Heal Medical and Wellness Spa offer to welcome new hair stylist

This article is sponsored by Heal Medical & Wellness Spa.

Heal Medical and Wellness Spa is renowned for its personal and sustainable approach to health and beauty — and they have a special offer to new clients wanting to get their hair cut or coloured.

The spa in Harrogate’s beautiful Montpellier Gardens recently welcomed Anna Dalby, a talented new hair stylist to the team. New clients will be able to get 50% off the cost of a haircut and 25% for a colour.

Anna is a familiar and friendly face in Harrogate and has joined from a salon on Cold Bath Road. She’s an accomplished stylist with over 10 years experience, including working as a top stylist in a Toni & Guy salon.

She’s looking forward to meeting new clients and welcoming old ones alike.

Anna will be using products from the Kevin Murphy brand which is a line of sulfate, paraben, and cruelty-free haircare products. It’s recommended by PETA, the world’s largest animal rights organisation, and the packaging is made from 100% Ocean Waste Plastic.

The spa was created by Matthew and Oliver Highland-Edmonds who wanted to create more than just another hair salon.

It also offers bespoke beauty treatments where clients can totally relax and enjoy the experience from the moment they enter the door.

Everyone at Heal Spa believes that health treatments should be a pleasurable experience, and that’s the standard of service its clients have now come to enjoy for the last four years.

Matthew said:

“Our aim is to deliver a unique and personal experience that will leave every client feeling refreshed and re-invigorated. All our clients are invited to experience our extensive range of treatments that will cater for your health, beauty and well-being. All set in a professional and friendly atmosphere, providing you with a relaxing oasis from your busy lifestyle that you can look forward to visiting again and again.”

To book an appointment with Anna please call 01423 560049 or email info@healspa.co.uk

 

Harrogate council asking residents to donate saplings to plant around district

Harrogate Borough Council is asking residents to donate oak or sycamore saplings that might be in their gardens.

Once the trees are big enough, the council will plant them across the Harrogate district to enhance woodland areas.

It has asked residents to bring the saplings to the council’s nursery on Harlow Hill between 10am and 3pm from Monday to Friday.

The council tweeted:

“We need your help! If you have any oak or sycamore trees in your garden, we’d love it if you could dig up any saplings you might have, making sure they have a good root system and are placed in in a plant pot or wet newspaper.”

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HBC is involved in the White Rose Forest, which is one of 10 community forests being created in England. It will span North and West Yorkshire.

The 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.

An HBC report in September 2020 identified 17.2 acres of council-owned land that could potentially be used to plant trees for the White Rose Forest.

What will happen to the James Street planters?

The James Street planters were both loved and loathed and came to symbolise the debate that surrounded not just covid but the high street economy, parking and pedestrianisation.

But now that they’ve gone, what will happen to them?

The planters were installed by North Yorkshire County Council to encourage social distancing at the start of the pandemic and were loaned by Harrogate Borough Council which owns them.

It seems there would be no shortage of takers for the newsworthy wooden boxes. Similar models sell online for between £50 and £100 and don’t even include colourful flora from the council’s award-winning parks team.

Cold Bath Road restaurant William and Victoria sent a tweet to HBC yesterday saying they would “love some for our outside area if going spare.”

Andrew Hart, who owns the post offices in Starbeck and Bilton, told the Stray Ferret he wants some too to “boost morale and community respect”. He’d like to put one outside the burnt-out McColl’s supermarket on Starbeck High Street.

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HBC bought the planters after receiving £144,411 from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) to boost high streets during the covid pandemic. It was was one of the final benefits of the UK’s membership of the European Union.

But EU bureaucracy could scupper a happy ending for the planters, which are currently withering in the heat at the council’s nursery on Harlow Hill.

The council sent an email to Harrogate BID members saying that due to “limited space and resources” they are having difficulties watering them.

They’ve now asked businesses interested in putting the planters outside their property if they are interested in taking them. The council warned that time is of the essence to “protect the longevity” of the plants.

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 HBC by March 2022.

Harrogate Town fan groups locked in bitter dispute over new supporters trust

Two groups of Harrogate Town fans are locked in an increasingly bitter dispute over the launch of a new supporters trust.

Last year Town ascended to the English Football League for the first time in the club’s history and chairman Irving Weaver has ambitions to fill the club’s newly improved Envirovent Stadium on Wetherby Road with 5,000 fans.

But the club’s success and increasing professionalism on the field is being accompanied by growing pains off it.

In recent weeks, a group of Town fans has launched a trust called the Harrogate Town Supporters Trust to give supporters a voice.

Other football league clubs, such as Sheffield Wednesday and Bradford City already have fans trusts, which are democratically run and governed by the Financial Conduct Authority.

However, members of the Harrogate Town Supporters Club, which has been running for several years, believe the trust is an attempt to undermine their work.

Leaflets about the newly-formed trust were circulated to Town fans at Sunday’s pre-season friendly against Newcastle United under-23s at Wetherby Road. This alarmed many members of the supporters club, with some accusing the trust on Facebook of underhand tactics.

There was also anger that the newly-formed trust plans to put on coaches for away games, which supporters club committee member Jordan Ford has organised for many seasons.

However, the chair of the trust has said alternative away travel is needed because some fans’ drunken behaviour deters some families and fans from travelling.

Pain and heartache

Phil Holdsworth is the fan liaison officer at Harrogate Town. It’s a volunteer position aimed at improving relations between the club and fans.

He told the Stray Ferret that the trust, which says it is independent of the club, will help the club appeal to a wider supporter base and attract new supporters from as far afield as Malaysia and Vietnam.

Much of the supporters club’s anger towards the trust is due to a disagreement over when it learned of the trust being set up.

On Monday, the supporters club committee issued a statement saying it had only become aware of the trust’s formation six weeks ago.

However, Mr Holdsworth said he had a meeting with members of the supporters club in November last year when he explained how it could apply to become an affiliate of the FSA , the national body that represents football supporters.

He claims the supporters club decided not to proceed with the idea.

He said:

“I assumed they would consider it but I never heard or saw anything, Why are they not giving their members the full picture?”.

Mr Holdsworth was also advising a different group of fans on how to become a trust, which led to the formation of the new organisation. He said the fallout has led to “aggressive” criticism of him online.

He praised Mr Ford, of the supporters club, for organising away game travel but said many fans “don’t appreciate their drinking habits”.

He added he hoped the two sets of fans’ differences could be resolved:

“Nobody wants this pain and heartache. Animosity will cause division. It’s in everyone’s interests to work together.”

Best interests of the club

Clare Bridge, chair of the newly formed trust, told the Stray Ferret she too hoped the two groups could put aside their differences for the good of the club.

However, she said she would not take her 12-year-old son on the supporters club’s bus due to what she called “drunken behaviour”.

She said:

“Lots of families are being put off. I would never, ever, get on the bus.”

Ms Bridge said members of the trust were approached by Harrogate Town about forming the organisation and a more collective voice would give fans greater influence in how the club is run.

“It’s happening so it would be nice to work together. There’s always a solution.”

Lack of communication

Supporters club committee member Katherine Swinn released a statement on behalf of the committee on Monday that aimed to assuage fears the group would be replaced.

She told the Stray Ferret members were unhappy about a “lack of communication” over the way the trust had been set up.

She said:

“[It was] essentially due to the lack of communication, the way it has been set up and the continued insistence that we were informed in advance prior to the meeting in early June.

“The supporters club was not approached at any stage about becoming a trust either by Phil Holdsworth, the club or anyone else.”

She said there was “room for both” a supporters club and a trust.

“It is common for league clubs to have both trusts and supporters clubs. They are able to exist and run side by side. Ultimately whether it’s a supporters club or trust the main aims are to support the club, look after the fans and also grow the fan base too. There is room for both.”

Ms Swinn said for the past three seasons the club has put on family-friendly coaches alongside its usual coach for many away games. For the upcoming season, this will also include most games in the north of England.

“Our supporters are fully aware that they are representing both the club and the supporters club when travelling to away matches and the committee will act on behaviour which we consider to be inappropriate and/or which may impact on the reputation of the club, or supporters club.”

Harrogate Town declined to comment.

Air pollution at Bond End in Knaresborough meets legal limits for first time

Air pollution levels at Bond End in Knaresborough have met legal limits for the first time since it was identified as a problem area over 10 years ago.

This was one of the key findings of Harrogate Borough Council’s 2021 Air Quality Annual Status Report, which tracked levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) at various monitoring sites across the district throughout 2020.

NO2 is an air pollutant produced mainly by exhaust fumes and has been linked to numerous health conditions, including asthma, heart disease, lung cancer and Alzheimer’s.

The UK still adheres to EU legal limits for air pollution, which state no monitoring site should exceed 40 micrograms per cubic metre of NO2 over the course of a year.

The annual level for Bond End was 33.8 micrograms per cubic metre in 2020, which is down on 40.47 micrograms per cubic metre in 2019.

Harrogate Borough Council declared an Air Quality Management Area for Bond End in 2010. The UK government requires local authorities to take action to improve areas with particularly bad air pollution.

In September 2018, North Yorkshire County Council replaced traffic lights at Bond End with a double mini-roundabout to reduce congestion and improve the flow of traffic.

This intervention appears to have reduced pollution levels, although many towns and cities across the UK reported decreases in air pollution during 2020 due to covid lockdowns and more people working from home.

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The four Air Quality Management Area in the Harrogate district all recorded annual levels below the 40 micrograms per cubic metre limit.

The others are at High Skellgate in Ripon, York Place in Knaresborough and Wetherby Road in Harrogate.

The council also has diffusion tubes to monitor NO2 levels at more than 50 other locations across the district. It found that air pollution decreased at every location over the past year except at Knaresborough bus station, where it increased slightly.

A council spokesman said:

“It’s positive that that annual reading for nitrogen dioxide is below the EU legal limit.

“We’re keen to remain at this level, or better still continue to improve, and have a number of actions as part of our Air Quality Action Plan.

“These include working with HGV, bus and taxi providers to improve the quality of their fleet, our ultra-low emission vehicle strategy as well as air quality campaigns and education.

“We are optimistic that the improvements in air quality will continue post-covid as many people have embraced a hybrid model of working at home and in the office.

“We will continue to monitoring air quality and tailor our action plan accordingly.”

Harrogate district train station ticket machines hit by cyber attack

All Northern train station ticket machines, including at Harrogate and Knaresborough stations, are down after being subject to a suspected ransomware cyber-attack.

A ransomware attack occurs when malicious software is used to block access to a system until a ransom sum of money is paid.

The rail operator said no customer or payment data had been compromised and that customers could still buy tickets online.

There is no timescale for when the machines may be working again but Northern said it would try to fix the problem “as soon as possible”.

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A spokesperson for Northern said:

“Last week we experienced technical difficulties with our self-service ticket machines, which meant all have had to be taken off-line.

“This is the subject of an ongoing investigation with our supplier, but indications are that the ticket machine service has been subject to a ransomware cyber-attack.

“Working with the supplier, we took swift action and the incident has only affected the servers which operate the ticket machines. Customer and payment data has not been compromised.

“We are working to restore normal operation to our ticket machines as soon as possible. We are sorry for any inconvenience this incident causes and, in the meantime, are advising customers to either use Northern’s mobile app or website to purchase tickets in advance and, where necessary, to collect those from one of our ticket offices. Of course, those offices can also be used to buy tickets.

“Customers who have already bought tickets to be collected at a machine, or who would normally use ‘promise to pay’ slips, should board their booked service and either speak to the conductor or to Northern staff at their destination station.”

‘I’ve missed this so much’: Delight as Starbeck Baths finally reopens

There was an emotional return for visitors and staff at Starbeck Baths today, as it finally reopened following the easing of covid restrictions.

The pool, which was built in 1870, had been closed since December 2020 despite the government allowing pools to reopen on April 12.

Harrogate Borough Council, which owns the site, said the delay was due to staffing problems as well as social distancing restrictions.

The Stray Ferret visited this afternoon and spoke to staff as well as local resident Jean Padgett, who has been a regular swimmer at Starbeck Baths for over 40 years.

She described the baths as “small, warm, and ideal”, adding:

“I have missed this so much. I live locally, so if they close this it’s like signing my death warrant. My fitness has dropped over the last 18 months.”

There were murmurings in Starbeck that Harrogate Borough Council would never reopen the pool.

Ms Padgett added:

“I’d be devastated if it was closed.”

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Sarah Bowyer, who has worked at the baths for 26 years, described today as “emotional”.

She said the morning session was well attended and she was expecting to see more familiar faces in the coming days and weeks.

She added:

“We’ve had lots of phone calls from regulars.”

The baths are used not only for exercise but also for socialising too. Ms Bowyer said it was a lifeline for many residents in Starbeck, particularly older people who live on their own.

Jenny Paish worked at the baths for 30 years before recently retiring. She was helping out today and agreed it was a vital part of the community.

She said:

“It’s like a big family, it’s been massively missed.”

Frustration grows over diving board closures at Harrogate’s Hydro

The parent of a diver who uses The Hydro has expressed frustration that two diving boards have been out of action for over six months, forcing members of a local club to travel to West Yorkshire to train.

Olympic divers such as Jack Laugher trained at the Harrogate Borough Council-owned pool but aspiring athletes have been unable to use the boards since November last year.

The pool, which caters for high board and springboard divers, reopened on April 12 but diving remains affected after the council found cracks in the concrete that supports the boards during a routine inspection.

Neil Blackburn told the Stray Ferret that his 11-year-old daughter is part of the Dive Harrogate club that trained twice a week at the pool pre-covid restrictions.

He said divers have been forced to train in Shipley, near Bradford, and believes there is “little appetite” to get the Hydro diving boards fixed. He estimates the cost of repairs could be a quarter of a million pounds.

Mr Blackburn said:

“The club are really good at keeping us informed and they have full backing of Swim England, but it does appear there is little appetite to get the concrete towers repaired from either the Hydro or the council any time soon.

“As always this appears to be about funding and it’s starting to become a worry that they may not bother at all. The estimate for the repair is £250k. For a club which has produced divers who are currently in Tokyo for the Olympics this seems a real shame.”

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A council spokesman said:

“Unfortunately, during a routine inspection of the diving board platform at The Hydro in Harrogate, cracks in the concrete were discovered.

“A further independent survey was carried out to establish the stability, integrity and durability of the diving structure.

“Results show that the diving platform should not be used until work has been carried out.

“We are exploring possible options and will have an update in due course.”

Cat from Scotland hitches a ride to Great Yorkshire Show and goes missing

An intrepid cat from Scotland sneaked inside the sheep trailer of a farmer visiting the Great Yorkshire Show — but escaped and is now missing on the showground site.

David Mitchell, who was showing sheep at the show, arrived in Harrogate on Wednesday after driving over 200 miles. When he opened the trailer, the cat bolted and disappeared.

He tried looking for the cat, named Puss, but had to return to Scotland on Friday without her to tend to his farm in East Ayreshire. He subsequently posted an appeal on Facebook.

There has been a sighting of the black and white feline around the old viaduct but the animal is believed to be frightened and hungry.

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Helen McCallum, a volunteer at Harrogate Cat Rescue, told the Stray Ferret that she had asked staff at the showground to put a plan in place to catch the missing moggy.

She said she’s spoken to the farmer, who is “very worried” about Puss.

She added:

“It might be a mouser but I don’t know whether it knows how to hunt. It needs food.”

Have you seen Puss? Contact Helen on 07845 755405.

£50,000 bid to look into Knaresborough to Flaxby cycle route

North Yorkshire County Council (NYCC) is proposing to build a 7km segregated walking and cycling route between Knaresborough and the new Flaxby Green Park.

The county council has bid for £1.55million from the government’s Active Travel Fund to develop four schemes in North Yorkshire that improve walking and cycling infrastructure.

It proposes spending £50,000 on a feasibility study for the proposed route, which would run alongside the railway line and connect the town to Flaxby Green Park, a new employment site that is set to open on the junction of the A59 and A1.

The council said it would link to wider plans to build a cycle route all the way to York.

If NYCC decided to move forward with the scheme, it would have to bid for more money from government. An NYCC spokesman said the estimated costs of the route are unknown at this early stage.

The other scheme in the Harrogate district is to the west of Ripon where the council proposes to spend £550,000 on footway widening, crossing facilities and traffic calming measures.

Two other proposals are road improvements in Craven and a new walking/cycleway between Helmsley and Kirkbymoorside.

A decision on whether the council has been successful in its bid is expected in the autumn and funds must be spent before March 2023.

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It is not the first time NYCC has bid for money from the Active Travel Fund.

Ministers awarded £1,011,750 last year to help fund three potential schemes in Harrogate plus one in Whitby, despite the authority bidding for more.

It includes plans for cycle lanes and junction upgrades on the A59 between Harrogate and Knaresborough, as well as a scheme on Victoria Avenue in the town centre.

Meanwhile, a proposal to make Oatlands Drive more friendly to cyclists met with fierce backlash from local residents.

The plan originally included a scheme to make the whole of Oatlands Drive one-way. However, this was dropped in March after 57% of respondents to a council consultation opposed it.

The scheme moved forward and included making nearby St Winifred’s Road and St Hilda’s Road one-way, but this was similarly unpopular with residents.

In May, the council decided to withdraw the scheme altogether from its bid.

Instead, the council has commissioned an ‘Oatlands Constituency Feasibility Study’, which it says will “reassess opportunities” for infrastructure improvements across a wider area than the government scheme allows.