Exclusive: Council invests £70m into climate-damaging fossil fuel companies

A North Yorkshire County Council-controlled pension fund invests millions into fossil fuel companies whilst the council promotes carbon reduction policies, the Stray Ferret can exclusively report.

Over the last two years, the council launched its “Beyond Carbon” plan that sets a target date of 2030 to reach net-zero neutrality.

It has also been instrumental in developing sustainable travel schemes in Harrogate such as the Otley Road Cycle Path, the Station Gateway and the Beech Grove Low Traffic Neighbourhood.

But away from the public gaze, the council is investing millions in fossil fuel companies with a pension funding policy that is directly at odds with its public messaging and sustainable transport plans.

What is a pension fund?

Staff from Harrogate Borough Council and 30 other district, city and town councils in the county pay into the North Yorkshire Pension Fund through their salary. The fund is administered by NYCC.

The council is legally obliged to invest cash from its pension fund after contributions have been collected and pensions have been paid.

It chooses to invest this into the stock market and its entire portfolio is worth over £2.7bn.

The Stray Ferret obtained a full list of the companies the pension fund invests in through a freedom of information request.

The fund has sizeable holdings in 11 fossil fuel companies

The fund has a sizeable £7m holding in oil firm Shell and £5.5m in BP, which Greenpeace has called “climate criminals” due to its contribution to climate change.

Investments also include £5m with Occidental Petroleum, which operates oil drilling rigs in the United States, Canada and Chile.

The investments mean thousands of council staff will have their retirements part-funded by the companies.

“Hypocritical”

Conservative county councillor Don Mackenzie is in charge of highways at the council and has been the public face of the various active travel schemes.

He has been quoted calling climate change a “global priority” and has repeatedly emphasised the need to move away from transport that is powered by fossil fuels.

But NYCC is now facing accusations of hypocrisy due to its massive investments into the very companies that it is trying to guide residents away from.

NYCC is behind the Beech Grove Low Traffic Neighbourhood

Andy Rickard, chair of Harrogate and District Green Party told the Stray Ferret he was “angry and frustrated” by the council’s “hypocritical” investments. He called on NYCC to divest from fossil fuel companies immediately.

He said:

“It’s hypocritical of them to produce carbon reduction strategies at the same same time as investing in companies that cause damage to the environment.”

York Liberal Democrat councillor Christian Vassie is one of 11 councillors that sit on the North Yorkshire pension fund committee. He told the Stray Ferret that “we have to sort this out”.

He said:

“People are horrified of idea their long term future is being safeguarded by [some of these companies].”

How the fund works

The pension fund is not managed directly by North Yorkshire County Council.

Instead, a private company called Border To Coast acts as the manager of the fund.

Government guidelines say council pension fund managers can take ethical, social or environmental concerns into account when it invests, providing the fund’s finances do not suffer.

However, the North Yorkshire Pension Fund’s responsible investment policy, last updated in July 2021, clearly states that it will not implement an “exclusionary policy” against companies that damage the environment.

It says:

“Whilst the Fund recognises that there is the potential for investment in certain sectors to cause harm, it will not implement an exclusionary policy against investment in any particular sector or company purely based on social, ethical or environmental reasons”.

‘Council must show courage’

Cllr Vassie joined the pension fund committee in July 2020. He also chairs York’s climate change policy and scrutiny committee.

He said he has tried to steer the fund towards greener companies, but because the primary focus of the fund is to make money, he said the fund has to be presented with alternatives that will offer at least the same financial return.

York Liberal Democrat councillor Christian Vassie

A study published ahead of the COP26 climate summit in November suggested half of the world’s fossil fuel investments could become worthless by the mid-2030s due to the transition towards net-zero.

Cllr Vassie said the pension fund needs to have “the courage of its convictions” to leave fossil fuel investments behind in favour of greener alternatives.

He warned if they don’t, the council could be left lumbered with “stranded assets”.

Addressing climate change

North Yorkshire is not alone in investing its pension fund into fossil fuels. Friends of the Earth says £10bn is invested in total by UK local authorities.

However, several councils, including Luton Borough Council and Southwark Council, have recently passed motions to set a firm date for its pension fund to divest from fossil fuels.

David Houlgate, Harrogate branch secretary at UNISON, the union that represents staff at Harrogate Borough Council and North Yorkshire County Council, told the Stray Ferret the union has asked the Pension Fund to divest from its investments in fossil fuels.

He said it must then secure suitable alternative investments that address climate change whilst protecting the value of the fund.

Mr Houlgate added:

“UNISON is only able to try and influence the Pension Fund’s approach – we do not have the final say on these matters.”

Divest from fossil fuels

Cllr Vassie said he hopes North Yorkshire will divest from fossil fuels within the next five years, but the pension fund’s own climate change policy stops well short of making any firm commitment to divest.

It says:

“Once the Fund divests, its ability to influence both the short term and long-term direction of individual companies is severely curtailed.

“If the Fund divested from the oil and gas or other sectors with heavy carbon footprints, then it would not reduce emissions (or climate change) but rather simply shift the emissions onto another investor who may be less engaged and therefore reduce the pressure on such companies to change.

“[The Fund] considers active engagement with companies a more productive approach to effecting change.”

A BP oil drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico. Credit – BP

For campaigners like Andrew Rickard from the Harrogate and District Green Party, progress is not coming quick enough.

He said there is “little evidence” to support the fund’s claim that its “active engagement” has had any effect whatsoever on the way fossil fuel companies operate.

He added:

“Divesting from fossil fuels is the moral and right thing to do, it’s also the sensible thing to do.”

Council’s response

Gary Fielding, Treasurer of North Yorkshire Pension Fund for North Yorkshire County Council, said: 

“The Pension Fund Committee recognises climate change as a significant financial risk and this is detailed in its Responsible Investment Policy.

“The policy sets out an approach to managing assets that takes environmental, social and governance factors into account in investment decision-making and in the role an investor plays as an asset owner. 

“The pension fund’s holdings in oil and gas companies have reduced significantly in recent years.

“At the same time, the fund has committed further funds to the Borders to Coast Infrastructure Fund, which holds an ever-increasing range of renewable energy investments in the UK and abroad, including wind farms and solar power farms, geothermal energy plants and energy from waste facilities.

“The pension fund also needs to get the balance right on responsible investment and ensuring funds are available to pay pensions without further call on local taxpayers

“Rather than divesting from companies, the fund believes active engagement gives it, in collaboration with other pension funds, greater influence in effecting change within companies, such as those in the oil and gas sectors or others with heavy carbon footprints.”

Tomorrow, we reveal how the Pension Fund invests £15m in arms companies that have built weapons for the controversial Saudi Arabia-led bombing campaign in Yemen, killing thousands of civilians.

 

Heritage groups say ‘no justification’ for Harrogate Debenhams demolition

Two influential national heritage groups have issued strong objections to plans to demolish the former Debenhams building on Parliament Street in Harrogate.

Wetherby-based property company Stirling Prescient is behind a proposal to demolish three buildings and replace them with 50 high-end apartments along with two commercial units.

The site has been home to different retailers on Parliament Street for over a century. Before Debenhams, it housed the Buckley’s and Busby’s stores.

But in documents submitted to the council, the developer said the buildings need to be demolished as their size means they are no longer viable for retail.

‘Historic and architectural value’

Campaign group and charity Save Britain’s Heritage submitted an objection to the plans this week, saying the developer had failed to provide “clear or adequate justification” for demolishing the 1902 and 1920 era buildings.

Another building next to Westminster Arcade that was added in the 1960s is also set for demolition.

The group says the two older buildings have “considerable historic and architectural value” and “add greatly” to the character and significance of Parliament Street.

It adds:

“No evidence or analysis has been provided to show unequivocally why the buildings cannot be retained and refurbished. Demolition is an extreme response to development in such a historic context, and therefore sets a commensurately high threshold for justification.”

Busby’s on Parliament Street. Copyright: Walker-Neesam Archive.

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In December, the public body Historic England also submitted an objection to the plans.

Whilst welcoming the regeneration of the site, it said there should be a “sensitive conversion” of the two older department store buildings.

It said:

“We have particular concerns over the proposed demolition of the early 20th century buildings on the corner of Oxford Street and Parliament Street contributing positively to the appearance and character of the conservation area, for which there is no clear and convincing justification.”

A view of the new apartments on Parliament Street.

A CGI view of the new apartments on Parliament Street.

Stirling Prescient said in planning documents:

“The proposals as a whole will strengthen the town’s vitality and viability, increasing footfall and contributing to the local economy.

“The proposal represents a sustainable form of development and therefore benefits from the presumption in favour of sustainable development, meaning planning permission should be granted without delay.”

Harrogate district unemployment falls again

The number of people receiving out-of-work benefits in the Harrogate district has continued to fall.

Latest monthly figures by the Office for National Statistics show 2,145 people were claiming the benefits on December 9, falling by 80 from November’s figure of 2,225.

The figure, however, remains considerably above pre-pandemic levels. In January 2020, 1,410 people claimed the benefits, which includes Universal Credit.

Universal Credit can also be claimed by people who are in work but on low incomes.

The furlough scheme ended on September 30 and supported around 28,600 jobs in the Harrogate district for 18 months.

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Meanwhile, this month Harrogate College announced it will be offering free haircuts and manicures to jobseekers.

The college, at Hornbeam Park, is providing the treatments to anyone who has secured a job interview.

Haircuts can be booked now between 3pm and 7pm on Wednesdays. Manicures will be available on Thursdays, starting on January 27, from 10am.

Students will provide the services at the college’s professional standard training salons.

Danny Wild, principal of Harrogate College, said he hoped the initiative would boost the participants’ job prospects.

Free business workshops for Harrogate’s budding entrepreneurs

Budding entrepreneurs in the Harrogate district can take part in a free seven-week project to help them hone their business skills and win a £2,500 prize.

The Strive project is being run by social enterprise Enterprise Cube, which will have a team of experienced business people on hand to guide 30 local people through a series of workshops, individual advice sessions and start-up challenges.

It is being part-funded by Harrogate Borough Council and is free to anyone in the Harrogate district who has a business idea or a fledgling business.

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During the seven weeks, the group will learn about creating a brand, taking payments, building an online presence, and tackling all the legal and tax issues involved in starting a business. £2,500 will be handed out in prizes at the end of the seven weeks.

Strive was first run in 2012 and has supported over 5,000 people in the UK.

Laura Mumford, director of Strive, said:

“We’re really excited to be bringing Strive to Harrogate. My roots are here, and I love that we’ve got such a strong independent business scene in the area – so it’s great to be able to support it.”

You can find out more and apply at: www.homeofstrive.com/harrogate.

Swimming club ‘mortified’ after Harrogate council hikes fee for new pool

Members of a historic club that teaches children how to swim in Ripon say they are “mortified” they won’t be able to use the city’s £15m new pool after Harrogate Borough Council tripled its fee to use it, effectively outpricing them.

Ripon City Swimming Club began by teaching swimming lessons in the River Ure before the Spa Baths was built in 1904, which its members helped to build.

Since the 1930s, the volunteer-run club ran classes on Thursday evenings at the Spa Baths. The swimming lessons were run separately from HBC’s own classes, with the council charging the club £4,500 a year to use the pool.

Families were looking forward to being able to use the pool at the state-of-the-art Jack Laugher Leisure Centre, which is set to open this month.

However, the club was left shocked after the council offered space at the new pool, but only if it stumped up £12,500 a year — almost three times what it was previously paying.

Nicola Horner, speaking on behalf of the Ripon City Swimming Club committee, told the Stray Ferret that HBC has “completely outpriced” the swimming club from using it. She believes the council views the volunteer-run club as competition to its own classes.

She added:

“For such a long-standing club to be outpriced, it’s disgusting.”

Different generations

Ripon City Swimming Club’s teachers are all Swim England qualified. The council initially told the club it wanted to amalgamate it with its own swimming lessons, but the club declined.

Ms Horner said they wanted to keep the family-oriented club separate from the council.

“We’re volunteers, we charge kids for the use of the pool but we keep prices low for families.

“Different generations have learnt to swim with us.”

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With the club unable to pay the £12,500 a year that the council was demanding, it looked like the historic club would have to fold.

But Ripon Grammar School has offered the club space to continue lessons at the school’s pool on Tuesday nights.

Although the club has found a new home, Ms Horner said the move by the council to drastically increase its fee stings as its members supported and campaigned for its bid to build the new pool.

She said:

“We are all mortified. Whilst we’re grateful we’ve been able to find somewhere, we are absolutely gutted we won’t be able to use the new facility.”

Council’s response

Brimhams Active is the new council-controlled company that has taken over leisure centres in the Harrogate district, including the Hydro in Harrogate and Knaresborough Swimming Pool.

A spokesperson for Brimhams Active said:

“Our Learn to Swim programme that is accredited by Swim England – the governing body for swimming – teaches swimmers how to be competent and confident in the water, and follows a recognised framework that provides a love for swimming and the skills and motivation required to lead a healthy and active lifestyle. It also provides reassurance to our customers that they will receive the highest level of coaching and safety standards.

“We have offered to work with Ripon City Swimming Club, enable them to fit into this district-wide development pathway and become a Swim England accredited recreational swimming club for children who have completed the fundamentals of our Learn to Swim programme.

“The club have also been offered the use of the pool at the same rate they were previously paying, should they wish to work with us and accept this offer.

“Should the club not wish to accept this offer, they are welcome to explore the hire of the pool at the commercial rate.”

Pet crematorium planned for Stonefall Cemetery

Harrogate Borough Council has this week submitted a plan to build a pet crematorium at Stonefall Cemetery.

It follows the lead of councils in North East Lincolnshire and Barnsley, which have already opened or started work on pet crematoriums.

Harrogate council currently charges £36 to collect dead pets from people’s homes.

Currently, the closest pet crematoriums are in either Thirsk or Skipton.

The crematorium at Harrogate would be built inside a converted shipping container.

The plans also include converting a storage building at Stonefall into a “goodbye room”, where owners can say their final farewells to their pets before they are cremated.

A decision on the proposal will be made at a later date.

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Major infrastructure project planned for RAF Menwith Hill

A major five-year project to upgrade infrastructure at RAF Menwith Hill is planned.

The Ministry of Defence’s Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) this week appointed a consortium of building consultants, Mace, Turner & Townsend and Atkins, as a delivery partner for the United States Visiting Forces (USVF) Infrastructure Programme.

Few details have been made public about the programme other than it will involve “upgrading existing facilities and building new ones” at the base in Nidderdale as well as RAF Fairford in Gloucester.

Steve Rix, DIO programme director, said the programme would help the US military “execute missions” from the UK.

“I am pleased to welcome our delivery partners to the DIO USVF Infrastructure Programme team and look forward to working with them to ensure we continue to support our USVF customers’ needs, enabling them to execute missions from their bases in the UK.”

The Stray Ferret asked the MOD how much the project will cost and what upgrades are planned but we did not receive a response at the time of publication.

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Built in the 1950s on the edge of Nidderdale, Menwith Hill is one of the United States’ largest overseas surveillance base. Giant radomes, or ‘golf balls’, are a distinctive feature of the site.

Harrogate Borough Council has approved several planning applications in recent years to expand the base. A council report said this reflected the “increasingly wide-ranging and technologically sophisticated surveillance apparatus” built up at the base.

A report published in October 2021 alleged the base provided intelligence for the high-profile US assassination of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in 2020.

Pandemic sees increase in number of Harrogate district free school meals

An extra 350 children in Harrogate district secondary schools have become eligible for free school meals since the coronavirus pandemic began, figures reveal.

A total of 1,143 children were eligible in October 2021, compared with 796 in January 2020.

This means almost 1 in 10 children in the district are now eligible for free school meals. The national average is around 2 in 10.

The Stray Ferret obtained the figures from a freedom of information request to North Yorkshire County Council, the education authority for the district.

To qualify for free school meals a parent must apply to the council with evidence that they are receiving a benefit, such as child tax credit, income support or universal credit.

The issue of free school meals was highlighted following a campaign by Manchester United and England footballer Marcus Rashford.

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Speaking at last week’s Harrogate and Knaresborough Area Constituency Committee, Helen Ingle, health improvement manager at NYCC, said the council was trying to encourage parents of key stage 1 age children to take up free school meals.

If a child is in reception, year one or year two they are automatically entitled to a free school meal.

Ms Ingle also said schools in the district had reported an increase in obesity since the pandemic began.

She said:

“[Covid] has had a massive impact on levels of overweight and obesity, we’re doing a lot of work around that. Schools are very concerned about healthy eating levels in schools and have noticed a change in children’s weight and eatings habits since covid.”

John Shackleton, 83, hoping to deliver one final ambulance to Eastern Europe

83-year-old Harrogate legend John Shackleton has a twinkle in his eye when he considers one last trip delivering ambulances to Eastern Europe, something he’s done through his charity Aid to Eastern Europe for over 30 years.

“My daughters say ‘come on, think of everyone else’, but I’ve been kicking my heels for the last two-and-a-half years due to covid. I’m getting older and the years are going by quickly.

“I have enough money to go to Amsterdam to buy an ambulance and I’ll be in Georgia within a week or two, but do I take the chance? It’s a big decision. I really want to do it.”

If you’re not familiar with John’s work, he’s been delivering ambulances to hospices and hospitals in Eastern Europe since 1990. He started after seeing upsetting TV images of orphans in Romania following the death of dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu.

He’s since delivered 38 ambulances to an exhaustive list of countries, including Albania, Kazakstan, Armenia, Slovenia and Bulgaria.

To raise money to buy the vehicles, John chops down trees, cuts lawns, mends bicycles — anything to raise the £12,000 to £15,000 it costs to purchase an ambulance — which he usually buys from auction in Amsterdam.

John chopping down trees to raise money for an ambulance. Credit – The Ambulance Man (Facebook).

He said:

“I fly into Amsterdam but they sometimes take the stretcher out and make you pay extra. Invariably, when we tell them its a charity we get around that!

“We then bring it to Harrogate, fill it with medical supplies and find two co-drivers. We sleep in it, drive day and night, and deliver it right into the sticks, miles away from civilisation.

“We leave the ambulance, hitch hike to the nearest international airport, come back to Harrogate and do it all over again.”

Harrowing scenes

John is moved to tears when he describes the harrowing scenes of human suffering that he’s witnessed, but is comforted by the knowledge that he has helped people less fortunate than us in Harrogate.

Many of the countries he’s visited have been riddled with poverty after the fall of the Soviet Union.

In Ukraine. Credit – The Ambulance Man (Facebook).

He said:

“When I think back to some of the places I’ve been to it is very hard. I don’t dwell on it but sub-consciously it’s there.

“In the early days, we’d get to know the kids, there’s always one you’d get to know more who might smile a lot or give you a cuddle. You’d ask where he is, and they’d say, ‘oh, he died last night, he’s buried over there’.

“It was a building site and they’d take them out the back and bury them like a dog. They had nothing. You wouldn’t be human if it didn’t affect you.”

Show no fear

John has endured the trials and tribulations of the road and has clocked up tens of thousands of miles. He’s faced bribes, bandits and gunfire.

In Turkey, he said he expected to have to pay a bribe but the police wanted him to cough up the value of his ambulance, so he refused.

He and his co-drivers were thrown in an underground jail cell with a bucket for a toilet.

“They locked us up for 36 hours. I’d already given Turkey two ambulances after they had an earthquake! I was really annoyed they had the audacity to lock us up.”

John said his team was beginning to panic.

“You must show no fear. I got to the boss man, nose to nose, screaming at him, he eventually freed us. That was a little bit scary.”

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The right stuff

Driving through Russia, John was warned of bandits and not to stop during the night. He came across a roadblock with lights flashing so he had to think quickly.

“I thought, I won’t stop here. So I put the foot down and the blues and twos on.

“They jumped out of our way and fired at us. But they must have been firing in the air. A man that can’t hit an ambulance is not worth holding a gun!”

John in Poland. Credit – the Ambulance Man (Facebook).

John has had UK police officers, and his grandkids, as part of his crew, although not every co-driver that has signed up has joined with the right stuff.

He added:

“I advertised for a driver once on eBay. I said the highest bidder can come along. A professor from Cambridge University paid £700.

“But all he wanted do to when we drove through France was go to the vineyards and taste the wines. He got really ansty with me, I said ‘why did you volunteer? We’re humanitarian, this is not a holiday!'”

Helping others

When the Stray Ferret visited John at his house in Harrogate, he had his head under the bonnet putting a new engine in his kit car, which he first built over 50 years ago. He said by spring he’ll have it going again.

John has been a bomb disposable expert, mountaineer, greengrocer, a housing fixer upper and he ran an art studio. His rich life experience has given him a practical and positive outlook.

“I’ll have a go at most things. The Egyptians built the pyramids, if a man can do that, most of us can do anything if we put our minds to it. 

“Some people are hesitant when opportunities arrive. I invariably say give it a go, if you have the right mentality, you will succeed.”

Most of all, John is known for putting other people before himself, and as the Stray Ferret left his home, he told us he’s pencilled in September as a possible date to deliver his 39th ambulance to those who desperately need one in Eastern Europe.

To donate and help John buy a new ambulance, email johnshackleton@aidtoeasterneurope.co.uk

Otley Road cycle path ‘disaster waiting to happen’, says pub landlord

The landlord of Charlie’s Place on Otley Road has described the new cycle path, which has sections shared with pedestrians, as a “disaster waiting to happen”.

Work has continued since November to build the first phase of the new cycle route between Harlow Moor Road and Cold Bath Road. It’s part of a package of sustainable transport measures in the west of Harrogate.

Over half of the route will be shared with pedestrians, with only a line of paint to separate them from cyclists, including the section directly outside Charlie’s Place, which has been owned and run by Charlie Tinker for 18 years.

Mr Tinker fears a speeding cyclist coming down the hill will strike a pub patron, who might be standing outside smoking or waiting for a taxi.

He said:

“Cyclists will be coming down the hill at speed, it’s a disaster waiting to happen.

“It wont be long and by the time we get to summer there will be an accident.”

Contractors have been resurfacing the path again this week, which Mr Tinker said has been an “absolute bloody nightmare” with grit, gravel and cones left outside his pub.

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Mr Tinker said the works, which were expected to have been finished before Christmas, have had a negative impact on trade and are putting customers off visiting.

He said he has complained to North Yorkshire County Council about the disruption but has been ignored.

Mr Tinker added:

“The council haven’t had the gall to come out and see us and to not reply absolutely stinks.”

Melisa Burnham, North Yorkshire County Council highways area manager, said:

“Phase 1 of the Otley Road cycleway is ongoing. While safety audits have been undertaken as part of the design process, the scheme will be subject to a final safety audit and review upon completion.

“The project team is working with the contractors on implementing appropriate signage and lining.

“We apologise for any inconvenience the recent resurfacing has caused. All businesses and residents should have been informed in advance by the contractors.”