What role are the districts two MPs playing in this crisis? 

The Stray Ferret has tried to establish what role locally the district’s two MPs have played in the weeks since lockdown began – with little success.   

The House of Commons has been in recess since March 25th and is due to resume tomorrow, so neither has been required to be in Westminster.

A month ago at the start of lockdown the Harrogate and Knaresborough Conservative MP, Andrew Jones, announced he was launching a scheme to match people who were self-isolating with someone who could help them. He sent out 9,000 emails to constituents asking them if they needed support or if they could provide help – saying his team would help match them.  

Andrew Jones MP

Mr Jones has since kept a low profile about this work– with no detail on how his scheme is progressing or how he is supporting his constituency. Last week the Stray Ferret reported on how care homes are crying out for support from their local MPs to help them source PPE. We asked Mr Jones at the time if he wished to make a comment but he declined.  

In the absence of information, The Stray Ferret today contacted a number of the local volunteer networks and business organisations.  They told us Mr Jones has had no involvement in their work which some said had disappointed them. 

It’s a similar picture in Ripon:

Julian Smith MP

Julian Smith, conservative MP for Ripon and Skipton too has remained silent about his work locally. The Stray Ferret has tried to contact him on the telephone and has sent four emails to his office since March 18th, in which  we have sought his views on issues affecting his largely rural community.  Mr Smith has not responded. We have contacted coronavirus volunteer groups in the area and they said he has not been in touch. 

The Stray Ferret has looked into the work of other conservative MPs in Yorkshire by way of a comparison- a number have communicated more often and appear to be more openly involved in the issues their constituents are facing.

The Stray Ferret asked the district’s MPs these questions again earlier today:  

To Mr Jones:

To both MPs:

Neither MP has responded to our questions.

When the Nightingale Hospital opens tomorrow at the HCC, it’s likely Mr Jones will be present to thank those involved. What’s less clear is what work our elected MPs have done to support their constituents in the past month.  

 

What are other Yorkshire MPs doing to support constituents?

Since the outbreak of coronavirus in the UK, both MPs covering the Harrogate district have kept a low profile on social media and via their websites on work that they are doing in their constituency to help in the coronavirus crisis.

Andrew Jones, MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, has tweeted or shared other people’s tweets 16 times in the last month and posted 4 times on his website. His four website posts:

In addition, media reports show he:

Julian Smith, MP for Skipton and Ripon, has posted once on Facebook in the last month and has not added any news to his website since January. However, he has a page with links to government advice and support on coronavirus, and has tweeted just over 100 times since March 20th.

In addition, he is quoted in media reports about encouraging people to stay at home over the Easter weekend.

Neither MP responded to a request for details of their activities.

The Stray Ferret looked at other conservative MPs in the surrounding area for comparison:

Kevin Hollinrake, MP for Malton

Among his posts was the following: “I have written to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, calling for tougher measures to ensure that large firms pay their suppliers on time. The letter, which was also signed by 37 cross-party MPs and Members of the House of Lords, urges Mr Sunak to give the Small Business Commissioner the power to fine companies that consistently fail to pay suppliers on time and to make the Prompt Payment Code compulsory rather than voluntary for organisations with more than 250 employees.”

Above is one of his online business surgeries, posted to his Facebook page.

Andrew Percy, MP for Brigg and Goole

Mr Percy says he has been working with councillors to organise a support network and on April 14th formed the Brigg&Goole and Isle of Axholme Constituency Support Group

“I just wanted to assure residents that my team and I remain fully on hand to support residents at this time and we are receiving hundreds of emails, calls and facebook direct messages everyday. Whether it is constituents trapped overseas, questions about the lockdown guidelines or helping people struggling with employment, shopping or business concerns my team and I are doing what we can to help and will do throughout. I am also in close contact with the local hospitals and have been assisting them on a range of issues too. It you need our help we are available via Facebook, email or the office phones on 01405 767969 or 01652 650094.”

Andrea Jenkyns, MP for Morley and Outwood

 

2 more patients at Harrogate District Hospital have died of coronavirus

The latest deaths at Harrogate were recorded yesterday and bring the total at the district hospital to 32.  Across Yorkshire and the North East, a further 83 people have died. The figure across England was 482- a drop of 302 from Saturday.

NHS England said the patients who died were aged between 34 and 104 years old.  6 of them had no known underlying health condition.  These figures do not account for deaths outside the hospital of people who were not tested but died of suspected coronavirus.

Earlier this week, the hospital confirmed it had treated and discharged 51 patients so far. It also announced that the first patient had been discharged after treatment for coronavirus on a ventilator. Staff are understood to have applauded as the patient left the hospital.

We are really pleased to announce that our first patient who has been on a ventilator as a result of having COVID19 has today been discharged home. #COVID19 #OurNHSPeople

— Harrogate NHS FT (@HarrogateNHSFT) April 17, 2020

 

North Yorkshire County Council has funding gap of £50m to fight covid-19

North Yorkshire County Council says it welcomes a government announcement that an extra £1.6billion is to be allocated to local councils with the rapidly accelerating cost of fighting covid-19.

The council said its estimated costs for coronavirus showed that finances would be £65m worse than had been anticipated before the pandemic. Whilst £15m had been provided by government as additional grant, it left a shortfall of £50m.

The Leader of the county council, Carl Les said:

“We don’t yet know the size of this additional allocation for the County Council but this extra funding will undoubtedly help to bridge the gap. Nevertheless, we still face massive financial challenges and we estimated that the original allocation of £15m of grant for Covid-19 needed to be quadrupled to deal with the estimated costs.”

As well as financial strains,  the council has found it difficult to source a reliable supply of PPE.  The Stray Ferret has reported its appeal to schools and business to help and how care workers in the Harrogate district are feeling frightened and vulnerable.

Long Term Funding Gaps

Well before the crisis, the county council said,  there were real financial strains on the long term funding of adult social care and special educational needs. In a statement it said:

North Yorkshire’s financial planning has been dependent on nearly £62 million of temporary funding after the Council lost around £136 million in direct grants from government since 2011 when austerity began.

Together with the overall savings North Yorkshire has had to deliver and the rise in demand the council’s spending power has been reduced by 40 per cent.

Cllr Les said the whole council was pulling together to do everything it could during the crisis and called on the government for  “long -term partnership” through the crisis.

COLUMN: The head of Harrogate Grammar reflects on how “the world has changed”

This column is written for The Stray Ferret by Neil Renton, the Head Teacher of Harrogate Grammar School: 

The world has changed; the equilibrium has been disrupted. Within a period of three weeks we have effectively shut down our school and we are trying to see around all the different bends ahead of us and somewhere in the distance is a new equilibrium.

During the February break, I received a number of calls from a member of staff who was leading our ski trip to Northern Italy. A student had broken his wrist in a fall and we discussed how we would get him home as we felt he should be with his family and receive treatment from the NHS. The week after, our work on Coronavirus began as we received news of lockdowns, category 1 and 2 areas in Northern Italy. Some individuals who had been on the ski trip self-isolated, but we kept school open and we started to communicate about the virus, and stress the importance of washing hands. Things developed at a pace in the wider world and we then cancelled an exchange trip to Germany. Within a couple of weeks, we had reduced the number of year groups in school due to staff absence. Then, the Prime Minister announced that schools would close. As a result, our school population of over 2000 children and 300 staff on site was reduced to 15 students per day and a similar number of staff. We said our rushed goodbyes to Year 11 and Year 13. The rest of our school population were told to teach, learn and work from home.

            You are constantly learning when you lead an organisation and in my first year of Headship, I wasn’t expecting this. In the space of a short period of time, we have not only created a mini-school within our school for the children of key workers and vulnerable children, but also shifted all working practices online. This includes teaching and learning, line management, briefings and training. In the background, we have studied the financial impact, studied guidance on how students will be given centre assessed grades without sitting exams, set up systems to support families with free school meals and created new safeguarding policies for new ways of working. We have done this whilst staying positive, standing tall, but remembering to keep two metres apart. Leading in a period of rapid change, not surprisingly, creates new challenges and many unintended consequences.

            Many of those unintended consequences involve stories of acts of kindness and stories of resilience. One of our Sixth Form students left flowers on his neighbours’ doorsteps; my colleagues in the Design Faculty have pulled together, developing a prototype visor using the laser printer, before manufacturing 1000 visors, in a week, to help support with personal protective equipment for health professionals. I also like the story of one of our youngest students who gets dressed in their uniform every day so that they can keep a routine when they learn at home. I have a real sense of pride in how our whole community has responded to the many challenges that we have faced. These acts of kindness and the resilience of our community show real strength in a period when everyone is adapting in a moving equilibrium.

Our online routines start again this week, but I really hope we can return, safe and well, to school soon.

COLUMN: Harrogate retailers may not survive the months following lockdown

This column is written for The Stray Ferret by Bob Kennedy, Chair of the Harrogate BID (Business Improvement District) which aims to promote the town centre.  Mr Kennedy is the owner of G23 and Porters menswear stores in Harrogate. 

Where do we go from here?  This is the question on many retailers’ minds up and down the country. I’m an independent retailer with two shops in Harrogate and one in Ilkley. We have been trading our G23 and Porters stores in Harrogate since 1993 and so whilst I can only guess at the situation for the major national chains, I do believe I understand the independents problems and particularly in my home town of Harrogate.

Retail has been a struggle for many in Harrogate over the last few years. We can clearly see this with the likes of H&M, Topshop, Cath Kidson, Gap and now Jack Wills all deciding to leave, but what is causing this downturn in Harrogate’s fortunes?

There are many reasons nationally why high streets are struggling and these debates seem to go on and on with little being done to make the changes needed.

Some blame greedy landlords and this might have been the case in the past but in my experience landlords seem willing to talk now and are willing to negotiate new rental terms.

Then there’s the internet. We all know how easy it is particularly at Christmas to sit at home and order online but this is a big reason for the decline in footfall. If we want to have a lovely town centre we need to support the shops in the town centre. Ilkley is a great example of locals supporting the town.

Next up is car parking. Whether it’s expensive to park or not, car parking seems to be a real issue. People hate paying to park. They hate having to look at their watch and dash off before they get a ticket. As a retailer, it always amazes me that there are so many traffic wardens constantly patrolling Harrogate and so few police. It’s no wonder people choose to visit a retail park with free parking or shop online.

Lastly, retailers have been faced with crazy business rates over the last few years. The amount of money we have been paying the government / local authority over the last few years has been extortionate. I personally pay around £50’000 a year and in return receive nothing, they don’t even empty the bins!

So, how are the retailers of Harrogate going to fair after lockdown?

There’s no doubt that some will fold, collapse into administration before lockdown lifts but my worry is the six months after lockdown. Many will be able to survive during lockdown, after all, the landlords seem to be holding off and trying to share the burden, business rates have been cancelled until April 2021 and the government is giving 80% support to cover wages for staff on furlough. Suppliers to shops like mine are being fair, not pushing for payment and trying to find ways to support.

No, I think we will be fine for a few months of lockdown. The problem comes when we reopen.

Let’s hope that we eventually begin to see a decline in coronavirus and we can reopen our stores at the end of May.  It’s at this point we may have some problems.  Although restrictions will have been somewhat lifted, social distancing will still be advised and people will be wary of catching the virus. This will mean that footfall in shops will be severely down. Maybe only thirty to forty percent of the usual footfall pre coronavirus, but it’ll mean there’s much less money going through the tills. We’ll be open again so the patient suppliers will want paying for all their summer stock but we’ve not had a chance to sell it and they will want to deliver the Autumn ranges. The landlords will want paying, after all, you’re open, you’re trading. Lastly, your staff will be back at work and therefore there is no more support from the government to cover wages. All of this for possibly six months, with a reduced footfall of possibly thirty to forty percent. For many stores across the country this will not add up.

Support for the high street and your town centre has never been needed more. Organisations like the Harrogate BID are working hard to try and make Harrogate a great place to visit this Autumn but support from government, Harrogate Borough Council and the people of Harrogate is also needed. Without this we could see a very different looking Harrogate next year.

Questions over sudden departure of Harrogate council department head

Paul Campbell

Paul Campbell, Harrogate Borough Council’s gold commander for emergency planning, left his role suddenly at the end of March. HBC said he chose to leave on March 27th.

As Director of Community, Mr Campbell’s role for the past 3 and half years, had responsibility for a range of council services including housing, parks, waste and health and safety. The job has a salary of £89, 727 per annum.

Harrogate Borough Council said Mr Campbell’s departure did not affect its ability to respond to the crisis and issued a one line statement on how it proposes to cover the role:

The director of community role responsibilities have been shared by the other directors on an interim basis.

Mr Campbell had been the lead Director for last years controversial UCI cycling event which cost the council more than £600,000 and saw global audiences of more than 300 million but left many unhappy at the damage it caused to the Stray and the town’s retailers furious over its impact on trade.

Mr Campbell has not been available for comment. Someone who worked closely with Mr Campbell and wished not to be named told the Stray Ferret:

“After 3 and a half years Paul had seen so many budget cuts and cost saving reviews of waste services, the street cleaning service and the Parks Service, that I think he was planning to move on. I think he delayed it because he had the opportunity to work on the UCI championships and to establish the Council’s housing company and push up the level of affordable housing”

The council’s commercial housing company referred to is Bracewell Homes that was established a year ago. Mr Campbell had been a director- that role has now been taken by Trevor Watson, Director of Economy and Culture. The council said Bracewell had yet to sell any homes:

Bracewell Homes’ business plan to sell three homes in its first year of trading is largely on track but the coronavirus pandemic has impacted the completion of several property sales.

 

Daughter of woman in Harrogate care home says she had little information on a suspected coronavirus outbreak

86 year old Irene Hibberd has been a resident of Berwick Grange since December last year.

MHA,  the methodist charity which runs Berwick Grange, said the home has had   “a number of suspected coronavirus deaths” but would not give an exact number as residents had not been tested before they died.  The home is a specialist dementia unit.

Irene’s daughter, Hazel Ludwighodges, who is herself a carer and had previously worked at Berwick Grange,  said she became aware of the situation at the home a couple of weeks ago but was not officially told by the charity

” When I tried to get information I was told it wasn’t available to me and that if my mother was involved I would be told. I am not very happy about that to be honest, I know that the situation is very difficult at the moment but it would have been nice to have been told that there were suspected cases. Not to have been told distressed me a little.”

She was told that she would receive emails from MHA but hasn’t yet been sent any.

In a statement on the 10th April MHA said:

A small number of our homes have already been badly affected, although the extent to which these losses can be attributed to Covid-19 is debatable as our residents are not being tested. Without that testing, we may never know the true extent of outbreaks in our homes.

Our residents are a second family and this will take its toll on our teams as they sadly lose people they have cared for, in some cases for a number of years. We will make sure we care for our colleagues as well as our residents throughout all of this and would urge you to support us and our colleagues at this difficult time

Mrs Ludwighodges says she feels the level of care in Berwick Grange is good and does not blame the government for the lack of testing:

“I think the government is doing everything it can, it is doing a good job. I worry about my mother but you could say we should do some more but there’s only so much we can do.  These things happen. Carers have always been undervalued. Out of this crisis – it would be nice if carers are appreciated more. “

 

 

 

2 more deaths of coronavirus at Harrogate District Hospital

Todays figures show a further 79 people in Yorkshire and the North East, who tested positive to covid-19, have died – the two deaths at Harrogate District Hospital were recorded yesterday.  The figure for the region was lower than that of the Midlands, which saw the highest number of recorded daily deaths at 170, and the North West at 102. London was 158.

The total number of deaths at Harrogate hospital is now 24.

Public Health England’s Medical Director, Professor Yvonne Doyle, warned yesterday that while the number of people in hospital with coronavirus in London was stabilising, Yorkshire and the North East is an area “where pressure was building”.

Todays figures show that across England a further 667 people died from coronavirus, bringing the total number of confirmed reported deaths in hospitals to 10,261.

Patients were aged between 17 and 101 years old.  40 of them had no known underlying health condition.

These figures do not include deaths outside hospital, such as those in care homes.

One further death of coronavirus at Harrogate District Hospital

There has been one more coronavirus death at Harrogate NHS Foundation Trust in the latest information released by the NHS.

The patient died yesterday, Saturday April 11th, bringing the total number of deaths at the hospital to 22.

Nationally, NHS England has confirmed a further 657 fatalities today, Patients were aged between 26 and 100 years old.  42 of those patients (aged between 30 and 98 years old) had no known underlying health condition.

The number of confirmed deaths only covers those who were in hospital. Any deaths in the community, including care homes, are not counted.

No statistics have been released about the number of patients who have tested positive for coronavirus before recovering and being discharged from hospital.