North Yorkshire County Council’s trading standards department has been accused of not taking complaints about a Harrogate builder seriously.

Over a period of at least seven years, James Moss has set up and closed several new companies and has been ordered by the civil courts to pay tens of thousands to customers following multiple complaints of shoddy workmanship.

Yet trading standards, which has been aware of Moss since at least 2014, recently closed an investigation following a complaint due to a lack of evidence, which it said was “hampered” by the covid pandemic.

Trading Standards has the power to investigate cases that could ultimately result in a criminal record, fines, disqualification from acting as a director or even imprisonment.

People who have made complaints against Moss though to trading standards told the Stray Ferret that it could have acted against him years ago and spared a trail of misery for his customers.

2014: “Nothing happens”

Kev, who asked us not to use his surname, bought a fireplace from James Moss in Harrogate in 2014.

After the builder “made a mess of it”, the county court ordered Moss to repay some money back, which he has not received seven years later.

Kev said he complained to trading standards about Moss but was disheartened after the complaint went nowhere. He said “they didn’t seem to be bothered.”

Even though his dealings with Moss were many years ago, Kev said it was a stressful time for him and his wife who are still troubled by the experience today. 

He believes that if trading standards had taken tough action following his complaint in 2014, it could have prevented James Moss from trading by the courts.

“At the end of the day they have procedures, but nothing happens.”

2018: “Fobbed off”

In March 2018, four years on from Kev’s complaint, trading standards began an investigation into James Moss following a complaint from Karen Macgillivray-Fallis from Burton Leonard.

Ms Macgillivray-Fallis submitted her complaint after the builder left a garage conversion in such a state it had to be demolished.

But she has grown frustrated with the speed of their investigation into her case and says she felt “fobbed off” and “not taken seriously” by the department.

She said it took until September 2018 before she was even asked to submit a formal statement.

In October 2020 she received a letter from NYCC’s trading standards which said its investigation into Moss has been closed.

It had been exploring whether he had breached the Consumer Protection From Unfair Trading Regulation 2008 and the Fraud Act 2006 whilst working for Ms Macgillivray-Fallis.

The letter, which has been seen by the Stray Ferret, said it was closing the investigation due to a lack of evidence. It also blamed the covid crisis for hampering its inquiries, which Ms Macgillivray-Fallis said is not good enough.

She said:

“Using the pandemic as an excuse for inaction is a bit crass.”

“It’s just heartbreaking. I hate injustice.”

“Toothless tiger”

In the time that Ms Macgillivray-Fallis made her initial complaint to trading standards in 2018, others, including Gill Lawrence, Vicky Cooke and Anna McIntyre have all won civil cases against James Moss.

Moss has also set up eight new companies and dissolved five of them.

Last month, Ms Macgillivray-Fallis won her own case against Moss in the Harrogate small claims court when he was ordered to pay almost £10,000. 

Despite the civil courts ruling against Moss time and again, we are not aware of trading standards taking any firm action against the builder.

We spoke to one person who was so defeated after a previous experience with trading standards that he didn’t bother making a complaint after being unsatisfied with the quality of James Moss’s work.

He called the department a “toothless tiger”.

“A strong track record”

James Moss has always maintained his building work has been of good quality and has disputed some of the court claims against him. He told the Stray Ferret in November last year that he has ceased trading as a builder.

In a statement released to the Stray Ferret, Matt O’Neill, assistant director of growth, planning and trading standards, said he would not comment on individual cases but defended the department’s track record.

He said:

“Our trading standards service is determined in its enforcement work, not only to protect the residents of North Yorkshire as consumers, but also to ensure a level playing field for the many legitimate businesses in the county.

“The service receives about 7,000 complaints from consumers each year. Officers assess these to determine which should be investigated. Following an investigation, enforcement may range from advice and guidance to prosecution and confiscation or forfeiture of assets following conviction.

“In deciding whether to prosecute, the service must first be satisfied that there is sufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction. A decision to prosecute is not taken lightly. Prosecution is a serious step with considerable repercussions for those who face criminal charges.

“The service has a strong track record. For example, a joint operation with colleagues from other agencies last year saw the courts order offenders to give up £140,000 in proceeds from their crimes to compensate their victims.

“There are occasions when the standard of businesses’ work does not meet consumers’ expectations. This is not acceptable and consumers could take action in the civil courts for breach of contract. However, such conduct would not necessarily amount to a practice over which the trading standards service could take action.

“Equally, businesses sometimes fail. This is recognised in law, with provision for the management of bankruptcy and insolvency. A business failure alone will not amount to conduct about which the trading standards service could take action. The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has a remit to investigate sole traders and companies that have acted illegally in relation to the formation or solvency of trading entities.”

Thieves appear to have stolen an ATM machine at the Co-Op petrol station on Wetherby Road in Knaresborough.

The incident is believed to have taken place during the early hours of the morning today.

A resident who lives nearby posted on a Knaresborough Facebook group to say he was awoken by a loud bang at 3am.

It seems the thieves managed to ripped out the ATM and escape with the money.

The petrol station was taped off by police earlier today but is now back open.

The Stray Ferret has asked North Yorkshire Police for details but has not received a response.

Read more: 

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• Knaresborough vaccine site prepares to give 10,000 jabs a week

The former Home Guard club on the corner of Tower Street and Belford Road in Harrogate has been put on the market for £500,000.

Property agent Feather, Smailes, Scales says the 2,700 square foot building near St Peter’s School is in need of extensive repair but could be refurbished and turned into housing or retail space.

It also suggests the building could be demolished and rebuilt, if planners allow it.

Simon Croft, from Feather, Smailes, Scales said the former social club is in a “sorry state” but has the potential to be redeveloped.

He said:

“The building could become what someone would think would work best economically and prevent it from being an eyesore.”

Read more:

• History: Remembering Debenham’s, Busby’s and Buckley’s

• Harrogate town centre cleaned ready for return of retail

Home Guard members played snooker at the club.

There have been two planning applications in recent years to demolish the building and build four flats in its place, but they were both withdrawn. Objections were raised from both the Ancient Monuments Society and Harrogate Civic Society.

Harrogate historian Malcolm Neesam told the Stray Ferret that the building has historical importance to Harrogate. It was originally the town’s second hospital from 1873 until 1883 before being used as Harrogate’s first custom-built Masonic Hall.

It was also where Harrogate’s Crimean War hero Sgt Major Robert Johnston died.

With the advent of the Second World War in 1939, the local Home Guard began using the building as a social club to relax with a drink and play snooker.

Since 1987, the ground floor has been used by various businesses including Sweet Tooth Munchies.

According to a letter from a former Home Guard club member that is contained within planning documents, the club was forced to disband and close the venue in 2015 because it did not have enough money to repair a leaking roof.

Hopes are rising for a Harrogate Town appearance at Wembley this year — and this time fans might be able to watch.

Three wins on the bounce have pushed the club up the League Two table and they are now just four points off the play-offs.

The government has said that up to 10,000 fans can return to stadiums from the middle of May. The play-off final is set to be held at Wembley on the weekend of May 29-31.

Town are also in the final of last season’s postponed FA Trophy against Concord Rangers, which will also be held at Wembley, with the FA keen to see the fixture played once fans can return.

Jordan Ford, from the Harrogate Town Supporter’s Club, said fans are starting to dream of making the trip to Wembley after they were cruelly denied the experience last season.

He said:

“I’m not getting carried away yet but anything can happen. We’ve shown that over the last two seasons and there is no reason why we can’t get promoted. We’re mixing it with some big teams.”

Read more:

• Harrogate Town submits plan for new ticket office and turnstiles
• Harrogate Town game postponed due to frozen pitch

Town beat Barrow 1-0 last night and Mr Ford said recent shrewd signings had given Simon Weaver’s squad the strength in depth to compete at this level.

Besides some matches in December when tier two rules allowed about 500 fans to watch games at Wetherby Road, supporters have been forced to watch games via an online stream this season.

In normal times, Mr Ford organises coach trips for fans to away fixtures around the country. He hopes to be able to resume this from next season.

As fans have been starved of the experience of travelling to new grounds, trips to the likes of Bolton, Tranmere and Walsall could be seen as glamorous for a club that is used to playing less illustrious non-league opponents.

He added:

“It’s about getting up at 5am and getting a taxi to the ground to get on the bus. We’re missing exploring these new grounds.”

Health Secretary Matt Hancock has praised the speed of the covid vaccination rollout in the Harrogate district.

Responding to a question in the House of Commons yesterday from Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Andrew Jones, Mr Hancock said health staff in the district had done an “amazing job” delivering the vaccine.

He said it meant Harrogate had a higher number of residents vaccinated than the national average.

Mr Hancock said:

“May I put on the record my thanks to the team in Harrogate, who have done an amazing job vaccinating over 30,000 people — more than the national average, if my memory serves me correctly?

“I thank my honourable friend for his leadership in Harrogate and for supporting the team there to make this happen.”

Mr Jones had asked if the UK was on track to give everyone their second dose of the vaccine within 12 weeks of the first. Mr Hancock said it was.

Read more:

• Great Yorkshire Showground can give 1,800 vaccines in a day
• Harrogate district vaccine boost as over 50s prepare for jab

Data published last week by NHS England revealed that 48,000 people in the Harrogate district have now received one of the approved vaccines.

Harrogate, Ripon, and now Knaresborough, all have vaccination sites.

In an interview with the Stray Ferret, Dr Chris Preece, a GP partner in Boroughbridge and Knaresborough, said that Harrogate’s Great Yorkshire Showground site was able to carry out up to 1,800 vaccinations a day.

Residents in Rossett Green, Harrogate have expressed frustration at their local councillor for not explaining why he abstained to vote on a sensitive housing application.

In January, Harrogate Borough Council‘s planning committee gave developer Berkeley DeVeer final approval to build 14 homes on land at Rossett Green Lane.

The vote was passed by six votes to five.

Cllr John Mann, a Conservative who chairs the planning committee and whose Harrogate Pannal ward includes the Rossett Green site, abstained.

If the votes were tied, Cllr Mann as chair would have had the casting vote.

Local resident David Thompson said Cllr Mann has not responded to emails from at least six different people asking why he declined to vote.

He said:

“Residents were gobsmacked that he abstained. How can you not have an opinion on this?

“The fact he’s point-blank ignored our requests to know why he did vote this way is hardly the proper actions of an elected representative”.

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• Housing developments could have been stopped earlier

The application has a sensitive history. Harrogate Borough Council initially refused the plans in November 2016. A council document explaining the reason for refusal said it would “lead to an erosion of the rural character” of this part of Harrogate.

The decision was then overturned on appeal despite 37 objections. Many objections claimed the development would have a negative impact on the area.

The Stray Ferret called Cllr Mann but just after we explained what the call was about he said there was a poor reception and the line then went dead.

We called again but he did not answer so we left a message, which has not been returned. The council press office said it was a matter for Mr Mann.

Pinewoods Conservation Group is rallying support once again to prevent Harrogate Spring Water from expanding its bottling plant into Rotary Wood.

The water company, which is now owned by multinational firm Danone, was granted outline planning permission in 2017 to expand into Rotary Wood in the Pinewoods.

Danone recently bid to vary the terms of this by increasing the size of the bottling plant into the woodlands. Harrogate’s planning committee rejected this in January after almost 400 people objected.

Many objectors were jubilant at the outcome but the original outline permission in 2017 still applies.

Pinewoods Conservation Group now suspects it will be brought back to the council’s planning committee before May and warns that, if approved, will result in “massive ecological loss”.

Although it has outline permission, Danone would need to go through a second stage of the application process, known as reserved matters, to ratify details such as the appearance of the bottling plant and the felling of trees in Rotary Wood.

Read more:

• Pinewoods tree protestor to resume vigil
• Rotary Wood ‘remains at risk’, say Pinewoods group

A document prepared on behalf of Danone last year said the reserved matters application “is committed to retaining where possible as many trees on-site and relocating others”.

It adds that additional trees will be planted within Rotary Wood to replace those that would be lost.

A spokesman for Pinewoods Conservation Group, however, described the application as a “massive backwards step” from the one that was refused in January. He added:

“There is no offer of any compensatory land. That is a massive backwards step from the previous rejected application.

“If approved, this would result in a massive ecological loss for Harrogate and the Pinewoods. As such we are encouraging our members and supporters to formally object to this application as soon as possible.”

Harrogate Spring Water declined to comment.

Every month the Stray Ferret tries to find out what our local MPs have been up to in their constituencies and in the House of Commons.

In February the vaccination programme galloped ahead and prime minister Boris Johnson announced the UK’s roadmap out of lockdown.

We asked the district’s Conservative MPs- Harrogate & Knaresborough’s Andrew Jones, Ripon’s Julian Smith, and Selby and Ainsty’s Nigel Adams if they would like to highlight anything in particular that they have been doing this month, but we did not receive a response from any of them.

Here is what we know after analysing their online presence.

Andrew Jones, Conservative Harrogate and Knaresborough MP.

In Harrogate and Knaresborough, here is what we found on Mr Jones:

• The MP published his annual report for 2020 which included facts and figures related to his last year in office. He wrote on his website that many copies had been emailed rather than posted as he “does not believe volunteer political leaflet delivery is an essential journey”.
• On February 2 Andrew Jones called for a debate in parliament about the conference industry after seeing the “real hardship” his constituents have faced.
• On February 12 Mr Jones wrote on his website that by that point 175,000 vaccinations had been delivered in North Yorkshire and York.
• Mr Jones chaired a Parliamentary Export Programme webinar, which included a talk from Greg Hatton from Harrogate Spring Water. ‘Exporting is fun!’, the MP told participants.
• On February 24, The MP voted down an amendment to the Fire Safety Bill which would have banned leaseholders from being forced to pay for cladding remediation works.
• Writing on his website on February 22, Mr Jones praised the government for the vaccination rollout. He wrote: “Although locked down with our everyday lives much restricted there is a palpable sense of relief in the air.”

Read more:

• Harrogate district MPs claim £536,000 in expenses last year
• MPs watch 2020: the year of coronavirus, Brexit and free school meals

Conservative Julian Smith, MP for Ripon and Skipton.

In Ripon, here is what we found on Mr Smith:

• At PMQs on February 10, Mr Smith asked prime minister Boris Johnson how the UK’s vaccine supply chain will cope if the virus mutates. In his response, Mr Johnson said the UK is going to have to get used to the idea of vaccinating and then revaccinating in the autumn as it faces new variants.
• 7 of Mr Smith’s 11 tweets in February were related to Northern Ireland. February 13 marks a year since he was sacked by the prime minister as Northern Ireland secretary.
• Mr Smith announced on Twitter that his father-in-law has gifted him and his wife an ‘aphrodisiac themed’ take away meal to be delivered on Valentine’s Day.
• The MP asked people in Ripon to contribute to a consultation on flood defences following Storm Cristophe.
• On his Facebook page, he said the £60m scheme to improve the Kex Gill section of the A59 was “brilliant news” for Skipton and Ripon.

Nigel Adams, Conservative MP for Selby and Ainsty which includes rural Harrogate.

In rural south Harrogate, he is what we found on Mr Adams:

• The Minister for Asia twice summoned the Myanmar ambassador Kyaw Zwar Minn to his office following the country’s military coup earlier this month. On February 23 he tweeted: “The increasing use of violence & force against protesters by the security forces is completely reprehensible & must stop”.
• Mr Adams paid tribute to Captain Tom Moore following his death at the age of 100. He wrote: “RIP. A true British hero”.
• The MP praised the BBC for showing a film of the rock band Muse. “Fantastic”, he tweeted.
• In written ministerial answers, Mr Adams discussed foreign powers and fake news. He wrote: “We know that certain states routinely use disinformation as a foreign policy tool and we all have our doubts about the objectivity of the reporting of RT, including through their UK television channel, which remains a tool of propaganda for the Russian State.”

Despite the spectre of a 3000-home “new settlement” eventually being built around Green Hammerton, a smaller application for 80 homes has arguably attracted just as much anger in the village.

Leeds-based developer Loxley Homes was granted outline planning permission to build the homes in January 2019 and the council’s planning committee is expected to consider a reserved matters application, that deals with the design and layout of the site, next month.

The homes would be built on Green Hills, an agricultural field that rises above the village and out towards York, where you can even see York Minster on a sunny day.

The original application received over 250 objections, more than the number of homes in Green Hammerton itself.

The plans also received an objection from Historic England who said the views towards York’s skyline are some of Green Hammerton’s “most precious but fragile qualities.”

Chris Chelton, founder of the Keep Green Hammerton Green campaign group said the homes will leave a “horrendous legacy” for villagers.

He said:

“The site stands out like a sore thumb and will project out on village on the hill to York. It’s an absolute travesty.”

Read more:

• Green Hammerton gets final approval for 3,000-home settlement

• Flaxby vs Green Hammerton: the saga so far…

After Harrogate Borough Council chose the area around Green Hammerton for a major expansion of housing in the district, ahead of Flaxby, the village has become synonymous with development.

The new homes could eventually see the village grow from 675 people to over 10,000.

Mr Chelton said it rankles that the Loxley scheme was granted outline permission during the years when Harrogate had no Local Plan, which he said “condemned” Green Hammerton to its current fate.

During that time, councillors say they were “forced” to approve major developments to boost housing numbers.

In November last year, villagers in Green Hammerton were encouraged after a HBC planning committee refused a reserved matters application in another historic village — Spofforth.

Like the Loxley proposal, the developer had outline planning permission but councillors agreed that the proposals in Spofforth would turn the historic village into a “carbuncle of urban sprawl”.

Loxley Homes was approached several times for comment but has not responded.

The Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival will take place this year in person, after being forced online in 2020.

The festival is one of the most popular events on Harrogate International Festivals‘ calendar and organisers are confident it will be able to happen after the government said all covid restrictions could be lifted from June 21.

This year’s edition is set to take place from July 22-25 at the Old Swan Hotel.

It will celebrate all forms of crime fiction, with a programme curated by programming chair Ian Rankin alongside the festival committee and the Harrogate International Festivals team.

Sharon Canavar, chief executive of Harrogate International Festivals, said:

“We are adapting and evolving our plans to be able to deliver a safe and agile festival in line with the government regulations at the time, with additional safety measures where necessary, whilst also ensuring the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival retains the iconic feel that has ensured its place as the most successful crime writing festival in the world.

“We remain optimistic about the year ahead and, like people across the UK, we are very much looking forward to the return of live events.”

Read more:

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• Pinewoods Conservation – more than just a pressure group

Festival-goers can expect a range of live author talks, panels and special guests, as well as some hybrid events to ensure that audiences who are unable to travel can access the festival.

Over 80% of early ticket bookers for the 2020 festival have already transferred their tickets to 2021.

The full author line-up, and news on when tickets are on sale, will be announced in the coming months.