Average speed checks could be introduced in North Yorkshire

Average speed camera checks could be introduced on rural roads and built-up areas across North Yorkshire, it has emerged.

While authorities in the county have repeatedly ruled out using fixed speed cameras as a deterrent, North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, Philip Allott, has told highways bosses he is considering the system with a view to prosecuting more speeding drivers.

Mr Allott previously said he had concerns over North Yorkshire Police’s 12 mobile speed camera vans, which were introduced in 2011, and that getting to grips with the issue was among his highest priorities.

Cllr Don Mackenzie, North Yorkshire County Council’s executive member for highways, said he would support average speed cameras because they would be more effective in making drivers comply with the limit.

He added average speed cameras would be suitable for any road and any speed limit.

Cllr Mackenzie said: 

“I think it is a better idea than fixed speed cameras because when people get to know where they are they simply slow down near the camera and speed up afterwards. They are not a particularly good deterrent for people who know the area.

“Clearly this is something for the North Yorkshire Police to decide to do and I’m sure if they do decide to introduce a regime of average speed cameras they will come to us and ask for our views. I am a supporter of anything that deters speeding.”

His comments came after leading councillors questioned whether the force’s speed camera vans were frequently located at predictable locations, reducing their effectiveness.

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Cost of cameras coming down

While the county council has been urged to help redesign roads to reduce injury accidents, senior county councillors questioned whether focusing more on other driving offences, such as illegal parking, and less on speeding would lead to fewer road collisions.

Average speed cameras have become a common sight on motorways and A-roads since they were first used in the UK in 2000. Motoring analysts say the cameras are increasingly sited in 30mph zones.

The cost of average speed cameras has fallen significantly in recent years and with increases in technology, the two cameras can be as little as 75m apart. Supporters of the system claim the only way drivers can guarantee to avoid average speed camera fines is to comply with the limit.

RAC Foundation research, published in 2016 focusing on 25 average speed camera sites, found they led to a 36% reduction in the rate of fatal and serious collisions in the post-installation period.

Calls to stem escalating cyclist vs motorist conflict in North Yorkshire

A local authority that has seen surging numbers of cyclists on rural roads since it staged the Tour de France Grand Depart has defended its record in safeguarding riders.

North Yorkshire County Council’s executive heard yesterday the upward trend in cyclists on the county’s 9,000km road network since the 2014 race had increased sharply since covid.

Opposition members questioned whether more could be done to resolve an escalating conflict between cyclists and motorists in rural areas.

It comes at a time when the council is under sustained pressure to reconsider its policy of focusing on cycling road improvements in urban areas, particularly Harrogate.

Officers told the meeting statistics showed while cyclists and drivers were equally to blame for cycle collisions in urban areas of the county, cyclists were at fault for about 70 per cent and drivers 30 per cent of cycle collisions on rural roads.

Councillor Stuart Parsons, leader of the authority’s Independent group, called for twin educational campaigns to teach motorists what they need to do when encountering a large group of cyclists in places like Wensleydale and to teach cyclists how they should be riding on the lanes.

He said cyclists were “making themselves a great number of potential enemies and therefore dangerous situations by their approach to using the roads, especially when they are not road taxpayers when using it for their cycles”.

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Coun Parsons added:

“Cyclists do drive motorists somewhat insane, especially when they are travelling two or three abreast, which they seem to be doing more and more. On these winding roads it makes it difficult for anybody to pass safely.”

Councillor Don Mackenzie, the authority’s executive member for access, replied that while some cyclists needed to learn not to “create obstructions on the highway”, his sympathies were with cyclists as their equipment weighed a few kilograms as opposed to cars that weighed one or two tonnes.

Highway Code changes

Government changes to the Highway Code this autumn will require drivers to give greater space to cyclists and require cyclists to ride single file to help vehicles overtake.

The council’s Liberal Democrat group leader Councillor Bryn Griffiths said the council’s highways department appeared to be “reactive rather than proactive” over dealing with risks on the roads.

He said despite some roads being riddled with potholes and being popular cycling routes they never appeared to reach the council’s criteria for road repairs.

Coun Griffiths said:

“In industry it is considered good practice to look at near misses and be proactive and engineer or manage out issues that they have.

“Because of the state of the road cyclists are having to meander all across the road to avoid bumps, lumps and hollows and you get near-misses. But these near-misses aren’t recorded and used to help manage the highway.”

Record spending on road repair

The meeting heard the council had higher maintenance standards for popular cycle routes.

Coun Mackenzie said the authority was aware sides of roads tended to get potholes, which forced cyclists to swerve, but added the council had spent a record amount on road repairs this year.

He said near-misses were difficult to measure and because the council had limited funding for road safety it focused on locations which accident data showed were the most hazardous.

Coun Mackenzie said:

“I hear every day ‘this road is an accident waiting to happen’. I’ve heard that about certain roads since I took on this portfolio in 2015 and we’re still waiting for the accident to happen.”

 

Yorkshire Dales National Park reviews finances ahead of cuts

Yorkshire Dales National Park is to review its finances ahead of a potential cut to its government funding.

It’s considering limiting the resources it devotes to building conservation, its visitor centres and developing public transport services as it braces itself for another real terms cut in government funding.

Current indications are that the authority can expect another real-terms cut in its government grant for the next financial year.

While the six years to 2015 saw the authority dealt a 40 per cent real terms cut in core funding, government grants have been further eroded in recent years.

Members of the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority are being asked to identify its most important areas of work to ensure it is clear where efforts should be directed for the next three years.

In a report to a full meeting of the authority on September 28, the authority’s deputy chief executive Gary Smith said setting priorities was challenging due to the 25 members having their own views, but the process would provide a framework to deliver services.

He said there had been “a clear recognition amongst the members” tasked with suggesting some priorities that some hard choices would have to be made.

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The report states planning has been added to the proposed list of priorities, which includes other areas such as farm conservation, where the authority will “strive for excellence”.

It adds that pumping resources into planning would help stimulate the development of housing and employment sites, attracting more working age households to live and work in the park.

However, it is proposed that public transport, building conservation and national park centres be given limited attention, meaning that unless external funding is found the authority will only do the minimum necessary to meet legal duties.

The report says making building conservation a limited priority would see a focus on supporting statutory functions, agri-environment scheme applications and chargeable services and the end of the programme of regular condition surveys of grade II listed buildings.

Dalesbus service

A Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority meeting heard uncertainty surrounded the future of Dalesbus services linking the national park to towns and cities from as far north as Darlington and Middlesbrough to Leeds and Bradford in the south.

Bruce McLeod, chairman of the Friends of the Dales, said the authority had an opportunity to address the pressing issues of climate change and increasing numbers of cars visiting the Dales.

However, it has been recommended that the authority restricts its public transport funding to its current grant of £5,000 a year to Dalesbus to subsidise summer Sunday bus services only, have no local liaison with users and not to actively promote public transport.

Scrutiny of loss-making Brierley Group delayed by nine months

North Yorkshire County Council has been criticised for delaying scrutiny of its loss-making Brierley Group.

The council set up the Brierley Group in 2017 to bring together council-owned companies and save money.

But the group, which includes housebuilding company Brierley Homes, reported a loss of £639,000 last year.

Brierley Homes’ developments include Woodfield Square in Bilton and Millwright Park in Pateley Bridge.

Council officials this week told a shareholder committee the group had bounced back with a “really positive” first three months of the financial year.

But a Conservative councillor questioned why the Tory-run authority had delayed its corporate scrutiny committee examining the performance of the Brierley Group by some nine months.

Cllr Richard Musgrave, who represents Escrick, said: 

“Our scrutiny is pretty much pointless if it is so out of date considering it.

“The Brierley Group made a whacking great loss for the year to March 2021.

“I certainly have some questions I would like to ask about the performance of the Brierley Group.”

Does council have business acumen?

Cllr Musgrave’s concerns follow other members of the authority questioning whether the council has the necessary business acumen to run the array of firms, in particular housebuilding.

However, senior county councillors said they were positive the losses could be recouped.

The committee was told the Brierley Group was seeing “promising shoots of recovery”, with a predicted profit by the end of the year of £51,000 as complications arising from the covid pandemic begin to wane.

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Members heard the Brierley Group’s education service was adapting to meet changing demands and its internet access arm had seen a strong start to the year.

They were also told First North Law, a council-controlled law firm, had been buoyed by improved performance, waste management company Yorwaste had performed well and its building design consultancy was forecasting a return to profitability.

However, Brierley Homes was forecast to generate a loss for the year of £712,000.

The meeting heard a primary concern for Brierley Homes was the availability of materials and labour to complete committed projects to time, cost and quality.

Brierley has a ‘perception problem’

Cllr Don Mackenzie, executive member for access, said the outlook for Brierley Homes was much more positive than the council had become accustomed to over the last year, and highlighted how the authority was forecast to receive £4.3 million in savings and benefits this year from its companies.

Cllr Gareth Dadd, the council’s finance executive member, said Brierley Homes was suffering from a “perception problem” due to upfront housebuilding costs and when its developments in Harrogate and Pateley Bridge were completed next year the figures would look different.

He said: 

“If you were a layman looking at that sort of balance loss or perceived loss you would be quite startled by it. We know that it is not a true reflection.

“We have a duty to shoot this loose rabbit dead that it is costing the taxpayer hundreds of thousands of pounds or has even snowballed into millions.

“It is going to take some time before we realise the benefits of it. Politically we are going to have to live with the perception issue with the hope that those who are casting doubt on it listen to the full story and not just a headline figure.”

Number of Harrogate district councillors could be cut by two-thirds

The number of councillors representing the Harrogate district as a whole could be reduced by nearly two-thirds after devolution, under proposals for a new super council in North Yorkshire.

A working group led by North Yorkshire County Council’s former leader Cllr John Weighell has concluded 89 councillors should be elected to serve communities stretching from Skipton to Whitby.

Under the current two-tier system, 57 councillors are elected to serve the Harrogate district on the district and county councils. Forty are elected to Harrogate Borough Council, which is the district authority, and 17 are elected to North Yorkshire County Council. Some people serve as councillors on both councils.

Under plans for the unitary council, just 20 councillors would be elected to serve the Harrogate district on the new super council — a drop of nearly two-thirds.

The proposals would see wards such as Harrogate Stray merged with Harrogate Hookstone to create larger new wards on the unitary council.

Some of the wards proposed by North Yorkshire County Council for the new unitary authority.

Some of the wards proposed by North Yorkshire County Council for the new unitary authority.

6,000 voters per councillor

The 89 councillors proposed for the whole of North Yorkshire on the super council would be 17 more than are currently elected to North Yorkshire County Council.

Each councillor would represent around 6,000 voters, which is almost double the number some currently represent.

There are concerns over councillors’ workloads under the new unitary authority because they will be responsible for matters currently covered by the county and seven district authorities.

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The number of elected members who will make decisions on the unitary authority and the composition of the wards they will represent is expected to be laid before parliament in January, ahead of polls in May to elect councillors to run the county council for a year and then sit on the unitary authority for a further four years.

Westminster to have final say

Proposed wards for the unitary council have been shaped by using parliamentary constituencies, district council wards or county council divisions.

Cllr Carl Les, the leader of North Yorkshire County Council, said:

“We will make a proposal, but it will be a Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government decision. 

“I’m pleased to see there has been proposed a very small number of two-member wards and no three-member wards.”

Cllr Les added that government guidance setting a maximum of 90 councillors for the unitary authority reflected the county council’s local government reorganisation proposal and would enable residents to be well represented.

The authority’s Labour group leader, Cllr Eric Broadbent, said while the proposal was following government-imposed rules, every political group appeared to be looking after their own interests.

He said: 

“I hope that there is fairness all round. I’m keeping my eye on everything and if I get complaints from Labour members, I will propose changes.”

Police commissioner: 101 line deluged by ‘neighbours complaining about each other’

A police commissioner has told how fewer people going away on holiday this year has seen the force’s phone lines being deluged “with everybody complaining about each other”.

Philip Allott, North Yorkshire’s Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, said as a result of the pandemic on some days last month the force got record numbers of 999 and non-emergency 101 calls, even more than they do on the traditional busiest days of the year, such as New Year’s Eve.

Mr Allott was responding to fresh criticism of the force’s 101 line by elected community representatives at a meeting of North Yorkshire County Council’s corporate and partnerships scrutiny committee.

North Yorkshire’s 101 line has regularly struggled to meet demand since it was was introduced in 2011 as a national measure to ease demand on 999.

Despite Mr Allott’s predecessor Julia Mulligan launching a string of initiatives to increase capacity, the meeting heard South Selby division Cllr Mike Jordan claim “the phone just doesn’t get answered”.

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Eastfield and Osgodby division member Cllr Tony Randerson said those staffing the 101 line needed more training because when residents did eventually get through they were given useless or misleading information.

He said:

“A resident of mine was on the phone 20 minutes waiting for a response about antisocial behaviour. When he got a response he was told ‘it’s not a police matter, go to your council’, which is unbelievable.”

‘It’s not fit for purpose’

Cllr Randerson called on the commissioner to press the Home Office for a complete overhaul of the 101 system.

He said: 

“It’s not fit for purpose and it hasn’t been fit for purpose for the last eight years.”

Mr Allott said the situation had been exacerbated by far fewer people going on holiday and neighbours irritating each other.

He said: 

“So you’ve got a record number of people complaining about each other. The pandemic has created a lot of these record call numbers at a time when nobody else is willing to pick these calls up.”

He added the 101 number was being used for a spectrum of non-policing issues.

Call for funding to be tripled

Mr Allott said the police were having to deal with time-consuming calls over matters such as potential suicides and noise, which were the responsibility of the NHS and council environmental health officers.

He said: 

“The police will do the enforcement, but what we can’t be is a sticking plaster for everything.

“Unfortunately there is an expectation that the police and the 101 number are the number of last resort and the reality of it is unless we triple the funding it can never be that.”

Mr Allott said cutting the length of time 101 callers faced was “the number one thing on my agenda”, that more staff were being trained and yet more staff were needed.

He added he was investigating introducing software to the force’s website which displays call waiting times so non-urgent callers could then chose to phone back later. In addition, software which can model what the call situation will be like at specific times to enable the force to better manage demand peaks is also being examined.

He said when the force launches Home Online next month, people will be able to report issues such as antisocial behaviour on its website and demand for 101 should ease.

Academics to review speed limit enforcement in North Yorkshire

A police commissioner has unveiled plans to enlist academics to help tackle speeding across England’s largest county.

Philip Allott, North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, said he aimed to enable the force to deal decisively with safety on rural roads and in villages. But with more than 6,000 miles of roads and 800 villages to cover, demand for enforcement was outstripping police resources.

Mr Allott said universities had been invited to tender to review how speed limits are enforced in the county and he was hopeful work to come up with alternatives would shortly get underway.

He was speaking to North Yorkshire County Council’s Richmondshire constituency committee following years of controversy surrounding North Yorkshire Police’s speed camera vans.

While fixed speed cameras have repeatedly been deemed an unsuitable solution for the largely rural county, the force has insisted the vans are used to deter speeding at sites of accidents.

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Julia Mulligan, Mr Allott’s predecessor, frequently defended the use of the vans and denied they were a revenue generator.

Last year she tweeted: 

“Any cash raised is spent on road safety, but they are largely self-funding, and certainly not ‘cash cows’. We also have clear evidence of behaviour change and lives saved.”

Nevertheless, motorists, including former police traffic officers and a number of leading councillors, believe the vans have frequently been sent to sites, such as bridges over motorways or dual carriageway laybys, in a bid to maximise numbers of fines.

Just 35 traffic officers

After being elected Mr Allott said there were “big concerns” over the vans, which were introduced in 2011.

He told the constituency committee while speeding was a prominent issue for residents, the force had just 35 traffic officers to oversee enforcement.

Mr Allott said: 

“The issue for us is that for the safety camera vans there are 750 sites for 12 vans plus two motorcycle units, and they can’t possibly go to every location.”

Mr Allott said he wanted elected community representatives to be able to direct police towards the areas of greatest concern.

He said: 

“What I would like to move towards is a position where if you say ‘I want the camera van to go out here or there’, you can have that as a councillor three times a year.”

Referring to calls for 20mph zones in some built-up areas, he said neither the camera vans nor hand-held speed guns were calibrated as low as 20mph.

He added: 

“If you are a councillor and wanting a lower speed limit, I as commissioner will support it. There are some challenges and you can see why I want an academic institute to look at this.”

Temporary Bilsdale mast should be in place in three weeks, says transmitter boss

Television signals should be restored in a little over three weeks to 90 per cent of residents across the north hit by the Bilsdale transmitter fire, the boss of the firm which owns the mast has claimed.

Arqiva chief executive Paul Donovan said he was optimistic that European environmental regulations over the protected site would be overcome imminently and the firm was ready and eager to install a temporary 80m mast in a disused quarry on the North York Moors.

The loss of coverage has affected parts of the Harrogate district, including Masham and Ripon.

After almost a month of escalating anger over the length of time it has taken to restore television signals to the BBC North East and Cumbria area, Mr Donovan issued an unreserved apology to the hundreds of thousands of residents that have been denied services since a fire wrecked the 306-metre structure on August 10.

The cause of the fire, which started between 25m and 50m up the mast, is being investigated by forensic consultants employed by the firm. The firm has ruled out arson.

He said: 

“I know it seems like four weeks is a long time since the fire, but we have been working 24/7 to make sure we deliver those technical solutions as fast as we possibly can.”

Mr Donovan, whose firm delivers television services to 17 million homes, said he appreciated the lives of elderly people had been severely impacted, as his customers on average watched television for 240 minutes a day.

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He was speaking to the media on the edge of an exclusion zone surrounding the damaged transmitter, just days after the national park authority raised concerns over the speed that Arqiva was working to install an 80m temporary mast at the site.

Brushing aside suggestions from the North York Moors National Park authority that Arqiva had “lost several weeks” due to inaction and focusing on access issues at the site, Mr Donovan said his firm prided itself on “providing super reliable services”.

He said: 

“When was the last time you switched on your TV and wondered whether it would work or not? This is a very unusual and irregular event for us that has very significant impact and we would like to apologise for that.”

“Working tirelessly” to restore coverage

Mr Donovan said Arqiva had been working tirelessly to restore services and by introducing temporary sites, such as a new one at Sutton Bank, near Thirsk, bringing signals back to a total of 500,000 homes.

He added: 

“We are very close, in fact I use the word imminent, to gaining full planning approval for a temporary 80m mast in a disused quarry.”

He said following legal concerns with landlords Mexborough Estate over access to the site a fleet of helicopters had been booked to do more than 100 trips to the remote moorland site, bringing up hundreds of tonnes of concrete and construction materials.

Mr Donovan said: 

“As soon as we have planning permission and we are really ready to go for this it will take around 21 days for that to be in place.”

He said Arqiva would work to mitigate the impact on remaining 10 per cent of homes which did not get their signal restored with the temporary mast by tuning the network and looking at additional infill sites for temporary coverage.

He added:

 “However, there will be areas, a little bit like a mobile phone network, which have some not-spots.”

Mr Donovan said the firm had opened talks with North Yorkshire County Council and charitable organisations about what it can do to help the most vulnerable people in those not-spots.

North Yorkshire County Council waves red flag over finances

North Yorkshire County Council has raised a red flag warning over its finances for the coming year, despite announcing a £2.8 million underspend for the first three months of this year.

The warning comes despite the council making annual savings of more than £200 million since 2011/12 in response to austerity.

Cllr Gareth Dadd, the authority’s executive member for finance, said that although budgets were always a best guess, the pandemic had shattered the council’s traditional projections and its ability to budget with confidence.

He said: 

“I will say that the government have honoured their pledge, by and large, to offset the majority of the additional covid costs, but one has got to question for how long or if that can continue.”

Cllr Dadd added the council had drawn on £3 million of reserves to balance the books for the current financial year, which was an unsustainable move.

However, he said: 

“We are in a far better position than most other authorities up and down the country.”

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Hospital and school transport overspends

Major issues threatening the council’s finances include hospital discharge costs and home to school transport, over which there is a projected £785,000 overspend for the year.

Cllr Dadd said the adult learning and skills service was also facing a substantial deficit, so the authority was examining how to overhaul the service.

Corporate director Gary Fielding added the authority was grappling with “completely unknown factors” and “starting to see worrying signs in some areas”.

He added the council faced massive uncertainty on demand for services, particularly for adult social care and children and families.

Mr Fielding said as demand is going up placements for care, especially home care, were becoming extremely challenging.

He said: 

“We all understand that when supply and demand get out of kilter if demand is higher than supply then you start to feel the financial pressures of that anticipating “upwards financial pressure” in its supply chain.”

Mr Fielding said unprecedented levels of government funding through covid were masking numerous issues, as funding for services such as enabling hospital discharges, supporting vulnerable people, community work and preventing infections were due to end.

Temporary Bilsdale transmitter replacement ‘could take months’

Harrogate district residents may have to wait another two months for their TV signal to return, it emerged yesterday.

It was initially thought that an 80m temporary transmitter, being built to replace the Bilsdale transmitter damaged by fire on August 10, would take just three weeks to complete.

But a meeting of the North York Moors National Park Authority heard its construction was some way from starting and would take a month alone.

The need to follow international regulations to protect the sensitive moorland around the mast has also caused delays.

Members were told many people living in the north-east, including North Yorkshire, still had no signal and that escalating frustrations over that had been exacerbated in the Bilsdale area by the lack of a mobile phone signal as a result of the fire.

The authority pledged to do everything in its power to accelerate the erection of the temporary mast, including delegating any necessary decision-making powers to the most senior officers to bypass committee meetings.

However, the meeting heard Arqiva had been concentrating its efforts with the landowners, Mexborough Estate, to overcome access issues and had not contacted the national park authority until several weeks after the fire.

Exclusion zone

Chris France, the authority’s director of planning, said that as far as he was aware the 309-metre guyed mast structure, which was constructed in 1969, appeared to be beyond repair with “a huge bulge in it”, leaving it so insecure a 400-metre exclusion zone had been created around it.

Arqiva is targeting using a disused quarry on the moor to the south of the exclusion zone for an emergency mast because that would have least impact on the biodiversity.

Mr France said that emergency national planning regulations allowed replacement masts as long as they were movable without the need to go through the planning process.

Arqiva has proposed to put it on sleds, weighed down by large blocks of concrete flown there by helicopters. The structure would then be secured by guys attached to the surrounding heather moorland.

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The site has been designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest and classified as a European Special Protection Area and a Special Area of Conservation since the mast was built so Arqiva consultants have asked whether it is necessary to screen the development for environmental and habitat impacts.

Mr France said if screening processes were deemed necessary the timescale for any consultation may take a further month.

A temporary mast would not be permanently tied down and may not last in winter conditions. Arqiuva has indicated after three months “another replacement replacement mast” may be required which it said would be subject to full planning permission.

‘Taking longer than we anticipated’

The meeting heard a second complication was that the mast had mobile phone equipment on it and people living and working in the area had been left with no signal. Members were told mobile phone operators were now searching for places to put a mast up.

A spokesman for Arqiva said as Bilsdale is a Site of Special Scientific Interest to replicate what is there would not be a simple task. He added:

“The legal process to secure appropriate access to the site to build the temporary mast is taking longer than we initially anticipated and as a result it will not be operational by this weekend as we’d hoped.

“We are making representations to the court as to the severity and the urgency of the situation, but we are in the hands of the judicial system currently.”