Civic Society opposes bid to convert Harrogate’s former post office

Harrogate Civic Society is to oppose plans to convert the town’s former post office into offices and 25 flats.

Post Office Ltd wants to add a fourth floor on to the three-storey sandstone terraced building, which closed last year after more than 100 years as a post office.

The society, which is a charity that aims to keep Harrogate beautiful, said in a statement it welcomed the principle of redeveloping the site into a mixed-use facility but added:

“We are, however, concerned about the impact of an additional floor to this building in the conservation area, as the proposal does not address the whole of the building as originally designed.

“The appearance of the new floor results in a design solution which is not fully considered or refined and therefore does not enhance the existing roofscape in its present form.”

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Property development company One Acre Group has submitted plans on behalf of Post Office Ltd to Harrogate Borough Council to convert the building. If approved, work could start in the summer.

The post office controversially relocated to WH Smith last year amid claims by Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Andrew Jones the service was being “downgraded”.

The society said the application would encourage retail and make the area more vibrant. It added:

“We support the principle of re-use of vacant upper floors in the town centre for residential purposes.

“We believe this concept should be encouraged and developed in all areas of the town centre so that buildings and streets as a whole appear to have life at all times.”

But the organisation said it was “concerned about the relationship of the proposed extension to the existing buildings along Cambridge Terrace”, adding:

“The society is of the opinion that the developer’s proposal as it stands should be resisted.”

 

 

Police investigating Killinghall burglary appeal for jogger

Police are appealing for a jogger to come forward to help with an investigation into a burglary.

At about 7.30pm on Friday night, police were called to a house in Killinghall. The burglars had threatened the people living in the home and had then made off with cash and other items.

A  jogger who was out running the following morning found a mobile phone and handed it in to Harrogate Police Station.

However, they did not leave their contact details.

Officers are appealing for them to come forward as a witness as they may have information that could assist the investigation.

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North Yorkshire Police have arrested two men in connection with the incident. They remain in custody at this time.

If you have an information please contact North Yorkshire Police on 101, quoting reference number 12200211798.

Harrogate independents band together to beat coronavirus

A Harrogate street full with independent retailers has banded together to beat coronavirus.

Commercial Street has a new retailers group designed at promoting all of the shops online.

Shops pay £52 a year to join and all of that money goes into a pot to pay for the website and any future campaigns.

More than 70% of the street is already signed up. They all hope that it can help them get a bumper Christmas after a difficult year.

Commercial Street

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Sue Kramer, of Crown Jewellers and head of the Commercial Street Retailers Group, said:

“It’s been a tough time for shops. But we hope that we can come out of coronavirus in a strong position.

“Christmas is such an important time so we are very happy to be in tier two. The new group has come at a great time.’

She hopes that the new group can encourage customers to keep coming back and exploring Commercial Street.

Despite the difficult year Sue believes that independent shops like the ones on Commercial Street will be the heart of town centres in years to come.

More cases and one more coronavirus death in Harrogate

There are 22 new cases in the Harrogate district today as the hospital reports another coronavirus death.

Public Health England figures for the district, which have been dropping steadily since the start of November, are now at 3,536 cases overall.

Harrogate District Hospital is now at 99 coronavirus deaths in total after it reported one more death today.

The death, while reported today, happened on Thursday. November 26.

It also comes as the Harrogate district prepares to move into tier two restrictions on Wednesday as the national lockdown ends.

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Harrogate Mind walks 1932 miles for festive fundraising challenge

The staff and trustees at Harrogate Mind are walking 1932 miles next month to raise money and awareness for the importance of your mental health.

This festive challenge will see the team walk the distance from The Acorn Centre, central Harrogate, to Lapland between December 1 and December 25.

There are 15 staff members and trustees taking part, meaning each of them has to walk, run or cycle almost 130 miles in 24 days.

The charity said it hopes to promote the benefits of exercise for a person’s mental health through this fundraising campaign.

Tina Chamberlain, CEO of Mind in the Harrogate district, said everyone had worked really hard during the pandemic and even they can sometimes forget to work on their own mental health.

She said:

“We are often too busy taking calls from people to take a lunch break and the long days mean that you don’t feel like exercising when you leave work either. I noticed it was all starting to take its toll on staff.
“We came up with the idea that we would walk the 1932 miles from Harrogate to Lapland. Having this goal has really galvanised the team.”

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The team is hoping to match the distance with donations and reach its £1,932 target. To support them, click here.
Mike Gibbs, Chair of Trustees said
“We wanted to do something to support the staff who have worked so hard during the last few months and also to raise the profile of the charity so that more people in need know there is somewhere for them to go to get mental health support in Harrogate district.”
The charity offers counselling and befriending services to those struggling with their mental health or in isolation. During the pandemic, the service has reported an increase in demand. 
Harrogate council increases search delays to seven weeks

Harrogate Borough Council has increased the average time to complete land searches from 30 working days to up to seven weeks.

The council has asked those waiting to be patient and request a land search as early as possible.

An increase in demand, a backlog of searches from the first lockdown and struggles with staff numbers have all put strain on the process.

The Stray Ferret has reported the frustration of homebuyers and agents over the last month, who all disputed the council’s previous 30 working days time scale.

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Some claim to have put in requests at the end of summer to be told that it won’t be cleared until December.

Harrogate Borough Council put an updated on their social media channels to say the the waiting time had increased:

“We are doing everything we can to reduce the processing times for local land charge searches.

“It is currently taking between six and seven weeks on average for us to complete our part of the searches process.”

Now that the current lockdown is coming to an end the council is opening the civic centre to allow personal searches to take place.

James Wort, a director at Strutt and Parker, previously told the Stray Ferret that his clients have experienced delays up to 90 days:

“I can give about 17 examples where the search delays have been three times what the council have said.

“We have emails from the council saying that requests from September will be complate by December. But they say it’s not true. It’s scandalous. “

Unloved Northern pacer train makes its final journey

Northern rail has finally bid farewell to its fleet of outdated pacer trains.  The last pacer to carry Northern customers completed its journey yesterday having travelled from Kirkby to Manchester.

Pacer trains have been running for 35 years and news of their final retirement will be welcomed by many travellers who had to endure overcrowded, uncomfortable journeys on them on the Harrogate line.

They had become a political symbol of under-investment in rail transport in the north and their replacement has been long overdue.

Chris Jackson, Regional Director at Northern, said:

“The pacers have kept millions of northerners on the move and, while they have served us well and provided some communities with rail services they may have otherwise lost, it is time to give them a well-earned rest.

“Northern has overseen significant modernisation in recent months and the retiring pacers have made way for a fleet of 100 brand-new trains which are already servicing people across the north of England.”

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Grant Shapps, Transport Secretary with Cabinet Responsibility for the Northern Powerhouse, said:

“The pacer fleet has connected communities on the Northern network for over 30 years, but today marks the sun finally setting on trains that have become loved by some, but hated by many.

“This marks a new era of transport in the north, with passengers enjoying a brand new fleet of trains, delivering more modern services and creating a more reliable network across the north.”

For many commuters though the pacer stayed on the tracks for too long and investment should have come sooner.

How Harrogate district avoided toughest tier rules

The government has explained how the Harrogate district avoided the toughest tier rules.

While case rates had been rising rapidly before the latest lockdown, they are improving in all but one of the districts in North Yorkshire.

The rates are lower than other parts of Yorkshire and the Humber, most of which are in tier three.

Scarborough, while at a higher rate than the rest of North Yorkshire, has seen its cases falling.

Positivity of cases is at 8.5%. The government will keep an eye on these indicators and may even change the tiers in a couple of weeks when they are up for review.

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Areas in tier three tend to not only have higher rates than North Yorkshire but also have pressure on NHS hospitals.

Meanwhile there were no new deaths reported at Harrogate District Hospital. The total count remains at 98.

Daily cases also continue to fall in the Harrogate district. The latest figures show an increase of 14 today up to a total of 3,514.

Harrogate Town plans for first match with fans

Harrogate Town are planning for their first match with fans after a surpise announcement from the government.

The club are currently working on safety measures that will inevitably reduce the number of spectators.

In tier two, which Harrogate will be in from next week, large events can go ahead with up to 2,000 spectators outdoors.

However, with smaller grounds like the EnviroVent Stadium it is unlikely that many fans will head through the turnstiles.

Town had been in talks with Scunthorpe United to move the fixture back by a day but it was too short notice for The Iron.

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It may not be a long wait for the first match with fans though. The club has an another home fixture with Forest Green Rovers next Saturday.

Whenever the first match with fans happens it will be a special occasion as the first time supporters will be able to watch their club play in the football league.

Garry Plant, the managing director at Harrogate Town, said:

“Allowing spectators into football grounds has taken everyone by surprise but what a boost.

“It has come with no notice and some clubs still have safety officers on furlough.

“We will release regular updates regarding our progress, ticket distributions and the organisation of matches when we have them.”

Harrogate Town will ultimately need permission from the North Yorkshire safety advisory group, the sports ground safety authority and Public Health England.

The club are working on their plans but said they will lose 1850 capacity immediately to separate the teams and match officials from spectators.

Further capacity reductions will come as a result of terracing and the egress pinch points.

Harrogate planner: ‘council mistakes have created massive urban sprawl’

A planning specialist has blamed Harrogate District Council’s “parochial mindset” and “lack of vision” for the district’s “massive urban sprawl”.

David Howarth, who was employed by the council for five years in the 1980s and then worked for it as a private consultant for 30 years, contacted the Stray Ferret to give us his views after reading our series of planning articles this week.

Mr Howarth said the coverage had “brilliantly identified the major problems we have had over the last 20 years”.

He said the district’s planning department had been in a “state of disarray for two decades”, which had left the area at the mercy of developers.

David Howarth

David Howarth

Mr Howarth said the “acutely embarrassing debacle” of the Local Plan, which maps planning in the district and took six years to finalise between 2014 and 2020, was the critical failure. He said:

“When you get to the position where you have no Local Plan it becomes a free-for-all.

“You can’t blame the developers. They’re just doing their job. You can’t criticise them any more than you can Volvo for selling cars.”

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Mr Howarth said many councils faced similar challenges but Harrogate Borough Council’s “parochial mindset” had backfired because its unrealistically low housing targets had been rejected by the government and resulted in far more being built. He said:

“We tried to restrict development because places like Harrogate and Knaresborough are nice places to live but when you try to restrict development to the absolute minimum and don’t conform with government guidelines, what happens then is the opposite arises and everybody piles in.

“In 1982 Killinghall Parish Council was screaming for a bypass. That’s 40 years ago — where’s the bypass? What we have instead is massive urban sprawl.

“A bypass could have been included in the Local Plan. The plan could have made developers pay a levy for houses they built Killinghall.”

Afraid to speak out

Mr Howarth said the council’s weak resistance to builders contrasted with its heavy-handed approach to residents seeking planning permission. He said:

“Some developments that have been accepted are very poor but if you put in an application to extend your conservatory they are down on you like a ton of bricks.”

Mr Howarth said the current situation was “predominantly the fault of the people in charge of Harrogate Borough Council” and its planning department needed to be more dynamic and visionary.

He said many planners were reluctant to speak out in case it cost them work with the council. He said:

“I’ve retired and could not care less now. Five years ago I wouldn’t have made this phone call.”

The Stray Ferret has asked Harrogate Borough Council for a response to Mr Howarth’s claims. At the time of publication we had not received one.