Villagers campaign to cut ‘dangerous’ speed limit in Burnt Yates

Villagers in Burnt Yates have launched a campaign to reduce the ‘dangerous’ speed limit of the main B6165.

Loraine and Sid Hines have lived in Burnt Yates for 30 years and worry that speeding cars and ‘boy racers’ will cause serious injury or death.

The speed limit through Burnt Yates is 30mph, with a 20mph section near the school. However, the section of the B6165 leaving the village has a 50mph limit and Ms Hines said more vehicles were exceeding this in recent years.

They have set up a Burnt Yates Speed Committee and launched a petition to reduce the limit to 30mph. So far the petition has had 123 signatures.

Ms Hines said she has written to North Yorkshire County Council requesting a speed limit reduction but has received “brush-offs”.

She added:

“North Yorkshire County Council is reactive, not proactive.

“We want something done about the sheer volume of speed and blatant disregard for the rules”.

Read more:

North Yorkshire County Council told the Stray Ferret it did not support a reduction in the speed limit.

Nigel Smith, head of highway operations, said:

“Our local highways team has thoroughly investigated residents’ concerns. As always, our priority is public safety, so we must ensure that we use our resources where they are most needed.

“Police support is needed for any change to the speed limit, and the police work to government guidelines set out by the Department of Transport. This section of road does not meet these requirements for a speed limit change to work. Everything that can be done regarding speed limit restrictions is already in place.

“Accident reports for the past five years have been reviewed to look for any patterns, frequency or root cause that would support a change in the speed limit or the introduction of traffic calming measures. This review shows there has been one serious accident in the Burnt Yates area in the past five years. This was attributed to driver error.

“We need to consider the risks against the benefits for this and other locations across North Yorkshire to ensure our resources are best deployed to improve road safety.

“Given the accident history of this section of the B6165 and the guidance on which the police’s decisions have to be based, we cannot, at this time, support the request for a reduced speed limit.”

Stray Ferret shortlisted for Website of the Year in prestigious journalism awards

The Stray Ferret has been shortlisted for Website of the Year in the Society of Editors’ 2020 Regional Press Awards. 

The digital news service for the Harrogate district is one of seven websites in contention for the award.

The awards are widely regarded as the newspaper industry’s most prestigious. The winner will be revealed on September 16.

The Stray Ferret launched online at the onset of the covid pandemic in March last year and now has built a loyal audience with around 700,000 page views a month.

Our investigations have included, amongst others, the total cost of Harrogate Borough Council’s new offices, exposing a culture of secrecy at the authority, the shoddy work of a local “builder” and exposing how a Harrogate hotelier held an illegal New Year’s Eve party during lockdown.

Read more:

Tamsin O’Brien, editor of the Stray Ferret, said:

“I am immensely proud that the Stray Ferret has been shortlisted for such a prestigious journalism award. We have worked very hard since we launched 18 months ago to bring quality local news to the people of the Harrogate district.

 “We have done our absolute best to cover the issues that people care about whether that be new housing developments to political devolution and, of course, the impact of covid which has dominated the news agenda since we started.

 “Since we launched we have broken many news stories. The Stray Ferret exists for local people as the place to go for local information and as a platform for debate – it’s fantastic that our work has been recognised by the wider news industry.”

Also nominated are: Manchester Evening News, the Liverpool Echo, KentOnline, Bristol Live, PlymouthLive and ChronicleLive.
Harrogate’s Otley Road set for yet more roadworks

Five weeks of travel disruption on Otley Road in Harrogate will begin on Monday due to work by Northern Gas Networks .

Work will take place around the Otley Road/Harlow Moor Road junction and is scheduled to finish on Friday September 3.

The news is unlikely to be welcomed by commuters or businesses that have had to contend with an almost continuous set of roadworks on the road since January.

Yorkshire Water dug up the surface to re-lay water pipes and Northern Powergrid did the same to relocate electricity infrastructure.

Next week’s works are to prepare for the delayed Otley Road cycle route.

Read more

North Yorkshire County Council told the Stray Ferret that work on the cycle route will begin on September 6.

Nigel Smith, head of highway operations at the council, said:

“Utility works by Northern Gas Networks and Northern Powergrid remain to be completed before work can begin on phase 1 of the Otley Road cycle scheme.

“Northern Gas Networks is scheduled to be on site between August 2 and September 3, and Northern Powergrid between  August 16 and 27. BT has confirmed its works can be carried out during the Harlow Moor Road junction improvement.

“The anticipated start date for phase 1 of the Otley Road cycle scheme, which includes the Harlow Moor Road junction improvement, is September 6 this year, subject to the above utilities completing their work.”

Harrogate Spring Water to submit fresh plan for Pinewoods bottling plant

Harrogate Spring Water is preparing to submit a new planning application to expand its bottling plant in the Pinewoods.

The company issued a statement today saying it will not appeal Harrogate Borough Council’s decision in January to refuse its expansion — but instead it will publish details of a new expansion plan “in the coming weeks”.

Harrogate Spring Water, which is owned by the French multi-national Danone, had applied to expand its bottling plant from 0.77 hectares to 0.94 hectares, which would have meant destroying public woodland planted by local families in the area of Pinewoods known as Rotary Wood.

To compensate, it offered to replant trees, create scrubland and build a pond on private land behind Harlow Carr Gardens.

The loss of trees at Rotary Wood provoked a major backlash and councillors on the planning committee voted overwhelmingly to reject it — against the wishes of council officers who had recommended approval.

Harrogate Spring Water was granted outline planning permission to expand to the west of its existing site in 2016, which meant the principle of development had been established but the details had not been agreed.

However, the company said today it was working on a completely new application and the 2016 application would be disregarded.

It has pledged to consult with the community before pursuing a formal planning application to the council.

James Cain, managing director of Harrogate Spring Water, said:

“We care passionately about acting in the best interests of Harrogate, its people and its natural environment. And that’s why we listen to the community.

“Our vision is to create a sustainable future for our business as one that supports high quality jobs, drives prosperity in the town and looks after nature.

“We’ve taken on board the feedback on our original expansion plans. Now we’ll continue to engage with the community – actively seeking views on a revised plan that responds to people’s concerns and ambitions.

“We’ll also be clear in explaining our rationale, and why we believe this move is important from an environmental and economic perspective.

“We’ll provide a further update in the coming weeks.”

Read more:

Rotary Wood fears remain

A spokesperson for the Pinewoods Conservation Group, a charity that aims to protect the Pinewoods, said it would review any new plans “carefully and continue to engage” with Danone.

They added:

“We are also pleased to see that the feedback provided by ourselves and other groups will be taken onboard.

“However, any plans that result in the loss of any part of Rotary Wood that is part of a designated asset of community value under the Localism Act will continue to be difficult for our members to support.

“A key challenging factor that is likely to remain will be the offer of suitable publicly accessible land as mitigation for any loss of public green space that was much lacking in previous proposals.”

Writing on Harrogate and Knaresborough Conservative MP Andrew Jones’ website Community News, Sam Gibbs, the Conservative councillor for Harrogate Valley Gardens, said:

“I am pleased that Harrogate Spring Water will not be appealing the decision to refuse a further extension. I hope that provides some reassurance to residents who were concerned about the loss of public access to the Rotary Woods.”

Emotional Harrogate reunion for Puss the cat and her Scottish owners

Puss the cat, who escaped from the Great Yorkshire Show after sneaking into a Scottish farmer’s sheep trailer, was reunited with her tearful and relieved owners this morning.

Farmer David Mitchell and his wife Annette drove 200 miles from East Ayrshire to collect the intrepid moggy who they feared was lost forever.

Mr Mitchell arrived at the showground on Wednesday last week to show sheep. When he opened the trailer, Puss bolted and disappeared. He then had to return to Scotland to tend to his farm.

When news broke that the cat was missing, The Stray Ferret appealed for information to find Puss.

David’s wife Annette even came back to Harrogate last week to look for her but had no success.

Read more:

Puss found refuge, and food, at a house in the Crimple Valley a few days ago. The cuddly and friendly feline was well looked after during her Harrogate sojourn,

The Mitchells drove south this morning to collect Puss, who was purring on the lap of Helen McCallum, a volunteer at Harrogate Cat Rescue.

When the couple arrived, there were tears and thanks to the people of Harrogate for looking after their treasured family pet.

Ms Mitchell said:

“It’s just amazing, so it is. It’s a great team of folk down here looking out for other people’s animals.”

Council: 17 ‘unacceptable risks’ at Harrogate Town forced us to ban fans

North Yorkshire County Council has revealed 17 “unacceptable risks” led it to ban fans from Harrogate Town’s friendly against Sunderland on Saturday just 24 hours before kick-off.

The risks included an inadequate level of stewarding, the CCTV system not being tested under match conditions and the ground’s control room, which oversees fan safety, not being connected to a phone line or the public address system.

In a statement sent today to the Stray Ferret, Matt O’Neill, assistant director for growth, planning and trading standards at NYCC, said the council sent a trading standards officer to last Wednesday’s friendly against Rotherham after safety concerns were raised.

It said the club submitted a risk assessment and stewarding plan on the morning before the Sunderland fixture that identified seven unacceptable risks. This was reviewed by NYCC officers, who found another 10 risks.

The statement said:

“We therefore concluded that there were 17 areas of unacceptable risk in total.”

The statement added the council was in discussions with the club to overcome the issues before the first home fixture of the new English Football League Division Two season against Rochdale on August 7 but that “the safety of everyone entering the facility must come first”.

Read more:

The Stray Ferret requested an interview with Harrogate Town’s managing director Garry Plant today but was told he was on leave. Nobody else from the club was put forward for an interview.

The club released a statement this afternoon that said it was “working hard behind the scenes to rectify the issues raised”.

It added:

“We would like to reiterate our sincere apologies to those supporters who had planned to attend but could not, through no fault of their own.

“Clearly this is a testing period for the club and we appreciate your continued support as we work through the issues raised.”

Fans have voiced concerns that the club’s opening home game of the new season will be played in front of an empty stadium due to unresolved issues.

Katherine Swinn, speaking on behalf of the Harrogate Town Independent Supporters Club, told the Stray Ferret yesterday that fans had “numerous unanswered questions”.

She said:

“I think the club have dealt with the situation very poorly. The lack of communication is appalling. This situation needs to be addressed urgently and a full and frank statement provided by the club otherwise the speculation will continue.”

Here is the full statement from Matt O’Neill, assistant director for growth, planning and trading standards at NYCC.

“Following safety concerns raised with us, our trading standards officers attended the match held last Wednesday night between Harrogate Town FC and Rotherham United.

“At this point it was clear there were a number of urgent matters to be addressed at the football ground, if the Sunderland match was to go ahead as planned last Saturday.

“The risk assessment and stewarding plan the club subsequently provided on Friday (23 July) morning identified seven unacceptable risks. Our officers reviewed the risk assessment and found that mitigation measures in place for a further ten risks were insufficient and we therefore concluded that there were 17 areas of unacceptable risk in total.

“These included an inadequate level of stewarding and a lack of effective communication between stewards and lack of confirmation about medical support. They also included the fact that the control room where safety of the ground is overseen, was not connected up to the public address system or the fire panels, had no phone line and a CCTV system which had not been tested under match conditions.

“Discussions now continue to see what can be done to find a safe solution looking ahead. The safety of everyone entering the facility must come first.”

“Together with partner agencies in the Safety Advisory Group we pulled out all the stops to try to support the club to deal with a range of safety measures that had to be addressed to enable the match to go ahead.

“Safety standards are put in place to protect the spectators and ensure a safe match by the Sports Ground Safety Association (an executive non-departmental public body, sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport) and, as the public would expect, they must be met.”

Harrogate Town fans fear season opener will be played behind closed doors

Harrogate Town fans are worried the club’s opening home game of the new season will be played in front of an empty stadium.

Fans were barred from a pre-season friendly against Sunderland at the EnviroVent Stadium on Saturday less than 24 hours before kick-off because North Yorkshire County Council said a number of safety issues at the ground “made them uneasy”.

The council said these were not covid-related but were due to medical support, stewarding, and spectator safety.

The club released a statement saying it “sincerely apologised for the inconvenience caused” but has released no further details about why the match could not proceed. It did, however, say it would work with the council’s safety advisory group to address the points raised for future fixtures.

About 800 Sunderland fans had tickets refunded and the cancellation, coupled with the lack of information since, has also upset home fans.

It’s also led to speculation about whether the issues will be resolved before the season-opening match at home to Rochdale on August 7, and whether fans could once again by forced to watch Town on a livestream as they did for most of last season.

Katherine Swinn, speaking on behalf of the Harrogate Town Independent Supporters Club, told the Stray Ferret fans had “numerous unanswered questions”.

Read more:

Ms Swinn said:

“The club’s last minute statement on Friday led to significant speculation, anger, concern and numerous unanswered questions being raised. None of these matters have been addressed by the club. Some welcome clarification was provided by North Yorkshire County Council following their statement over the weekend regarding the safety issues which led to the match having to take place behind closed doors. However, the silence from the club is deafening.

“There has been no communication, clarification or any attempt by the club to address the numerous concerns and unanswered questions that have been raised nor to provide any reassurance that supporters will be able to attend the match against Rochdale. Instead the club have today reminded people that they have until this Friday to renew their season ticket for this season when supporters don’t even know if they will be allowed into the ground for the Rochdale match.

“I think the club have dealt with the situation very poorly. The lack of communication is appalling. This situation needs to be addressed urgently and a full and frank statement provided by the club otherwise the speculation will continue.”

Town are due to host their final pre-season friendly against Doncaster Rovers at the EnviroVent Stadium on Sunday.

A Harrogate Town spokesman said the club was awaiting further information before commenting on future fixtures.

North Yorkshire County Council said it awaited an individual match risk assessment and stewarding plan from the club.

Harrogate social distancing planters heading to Starbeck

Six of the social distancing planters that were in Harrogate town centre during covid restrictions look set to be moved to Starbeck High Street.

The planters, which occupied town centre parking spaces to the annoyance of some traders, were removed from James Street and Albert Street last week.

Harrogate Borough Council subsequently put out a call to local business owners interested in loaning the wooden boxes.

Andrew Hart, who owns the post office in Starbeck, said the council had agreed this morning to loan him six planters, providing he can get a pavement licence from North Yorkshire County Council, which he hopes will be a formality.

Mr Hart plans to put the planters outside the former McColl’s supermarket building, which was destroyed by fire three years ago. He said it has been an “eyesore” ever since.

Mr Hart said there would be enough space on the pavement for wheelchairs and prams to pass.

He added:

“The planters will distract the eye [from the McColl’s building], especially for people driving through Starbeck.”

Read More: 

The flowers have been wilting in the sun at the council’s nursery on Harlow Hill in Harrogate because the council said it did not have the resources to water them properly.

Mr Hart has agreed to pay the council £40 per planter to put fresh flowers in the boxes. Once they arrive in Starbeck, they will be watered and maintained by volunteers.

The council bought the planters after receiving £144,411 from the European Regional Development Fund to boost high streets during the covid pandemic.

However, as a condition of using the EU money, the planters cannot be placed on privately-owned land and must be branded with the ERDF and HMG logos before being returned to the council by March next year.

Green Shoots: Harrogate district plumber swaps ‘dirty diesel’ for vegetable fat

In this month’s Green Shoots we look at a Harrogate district plumber and heating engineer who has upgraded his “dirty diesel” van to run on a new green fuel made with vegetable fat — and reduced the amount of CO2 emissions it produces by up to 90%.

Alan Marcon owns Green and Reliable Heating in Whixley and clocks up hundreds of miles a month in his VW van travelling around Harrogate, York, Knaresborough, Nidderdale, and Masham installing central heating systems.

After becoming increasingly concerned about his own impact on the environment, he decided to “practice what I preach” and two months ago ditched polluting diesel for hydro-treated vegetable oil (HVO).

No modifications to the fuel tank are needed.

A litre of HVO works out at £1.75, which is more expensive than diesel, but its impact on the environment is profound as it helps to combat climate change while making the air cleaner.

He said:

“We need to make change. Diesel is dirty. Our kids, their grandchildren need cleaner air. The quicker we can rid of diesel the better.”

“Our children need cleaner air”

Once touted as a clean fuel by the UK government in the 2000s, the reputation of diesel was irretrievably severed after the ‘dieselgate’ scandal in the 2010s when the carmaker Volkswagon was found to be cheating emissions tests.

Studies have come out in recent years that show exposure to diesel can contribute to asthma, heart disease and several types of cancer.

In a landmark case in December 2020, a coroner said air pollution contributed to the death of nine-year-old Londoner Ella Kissi-Debrah due to her exposure to toxic exhaust fumes near her home by a busy road.

The government will ban the sale of new diesel vehicles from 2035.

Alan said he was 11 when he began helping out at the family plumbing business, but during his early years in the trade his awareness of the damage diesel can do to the body was limited.

He said:

“We need to do something now”.

Read more:

Future technology

Before making the switch, Mr Marcon was worried the new fuel might damage his van, but he says the engine is quieter and happier, which should reduce the chance of engine failure or costly repairs.

He buys the fuel in barrels from a wholesale supplier.

2020 was a record year for electric car sales, but the majority of those sold were personal cars such as Teslas.

The switch to electric for fleet and trade vehicles has been a slower process, partly due to the high cost for new vehicles and a lack of government subsidies to encourage businesses to convert.

Mr Marcon sees HVO fuel as the ideal stopgap before the electric revolution takes hold:

“We need to do something quicker. Electric is brilliant but we haven’t got the technology yet.”

Skyfall

The world is changing, and Mr Marcron hopes other tradespeople will get on board with the new fuel.

He lives in Whixley in a house called Skyfall — fittingly, James Bond is set to drive an electric Aston Martin in the next installment of the franchise.

He added:

“After the pandemic more people want to be green. HVO is the perfect solution. I look at Yorkshire and I want to see our cities and towns go green.

Do you have an interesting project or passion that improves the environment and could feature in Green Shoots? Contact thomas@thestrayferret.co.uk

‘She’s just my daughter!’: Rachel Daly’s dad’s pride at Olympics star

Rachel Daly’s dad Martyn has expressed his pride at watching his daughter play for the Team GB football team that beat Chile in the opening match of the Olympic Games on Wednesday.

From the early days of putting up goalposts in the garden, Martyn Daly told the Stray Ferret he “never thought in a million years” he would be watching her play in the Olympics, which he called “something special”.

Football runs in the family and Mr Daly played as a striker for Harrogate Town and Knaresborough Town in the 1980s and 1990s.

He remembers taking his daughter to train at the age of eight, when she started playing for the Killinghall Nomads boys team, before there was the option for girls to play together.

Ms Daly has ascended to become one of the top players in the women’s game, the star forward for Houston Dash in the US, with World Cup appearances for England and now the Olympics.

He said:

“It’s a far cry from the marshes at Wetherby that flooded all the time!”

The die-hard Leeds United fan wakes up at 2am for every Houston game to watch his daughter play via an online stream. He says football is “all she’s ever been bothered about doing”.

Team GB’s women’s footballers. Rachel Daly is on the back row, far right.

Read more:

When the Stray Ferret spoke to Ms Daly earlier this year, she stressed the importance of pay equality with men.

Her dad praised her for setting a good example to girls and women wanting to make their mark in the game.

She is Harrogate through and through, attending Saltergate junior school and Rossett High School. Her dad says she always “appreciates where she came from.”

When she’s back for a visit, she’ll even sometimes play five-a-side with her brother at Rossett where she “runs rings around” the men.

This summer’s Olympics in Tokyo has been dogged by controversy with the matches played in front of empty stadiums and the squad are keeping together in their own bubble.

Mr Daly hopes she can make the squad for the next games in Paris in three years’ time.

He added:

“You can learn a lot mingling with a 100m runner or a canoeist. They’ll miss out on that, which is a shame.”

Team GB stand a good chance of winning a medal in football and take on hosts Japan at 11.30am (UK time) today. Ms Daly’s family will be cheering them on back home in Harrogate.

Mr Daly said:

“She’ll never realise what she’s done in the game until it’s over.

“Every pro has a cockiness about them but she’s down to earth too, she’s just my daughter.”