Christian prayers at Harrogate council ‘exclusionary’

Harrogate Borough Council’s practice of reading Christian prayers before meetings is exclusionary to people of other faiths, says the National Secular Society.

When the full council meets, the mayor’s chaplain Rev Michael Gisbourne leads a Christian prayer before it begins, as he did when councillors met virtually last week. The prayer began by saying: “Lord our God from whom all wisdom and understanding comes.”

Except for a brief spell in 2015, HBC has been holding Christian prayer before meetings since the council’s inception in 1974.

But Judy Audaer, who is a member of the National Secular Society’s council and was brought up in Harrogate, says HBC should stop the practice for good.

She told the Stray Ferret:

“By holding prayers, HBC imposes religious worship on people there and gives out a message that they are excluding people who don’t wish to be involved in prayer. At a time when we are trying to increase diversity, it gives out the wrong message. Prayers should have absolutely no part in council business.

“Why does HBC lack diversity? Perhaps because people are getting the message that it’s a set up for Christian people. Harrogate hasn’t got an enormous ethnic minority population, but you would want to see more diversity, and this really doesn’t help if they feel they have to participate in Christian worship at the start of proceedings.”

According to the latest census in 2011, 68.6% of the population in the Harrogate district identify as a Christian, 22.5% as having no religion, 0.4% Muslim, 0.3% Buddhist, 0.2% Jewish, 0.1% Hindu, 0.1% Agnostic and 0.1% Sikh.

The majority of councils hold Christian prayer before meetings, as does the House of Commons and House of Lords.

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In 2015, the government passed a law that gives councils the right to hold prayer before meetings, but the practice has been controversial in some places, with North Somerset Council dropping it last year because “it does not give a voice to our wider community”.

Liberal Democrat councillor for Harrogate Fairfax, Chris Aldred, told the Stray Ferret that Christian prayer is a tradition the council should keep:

“I know many people see it as an anachronism, but I actually think traditions survive for a reason and if it does a little good and no harm should be continued. I am often thankful for these few moments of calm and reflection prior to what are sometimes argumentative and heated debates.”

A spokesman for Harrogate Borough Council said:

“The Local Government (Religious Observances Act) 2015 allows councils to hold prayers at the start of meetings. Councillors and members of the public are not expected to participate and are free to leave the council chamber or remote meeting during the saying of prayers.”

Plastic bottle protest against Harrogate Spring Water’s Pinewoods plans

Environmental campaigners are collecting messages in used plastic water bottles to protest against Harrogate Spring Water’s plans to expand into the Pinewoods.

Trees in the area of Pinewoods known as Rotary Wood, which were planted by families in 2015, would be felled as part of a bid by Harrogate Spring Water’s parent company Danone to expand its bottling plant.

A coalition of groups has opposed the plans because they fear Danone’s plans to compendate for the loss of trees are inadequate.

Two of the groups — Harrogate and District Green Party and Extinction Rebellion — have now collected about 100 messages in bottles, which will be delivered to Harrogate Borough Council before a crunch planning decision on the proposals next month.

James Smith, from Extinction Rebellion Harrogate, called on the council to refuse the plans:

“Local residents have welcomed the opportunity to express their frustration with these proposals to take away community woodland and replace it with more plastic waste.

“People understand that our wildlife is declining and that our environment is increasingly polluted – and they want to be part of the change. We need the council to get on board with the community.”

Green Party and Extinction Rebellion members will be in Valley Gardens, near the play area, on Saturday from 10-30am to 12.30pm to collect more messages from the public.

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Local groups have met with Danone twice over the past month but are yet to reach an agreement on where to plant trees to replace ones that would be lost.

The groups include Harrogate Civic Society, Harrogate and District Green Party, Pinewoods Conservation Group, Zero Carbon Harrogate, the Rotary Club of Harrogate and Duchy Residents’ Association.

 

Sneak peek: authentic Neapolitan pizzeria in Harrogate

A new independent pizzeria that specialises in Neapolitan sourdough bases will open in Harrogate later this month.

Pizza Social will open on Mount Parade, next door to North Bar and near to Harrogate Theatre, and will add to a growing list of venues in the town offering a slice of Italy’s most famous export.

Will Pemberton, who has been a chef for over 16 years including a spell as a tutor at Bettys Cookery School, decided to start making pizza during a drinking session at the Harewood Arms in Folifoot.

He started selling pizzas from a gazebo outside the pub “as a laugh” but as word of mouth spread, he was so successful he ended up regularly shifting 200 a night.

A Pizza Social pizza.

He since kitted out a horsebox with a pizza oven, to sell pizza at weddings, festivals and events across Yorkshire.

The next step was a bricks and mortar venue, and since moving into a former Christian book shop in October, it’s been all go preparing for launch.

He said:

“Pizza has always been popular but now more than ever. We’ll follow Neapolitan traditions to make the sourdough, which takes about two days. It’s a labour of love.”

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Everything in Pizza Social is made in-house with all bases being made with sourdough, which has a fluffy crust and a thin base. Will says sourdough is lighter on the stomach than other bases.

There will also be vegan pizzas on the menu and potentially gluten-free options in the future.

For added authenticity, Pizza Social will source the best flour, tomatoes and cheese from Italy – combined with local Yorkshire ingredients.

There will be space for 20 diners inside and 20 more on tables outside. It will offer takeaway but as collection only for now.

Will is excited to expand his business.

He said:

“Opening a restaurant is a ballsy thing to do but if we can make it a success now, we can make it anytime, with the support of the Harrogate public.”

Three Harrogate cycling schemes to share £1m government funding

Three new walking and cycling schemes in Harrogate could potentially get the go-ahead after the government announced over £1m in funding.

North Yorkshire County Council has accepted the grant as part of a five-year, £2 billion programme by the Department for Transport to improve walking and cycling infrastructure.

£1,011,750 has been awarded to NYCC in total, which will go towards three schemes in Harrogate plus one in Whitby.

The schemes under consideration in Harrogate are:

In a statement the council said it will now consult with local residents and stakeholders before deciding which schemes can be taken forward “within the available budget and timescales.”

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NYCC’s councillor Don Mackenzie, executive member for access, said:

“The grant awarded to us by the DfT comes with strict conditions. The schemes need to be delivered quickly, should reallocate road space from vehicles in favour of cyclists and pedestrians, and offer alternatives to existing, well-used bus routes.

“All 300 schemes put forward by organisations and members of the public were assessed within the limitations of timescale and cost. Many exceeded by large margins the amount of funding available.

“Following these assessments, those schemes which were most suitable were included in our bid. Whilst this meant that a number of very worthwhile proposals had to be omitted this time, we are confident that there will be many more funding opportunities for them in future.”

Funding for the programme has been released in phases. The county council made a second bid for £1 million worth of funding in August amid criticism it was not ambitious enough in the first phase.

In the first wave of emergency funding, the authority received £133,000 from government – half the potential amount available.

County council to build 20 homes in Pateley Bridge

North Yorkshire County Council’s housing company has been granted planning permission to build 20 homes in Pateley Bridge.

The council-owned former Highways Depot on Millfield Street will be demolished to make way for the development, which will be called Millwright Park.

It will include six two-bedroom, two three-bedroom and 12 four-bedroom properties.

The homes will all have an electric vehicle charging point and will include 37 car parking spaces in total.

Four of the homes will be classed as affordable, which has received criticism.

Because the depot was derelict, Brierley Homes was able to use a Vacant Building Credit (VBC) to reduce the number of affordable homes in the development from five to four.

The VBC is a planning mechanism to encourage developers to bring vacant properties back into use and can be used to reduce the number of affordable homes.

Pateley Bridge Town Council submitted an objection to the plans, saying the homes will be out of reach for young people.

“The council considers that this is a one-off opportunity for NYCC to provide accommodation for local people, particularly the young who often cannot afford to live where they have been brought up, and have to move away, which inevitably changes the demographics of the town.

“On what is in effect public land, NYCC are selling it to their own development company at the expense of providing badly needed affordable and social housing for local people.”

Karl Battersby, chairman of Brierley Homes, said:

“We are delighted that Harrogate Borough Council has approved our scheme for 20 new Brierley Homes at Millfield Street in the heart of Pateley Bridge. The development on the former highways depot will bring back into use this important brownfield site.

“The scheme includes four affordable homes, which complies with Harrogate Local Plan policy. On completion, these homes will be transferred to a local housing association.

“The homes will be energy efficient thanks to a timber frame, electric car charging point and low-energy appliances. They will be built in stone with quality finishes and come with a ten-year NHBC Buildmark warranty.”

Construction on the homes will begin early next year.

The site in Pateley Bridge was originally a railway depot for the defunct Nidderdale Valley Light Railway, before being used by the council from the mid-1950s.

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The former depot is highlighted in red.

Brierley Homes was established in 2017 by North Yorkshire County Council. All profits are used to support frontline council services in the county.

Last month, Brierley Homes was granted planning permission to demolish its Woodfield House care home in Harrogate to build 20 new homes.

The council received criticism from Harrogate Civic Society because none of the homes will be classed as affordable, after Brierley applied for a Vacant Building Credit.

Ripon nature reserve gets £132,000 government boost

The Lower Ure Conservation Trust has received a £132,800 government grant to enhance the wildlife of the Nosterfield Nature Reserve.

The 250-acre nature reserve at Nosterfield is in the Swale/Ure Washlands near to Ripon and Masham.

In a survey conducted two years ago more than 1,100 species of animals, birds, insects and plants were recorded on the former quarry in a single 24-hour period. The trust says this makes it one of the most wildlife-rich areas of the country.

Sand and gravel were produced from a former quarry until the late 1980s. It was designated a reserve in 2001.

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The money comes from the government’s £40m Green Recovery Challenge Fund, announced yesterday.

The LUCT’s director Simon Warwick said it will “significantly increase” the scale of the trust’s work and help protect the nature reserve’s wildlife.

Mr Warwick said:

“We know that many of the wetland habitats that existed in North Yorkshire two and three hundred years ago are now very rare. Many of the meadows and mires that existed in abundance have been obliterated.

“Land has been drained and dug up.  We are recreating some of those habits here at Nosterfield and this grant will help to significantly increase the scale of our work.”

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

The long-running saga over where to build a 3,000-home settlement in the Harrogate district appears to be over, with Green Hammerton selected ahead of Flaxby.

Harrogate Borough Council last night voted to adopt its Local Plan, the planning blueprint for the district, which includes Green Hammerton as the site of the new settlement.

It was the second time the council voted on the matter, after a High Court judge last month ordered it to do so again.

Just like last time, the full council voted in favour of Green Hammerton, this time by a near-unanimous decision.

This appears to have ended any hopes of building at Flaxby, near the A1.

Nick Brown, Conservative councillor for Bishop Monkton and Newby, was the only person to vote against the recommendation.

Cllr Brown said he felt Flaxby was a more sustainable option and he would therefore vote against the Local Plan. He said:

“Flaxby is the best site still, and I feel saddened for the thousands of residents in Green Hammerton who will be so badly and necessarily affected by the new town site.”

Norman Waller, Conservative councillor for Marston Moor, abstained.

High Court battle

Mr Justice Holgate ordered the re-vote after a three-day judicial review between the council and Flaxby Park Ltd, which planned to build on the former Flaxby golf course.

The judge ruled in the council’s favour by saying the decision to select Green Hammerton did not have to be made again.

But he said the council had to vote again to adopt its Local Plan after considering a report known as a strategic environmental assessment, which was not put before the full council when the plan was first adopted in March 2020.

The judge said this “legal flaw” invalidated the adoption of the Local Plan.

Before the vote, cabinet member for planning councillor Tim Myatt conceded that Flaxby Park Ltd “landed a punch” on the issue of the strategic environmental assessment, but he added it was a “procedural error” that could be rectified.

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He said he hoped councillors “share my regret” that they were being asked to vote on the Local Plan again, after less than a year.

He added:

“The reason we are here is simple. A site developer was unsuccessful with a proposal for a new settlement in the district.

“When the planning inspector didn’t provide the result they wanted, they went to a judicial review to try and quash the new settlement policies within the plan. If that had happened our Local Plan would have fallen in total.

“The Local Plan process was a long and complicated one. Many controversial decisions about where homes would be built had to be made. There were few easy decisions.

“Across the district, we’ve seen the impact of not having a plan can have, but that does not mean getting an agreement on a plan is or was easy.”

Now councillors are satisfied the report would not have affected their decision to choose Green Hammerton over Flaxby, it should finally put to bed the question of where the new settlement will be built.

A public consultation on options for the Green Hammerton / Cattal settlement will run until January 22.

 

Harrogate builder James Moss in court

A judge has adjourned a civil claim against Harrogate builder James Moss, after he told the court he was self-isolating.

Karen Macgillvray-Fallis says she paid Mr Moss over £30,000 to convert a garage in Burton Leonard into a living space for her mother-in-law, but she was not happy with the quality of the work.

Ms Macgillvray-Fallis is claiming £9,996 through the small claims court, which is close to the maximum threshold of £10,000.

At Harrogate Justice Centre, Judge Ross attempted to proceed with the case against Mr Moss via a hybrid hearing, which would involve him defending himself via telephone.

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Ms Macgillvray-Fallis is suing James Moss, trading as Yorkshire Outdoor Design, but Mr Moss told the judge he was only an employee of the company, whose sole director was his wife, Paula Moss.

He also claimed that building control signed the work off, which Ms Macgillvray-Fallis disputed.

However, as proceedings continued Mr Moss repeatedly told the judge that the telephone line was poor and he was unable to hear what was going on in the court, which forced Judge Ross to adjourn the case until January.

Andrew Jones MP calls for HS2 work to start in Yorkshire

Andrew Jones MP asked Prime Minister Boris Johnson today if the government would consider starting construction of the Birmingham to Leeds section of HS2 in Yorkshire.

Mr Jones, the Conservative MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, said starting work on the high speed rail link in the north would be “good for jobs, connectivity to the Midlands and help drive up the levelling up agenda”.

Speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions today, Mr Jones began by hailing the 60th anniversary of TV soap Coronation Street, calling it “an amazing landmark, so congratulations to it”.

He then added that infrastructure promises for the north had gone on for “just as long”.

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Mr Johnson praised Mr Jones, a former rail minister, as a “big expert in this field and a great campaigner for transport”.

However, he stopped short of agreeing to his request. He said:

“I’ve asked the National Infrastructure Commission and Network Rail to look at how the eastern leg of HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail can boost the economy for the north.”

Construction work for phase 1 of the high speed rail link, from London to Birmingham, began in September.

Work on the 198 kilometre second leg from Birmingham to Leeds has yet to begin. It is estimated to be completed between 2035 and 2040.

Plans for the Birmingham to Leeds section have been paused while the government draws up an integrated rail plan for the north and Midlands. The plan was expected before the end of 2020.

This pause raised questions about the future of the route, with former Labour transport minister Andrew Adonis tweeting in October that the eastern leg will “probably not now go ahead”.

 

Thousands of new trees could be planted in Harrogate

Thousands of new trees could be planted in the Harrogate district after the government earmarked £3.7m for the new White Rose Forest.

The White Rose Forest is one of 10 community forests being created in England. It will span north and west Yorkshire.

The funding will enable 218 hectares of trees to be planted — but specific details on how much of the new tree coverage will fall within our district are yet to be announced.

The White Rose Forest will consist of pockets of woodland rather than huge expanses and is part of the government’s commitment to increase UK tree planting to 30,000 hectares a year by 2025.

A Harrogate Borough Council report in September identified 17.2 acres of council-owned land that could potentially be used to plant trees for the White Rose Forest.

It consisted of 14 hectares of land on either side of the Bilton to Ripley cycleway and 3.2 hectares of land next to Conyngham Hall in Knaresborough.

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The average woodland cover in Europe is about 36%. In the UK the average is 12%. In the Harrogate district and the Yorkshire Dales the figure is 8%.

Landowners within the White Rose Forest area have been invited to apply for grants, incentives and support to create woodlands on their land.

The first White Rose Forest trees were planted in the Harrogate district last year in Nidderdale by the Rotary Club of Harrogate, Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and Ashville College.