Most of Ilke Homes‘ Knaresborough staff are expected to remain at home on full pay next week as the company continues to seek a buyer.

The Stray Ferret understands a small number of staff will be in the Flaxby factory to help complete some orders and send them to site.

They will be joined by managers, who have remained at the factory this week after the workers were told a week ago to stay at home while the company sought investment.

The business was put up for sale this week and a source told the Stray Ferret its owners were now in “advanced talks” with a potential buyer.

In a statement issued earlier this week, the company blamed market conditions for its current situation:

“In 2020, Ilke Homes launched its turnkey development offering, where the company acquires land, secures planning permission and develops the site. This has been complicated by uncertainty over planning policy and rising build costs.

“While having delivered strong contribution margins, Ilke Homes now requires new investment to meet overheads, achieve further scale and become cash flow positive.

“The wider UK housing market has been hit by rapidly rising interest rates, which has reduced demand and resulted in housing starts falling below pre-pandemic levels.

“Official government figures have also revealed that planning applications in England have fallen to their lowest level in at least 16 years, thanks to uncertainty over planning policy and heightened build costs, highlighting the scale of the challenge in improving housing delivery.”

Read more:

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A Harrogate business owner will be setting out on the challenge of a lifetime next week, inspired by the people who cared for his late aunt.

Simon Gregory is planning to ride 1,000 kilometres — more than 620 miles — in just 48 hours to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support.

His aunt, Rev Ruth Scott, was cared for by a Macmillan nurse after being diagnosed with lymphoma until her death in 2019, aged 60.

Simon is no stranger to challenges, having completed a 288-mile ride in 24 hours in 2021 for the same cause. He told the Stray Ferret:

“The first one I did two years ago was 100% about Ruth. This one has been more about Ruth’s journey and a lot about the Macmillan nurse who supported Ruth and us.

“When I did the last ride, people were telling me stories about having cancer or losing people to cancer without that support that Macmillan provide. That just scared the life out of me. I want everyone to be able to get the support Ruth had and that we had.”

For this challenge, Simon will head to Ardnamurchan Point in west Scotland, from where he will set off next Friday at noon.

He will cycle the length of Britain, aiming to finish at Winchester Cathedral at noon on Sunday.

The aim of the ride is to raise £25,000 – enough to fund 101 days of care from Macmillan nurses, in tribute to the nurse who cared for Ruth.

The two ends of the route have particular significance to Ruth and her family, he said.

“Some of her ashes are scattered near where I’m starting. The Isle of Mull and Iona were her happy place – somewhere she went to rest and recharge. The rest of the ashes are interred at Winchester.”

Simon is completing the ride to raise funds for Macmillan nurses, who supported Rev Ruth Scott.

While the ride itself will be challenging enough, the training has also been gruelling.

Simon has spent long hours on his bike, setting out on rides of up to 20 hours from his home in Harrogate in recent weeks.

Early in his training, he got hypothermia after encountering a freezing hilltop on an otherwise warm day. Last year, he had two operations on his shoulder after shattering his collarbone when his bike slipped on black ice.

He said:

“I’ve had interesting things, like chains breaking and punctures. A couple of weekends ago I get sun stroke, which was fun.

“There have been hard times. I’ve got my nutrition wrong and ‘bonked’, which means there’s nothing left in the tank and I’ve had to lie in a ditch and eat stuff and wait until I could get going again.”

Support crew

Fitting all of the training and recovery around his job running a recruitment business with his wife, and spending time with their two young children, has been a challenge – but he says being busy has also helped to keep the nerves at bay.

He has also been given support from his business, Returners’ Tribe, Paria, Precision Fuel & Hydration, and Starling bar in Harrogate, whose founder, Simon Midgeley, will be part of the first support crew setting off with Simon to Scotland next Thursday.

As well as offering practical support in shifts en route, the support crews – made up of close friends and family – will keep him focused during the 48-hour challenge. Simon said:

“I think it’s going to be very emotional. It’s not just about me and Ruth – it’s the other people involved in the support team.

“I’m going to be carried by the names of other people: my sponsors have put loved ones’ names on the bike, people who have survived cancer or who have supported them through cancer. I’ve even got the name of a dog who’s survived cancer.

“There are 23 names on the bike. Having them with me is going to add to that emotion.

“48 hours is an awfully long time, so it’s going to be a whole range of emotions, a whole spectrum of emotions, some I won’t expect, some I am anticipating.”

To get ready for the event and boost his fundraising, Simon will be on his turbo trainer outside Marks and Spencer on Parliament Street in York tomorrow, collecting donations from shoppers.

To follow Simon’s progress on his Instagram page, click here. Find out more about the challenge and donate to his fundraising on his JustGiving page.

Read more:

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Harrogate may be experiencing wall-to-wall sunshine and high temperatures, but for one street, thoughts will turn to Christmas this weekend.

The Commercial Street Jamboree has been organised to raise funds for Supporting Older People to put on a Christmas meal for elderly people who live alone.

The event will also contribute to Harrogate Hospital and Community Charity‘s funds for an entertainer to visit the children’s ward at Harrogate District Hospital.

SOP will hold a book stall on the street, while Harrogate Hospital Radio will be broadcasting from the street. The independent shops along the street will also be getting into the fun of the event, which takes place tomorrow, Saturday, June 17, from 2pm.

Wave Aquariums will be offering face painting, Lilly’s Cafe will fire up the barbecue, and there will be an open mic and family entertainment.

Sue Kramer, chair of the Commercial Street Retailers group and owner of Crown Jewellers, said:

A diversion in Knaresborough is set to remain in place until Monday after a problem was discovered with a sewage pipe.

Yorkshire Water closed Halfpenny Lane to deal with a pipe under the surface, and had planned to reopen it yesterday.

However, the work has taken longer than expected and the diversion via Boroughbridge Road and Chain Lane remains in place. A Yorkshire Water spokesperson said:

“Unfortunately, the works on Halfpenny Lane have been delayed after we found other utilities networks in the excavation, which prevented us from completing the work safely.

“Northern Gas Networks and Northern Powergrid have been to the site to assist with their networks and carry out work to enable our teams to complete our repairs safely. We have worked closely with local council highways teams to keep disruption to a minimum and are working hard to finish the work and reopen the road as soon as possible.”

A spokesperson said the excavations revealed a gas pipe had been placed through the top of the sewage pipe.

Until the gas pipe can be moved, the hole will be filled in. Once the gas repairs have been carried out at a date to be confirmed, Yorkshire Water will return to complete the work to the sewage pipe, which is still operational.

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Meanwhile, temporary traffic lights on Boroughbridge Road have been adding to traffic problems in the area.

They are linked to a new housing development and have been in place since mid-March.

While they are due to end tomorrow, a further day of works for fibre broadband is expected to hit the road near Greengate Lane on Sunday, along with two days of resurfacing work from Tuesday morning. Both will involve temporary traffic lights.

The traffic problems caused by extensive roadworks in the area have led some residents to question why so many restrictions were allowed to be put in place at the same time.

North Yorkshire Council’s corporate director for environment, Karl Battersby, said:

“The roadworks on the A6055 have been in place for a number of weeks and are developer works as part of a new housing development and are due to be completed on Friday (June 16).

“The nearby Yorkshire Water works are emergency repairs due to a collapsed sewerage pipe that needed to be fixed immediately.

“We could not have foreseen that there would emergency works ongoing when the permit was issued for the resurfacing works on the A6055.

“We appreciate that roadworks near each other create additional delays for road users, but once the developer works are completed, it will ease the situation until Yorkshire Water can complete its emergency repairs.”

A six-year-old child has been airlifted to hospital after a collision outside a primary school near Ripon.

It happened near Fountains C of E Primary around 8.50am today and involved a light blue Hyundai i10 which was travelling towards Sawley.

The was taken by air ambulance to James Cook Hospital with serious leg injuries.

A spokesperson for North Yorkshire Police said:

“The driver of the Hyundai was spoken to at the scene and is assisting officers with their enquires. The stretch of road was closed for a time to allow officers to investigate the scene.

“Officers are appealing to anyone, including motorists with dashcam footage, or who witnessed the incident, to come forward.

“If you were driving in the area at the time, please check your dashcam footage in case you have captured the vehicle on camera prior to the crash but may be unaware.”

Anyone with information can call North Yorkshire Police on 101, select option two, and ask for Steve Wright, or email steve.wright1@northyorkshire.police.uk, quoting reference number 12230107761.

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A young Harrogate musician has signed a global publishing deal after his music proved a hit on social media.

KiD RAiN – whose real name is Dan Reynard – has been working as a songwriter for many years, but has just signed with Peermusic, the largest independent music publisher in the world.

He has achieved 250 million video views and 30 million streams for previous releases, including I Hope You Never Fall in Love Again, and a cover of Counting Crows’ Accidentally in Love.

It’s on TikTok where he has become a real star: his music has been shared by celebrities including Khloe Kardashian.

Teasers for his new single Half got more than half a million views on the video sharing platform. He said the song explores the move from childhood to adulthood:

“I often find myself questioning whether I’m truly a kid or a grown-up. Half is a heartfelt anthem for those who find themselves caught in life’s limbo.”

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The former Ripon Grammar School student began writing music aged just 12.

After studying A level music technology, as well as history, economics and business studies in 2014, he toured the UK in his band :PM, formed with four of his schoolmates.

He has been a prolific songwriter throughout his career, having worked with songwriters for Little Mix, Years & Years, Lana Del Ray and Ed Sheeran.

After going solo in 2020, he climbed the Apple Music and Spotify charts, and had one of his songs chosen as a BBC Introducing Track of the Week. His music has also appeared on Nickelodeon, which declared “KiD RAiN is on his way up”.

Now being hotly tipped as the next big thing by music industry professionals, he still remembers his nerves when he embarked on his first headline tour:

“I was so certain we wouldn’t sell enough tickets and the venues would be mostly empty, but I was so blown away by how many people showed up.

“To go to places like Glasgow and see your name above the venue door and hear people sing songs you wrote in your bedroom was amazing. Surely they all have better things to do than watch an idiot dance around on stage? Apparently not.”

Investigations are continuing into alleged food fraud by a company founded in the Harrogate district.

The Food Standards Agency has confirmed it is still looking into allegations made against Bleiker’s last year.

The company, established in 1993 and previously based at Glasshouses Mill in Nidderdale, fell into administration in April 2022 before the investigation was announced just days later in May.

This week, Andrew Quinn, deputy head of the national food crime unit at the Food Standards Agency, told the Stray Ferret:

“The FSA’s national food crime unit is investigating alleged food fraud and how a smokehouse supplied a large supermarket retailer with smoked salmon labelled as fresh and Scottish when it was allegedly sourced frozen from Norway.

“We regularly engage with industry to share intelligence, tackling food fraud to protect the consumer.  The national food crime unit acted on intelligence it received which resulted in one arrest being made and three further suspects were interviewed voluntarily under caution.

“It is vitally important that we ensure food is safe and what it says it is, and that consumers and food businesses are confident in the authenticity of food they are buying.”

Read more:

• Companies ‘unlikely’ to receive pay-out from Bleiker’s Smoke House, say administrators
• Food fraud investigation into Bleiker’s Smokehouse

Meanwhile, the latest update from administrators shows the purchaser has not paid the agreed amount for the business’ assets.

The unnamed purchaser had agreed to pay £225,000 for stock, as well as fixtures and fittings, the business name and website, and other assets, in a sale which completed in December.

However, the administrators reported the purchaser could not pay the full sum at that time. Having agreed a schedule of £5,000 a month, they have since defaulted and administrators are liaising with solicitors to consider their next steps.

Administrators have also sought legal advice from Leeds-based Schoosmiths solicitors after analysing Bleikers’ bank statement activity.

The report said:

“We have carried out an analysis of the company’s bank statement activity and reviewed the accounting information available.

“We have sought feedback from our solicitors (Shoosmiths) with regards to certain matters identified during the investigation.”

A bid to share the leadership of a North Yorkshire Council committee in Harrogate and Knaresborough has failed.

Conservatives sitting on the Harrogate and Knaresborough Area Constituency Committee had proposed a shared chairmanship between their councillor, Paul Haslam, and Liberal Democrat Pat Marsh.

Cllr Sam Gibbs, Conservative representative of Valley Gardens and Central Harrogate, said:

“We’ve clearly got two very good, qualified candidates for this role. I know my LD colleagues are really fond of job shares. I was wondering if they’d be interested in job sharing this role over the next 12 months?

“We’ve heard them in previous meetings suggest such things and think it’s a really good idea, so let’s see if they’re keen  to follow through on this occasion.”

The proposal caused some confusion, with the council’s democratic services manager Daniel Harry saying no other committee had had two chairmen before on an NYC committee or at North Yorkshire County Council before it.

However, he said there was no legal reason it could not happen, as long as the terms were clear, such as chairing alternate meetings.

Cllr Arnold Warneken, who is not a committee member but attends the meetings as Green party councillor for Ouseburn, said:

“I know I’m not allowed to propose anything or vote, but I’m going to ask a question: do the candidates both agree that they would do that?”

Cllr Pat Marsh, who represents the Stray, Woodlands and Hookstone division and was leader of the Liberal Democrats in opposition at Harrogate Borough Council, responded:

“No, I’m not happy to share that. Sorry.”

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Committee members were then asked to vote on whether the post should be shared. The five Conservatives all voted in favour, but were defeated by the seven Liberal Democrats who opposed the plan.

Instead, Pat Marsh was elected as chairman with seven votes in favour and five abstentions.

A bid for Cllr Haslam to be elected as vice chairman was also defeated by six votes to five with one abstention. Cllr Monika Slater, the Lib Dem representative of Bilton Grange and New Park, was chosen instead by seven votes in favour to none against and five abstentions.

Cllr Marsh is also chair of the planning committee for the area, where Cllr Haslam is vice chairman. Three other Liberal Democrats and two further Conservatives also sit on that committee.

Residents’ groups in the west of Harrogate have expressed “total dissatisfaction” with infrastructure improvements in the area.

Seven parish councils and residents’ associations shared their frustrations with the lack of progress as thousands of new homes are built.

They said they had been promised a draft document almost a year ago but were yet to see it, or any other progress.

Rene Dziabas, chairman of Harrogate and Pannal Ash Residents’ Association, spoke on behalf of the groups at North Yorkshire Council‘s Harrogate and Knaresborough Area Constituency Committee last week.

He said:

“At the time, we expressed the view that much of this work came over as incoherent and lacking any real structure. We were assured that a complete infrastructure strategy and associated delivery schedule would be made available in October of last year.

“Council representatives assured us that these documents would include clear objectives, clear deliverables, timings, supporting data and financial costings. This was a council commitment, not one initiated by us as stakeholders.

“Yet here we are in mid-2023 and the latest position is that consultants are still looking at the viability of what previous consultants have proposed.So far we have seen no hard detail whatsoever in relation to the infrastructure strategy and delivery schedule and no offer of meaningful engagement with the community.

“Recent correspondence would seem to indicate further delays therefore our overall concern is that this work when it eventually emerges will deliver an ineffective and inadequate package.”

Mr Dziabas said there were 4,000 new homes being built around the west of Harrogate, “the equivalent of a small town”.

Residents were concerned about the impact not just on roads, but on medical facilities, schools, buses and other infrastructure.

He said the local plan, which sets out where development can happen, was being put together more than a decade ago, yet there had been no changes to infrastructure to cope with the building that had already taken place.

He added:

“The reality is that we are now some years on and we see nothing that convinces us that there’s any sort of plan in place that will help to mitigate strains on the infrastructure to the west of Harrogate.”

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• ‘Real solutions’ needed to west of Harrogate congestion, say residents

In response, NYC’s planning and transport departments issued a joint statement, which was read out by meeting clerk Mark Codman.

It said the local plan and related documents set a “clear framework” for development, while section 106 agreements with developers were used to leverage investment for infrastructure improvements.

A review and costings exercised had been commissioned by the previous councils, it said, and would provide “clarification and certainty”. It added:

“The complex nature of the work means it is not yet complete. Officers are prioritising this work, however the nature of strategic projects does sometimes involve unforeseen delays.”

Cllr Chris Aldred, who represents High Harrogate and Kingsley for the Liberal Democrats, said he was in agreement with the residents.

He recalled hearing a similar call for progress at a meeting a year before, and said he was frustrated to be in the same position now. He added:

“Really, we do need to get our act together on these matters, because people are living in a state of flux where nothing is happening and it’s not fair to the residents.

“I strongly want the executive to get on top of this. I know we’ve had the distraction of local government reorganisation and eight councils into one, but that has now been achieved and we really need to move on with these matters.

“i don’t want to be sitting here in a year’s time and having similar presentations from parish councils.”

Three men have been charged with wounding after a man was stabbed in Harrogate on Thursday night.

It happened in the Dragon Road area, where police were called just after 9.30pm to reports a man had suffered stab wounds.

The victim’s injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.

The men, all from West Yorkshire, were arrested by North Yorkshire Police and are due to appear at York Magistrates Court tomorrow (Monday).

All three were charged with wounding with intent, while one has also been charged with possessing a knife in a public place.

Another of the trio faces a further charge of possession with intent to supply class A drugs and possessing a knife in a public place.

Detective Chief Inspector Fionna McEwan, of North Yorkshire Police, said:

“I hope members of public in Harrogate are reassured by the swift police response in this case, which has resulted in three men being charged.

“Incidents like this are extremely rare in our area. Officers from the local Neighbourhood Policing Team have increased local patrols, and will be happy to speak to residents if they have any further concerns.”

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