Two Harrogate-based contractors have questioned why the council is bringing in contractors from Lancashire to restore the Stray.
Harrogate Borough Council this week outlined details of its £130,000 plan to be carried out by Glendale Services, from Chorley.
Representatives from HACS Construction Group and Ray Skelton, firms with significant experience in groundworks and landscaping, wanted the council to look closer to home at a time when many are struggling financially.
Mark Smith, from HACS, told the Stray Ferret that he is “absolutely disgusted” that the council did not ask local firms to tender for the work.
“They are bringing in workers from Chorley in Lancashire and not supporting local firms. 70% of my staff are furloughed and I have all the equipment to do the work. It’s a disgrace. Local firms should have had the opportunity to price for the main work – the only thing I was asked to price for was the corner work”
They feel that part of the problem with the UCI Championships last year was because the organisers did not understand that the Stray is more than a patch of grass to the residents of Harrogate. Stuart Skelton also said that the council did not ask his firm to tender for the work.
“How do they know if it’s best value? Why get a company outside Harrogate? A local firm understands how important the Stray is to the town.”
The Stray Ferret took these concerns to Harrogate Borough Council. The council responded by saying it welcomes any local businesses that wish to join its database and sent us information about how to register as a supplier.
Both companies pointed out that they have been doing work for the council for decades.
Will the year-long restoration be enough?
HACS Construction and the Stray Defence Association have also questioned whether the restoration, which is estimated to be complete a year after the UCI, will be a long term solution.
Mr Smith told the Stray Ferret that, before any re-seeding, the main area of West Park Stray that was damaged needs to be properly drained.
He has also warned that what’s being done is “cosmetic” and any big event held thereafter next year could see a repeat of the problem. He outlined what he felt needs to be done:
- £150,000 to drain the main area of the Stray that is damaged
- £60,000 to replace the topsoil
- £10,000 to reseed
- £8,000 for aeration
- £34,000 a year to dress the area in round particle sports sand
The Stray Defence Association has made a statement in which it questions whether the work will be enough:
WATCH: Harrogate Army Foundation College welcomes Colonel Tom Moore as a ‘phenomenal’ role model“After seven months without use of West Park Stray, eight if you include the usage by the UCI, we are pleased that at long last something appears to be happening after many weeks of spring weather when, surely, work could have begun. Whether what is planned will be both proficient and sufficient remains to be seen. We were told initially that the ‘drainage issues’ were going to be resolved prior to any restoration. Has this in fact been done or will the Stray be dug up again for future work?
“Also, other experts have given details of much more complex renovations which they believe should be undertaken. Will our Stray actually be properly restored? This was a clearly stipulated condition, asked for by the SDA and granted, when the government agreed to the Stray being used for this event last year. Whatever the case Harrogate’s people, to whom the Stray belongs, must be told the truth.”
Captain Tom Moore has been appointed Honorary Colonel Officer of Harrogate AFC to mark his 100th birthday.
Lieutenant Colonel Richard Hall MBE YORKS, Commanding Officer of AFC Harrogate, welcomes Colonel Tom into his new role. He told the Stray Ferret that he couldn’t think of a better role model to champion the college:
Three men arrested after investigation into stolen parked cars in Harrogate“Getting our soldiers to understand the core of the army is something we really focus on… and now we have this shining beacon of selflessness and courage to act as a role model… He really is a phenomenal person.”
Over the past four months, the police say there has been a large number of reports cars being stolen, particularly in the south of the town. The thefts mainly took place at night with valuables stolen from the cars which were left unlocked.
Three men were arrested yesterday in connection with the investigation. A large amount of suspected property was recovered by officers, including sunglasses, satnavs, watches and jewellery.
One of the men, aged 22, has been released on bail as enquiries continue. Another man, aged 29, has been released under investigation.
A third man, 31, has been charged with fraud in connection with the use of a stolen bank card on 17 April 2020. He will appear at Harrogate Magistrates Court in June.
Officers are now making enquiries to identify the property and return it to its owners.
Sergeant Nicola Colbourne, of Harrogate South Neighbourhood Policing Team, said in many cases the vehicles stolen weren’t locked:
Harrogate BID ‘aware of challenges’ as three directors and chairman resign“It appears that in many cases the targeted vehicles were left insecure, and no damage was caused to gain access to them. For that reason, I’d like to remind residents how important it is to lock your car whenever you leave it unattended. It only takes a few second to do so, and could stop you becoming a victim of crime….
Neighbourhood Policing Teams have already increased patrols in affected areas, and those will continue. Harrogate is a very safe place to live, and we are determined to keep it that way.”
Harrogate BID’s statement comes after The Stray Ferret yesterday reported on the resignation of its chairman and three of its directors.
The four sent a stinging letter of resignation to the board citing undue council influence, a lack of openness, and a business plan that does not reflect the reality of the state of the town centre.
Chairman Bob Kennedy and directors Chris Bentley, Robert Ogden and Rob Spencer cited an accumulation of negative impacts from the UCI Road World Championships and the Covid-19 lockdown, as well as a more general crisis for retail. Read the resignation letter in full here.
In its statement the Harrogate BID does not refer to many of the criticism’s raised in the resignation letter – but does say the BID recognises the challenges facing Harrogate:
“We are naturally very disappointed by the resignations of the four board members after only four months, but we would like to thank them for their contribution since the beginning of the year.
“The Covid19 crisis has meant that our programme of activities outlined in our business plan – which was revised at the beginning of the year and agreed unanimously by all the Board members including those who have resigned – is having to be re-thought.
“We are now looking at a number of innovations and promotions to ensure that, when the lockdown is ended, Harrogate is the first choice shopping destination for residents and visitors alike
“We are here to work with all town centre stakeholders – namely traders, transport providers, Harrogate Borough Council, North Yorkshire County Council, and of course our Customers who come here to shop, eat and be entertained
“We are certainly not under any illusion about the challenges that we face over the coming weeks and months.
“The departure of these four will not detract us from the job in hand. Our focus is firmly fixed on making the town the best it can be, enhancing what we already have here, and promoting the town centre and the diverse range of businesses that it is home to.”
The Stray Ferret has asked for a response from both Harrogate Borough Council and North Yorkshire County Council to the issues raised in the resignation letter and have not received a reply at the time of publication.
Harrogate district turns out to clap for care home staffPeople across the Harrogate district, including firefighters and police officers, turned out this evening to show their appreciation for the staff working at care homes.
The Stray Ferret took videos of clapping at Sycamore Care Home in Ripon as well as The Cuttings and Belmont House, which are both in Starbeck.
Natalie Pye, a Senior Care Assistant at Belmont House, said that it was lovely to see the support they have after a busy 12-hour shift.
The chairman of Harrogate BID and three of its directors have sent a stinging letter of resignation to the board.
Citing undue council influence, a lack of openness and a business plan that does not reflect the reality of the state of the town centre, the four – more than a quarter of the board’s 15 members – have stepped down with immediate effect.
The letter highlights the desperate situation which chairman Bob Kennedy and directors Chris Bentley, Robert Ogden and Rob Spencer believe Harrogate is now facing. It refers to an accumulation of negative impacts from the UCI Road World Championships and the Covid-19 lockdown, as well as a more general crisis for retail.
It says:
“Without a consensus view on the board of the dire state of the town’s economy, particularly its retail heart, and its causes, addressing the key issues cannot be achieved.
“The strong influence of Borough and County Council on the board of an organisation that according to government guidance is supposed to be a ‘business-led’ partnership means that any initiative that addresses the councils’ input is endlessly debated, and sensible options resisted. It has not even been possible to garner cross-board agreement that the current aesthetic state of Harrogate town centre is not adequate, something that is self-evident to business leaders and residents alike but is constantly denied or excused by councils.”
The letter then says the original business plan created by the BID will waste money on some areas and fail to fund others adequately. The plan should have been re-written and the budgets re-allocated to reflect the changing challenges of the last 18 months, according to the four signatories.
They also cite a lack of openness in the way the BID is being run:
“From the start, Harrogate BID was set up not to operate in the open or transparent way it should, with addended confidentiality provisions for directors that other BIDs, for instance York’s, do not have and which we are informed are incompatible with it performing a public function. Recent events reinforce this view, and BID is currently pursuing an approach that appears to be more about suppressing criticism and spinning positive messaging than acknowledging the hard realities of the situation.”
Strong council influence
Finally, the directors say they have lost confidence that the board is going to spend its money in ways which will benefit businesses, not least because of the influence of the two local authorities. Funded by a compulsory levy on rate-payers in the town centre, it has an annual income of around £500,000. They say:
“Such transformative commercial imperatives as free parking would be unlikely ever to be championed by Harrogate BID, as they have been by other BIDs across the country, while there is such a strong council influence on its board, and the business plan forces spending on areas that do not address the key issues.”
The resignations come just 10 days after the announcement of a new manager for the BID, Simon Kent. The four directors recognise his appointment and wish the remaining board members well, but say:
“Much as it pains us to state this, Harrogate was struggling before COVID-19. Now, the reality of the situation is becoming very serious indeed.”
More:
Read the resignation letter in full
Where does Harrogate BID go from here?
Harrogate BID – what went wrong and where does it go from here?Harrogate BID was established in the course of 2018 with the aim of giving businesses a greater say in the way their town developed.
It was always supposed to be business-led – a fundamental rule of all BIDs is that they cannot be used to replace the work of local authorities. The blurring of the lines between the BID, Harrogate Borough Council and North Yorkshire County Council, however, lies at the heart of today’s resignations.
Harrogate BID is a limited company and is funded through a levy that is paid by all the business rate payers within a designated BID area, in addition to the business rates bill. The levy in Harrogate’s case earns the BID more than £500,000 a year.
Because its properties fall within the BID area, Harrogate Borough Council is a significant contributor to that income, and its leader, Coun Richard Cooper, sits on the BID board alongside NYCC’s corporate director for business and environmental services, David Bowe. With Sgt Alex Sellars of North Yorkshire Police, they fill the three public sector positions on the board of 15.
Local authority representation is recommended in the government’s best practice advice to BIDs. It says:
“It is essential that you establish a positive relationship with your Local Authority. It is important you identify a key contact at the authority and keep them informed of progress at every stage.“An authority will have its own plans for the area and will need to appreciate the benefits to businesses and the community of having a BID. It will want to be assured that the BID arrangements complement and preferably enhance the local authority’s proposals.“Ideally the local authority will have a seat on the BID Board. The authority and BID will need to agree the additional services the BID intends to deliver.”
According to the four who resigned today, however, that relationship has hampered Harrogate BID’s ability to progress its plans for the benefit of its levy payers. After today’s resignations, all three of the board’s positions for independent businesses are vacant.
Changes to the board
In the spring of 2019 in the BID’s first newsletter, the then chairman, John Fox, talked of “exciting projects” to help attract more footfall to Harrogate.
However, in the months that passed, the BID struggled to find a way of working: only three of the current 15 board members have been in place since this time last year. John Fox stepped down at the end of 2019 and a manager appointed last July left the post within four months.
Today’s letter of resignation by its new chairman – only appointed in March – and three other board members, all from the private sector, shows how frustrated and disempowered they felt at not being able to get things done – how BID proposals were either resisted or subject to “endless debate” about the local authorities’ work. There were arguments too over what was the council’s responsibility and what was the BID’s.
The Harrogate BID website says the aim of the BID is to “empower local businesses to tackle local issues…” Today’s letter makes clear that the Chairman and directors who resigned have no faith in the ability of the BID to tackle Harrogate’s issues – which, they say, run much deeper than its board is willing to admit.

Interim BID manager, Simon Kent
Earlier this week, the new interim BID manager, Simon Kent, told The Stray Ferret he wanted “to turn conversations and plans into real actions” and outlined its priorities. Mr Kent’s job to achieve those goals got a whole load more difficult today.
There are questions now for the two local authorities about how they have worked with the BID and how they can answer the criticism levied at them in the resignation letter.
Concluding their letter with a warning that Harrogate was struggling before the current lockdown, the chairman and directors say “the reality of the situation is becoming very serious indeed” for Harrogate town centre. There is huge pressure now on remaining board members to make levy payers feel their contribution was worth it and for the BID, despite the current circumstances, to deliver some meaningful results.
A1 (M) Junction 47 works 50% over budget but gets green lightWorks to improve the A1 (M) Junction 47 have been given the green light despite already being 50% over budget.
The junction will be upgraded to include traffic signals and to widen the slip roads.
Additionally, an extra traffic lane will be installed on the eastbound A59 between the Flaxby roundabout and the A1(M) junction.
Traffic signals will also be installed at the A59/A168 junction just to the east of the A1(M) junction.
North Yorkshire County Council has approved the scheme and is working with Highways England to deliver the project by March 2021.
The original estimated costs were £5.03 million but that has now been revised up to £7.766 million – which is 54% over budget.
However, the work will still go-ahead with surplus money from the Harrogate to York rail improvements being moved to fill the A1 (M) Junction 47 shortfall.
Council documents reveal that the work will take the Nightingale Hospital into account when phasing the carriageway works and that the costs could increase further by another £200,000.
The documents also highlight how coronavirus social distancing measures are “likely” to have an impact on start dates and the project costs.
Captain Tom Moore appointed Honorary Colonel of the Army Foundation College HarrogateThe fundraising army veteran who walked 100 laps of his garden to raise millions of pounds for NHS charities has been honoured by Harrogate’s Army Foundation College to mark his 100th birthday.
Captain Tom Moore has been made Honorary Colonel of the college, recognising his Yorkshire links through his hometown of Keighley.
Today, as Colonel Tom marks his 100th birthday, his fundraising has passed the £30m mark for NHS Charities Together.
Lieutenant Colonel Richard Hall MBE YORKS, Commanding Officer of AFC Harrogate, said:
“Colonel Tom Moore has uniquely captured the imagination of the nation during this difficult time. Our staff and Junior Soldiers stand in awe at his achievements and we see his values of his sacrifice and service to one’s country reflected in the College’s ethos.
“Colonel Tom’s benevolence, his steadiness on parade and his determination to give something back are all truly inspirational. To have such a role model for the Army Foundation College, and to count him as one of our own, is a privilege and an honour.”
Inspiration to young soldiers
Harrogate AFC prepares 16- and 17-year-olds for a career in the army. As the first Honorary Colonel of the college, Captain Tom will be invited to speak to junior soldiers there and show the continuation of the values he learned as a young recruit.
Junior Soldier Ash Greenwood, aged 16, currently attends the Army Foundation College in Harrogate and will go on to join 2nd Battalion, Yorkshire Regiment (2 YORKS). He said:
“Captain Tom Moore states that the NHS are today’s ‘front line’ and he knows what it’s like to be on the front line, serving in India and the Burma campaign during the Second World War and fighting in battles such as the Battle of Ramree Island.
“Captain Tom has not only inspired me but an entire nation to reach their personal goals no matter how big or small. It’s an honour to have you as our Honorary Colonel, and the college is extremely proud of you and your achievements both within your military career and your fundraising for the NHS. Having you affiliated with the Army Foundation College is brilliant.
“In the army you never walk alone.”
Captain Tom has been presented with his Second World War Defence Medal, which he sadly lost, ready in time for next week’s VE Day celebrations. The Yorkshire Regiment also presented Captain Tom with their prestigious annual Regimental Medal, given to the individual in the Yorkshire Regiment family who is considered to have made the greatest contribution in the last year.
Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Miller, CO 1 YORKS, said:
“As The Yorkshire Regiment, we are exceptionally proud of Captain Tom and his achievements. He has captured the hearts and imagination of the nation, inspiring many in these testing times.
“From a serving soldier’s perspective, he is all we aspire to be – he epitomises courage, determination, humbleness and good old Yorkshire grit. He is one of many who have made such a positive difference, and we are proud that he is part of our Regimental Family.
“On behalf of the Colonel of the Regiment, it has been an honour to be able to present the Regimental Medal for The Yorkshire Regiment, to Captain Tom Moore on his 100th birthday. The medal is awarded annually to someone who has made an outstanding contribution to our military effectiveness and military reputation.
“I could not think of a more worthy recipient. He personifies the Values and Standards of the British Army and is an inspiration to our serving soldiers, young and old.”

Captain Moore was invited to open the Harrogate Nightingale Hospital
Captain Tom Moore was born in Keighley, and served with the 8th Battalion The Duke of Wellington’s Regiment, which is now part of the Yorkshire Regiment. Last week, he was guest of honour at the official opening of the Nightingale hospital at Harrogate Convention Centre, appearing via video link from his Bedfordshire home.
Nearly 70 coronavirus deaths in Harrogate as more care homes report outbreaksNew figures on coronavirus deaths, which now includes statistics outside of hospitals, paint the clearest picture yet of the outbreak in the Harrogate district.
The government has released three different sets of data, which will be released on either a weekly or a daily basis.
The first set of data, released daily, is the number of deaths in hospitals and, with two more deaths reported today, Harrogate District Hospital has now reported 46 deaths.
The second set of data, released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), has revealed that up to April 17, there have been 22 Harrogate coronavirus deaths outside the hospital.
19 of those deaths outside hospital were recorded in care homes, one death was recorded at home and another two deaths happened in “other communal establishments.”
The final set of figures is the number of care homes that have reported a coronavirus outbreak, which is the first time this data has been released.
Of Harrogate’s 71 care homes, 26 have so far reported outbreaks. That works out at 36.6% of the district’s care homes.