Thomas Barrett, Author at The Stray Ferret

Government overturns council decision to refuse 149 homes in Harrogate

The government’s Planning Inspectorate has overturned a Harrogate Borough Council decision to refuse 149 homes on Kingsley Road near to Harrogate High School.

In August 2020, HBC’s planning committee voted by 10 to 1 to refuse the application because they said it would make already clogged roads in the area even worse.

At the time, councillors also agreed that a 1km walk to the nearest bus stop was not practical for elderly people or families carrying shopping.

Developer Richborough Estates appealed the decision which was overturned earlier this week.

An inspector from the Planning Inspectorate, the government agency that deals with appeals, said HBC councillors “behaved unreasonably” in reaching its conclusion. They also highlighted the fact the site was already designated for development within HBC’s Local Plan.

The inspector A M Nillson disagreed that the nearest bus stop was too far away for residents:

“I do not consider that future residents would be discouraged from accessing bus stops and local services and facilities on Knaresborough Road on foot.”

The council has also been ordered to pay the developer’s legal costs.

Local resident Gary Tremble from the Kingsley Ward Action Group criticised the decision to overturn the appeal. He said: “How can someone believe this is a sensible place to build housing?”.

Liberal Democrat councillor Pat Marsh, who sits on the planning committee and voted against the development, said she was “fuming” and “outraged” at the planning inspectorate’s decision.

A spokesperson for Richborough Estates said:

“The Planning Inspectorate has reviewed the appeal for land off Kingsley Road and decided in our favour.”

Chief Executive: Harrogate council job cuts possible due to covid

Throughout this week the Stray Ferret is publishing excerpts from an interview conducted with Harrogate Borough Council’s chief executive Wallace Sampson OBE.

In the final part of our interview, we asked Mr Sampson about the impact of the covid crisis:

Mr Sampson, the Stray Ferret has reported that the council faces a budget deficit of £10m due to covid. Are you preparing to have staff cuts?

It’s been a very challenging year financially and going into the coming financial year it’s going to continue.

Covid has affected us in a number of ways. Income has reduced from parking, leisure, Harrogate Convention Centre and trade waste.

Nevertheless, thanks to the fantastic efforts of staff across the organisation, we’ve been able to address the majority of these pressures through cost savings and containing expenditure.

We’ve also put a recruitment freeze in place across the organisation. We’ve gone out to recruitment for very few posts but we’ve instead used staff in services that we cannot do, such as leisure, and we’ve re-adopted them. We’ve made savings in the region of £2m and that’s been a massive help to us.

We’re probably going to be facing pressures into the next financial year. In answer to your question about losing jobs, we’ll probably adopt a similar approach to last year which was really successful.

Wherever possible, we’re going to avoid recruiting and we will limit spend to areas where spend is really necessary. We’ll see if that gives an opportunity to manage the budget rather than making any job reductions. The challenge with job reductions is the effect on services.

What do you say to residents who are worried about the council tax rise that was agreed last month?

HBC’s element of the council tax is relatively small in proportion to NYCC, fire and police. We charge £250 a year at band D whereas the NYCC element is £1,411. In the context of it, £250 for the year is relatively small.

If you look over the last decade, we’ve increased council tax by about 14% since 2010. It’s going to £250 in the coming year but we were at £220 10 years ago.

Historically, the borough council has got a good track record in being able to keep council tax rises low because we’ve looked at a range of efficiency and income generation opportunities. We use those mechanisms so we don’t have to pass on huge increases in council tax to the taxpayer.

Read more of Mr Sampson’s interview here:

What have been the hardest challenges for the council during the pandemic?

The biggest challenge for us was at the point we went into lockdown 12 months ago. It was a big transition for us as literally within the space of a couple of days we had to organise staff being able to work for home. That was a huge logistical exercise.

It was a slightly easier transition for us than other local authorities because we already had “agile working” in place, and that’s partly because of our move to the civic centre.

Very quickly we had to put in remote meetings. We were one of the first in the region to get those meetings in place so the democratic function could take place.

The most important thing was to put in place mechanisms to support businesses and the community. If you’ve looked at the reports that have come through to the cabinet over the last year you’ll get a sense of the pace we needed to work at and the scale of the operation we needed to put in place.

I have to say I’m really proud of the way council officers have responded, particularly within our economic development team and our business team who very quickly put in place mechanisms to pay the various covid grants that the government allocated to us.

I’m not exaggerating that many went above and beyond the call of duty and those businesses that received grants have been really grateful.

We’ve paid around 10,000 grants to about 5,000 businesses. In total, it’s about £60m in grants that have been paid out over the last 12 months.

The other side is the support we’ve given to the most vulnerable in our community. We’ve done a lot of work, as well with North Yorkshire County Council, to help people shielding because they’ve been clinically extremely vulnerable.

We’ve done something in the region of 20,000 calls to people shielding in that time. We’ve used the staff in our leisure department to do that work because facilities obviously been closed.

It’s been a really, really challenging year as a council but the standout is the way council staff from across the whole organisation have responded.

Harrogate Town trip to Wembley confirmed – but no fans allowed

Last season’s postponed FA Trophy final between Harrogate Town and Concord Rangers will take place behind closed doors at Wembley on May 3.

The fixture was postponed last year due to covid and fans had hoped it would be rearranged when fans were allowed back into stadiums.

However, the Football Association today confirmed the new date. It added a date later in the year was not available.

It means Town fans will be denied their first-ever trip to the home of English football for the second time in a year.

The club played last season’s National League play-off final in August at an empty Wembley stadium.

The game will be broadcast live on BT Sport.

Harrogate Town managing director Garry Plant said:

“We were hoping the date of the final would be further along the lockdown restrictions pathway so supporters could have been there with us.

“We had been pushing the FA for that to be the case, but have not been consulted and this date comes to us out of the blue.

“We are deeply sorry for supporters who again will not get the chance to join us at Wembley, however we will be doing all we can to make arrangements that include the supporters and allow them to enjoy the final.”

Harrogate council dismisses all complaints made against councillors last year

Harrogate Borough Council decided to take no further action against nine complaints that were made against parish and district councillors over the past year.

Council documents reveal a complaint against a parish councillor’s conduct on social media, as well as three others, were dismissed as they related to councillors’ behaviour in a private capacity.

Another complaint about “disrespectful terminology” used to describe another councillor’s comments during a debate was dismissed due to freedom of speech.

The report by Jennifer Norton, head of legal & governance, does not refer to any councillors by name but says five complaints were made against parish councillors and four were against district councillors.

The council has a legal duty to respond to complaints against councillors. When a complaint is made, it is investigated by the council’s “independent person”, Alan Mitcheson, alongside Ms Norton.

In 2019/20 there were 19 complaints made against councillors.

The Stray Ferret reported last year that several complaints were made against Cllr Ernie Butler, a parish councillor for Darley, after he made comments online where he called for a “White Lives Matter” protest.

Harrogate Borough Council said at the time that its code of conduct does not extend to social media comments made by councillors.

However, his comments were criticised by HBC council leader Richard Cooper. In a council meeting, he called Cllr Butler’s comments “deplorable and just really shocking.”

Harrogate’s Alexa House guest house sold

The Alexa House guest house on Ripon Road has been sold and is now expected to be converted into a home.

Sandra Doherty, the owner, said the Victorian property had been on the market for just five days before a buyer was found. It was sold for an undisclosed sum.

Ms Doherty said she was “delighted” to have sold the building, which she has owned for 15 years.

She recently had an application to convert the guest house into apartments refused by Harrogate Borough Council.

She said:

“Ninety-nine per cent of my guests were lovely and I had a lot of return visitors.”

Ms Doherty will soon step down from her role as chief executive of the Harrogate District Chamber of Commerce and retire to Northumberland.

Alexa House was built in 1896 by the renowned art collector Baron Conrad Adolphus du Bois de Ferrieres.

It was built as a hunting lodge for its London-based owners to spend time enjoying Harrogate’s spa and riding in the nearby countryside.

HBC chief executive defends civic centre figures

Throughout this week the Stray Ferret is publishing excerpts from an interview conducted with Harrogate Borough Council’s chief executive Wallace Sampson OBE.

Today’s section looks at the council’s new headquarters, the civic centre off King’s Road, which opened in November 2017.

A Stray Ferret investigation published last year revealed the total cost was in the region of £17m. This figure was disputed by HBC which says it cost £11.5m.

This is because HBC did not include the value of the council-owned land on which it was built, which local experts valued at at least £4.5m.

Mr Sampson, why didn’t the council factor in the cost of the land that it already owned when it published how much the building cost?

When we looked at embarking on the civic centre we ultimately decided to build on an existing site. It was for the council and councillors to ask what will be the cost of construction for the civic centre.

We presented that to councillors in order for them to make the decision which was based on the cost of construction which, as you know, was £11.5m.

The issue for councillors was, what was the overall gross cost for the construction of the civic centre for us to build it on our land? That was the important factor that featured in decision making and we delivered the building pretty much on budget.

The council developed an office accommodation project that was much more than building the civic centre. It was about how can we change and shape the way the council works and how can the council dispose of buildings that we no longer require to support the local economy. I think we’ve done that very successfully.

But wouldn’t it have been financially prudent for the council to sell the land that it already owned and build the offices elsewhere?

Once the decision was taken we then looked at the cost of construction on that site. That was the only consideration that the council needed to take. If you are looking to build the home, and you already own the land, you don’t factor in the cost of the land when you already own the land.

We undertook a thorough exercise for the various options. We looked at building elsewhere on our land or acquiring land. The preferred option ultimately came out was to build on one of our existing sites.

Are you preparing for the future of the building following reorganisation?

One benefit of having built the civic centre is we have a modern, fit-for-purpose building for flexible office space that is very energy efficient. It puts it in a really strong position, regardless of what happens with local government reorganisation. It ensures there is modern office space that’s available within the Harrogate district.

My own view is I don’t think local government reorganisation will affect the use of the civic centre. There will still be a requirement for office space within Harrogate to support whatever happens through local government reorganisation.

Harrogate has modern purpose-built offices with flexible use built with very high energy-efficient standards. It puts us in a really good position with local government reorganisation to ensure there are offices devoted to service delivery within Harrogate.

Are you hoping to work in the new local authority whatever that might be?

I’m very focused on supporting the council through these changes and we’ll have to see what happens.

Harrogate murder trial set for October

A murder trial following the death of Harrogate man Mark Wolsey will take place at Leeds Crown Court from October 18.

The date was set at a hearing at Leeds Crown Court this afternoon.

Daniel Liam Ainsley, 23, of no fixed abode, has been charged with the murder and is remanded in custody.

He spoke at the hearing only to confirm his name.

A pre-trial preparation hearing will take place in early April.

Mark Wolsey died on Friday at a flat on Mayfield Grove, Harrogate after sustaining serious injuries.

Read more:

Dramatic fall in number of covid patients at Harrogate hospital

The number of patients at Harrogate District Hospital with coronavirus has more than halved in a week.

Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust revealed today the hospital currently has 18 coronavirus patients compared with 42 last week — a reduction of 24.

At its peak, there were 67 people in the hospital with the virus and the number had remained stubbornly high in recent weeks despite the declining covid infection rate locally.

Amanda Bloor, accountable officer for North Yorkshire Clinical Commissio ning Group, told a press briefing today the current covid wave had been “long and hard” on hospital staff but that the situation was finally improving.

“The trend is very much in the downward direction and that’s very positive and where we want to see it.”

Ms Bloor also commented on the Harrogate Nightingale hospital, which NHS England confirmed this week will be decommissioned and returned to Harrogate Borough Council from next month.

She added:

“It’s the right time to stand the Nightingale down but we’re lucky we had it there.

“Throughout the last year, it’s been a vital insurance policy in our approach to managing covid.

“It also provided a valuable role supporting routine care as well as safe and fast access to CT scanning.”

Police issue covid fine warning to cyclists

Police have warned cyclists not to take their bikes on cars for rides in North Yorkshire — or they could be fined.

Superintendent Mike Walker, who leads the county’s police response to covid, told a press briefing this morning there had been an increase in the number of cyclists taking bikes on cars.

Speaking at North Yorkshire Local Resilience Forum, which co-ordinates the county’s response to covid, he said cyclists doing this were undermining efforts to tackle the spread of the disease.

Government guidance says exercise should be limited to once a day, and you should stay within your local area.

Superintendent Walker urged people not to travel from their village, town or city. He added:

“We will take positive action against those who choose to breach regulations and put safety and lives at risk.”

Superintendent Walker revealed that 10 covid fixed penalty notices were issued in the past week in the Harrogate district.

Twenty were issued in the previous seven days.

Harrogate driving instructors walk 1.3 million steps for local charity

Four Harrogate driving instructors are making the most of time off work by walking 1.3 million steps between them to raise money for local charity Frank’s Fund.

Jayne Sorrell, Katie Faircloth, Jaimie White and Chris Buck will walk a minimum of 11,000 steps each day individually throughout the month to reach their goal of £500 by March 31.

They will be raising money for Frank’s Fund, which is a Harrogate-based charity set up by the Ashton family after their son Frank died in 2019 of Ewing sarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer.

He lived in Harrogate with his family and beloved dog Barney and attended St Aidan’s Church of England High School.

Jayne Sorrell told the Stray Ferret that it’s a charity close to her heart:

“Ewing sarcoma is really badly funded and the outcomes are terrible. It’s the second biggest killer for children.”

The four driving instructors are members of the Harrogate Driving Instructors Association (HAADI) which every year chooses a different charity to raise money for.

Jayne and her fellow instructors are hoping to turn the negative experience of lockdown into a positive one through their mammoth walking effort.

She added:

“We tried to make something good out of not being able to work, and that’s what this walk is all about.”

To donate to the fundraiser click here.