been extensively developed, with low landscape impact camping at the prominent location edged out.

Officers described a litany of unauthorised changes, retrospective approvals, and development in breach of planning conditions and contrary to Planning Inspectorate appeal decisions at the site.

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Several members responded by stating the holiday park’s owners were making a mockery of planning rules and urged officers to take “very vigorous” enforcement action.

Swaledale councillor Richard Good, a Duke of Edinburgh Award expedition assessor, said while there was “a definite need for camping in tents” in the national park the lack of campsites was becoming a serious problem.

He said: 

“With the increase of people coming into the Dales we have noticed over the last year or so a lot of those people will want to come in tents.”

The meeting heard sites that had hosted young campers for generations were now being developed with glamping facilities or static caravans for people with higher disposable incomes and that the area’s campsites had regularly been used by people who could not afford to stay elsewhere.

Speaking after the meeting, Wensleydale farmer John Amsden, chairman of Richmondshire District Council’s planning committee, said glamping pod and holiday lodge parks were “popping up like mushrooms” in and around the national park, but there was often little that planning authorities could do to stop them gaining consent.

He said: 

“Campsites that have people for a full week have just disappeared. There’s only Usha Gap and Muker.

“People who can only afford to camp are being pushed out. There seems to be nothing for the younger generation because many of them can’t afford to stay in log cabins and the like, which can be as expensive as renting a cottage, the prices for which have also gone up.

“I don’t think it’s about profits, I think it’s about greed.”

He added while many people were making large investments in creating holiday parks, there was a concern over what would happen to the landscapes and local economy when the boom in staycations subsided.

Bainbridge Ings campsite’s owner has been asked to comment about the enforcement action.

County council could face £600,000 black hole over concessionary bus fares

North Yorkshire County Council could be left facing nearly £600,000 of financial pressure if concessionary bus passenger volumes return to pre-pandemic levels, it has emerged.

Leading North Yorkshire councillors have pushed forward proposals for a new North Yorkshire and York English National Concessionary Travel Scheme, under which a host of local bus service operators will be paid for the fares of elderly and disabled people until April 2024.

Under the national mandated scheme bus pass holders can travel free on all local buses anywhere in England from 9.30am until 11pm on weekdays and all day at weekends and on bank holidays.

In North Yorkshire, the council covers bus pass fares from 9am to 6am, and concessions are accepted on certain morning rush hour journeys, particularly from rural areas.

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Such exemptions are considered on a case by case basis and granted for cases such as where a passenger is not likely to reach their service centre, GP, hospital before 11am on a direct service without the exemption.

A council officer’s report states the overall financial impact of the proposed changes to the scheme is that forecast expenditure is expected to increase by £216,000 in the coming year based on last year’s passenger numbers.

It states:

“If passenger numbers increase to pre-pandemic levels based on 2018/19 passenger numbers then expenditure could increase by up to £581,000.”

‘More people visit us’

Cllr Don Mackenzie, the authority’s executive member for access, said the reason council could face financial pressures was because it had made “small savings against budget” over the past 24 months.

He said: 

“We simply did not foresee a marked decrease in the number of people using buses. We did continue to pay bus operators far beyond what they should have been given based purely on passenger numbers because we wanted lots of bus operators to still be around and financially viable after covid was over.

“Any increase back up to pre-covid levels will have an impact on the budget because we have pared the budget by relatively small amounts due to reduced usage by bus pass holders.

“It is a pressure, but would be a relatively small percentage of what the bus concessionary fare scheme costs us, about £7 million a year.

“Concessionary fares have always cost North Yorkshire more than we get from government because it is an attractive place to visit and use their bus passes and we pick up the bill for that.

“Clearly, some of our residents go to other parts of the country and use their bus passes, but we do have more people visiting us than most parts of the country simply because it is a very beautiful county.”

When asked if the funding of concessionary fares would be fairer if it was calculated by the number of concessionary fares used in an area, Cllr Mackenzie replied: 

“I think the system’s pretty fair. We have in the past lobbied for additional funding because of this surplus of bus passes.

“It does give older and disabled folk an incentive not to use their cars and to get out and about, which is good for public health, it’s good for mental health and it’s very good for the environment too.”

North Yorkshire councillors clash over £56 council tax hike

Fiery exchanges erupted as North Yorkshire County Council approved levying close to the maximum permitted council tax rise after hearing residents were facing a financial “perfect storm”.

The last full meeting of the authority ahead of elections for a new unitary authority in May saw the authority’s chairman repeatedly intervene in debates to restore “dacorum and dignity” to proceedings as councillors accused each other of failing to protect the most needy residents.

Conservative councillors claimed as much of the rise was to cover soaring social care costs, it would be “reckless not to fund our responsibilities”, while opposition members told the meeting the increase would prove impossible to meet for many households.

Proposing a below-inflation council tax rise of 3.99%, which will mean the authority’s bills for the average Band D property increase by £56 to £1,467, its deputy leader and finance boss Cllr Gareth Dadd said the council’s budget aimed to protect services for vulnerable people while leaving “a legacy” for the new authority to inherit.

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He told the meeting the increase struck a balance between those key ambitions and protecting taxpayers as “our instinct has always been to maintain a council tax rise as low as practically pragmatically possible.”

Cllr Dadd said the authority had “gone some way to reducing the burden on the tax-paying public of North Yorkshire” by not levying the maximum 4.49 per cent council tax precept increase.

Cllr Stuart Parsons, leader of the council’s Independent group, said the authority was banking on residents not noticing the council’s precept increase, alongside others being levied by the police and fire services and borough, district and parish councils, due to the government’s £150 council tax rebate for some households.

He said: 

“What we have to remember is that £150 will disappear in a year. Then there is the cost of living crisis and we do not appear to be making any effort to help people with that.”

Cllr Parsons said there was a significant section of society that just missed out on financial help such as free school meals that could not afford the council tax increase.

Harrogate district council tax hikes 2022/23

Total Band D bill: £2,079.59

Independent councillor for Malton Lindsay Burr added with high inflation, wages effectively falling and national insurance increases being introduced at the same time as the council tax hike in April, the authority had a chance to ease pressures on residents.

She said: 

“Surely there has never been such a justified time to freeze the council tax and listen to all those residents who are pleading with us to try and help them. Average families are now having to use food banks.

“The perfect storm is gathering as we all know. Maybe it is time we stop and help a little bit and not add fuel to the fire.”

Cllr Bryn Griffiths told the meeting was Liberal Democrat group was also opposing the rise as adult social care was an urgent national issue.

Ahead of 53 councillors voting for the increase, three abstaining and three against the rise, Cllr Eric Broadbent said the Labour group “reluctantly” supported the regressive tax increase as “the last thing we want to see is any reduction in critical services”.

North Yorkshire local government reorganisation called a ‘political move’

Local government reorganisation in North Yorkshire is “blatant gerrymandering” by the Tory government and will create Europe’s least democratic local authority, it has been claimed.

Some elected members serving on the county’s seven district and borough councils say it has become increasingly apparent the forthcoming North Yorkshire Council was being introduced by the government to consolidate power in the hands of the Conservative Party from April 2023.

While North Yorkshire’s 225 district and borough councillors represent the same residents as the 72 county councillors, the Conservative Party has 74% of county seats but just 51% of elected members on the district and borough councils.

The district and borough councils feature almost 29% of Independent and Green councillors, but less than 17% on the county council. Labour and Liberal Democrat groups on the county council have less than half the share of seats they have on district and borough authorities.

Although opposition councillors have alleged the new authority’s 89 divisions, many of which resemble the existing county council divisions, have been designed to favour the Conservatives, senior Tories leading the changes have dismissed suggestions the division boundaries were politically motivated.

The Green Party and Independent councillor for Catterick Leslie Rowe said a study by the District Council’s Network had found creating unitary authorities for counties would in North Yorkshire’s case lead to the least democratic local authority in Europe, with each of the 90 councillors representing around 7,000 people.

He said:

“Compare this to Barking and Dagenham Council, which is also undergoing reorganisation, with each councillor there representing 3,200 people.

“Clearly, the sole justification for this costly local government reorganisation is to consolidate power into the hands of the Conservative Party.”

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County council opposition leader Stuart Parsons said the creation of the new authority was “blatant political gerrymandering” by the government as the smaller neighbouring county of Cumbria was being split into two councils to ensure the Conservatives were in control of at least one local authority there.

He said:

“It’s fairly obvious this is Conservative Party politics and they are hoping they will be able to dominate the new local authority in the same way they have dominated the county council, but have had less success in some of the borough and district councils.

“They don’t like not being in control and get very upset when they lose control of a council. However, it could nicely backfire on them. The public are not over the moon about the Tories at the moment and there’s a great opportunity in May to have as few Tories re-elected as possible.”

However, the authority’s Liberal Democrat group leader Councillor Bryn Griffiths said while local government reorganisation was a political move, he believed the changes represented an opportunity for a more politically diverse council covering the county.

He said:

“If candidates listen to their communities and put their community’s views forward I think there is a better chance of a more representative county, but if you haven’t got proportional representation you get stuffed.”

County council leader Councillor Carl Les said claims that the new authority would be Europe’s least democratic were wrong as at least one unitary council, Leeds, had a smaller proportion of councillors to residents.

When asked if the reorganisation had been motivated by politics, Coun Les replied:

“No. It’s a move to make sure we get the benefits of negotiating devolution asks with the government.”

Council to pilot banning cars outside North Yorkshire schools

Cars could be banned on streets directly outside many schools at drop-off and pick-up times to improve safety, encourage active travel and cut pollution.

North Yorkshire County Council looks set to examine the impacts of the Department Of Transport-backed School Streets initiative over 18 months, just weeks after ratifying a new 20mph zone policy, under which the authority has undertaken to scrutinise where it could lower speed limits outside schools.

While the move followed years of pressure from road safety campaigners calling for blanket 20mph zones across all built-up areas in the county, the authority has insisted such action would not be suitable everywhere.

The authority’s executive member for access, Cllr Don Mackenzie, said it hoped if a Safer Streets pilot outside Seamer and Irton Community Primary School was successful, that the initiative would complement the council’s 20mph zone policy.

The trial would involve the school placing a ‘Road Closed’ sign across the road by the school at the appropriate times.

However, an officer’s report on the proposal states while North Yorkshire Police would be responsible for enforcing road closures, the force had advised that “it is supportive of School Streets, but could not resource enforcement”.

The council officer’s report states:

“An appropriately applied scheme should minimise the risk of regular contravention and enforcement issues.”

It states the trial will be judged on whether it has led to an increase in active travel, cut traffic speeds and volumes in the area and the impact on the surrounding community and environment, but it was anticipated Schools Streets would not be appropriate for the majority of locations.

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The move comes weeks after a Transport for London study of 300 established School Streets found most people believed the vehicle bans had pushed congestion and parking issues elsewhere, while the lack of enforcement created safety concerns.

Coun Mackenzie said introducing restrictions in front of schools could displace parking problems elsewhere, but added:

“I would rather have the problem removed from in front of schools because that is an area that deserves more protection than any other.”

“We fully appreciate, and I personally understand, why the police have areas of greater concern to them to enforce than 20mph limits. In North Yorkshire we have very very few road traffic incidents involving injury in our built-up areas where there is a 30mph limit.

“We’re looking at other interventions to improve safety outside schools, to persuade people not to park in front of schools, or even worse, to drop their children off and leave the engine running.

“If this pilot is successful we will look to introduce it in many other locations in front of schools.”

North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Zoë Metcalfe said decisions on how North Yorkshire Police enforced any restrictions put in place were operational ones for the chief constable and her team.

She said:

“North Yorkshire Police will always prioritise those areas where there is greatest risk to road users and will deliver on road safety enforcement activity where appropriate with partners.

“Once decisions are made by the county council, I am sure all groups and organisations in the York and North Yorkshire Road Safety Partnership will come together to discuss how any School Streets projects can be implemented and supported as part of the wider delivery of the recently published Safer Roads Strategy.”

Lorry fears over million-tonne Masham quarry extension plan

Plans have been unveiled to extract a further one million tonnes of sand and gravel from a quarry near Masham, despite concerns over the impact of rising numbers of HGVs on rural roads.

Tarmac has lodged a proposal with North Yorkshire County Council to extend the life of Nosterfield Quarry by seven years to 2031.

This comes as the county council continues to examine Lightwater Quarries’ plan to extend and restore the nearby Gebdykes Quarry, which could see the daily number of HGV movements rise from 138 to 206.

As Tarmac’s plans have only recently been submitted community leaders said they had not yet formed a view over its potential impact.

However, they said it had been noted the firm’s proposals would see many more HGVs for years to come on the rural roads than if Nosterfield Quarry stopped being worked in 2024, as agreed in its previous planning permission.

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Bedale division councillor John Weighell said while the roads in the area were already much used by HGVs, the industry was important for the area, so any potential issues for the road network would need to be carefully considered.

Ancient monument

Agents for Tarmac said its proposed 40-hectare Oaklands extension to Nosterfield Quarry would be worked between next year and 2027, producing 250,000 tonnes a year, before a further 470,000 tonnes of the mineral beneath the current plant site would be extracted until 2030.

These phases would be followed by final restoration of the quarry, which is near the ancient monument complex of Thornborough Henges. 

That work would overseen by a group including English Heritage and the county council before the end of 2031, according to the documents.

The papers state: 

“Restoration to date at Nosterfield Quarry has been primarily nature conservation-based, but with a guiding principle of enhancing the understanding of the history of the area and its evolving landscape.

“The group oversees the management and development of the wider area, including the western end of the quarry, and the Thornborough Henges to ensure that archaeological understanding, nature conservation, and public access are all managed in a unified manner.”

Tarmac’s agents said all lorries would use the quarry’s existing access onto the B6267 and that there would be no change to the volume of traffic entering and leaving the site, where ten staff are employed, alongside scores of contractors and hauliers who rely on work derived from site.

The papers state: 

“In terms of road haulage, the extension would see a continuation of the existing haulage operations that result, on average, in 88 vehicle movements per day, which equates to eight vehicles per hour.

“Overall, it is considered that the proposed development can be accommodated on the surrounding highway network without significant impacts and no mitigation measures are required.”

Chief constable says maximum council tax rise will enable crime prevention

North Yorkshire Police’s chief constable has sought to justify the force’s precept increase, saying it will enable officers to avert offences impacting on communities rather than just react to it.

Lisa Winward said the addition of £10 to a Band D property’s council tax bill would enable the force to get on the front foot and interupt what she described as “a conveyor belt” of issues caused by a minority of residents.

Ms Winward was speaking to North Yorkshire’s police, fire and crime panel as it unanimously agreed that the average household should be charged £281.06 for the service for the coming financial year.

Commissioner Zoe Metcalfe had told the meeting if she did not levy the £10 maximum increase in council tax precept for the coming year that money would be lost to the force in future years, adding she was “very mindful” of the financial pressures facing residents.

She said the increased precept would cover the rising costs the force was facing and pay for an additional 78 police officers, some of whom would be deployed to improve public contact, solve issues facing communities, roads policing and tackling violence towards women and online abuse.

Ms Metcalfe said: 

“The precept increase will also allow me to invest in a range of services for victims, and in particular, a new victims’ centre to house the North Yorkshire Sexual Assault Assessment Centre and the child sexual assault assessment services in York.

“I will also hold the chief constable to account to ensure a full return on investment. I will be setting clear performance expectations to the chief constable to make North Yorkshire Police more efficient.”

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However, City of York Council leader Cllr Keith Aspden highlighted the precept increase was higher than crisis-hit social care authorities were being allowed to levy, and questioned whether communities would “notice the difference that really justifies that increase” the new posts.

The meeting heard the increased precept would fund the force’s Early Action Together programme, which is focused on supporting the most vulnerable residents with complex needs to “prevent harm before it happens”.

Ms Winward said policing tended to deal with society’s symptoms and longer term problem-solving had to come from a placed-based bespoke approach.

She said: 

“A lot of the calls that we receive are cyclical. So the same people with the same problems who haven’t had the root causes of their problems solved by any agency.

“Once somebody is hurt or harmed or a community is damaged it takes a lot of time and effort and work among a lot of public services to try and put that thing right. If we can prevent it from happening in the first place that is a much more effective way of our public services supporting those communities.”

Ms Winward said with 6,000 miles of roads across a county which is a popular destination for some motorists, such as motorcyclists, extra resources were needed for preventative measures to tackle road safety and criminals from outside the county targeting North Yorkshire.

Cllr Mike Chambers said while he understood the reasons behind the increase, he was concerned the commissioner was levying the maximum rise given the economic circumstances facing residents.

Calling for more warranted officers to be seen on the beat, he said: 

“I think this time we really do need to see some early and discernible results in what the public are paying for.”

Yorkshire Dales park authority sets out £11.2m budget spend

The most ambitious spending programme in a national park authority’s 68-year history has been proposed to “grasp the nettle” on pressing issues such as climate change, improving biodiversity and securing the future of farms.

The Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority’s finance committee will on Tuesday consider spending £11.2 million in the coming financial year, supported by new external funding and the use of £670,000 of its dwindling reserves, to expand its priority programmes.

An officer’s report to the meeting warns the authority’s level of spending is unsustainable after the coming year and it was “nearing the crunch-point where action is needed” over “looming long-term deficits”.

It states: 

“It should be understood the scale of the necessary budget adjustment is likely to require a reduction in our services and work programmes from 2023/24 onwards.”

The report states while the authority’s income generation performance, particularly in relation to external funding bids, remains very strong, it is facing ongoing cuts to the value of its core government grant, inflation and the need to pay 143 full-time equivalent staff, compared to 127 in 2009, the year before the value of the government grant started falling.

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It states the proposed budget will enable the authority to fund and advise farmers and landowners to support high nature value farming, support farmers to take-up national agri-environment schemes and deliver Natural England’s ‘Catchment Sensitive Farming’ initiative.

Other key projects featured in the budget include launching a farm and estates open day programme in the coming months and pressing on with a multi-million pound programme supporting high nature value farming systems to deliver nature recovery on a grand scale across Swaledale and Upper Teesdale.

The extra spending will also be used to support the conservation of the natural and cultural heritage of several commons in the park and implementing the government’s proposed Farming in Protected Landscapes programme to support upland farmers to improve the natural environment, cultural heritage and public access on their land.

The authority’s chairman, Neil Heseltine, said the time was right to be ambitious and grasp the nettle of urgent issues. 

He said: 

“We’ve prepared a one-year budget and made a calculated judgement that the timing is right in terms of climate, nature’s recovery and the time is right for farming which is going through a transition.

“The reserves are there for times like this. We’re saying let’s try and make it happen now, let’s be positive and show to government we are right behind them in their objectives, whether it be farming, climate or whatever, but we do need resources to deliver that in the long-term.”

Mr Heseltine said the authority would need more money going forward, and while national parks had played an important role for people’s health and wellbeing in the bounce back from lockdown, there needed to be recognition of that in funding terms.

He said: 

“We have to put measures in place which are good for our farming families, our farming businesses and our farming communities.

“There’s quite a lot of confusion going on in farming communities at the moment and we can use this ambition to help those communities as they are so important to us as a national park and so important to the climate and nature aspirations of both ourselves and government.”

County council defends 18% school bus fare hike

North Yorkshire County Council has defended its decision to increase bus fares for children who do not qualify for free travel by 18% and for students aged over 16 by £100 over the next two years.

Following the move being pushed forward at a non-public meeting on Tuesday, the council said it had been left with no choice but to increase the charges for its home to school transport if the key service was to be maintained.

The decision is likely to mean the annual school transport charge for sixth-formers rises by 5.24%, in line with inflation, to £650 from September.

In addition, the council is set to charge £50 extra from September and a further £50 more from September 2023 for any spare seats on buses available to children aged five to 16 who do not attend their most local school, bringing their annual bill to £650.

Ahead of the meeting the authority’s opposition leader, Cllr Stuart Parsons, had urged executive members and senior officers to recognise the cost of living crisis by abandoning the proposals and drop all charges to low income families.

Cllr Parsons said: 

“Where do they think people will find all this extra money? They are constantly talking about keeping young people in the area, upskilling people so it becomes a high wage economy, and with this they are basically putting a tax on obligatory education, and that’s completely unacceptable.

“It’s ludicrous as everyone’s talking about the cost of living crisis. This will make life more and more difficult for families that cannot afford all these increases. What they’re doing is pricing young people out of the education they’re entitled to.”

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Stuart Carlton, the council’s corporate director of children and young people’s services, said following a consultation in 2018, a decision was made to gradually increase the contribution made by families of pupils not eligible for free home-to-school transport where there were spare seats on a school bus service.

He said the process had been due to be completed in coming school year and would have seen contributions rise by £100 for those using any spare seats on school transport.

Mr Carlton said: 

“The decision was taken in consultation with the executive member for education and skills to limit the increase to £50, staggering it over an additional year. Support will also continue for families on low incomes, which will benefit from an overall discount of 50% on the cost.

“We don’t have a statutory duty to provide transport to young people in post-16 education and to pupils who don’t qualify for home-to-school transport, but we wish to continue to offer this service wherever we can. Unfortunately, this means increasing the cost.

“This charge does not cover the full cost of transporting students and is still only a contribution towards the full amount, with the rest met by the county council.”