Starbeck residents mark National Allotment Week in lockdown garden

The Cuttings near Starbeck is celebrating its hard work this National Allotment Week on a fruit and vegetable patch built at the start of lockdown.

Since March, the elderly community in Starbeck has been growing produce to be used in charitable meals. Harrogate and Ripon Food Angels provide a meals on wheels delivery service to over 100 people living alone.

Margaret Mitchell, 85, has spent most of her time in the allotment since coronavirus began.

Margaret said:

“I’ve always enjoyed gardening so it has been a pleasure to help and watch the fruit and vegetables grow. Being in lockdown has had its downsides but having the opportunity to be outdoors and grow our own produce has been wonderful. I am looking forward to trying the fruits of our labour.”

Both the The Cuttings and Food Angels scheme are run by Harrogate Neighbours Housing Association.

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Sue Cawthray, CEO at Harrogate Neighbours, considers the green-fingered initiative a sustainable success. She said:

“There are many challenges of lockdown for those who are vulnerable, or shielding, so the allotment was started to encourage tenants to spend more time outdoors. There is lots of evidence to suggest that nature, being outdoors and watching things grow has a significant positive impact on mental health. We’re fortunate to have a dedicated space in the garden of The Cuttings where tenants have enjoyed planting and watching fresh produce grow.”

Ms Cawthray said that the allotment even has beehives. As the organisation’s own personal beekeeper, she showed the tenants how to remove honeycomb safely and put it into jars.

She said:

“It was a most enjoyable afternoon in the sunshine and everyone got a chance to taste our very own Harrogate Neighbours honey!”

National Allotment Week was founded by The National Allotment Society in 2002. The theme for 2020 is “growing food for health and wellbeing”.

Extra £1m bid for Harrogate cycle and walking routes

With this second bid for more than £1m from North Yorkshire County Council, comes accusations that it was not ambitious enough when it bid for the first phase of funding.

3 routes in Harrogate have been put forward for significant improvement: Oatlands Drive, Victoria Avenue and the A59 road connecting Starbeck to Knaresborough by Maple Close.

The money is part of the The Department for Transport’s  Emergency Active Travel Fund (EATF) and will be allocated to the county if it can meet strict criteria.

North Yorkshire County Council representatives said:

“This bid had to meet strict DfT criteria, including a maximum allocation of £1.065 million, being deliverable in this financial year, supporting both cycling and walking and replacing a well-used bus route or enabling roads to be closed to traffic. We believe the five schemes we have put forward, three of which are in the Harrogate area, present a strong submission.”

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The 2 other listed locations are in Helmsley and Whitby.

The EATF is phase one of a five-year £2 billion sustainable travel scheme announced by the government. Its aim is to create more green and alternative ways of traveling across the UK.

In July, North Yorkshire County Council was disappointed to receive only £133,000 from government, half the potential amount available in the first wave of emergency funding.

Harrogate District Cycling Action said that NYCC lacked ambition:

“It’s disappointing that NYCC has only received 50% of the Tranche 1 amount provisionally allocated to it (which was £266,000). It must be because the plans presented weren’t ambitious enough.

North Yorkshire’s Cabinet member Councillor Don Mackenzie, Executive Member for Access, this time round said :

“The bid had to be prepared quickly, with only about four weeks between receiving the DfT guidance and the deadline.”

There’s no doubt the cycling community in the Harrogate district will be waiting for the outcome of this bid. A date has not been announced for when local authorities will hear if they have been successful with funding. The Department for Transport said they will turn decisions round quickly.

Coronavirus drive-through testing in Harrogate today

A coronavirus mobile testing centre is running today at the Harrogate Old Education Offices on Ainsty Road.

The Department for Health and Social Care will be helping people with tests at the site, which must be booked before arrival.

North Yorkshire County Council is urging all essential workers to get a test, as well as anyone with coronavirus symptoms as listed on the NHS website.

The drive-through will be in Harrogate at the same location on Friday, August 14. More than 200 slots are available in Harrogate this week.

Tests can be booked from 8pm the night before on the Gov.UK website.

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