Christmas candlelit vigil planned for Stonefall war dead

Candles will be lit for more than 1,000 fallen soldiers at Stonefall Cemetary on Sunday December 19.

Harrogate mum Benji Walker has been running Candles for Heroes every year since 2018 because she does not want the men to be forgotten.

Ms Walker said:

“I have a son who serves in the Yorkshire Regiment. It’s important to me. They should be always be remembered. Christmas is a special time anyway for family, so it’s a nice time to remember the sacrifice they gave.”

Stonefall is one of the largest war grave sites in northern England.

The cemetery was created in 1914 but most burials are airmen who died during the Second World War when bomber command bases were established in Yorkshire. About two-thirds of the dead are Canadian.

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In 2019 around 80 people came to pay their respects where a service was held including sea and air cadets as well as a bugler playing the Last Post.

Last year was a private service was held due to covid restrictions.

This year anyone is invited to attend at Stonefall Cemetery on December 19 at 4pm.

Donations are appreciated with all money raised shared between Commonwealth War Graves Commission and Help for Heroes.

For more information visit the Candles For Heroes Facebook page.

Plans to convert landmark pub near Pateley Bridge into holiday cottage refused

Harrogate Borough Council has refused plans to convert The Birch Tree Inn in Wilsill into a holiday cottage.

The pub is a notable landmark on the main road from Pateley Bridge to Harrogate and has stood there for over 100 years.

Much of the building was converted into three holiday cottages five years ago, with the pub continuing to trade in a smaller area.

But documents submitted on behalf of the landlord said two tenants tried and failed to make the pub work since 2016.

It has been closed since the beginning of the covid pandemic in March 2020.

When a landlord wants to convert a pub into housing, HBC asks that the building be marketed as a pub for at least 12 months. This is to show that there is no longer interest in it operating as a public house and that the community would not be unnecessarily losing an asset.

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Documents submitted on behalf of the landlord said they had discussed opportunities to take on the pub with local restauranteurs and bar operators including William & Victoria in Harrogate.

However, they said the pub was now “unviable” as a business and so wanted to open a fourth holiday cottage, which have proved to be popular.

“[The pub] was already proving unviable, with social distancing and reduced opening hours simply reinforcing this. Now as ‘accidental landlords’ they find themselves with ongoing liabilities, without the prospect of income, even in the long term.

“These are extraordinary times the entire country finds itself in, with the whole hospitality industry under incredible pressure and all parties desperately trying to keep their heads above water”

However, HBC was not satisfied the landlord had sufficiently marketed the building as a pub and refused the plans.

Case officer Mark Williams wrote:

“In the absence of a sufficient marketing effort, the proposed development would lead to the loss of a community facility and service.”

 

81 more positive covid cases reported in Harrogate district

The Harrogate district has reported a further 81 covid cases, according to today’s government figures.

The district’s covid rate now stands at 483 infections per 100,000 people.

Across the county, the average stands at 419 and the England rate is 470.

No further deaths from patients who tested positive for covid have been reported at Harrogate District Hospital, according to NHS England.

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Harrogate’s Great Yorkshire Showground will reopen as a coronavirus vaccination centre on Monday.

The site is aiming to give 20,000 covid booster jabs in two weeks.

The showground clinics are being run by Yorkshire Health Network, an organisation that represents GP practices in the Harrogate district.

Ripon MP Julian Smith resigns from second jobs worth £144,000

Conservative MP for Skipton and Ripon Julian Smith has resigned from three roles advising businesses that earned him £144,000 a year.

The latest MP’s register of interests, published today, shows Mr Smith ended contracts with Hygen Energy, Simply Blue Management and MJM Marine on November 16.

Mr Smith was dragged into the debate around Tory ‘sleaze’ following the resignation of Owen Paterson MP. Mr Smith is paid an £81,932 salary for being an MP.

He received criticism from Brian McDaid, former parliamentary candidate from the Skipton and Ripon Labour Party, who accused Mr Smith of not focusing his time on his constituents.

Mr Smith resigned from his three roles the day before Prime Minister Boris Johnson proposed to ban MPs from acting as paid political consultants or lobbyists.

All the roles were approved by the Advisory Committee of Business Appointments.

The Stray Ferret asked Mr Smith to comment but we did not receive a response.

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Mr Smith’s second jobs

Mr Smith was Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from July 2019 to February 2020.

In August 2020 he began advising Hygen Energy, previously known as Ryse Hydrogen. Its chief executive Jo Bamford also owns Wrightbus, a Northern Ireland bus manufacturer. The contract was for £60,000 for 20 hours of work.

He was also paid to work for 30 to 40 hours over 12 months for MJM Marine, a cruise ship refurbishment company based in County Down. This contract was also for £60,000.

In January 2021 he began another role, advising Cork-based sustainable energy and aquaculture company Simply Blue Management. He was paid £24,000 for up to two hours work per month.

Another 113 covid infections reported in Harrogate district

The Harrogate district has reported a further 113 covid cases, according to today’s government figures.

The district’s covid rate now stands at 483 infections per 100,000 people.

Across the county, the average stands at 439 and the England rate is 440.

No further deaths from patients who tested positive for covid have been reported at Harrogate District Hospital, according to NHS England.

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Today public health officials in North Yorkshire said the army could be drafted in to help with the Harrogate district’s booster vaccine rollout amid concern about the new coronavirus variant Omicron.

The council is looking at ways to increase capacity for vaccines after the minimum gap for boosters was halved to three months.

The Great Yorkshire Showground in Harrogate will re-open as a vaccine site for coronavirus booster jabs on Monday.

Viper Rooms bids to extend weekend opening hours until 6.30am

The Viper Rooms nightclub on Parliament Street has applied to Harrogate Borough Council to extend its opening hours on Friday and Saturday nights until 6.30am.

Harrogate’s only nightclub reopened in July after being closed due to covid restrictions since March last year, except for one night on Halloween last year.

It currently serves alcohol until 4am and closes at 4.30am. The application seeks to extend both by two hours.

Owner Paul Kinsey told the Stray Ferret the nightclub is still busy at 4am, so closing later would stop revellers leaving the club all at once. He added there was also a demand from customers to stay out later.

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Mr Kinsey said:

“Since reopening we have monitored customer trends closely and we have seen that we are still very busy at 4am.

“Therefore to have a more orderly dispersal of customers and not move several hundred people onto the streets at one time. It’s more sensible to trade later and allow a staggered dispersal of customers as well as catering for customer demand for a later finish to their night.

“We have trialled the later closing hours in recent weeks and it has gone without any issues at all.

“It’s not our intention to trade every night until 6am. it’s just having the permission to do so if needed.”

Harrogate council to commission climate change study for new 3,000-home settlement

Harrogate Borough Council will hire consultants to produce a “comprehensive climate strategy’ for plans to build 3,000 homes in the broad location of Green Hammerton and Cattal.

The council is currently preparing a development plan document (DPD) for the new settlement. This is a document that will guide how it will look and when it will be built. A public consultation on the DPD ended in January.

This week the council agreed to spend £60,000 on consultants to help them produce the document. HBC said it requires “specialist expertise and capacity not currently available within the council.”

It will firstly commission consultants to look at how the new settlement will be an “exemplar” of sustainable design.

This includes how it will utilise renewable energy, encourage active travel and how homes will be heated.

Although it warns that measures to maximise the energy efficiency of homes will have to be balanced with the “commercial realities” of housebuilding.

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Consultants will also produce a plan to estimate what financial contributions are expected from developers for infrastructure, and to advise them on future planning application revisions.

A report on the DPD is scheduled to go before HBC’s Conservative cabinet member for planning, Cllr Tim Myatt, on December 14. It will set out the updated timetable for the New Settlement work.

A long-running battle over whether the new settlement will be built in Flaxby or Green Hammerton was finally settled at the High Court in late 2020.

Former Victorian hotel in Harrogate to become modern co-working space

Royal House in Harrogate is to be refurbished and turned into a co-working space.

The property on Station Parade was built in 1847 and known as the Royal Hotel in the Victorian era.

It has been used as offices since the 1960s.

The building has been leased by Wizu Workspace, a Leeds-based company that operates six co-working spaces in Leeds, Sheffield and Bradford. It said it plans to spend “a six-figure sum” refurbishing the building.

Wizu has a membership model where customers pay a monthly fee to use their offices on demand.

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Tom Almas, chief executive of Wizu, said it had expanded into Harrogate as the company believes there is an undersupply of modern office space in the town.

He said:

“We’re excited to bring something truly unique to Harrogate, creating a blend of sleek modern interiors mixed with historic period features to provide an impressive place to work.

“We chose Harrogate due to the undersupply of modern, flexible office space in the town and saw an opportunity to bring our popular, all-inclusive model to businesses.”

“The building itself is incredible. It’s in a prominent central location with stunning views of The Stray and just a few minutes from the train station and major road links – making it an attractive, accessible space to run a successful business from.”

Harrogate doctor’s surgery defends parking fines

The practice manager of Kingswood Surgery on Wetherby Road has said it’s necessary to issue parking fines for its car park to deter non-patients from using it.

Kingswood Surgery and Well Pharmacy are separate entities that happen to share the same building called Kingswood Medical Centre.

On Tuesday, the Stray Ferret reported how a woman collecting a prescription at Well Pharmacy was fined £100 for parking longer than the allowed 15 minutes of free parking for non-patients of the surgery.

Shirley Hopkinson said the short time period was unfair on people collecting prescriptions when the pharmacy was busy.

However, Liz Walker, practice manager at Kingswood Surgery, said patients of the surgery, rather than visitors to the pharmacy, had priority for the car park.

Difficult to park

Ms Walker told the Stray Ferret the car park has been managed by a private company for four-and-a-half years.

The company, called Civil Enforcement, was brought in because visitors and staff at nearby Harrogate Hospital would use the car park for extended periods of time, making it difficult for patients at the surgery to find a place to park.

Ms Barker said:

“We were therefore left with no option but to introduce the current system.”

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Ms Barker said that signs explaining the rules were well advertised and understood, and patients of the surgery were “very supportive” of the arrangements.

“Any patient or visitor to our site can benefit from unlimited free parking through a simple car registration process on entering our reception area. We would not wish to make any changes that would have a detrimental impact on our patients’ ability to access appointments at the surgery.”

She added that the current system of fining non-patients who use the car park for longer than 15 minutes would not be changing.

“Following the publication of your article, we consulted our Patient Group who agreed that they would not like to see any changes to the current arrangements.”

Call to make Valley Gardens colonnade safer after horror fall

A grandmother has called on Harrogate Borough Council to fix uneven paving slabs in Valley Gardens after she fell and suffered a broken arm, busted lip and bruising to her face.

Jane Blayney, who is a former chair of Friends of Valley Gardens and a former district and county councillor, tripped two weeks ago at the entrance of the Sun Colonnade by Cornwall Road.

Ms Blaney lives nearby and was in shock after the incident but a neighbour, who is a doctor at Leeds General Infirmary, took her to Harrogate District Hospital’s emergency department.

She is concerned that many of the elderly residents who live around Valley Gardens may trip and suffer even more serious injuries than she did.

She said:

“I looked like I’d been in a boxing match with Muhammad Ali.

“A lot of older people like me walk in Valley Gardens. For some of them it could have been much worse.”

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Ms Blayney reported the fall to the council, which has put cones and tape around some of the slabs but Ms Blayney thinks they are insufficient. She had hoped it would have done more to make the entrance safe.

With an artisan Christmas market taking place in Valley Gardens this weekend, Ms Blaney wants to see the council fix the slabs to make sure nobody else trips.

The Stray Ferret saw several uneven paving stones up and down the Sun Colonnade when we visited the site today.

Uneven paving slabs at the Sun Colonnade

Ms Blayney added:

“I want safety and I don’t want it to happen to anyone else.”

A council spokesman said:

“We’re sorry to hear Mrs Blayney had a fall in Valley Gardens and we wish her a speedy recovery.

“We plan on repairing the path in the new year when suitable replacement materials become available. Until this time, we have placed cones to warn people to avoid this section.

“We have a programme of works to improve the Sun Colonnades in Valley Gardens, which includes new lighting and steam cleaning the paving. We have also surveyed the whole area and, if required, will be undertaking further works to repair the path.

“Anyone who spots any uneven paving in our parks should get in touch with us so we can carry out any repair work.”