Council hopes that North Yorkshire will move into tier one

The Harrogate district could move out of tier two into tier one if coronavirus infection rates continue to fall.

Local public health officials struck an optimistic tone in light of today’s announcement but warned against complacency.

They said in an emergency press briefing that it was possible for North Yorkshire to change tiers when they are up for review in two weeks.

Richard Flinton, chair of the the North Yorkshire Local Resilience Forum, said:

“We are pleased that we are not in tier three. But I think we can say that this is not the time for complacency.

“We have to get into tier one and we need to use this time to drive down the virus in the county, we cannot be content in tier two.

“The winter period is a significant and potentially dangerous time in terms of how the virus could move.”

Currently there are more than 340 coronavirus patients in the hospitals that serve North Yorkshire.

That is higher than the first coronavirus wave when the patient numbers peaked at 302.

While the requirements for tier one are not entirely clear, the local officials set out some areas to look out for.

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Dr Lincoln Sargeant, director of public health in North Yorkshire, said:

“There are some indicators that we have from before this lockdown that we can aim for.

“We need to get the case rate, the positive case rate, the rates in the over 60s and the patients in hospitals down.

“I believe it is possible for us to have a safe Christmas and at the same time for the virus not to rebound in January.”

As North Yorkshire is surrounded by tier three areas there are concerns that visitors will try to take advantage of the lower restrictions.

Mike Walker, North Yorkshire Police’s assistant chief constable and gold commander leading the force’s coronavirus response, said:

“It is not acceptable for someone to travel out of a tier three area without a suitable reason. We do have enforcement powers in place to stop people doing this.

“We are one of the forces that issued the highest amount of fixed penalty notices at the start of the lockdown.”

Harrogate charity offers internships to deaf community

A charity supporting people with disabilities is offering members of the deaf community the opportunity to work in its cafe next year.

Artizan International is a Harrogate-based charity offering art and crafts workshops for differently-abled people. It also sells crafts made by disabled artisans in Ecuador and Peru in its Oxford Street store.

In Spring 2021, the charity has plans to open a cafe offering supported internships to members of the deaf community. Those involved will be trained in barista work and general hospitality.

The hope is the training the interns receive will allow them to pursue a career in the catering industry. The long term visions is for the cafe to be completely deaf run.

Artizan International

Artizan International isn’t able to run its usual workshops during the pandemic.

Liz Cluderay, the charity’s UK programmes officer, said:
“At Artizan as we look forward, we want to create valued opportunities for those living with disabilities in our community. The cafe would be an ideal opportunity for those in the deaf community to either train and volunteer or develop the experience further into potential careers in hospitality locally.”

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Susie Hart, the charity’s founder, opened a cafe run by the deaf community in Tanzania previously so has experience in running similar projects successfully.

The charity opened its shop three weeks before lockdown two hit but it says it has stayed “busy” with online orders and prepping new products for the shop when it is allowed to reopen next week.

To get involved with this project, contact Liz Cluderay here.

Harrogate district pubs were ‘praying for tier one’

Pubs in the Harrogate district have voiced their disappointment at being placed in tier two at the end of lockdown.

Rick Jones, who owns the Water Rat and Valentino’s, said: “We were all praying for tier one. But with a very limited number of areas going into tier one it is not a surprise.”

He expects the impact of tier two to mean that business at the Water Rat pub will be down by around 30% compared to the same time last year.

Mr Jones added: “Celebratory casual drinks in December won’t be happening. There’s only so many times you can go out with your own household. There’s a vaccine in sight. We just have to face this and ride it out.”

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While trade will be down for his pubs, wet-led pubs that cannot serve substantial meals with drinks have to close.

Richard Park, of the Little Ale House, also said: “It is something we were expecting but we are of course disappointed. It just makes no sense to close small, safe pubs like ours.

“Just because we don’t have the capacity to cook substantial meals, whatever that means, we are forced to keep our doors shut.”

Megan Fairweather, the social media secretary at Harrogate and Ripon CAMRA, added:

“After an agonising wait, licensees across the country have had their worst fears confirmed – in all but three council areas in the country, pubs will either be closed or only able to open if they are serving substantial meals.”

Harrogate district to enter tier two restrictions

The Harrogate district will enter tier two restrictions at the end of the national lockdown.

Matt Hancock, the health secretary, will set out the rules each area will be under in the House of Commons today.

However, a government website that has since crashed pre-empted the announcement. Here’s the full list.

When you put in a local postcode it says that the Harrogate district and North Yorkshire is under tier two.

The district is in tier two.

The new rules will come into force next Wednesday, December 2. It is unclear when the restrictions will come to an end.

North Yorkshire had been in tier one restrictions before the second national lockdown.

Local public health officials said in a press briefing yesterday that the coronavirus rates are an indicator of the different tiers.

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Most of North Yorkshire is below the England average seven-day rate of 201 cases per 100,000.

Scarborough and Selby are the only local areas above the national average. They have rates of 280 and 232 respectively.

While Harrogate and Ryedale have the lowest case rates in the area with 147 and 132.

The local officials also said that they would favour a system where North Yorkshire is split into different districts.

What are the rules in tier two?

Tier two:

What about Christmas?

Coronavirus restrictions will be eased across the UK between December 23 and December 27 to allow for a Christmas closer to normal.

It will mean that three households will be able to form a temporary bubble. It must be fixed but there will be no limit on numbers joining bubble.

Those who are self-isolating should not join one of these so-called Christmas bubbles.

If someone is in an at-risk group the government has said they must their their own judgement and consider the risks of mixing over Christmas.

Conservative council leader reports Lib Dems to Information Commissioner

Harrogate Borough Council leader, Richard Cooper, has sent a letter to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) asking for the local Lib Dems’ petitions to be investigated for “data harvesting”.

Cllr Cooper says none of the four petitions were submitted to relevant bodies and were instead an exercise to build a database of contact information. The Liberal Democrats say the accusations are false and a cynical ploy to put people off signing petitions.

In the letter Mr Cooper says he believes the party “may have breached at least three tenets of data protection”.

The ICO was set up to uphold an individual’s data privacy. The ICO told the Stray Ferret it is yet to receive the letter but a spokesperson added:

“When we receive the letter we will assess the information provided and decide whether we need to make further enquiries.”

Cllr Cooper criticised the Lib Dems in the letter saying the purposes of the petitions put forward were not fulfilled:

“My contention is that these petitions breach data protections rules because there is a pattern of behaviour which demonstrates that people’s details were collected for a purpose and then not used for that purpose.”

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The Liberal Democrats have called his accusations “ridiculous and laughable”.

The party says three of the petitions were not submitted but insists the Stray FM petition was sent to Bauer Media.

The campaign manager for the Harrogate and Knaresborough Liberal Democrats, Conor McKenzie, said:

“Let’s set the record straight though. The Stray FM petition was submitted, while other petitions achieved a u-turn before we even had chance to submit them.

“No data has been collected improperly as only those who explicitly told us they would like to will hear from us in future. To falsely suggest otherwise is a blatant attempt to put people off signing any group’s petitions in future. Doing so would be hugely damaging to community engagement and council scrutiny.”

Harrogate district pubs fear closure as tier announcement looms

Pubs in the Harrogate district have said they are being “demonised” and fear some will not survive if tier two restrictions are announced tomorrow.

Tier two and tier three restrictions stipulate pubs that do not serve “substantial” meals will be unable to reopen when lockdown ends next week.

North Yorkshire public health officials suggested today the county could be placed in tier two, although the national government will decide.

But unless the county is in tier one, there will be no end in sight for the enforced closures of many bars and pubs.

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Harrogate and Ripon CAMRA fears more than 70% of pubs will close in the district under tier two or tier three.

Rural pubs and those in smaller towns will be the ones to suffer most, it added.

Megan Fairweather, social media secretary of Harrogate and Ripon CAMRA, said:

“After the hardest year that pubs have ever faced, the uncertainty of the new tier system does not bring much hope.

“One Harrogate pub informed us just last week that in the first lockdown, they threw away £7,000 worth of alcohol.

“If we are lucky enough to be in tier one, pubs then face the uncertainty of changing tiers. Beer cannot just be served as soon as it arrives in a pub.”

The group has written to Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Andrew Jones asking him to support its campaign against further restrictions on pubs.

‘Safer than shops’

Richard Park, owner of The Little Ale House in Harrogate, said:

“Pubs should not be demonised like this. We are not aware of any infections in our pub, we think it’s much safe here than the shops.

“We are not going to go under but I fear what will happen to other pubs in the area. Pubs try hard to be safe and then we are closed down.”

Alan Huddart, club treasurer of Bilton Working Men’s Club, said:

“We are ready to open but it all hinges on us being in tier one. We don’t serve substantial meals so would be unable to open if we were in tier two.”

Jack Woodruff, co-owner of Harrogate’s Disappearing Chin, echoed his sentiments:

“If we are in tier one it would be tough but it would be okay. But if we are in tier two then we would have to close.

“This has been quite frustrating. We have worked hard and invested a lot in keeping the pub safe.”

£20,000 costs a month

Paul Kinsey, who owns the Viper Rooms, said:

“We can get £3,000 a month from November. My rent, insurance, maintenance and finances cost £20,000 a month.

“So I am not sure what bill that is meant to pay. We still don’t know what a ‘substantial meal’ means and night clubs are still ignored.”

 

Tier one hopes for Harrogate district fade away

The Harrogate district’s hopes of remaining in tier one at the end of the national lockdown seem to be fading away.

Local public health officials, who manage the coronavirus response in North Yorkshire, have been speculating ahead of an announcement tomorrow.

In a weekly coronavirus press briefing this morning, those officials said coronavirus rates can give you a feel for what tiers different areas will be in.

The average case rates in North Yorkshire is 195 per 100,000. England’s average case rates are currently 207 per 100,000.

Areas like Scarborough and Selby are the only areas above the national average at 296 and 240 per 100,000 respectively.

The Harrogate district has seen a drop in case rates in recent weeks. It now has the second lowest rates in North Yorkshire at 157 just above Ryedale at 131.

What tier restrictions will we be under?

The national lockdown ends next week on Wednesday, December 2. When the lockdown ends we will return to restrictions based on three tiers.

North Yorkshire was in tier one before the national lockdown. The government will confirm tomorrow which tiers each area will be under.

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However, local public health officials also said today that they would favour a system where North Yorkshire is split into different districts.

Richard Webb, the corporate director of health and adult services at North Yorkshire County Council, said:

“We don’t have those details on tier restrictions yet. All we have at the moment are the speculation and the drafts we had before lockdown.

“If we look to the criteria that will potentially be in place we hope that most of the county would be in tier two. But we know that some areas could be in tier three.”

What are the three different tiers?

The government has strengthened the tiers. They still range from tier one at medium through tier two at high and tier three at very high.

Tier one:
Tier two:
Tier three:

What about Christmas?

Coronavirus restrictions will be eased across the UK between December 23 and December 27 to allow for a Christmas closer to normal.

It will mean that three households will be able to form a temporary bubble. It must be fixed but there will be no limit on numbers joining bubble.

Those who are self-isolating should not join one of these so-called Christmas bubbles.

If someone is in an at-risk group the government has said they must their their own judgement and consider the risks of mixing over Christmas.

Help give homeless and elderly people free Christmas hampers

The Wesley Chapel in Harrogate is fundraising to buy hampers for people who are alone this Christmas after covid prevented its usual lunch from taking place.

For the past 35 years the Methodist chapel has provided Christmas day lunches for up to 100 people.

All guests are offered a full Christmas dinner, entertainment, carol singing, and a snack before being transported home.

It has given mainly elderly, lonely and homeless people not only a hot meal but also company.

Now it has set up a crowdfunding campaign to buy a minimum of 120 hampers.

Esther Hitchen, a volunteer helper for the Wesley Chapel, said:

“Sadly, this year we are unable to provide a Christmas Day lunch due to the covid restrictions.

“Instead, we are organising hampers, which will be delivered to the door of our guests on the 25th of December.

“We hope it will brighten up their day and help them feel less alone this Christmas.”

Any funds that don’t get used will go towards next year’s Christmas dinner.

You can support the appeal here.

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Harrogate’s community woodland starts to take shape

The people behind the campaign to buy Harrogate’s first community woodland have appealed for volunteers to help plant trees after achieving their fundraising target.

Rick Brewis and Trish Sanders have been part of the Long Lands Common Ltd committee from the beginning of the ambitious venture.

The pair are local landowners and were passionate about stopping plans for a bypass through green land.

They supported the move to buy 30 acres of local land for £300,000 and turn it into a community woodland.

So far the initiative has raised almost £320,000, allowing the group to begin planning the next steps.

Rick and Trish say plans are in place to begin infrastructure work in Spring 2021 – this will include footpaths and working on a disability access point. Tree planting is due to begin next autumn.

Long lands Common

Trish and Rick are looking forward to starting work on the woodland.

The committee has been blown away by the response and is now encouraging shareholders to volunteer to help with planting.

Long Lands Common Ltd is continuing to fundraise until December 20 to try and reach its final target of £375,000.

The initial £300,000 target enabled the group to buy the land; funds raised beyond that will go towards the infrastructure work.

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‘Thoughtless horse riders’ damage Bilton boardwalk

Bilton Conservation Group has criticised horse riders for damaging a boardwalk in Nidd Gorge.

The group, whose responsibilities include repairing footpaths and boardwalks, has urged dog walkers to avoid the area until repairs are complete.

George Moore, membership secretary of the group, said a witness saw horses crossing the boardwalk on the cross path intersection of Milne’s Lane. He added:

“This was thoughtless damage caused by unknown horse riders in the Nidd Gorge.
“Bilton Conservation Group has a backlog of repairs to carry out in Nidd Gorge and this unwanted damage will cost us dearly in time, effort and cost.
“Whilst the boardwalk is still passable with due care it is not recommended for folk with dogs to use at this present time.”

The group, which was set up in 1982 to protect the rural environment of Bilton, hopes to complete the repairs next week.

They are predicted to cost £50 and require 20 hours of work.

In the meantime the group has asked walkers to be wary in the vicinity.

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The repair work comes at a busy time for the group, which faces a backlog of repair work due to the pandemic.
Mr Moore has been unable to identify the riders but asked those responsible to offer a donation towards the repairs.