Weekend walks in North Yorkshire – with a pub en route

It’s hard to beat the feeling of getting out into the countryside to get some fresh air, stretch your legs and take in some quintessential Yorkshire scenery.

Add to that the possibility of visiting a local pub for a pint or some hearty food, and you’ve got a winning weekend combination.

Welburn, Castle Howard and The Crown & Cushion

Castle Howard (Image: Pixabay)

The route: Starting and ending outside The Crown & Cushion pub in the pretty village of Welburn there are several circular walks that pass through woodlands and the land belonging to Castle Howard  – the estate website suggests longer and shorter routes, which are available to download as pdfs.

With sweeping scenery across the Howardian Hills, the estate boasts several follies, set amongst the arable farmland and gently undulating terrain.

The pub: The Crown & Cushion serves ‘fresh, locally sourced and seasonally led food’, according to its website.

Boasting a large beer garden and a dog-friendly policy, it’s a popular destination for both lunchtime walkers and fine diners.

Spofforth, Kirkby Overblow and The Castle Inn

Spofforth Castle

The route: The charming village of Spofforth is located between Wetherby and Harrogate and connects to many outlying villages by footpaths and bridleways.

Crossing farmlands and through the woods to Kirkby Overblow – which boasts several pubs of its own – the route can also be lengthened to incorporate another ancient village, Sicklinghall.

There are many walks that follow this route, including suggested directions from All Trails, and a blog by the Walking Englishman.

The pub: The Castle Inn in Spofforth is a classic example of an upmarket country pub, with rooms, an event space and a spacious outdoor area.

Sunday roasts are served with a signature giant Yorkshire pudding, and cask ales are sourced from a range of local breweries, including Leeds Brewery, Theakston and Timothy Taylor’s.

Staveley Nature Reserve and The Royal Oak Inn

Staveley Nature Reserve

The route: Staveley Nature Reserve, located between the villages of Staveley and Minskip, offers a large network of footpaths, covering 79 hectares of wetlands.

Parking is free, either in the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust car park or along Minskip Road, and many of the trails are accessible by both buggies and wheelchairs, and clearly signposted along the way.

The area is a haven for wildlife; a huge variety of birds such as ringed plovers, avocet and sand oystercatchers can be seen, as well as foxes, roe deer, otters, and grazing Highland cattle.

The pub: The Royal Oak Inn is located in the village of Staveley itself. On colder days, there is often a roaring fire for dogs and owners alike to enjoy, and the menu features traditional pub fare, such as pies, curry and fish and chips.

Burnsall, Hebden and The Red Lion

Wharfedale (Image: Pixabay)

The route: In picturesque Wharfedale, Burnsall is nestled between a circle of fells and the River Wharfe, with a history dating back to the Viking era.

Parking can be found on the west side of the river, and a permissive footpath winds its way down the riverbank for one mile, before reaching stepping stones that cross to the opposite bank, and to the village of Hebden.

To get back to Burnsall, follow the path along Hebden Beck, offering a quieter return journey than the riverside which can be popular with visitors in summer. Both the Yorkshire Dales National Park and The Red Lion itself have a suggested route on their respective websites.

The pub: A 16th century coaching inn, The Red Lion is not only a Burnsall institution, but a well-known watering hole in the Yorkshire Dales.

The beer terrace is a busy spot on a sunny day, and there’s a wide range of food and drink offerings, including brunch, as well as the firm favourites.

Knaresborough, and The Half Moon Inn

The Half Moon pub in Knaresborough.

The Half Moon pub in Knaresborough

The route: Knaresborough is often bustling with visitors and boaters in the summer months, but venturing further out of the historic town centre allows you to enjoy views of the River Nidd, without the crowds.

Strolling the length of the waterside you’ll pass the Shrine of Our Lady in the Crag, interesting rock garden sculptures and the impressively manicured lawns of the riverside houses.

To extend your journey, you can walk in the woodlands to Old Bilton, before looping back into Knaresborough. Visit Harrogate and All Trails both have versions of this route on their websites.

The pub: A family owned, independently run free house, The Half Moon Inn specialises in wood-fired pizza, grazing boards sourced from local producers, and a selection of local ales.

Perched at the end of Low Bridge, a short walk along Knaresborough’s riverside, the pub benefits from being slightly further out from the hubbub – although it’s certainly still a popular spot.

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New café and bistro opens on Harrogate’s Albert Street

The latest addition to Harrogate’s hospitality scene has opened on Albert Street.

Clementine Café and Bistro, which has taken over the former Suzetta unit, opened its doors last week.

The new site serves a range hot food, including fresh fish and meat dishes, pasta, hot sandwiches and soups.

In addition, it will also offer hot and cold drinks, alcohol, desserts and cakes.

When the Stray Ferret approached Clementine Café and Bistro for comment, a spokesperson said in response:

It will open Monday to Saturday, from 11am to 9pm.

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Harrogate hospital to review staff miscarriage support

Harrogate District Hospital is set to review its staff policies after the NHS announced plans to give paid leave for miscarriages.

This month, officials at NHS England revealed proposals to offer 10 days paid leave to staff who miscarry in the first 24 weeks of pregnancy.

The move comes as part of the organisation’s new pregnancy and baby loss policy.

Angela Wilkinson, director of people and culture at Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust, said it already offered support to staff, including paid leave, in the event of losing a baby.

However, she added that the trust would review its policies in light of NHS England’s new guidelines to see what further support it could offer.

She said:

“The health and wellbeing of our colleagues is extremely important to us at HDFT. A miscarriage is a traumatic experience and any colleague who sadly loses a child is treated with care and compassion, and offered the support they need at such a difficult time.

“It is important that we give someone who experiences a miscarriage time to grieve and process what has happened. The policies we have in place at HDFT currently do provide specific support and paid time off in the event of baby loss. 

“We will review NHS England’s new pregnancy and baby loss policy to assess how we can further strengthen the support we currently offer those colleagues who sadly experience such a tragedy.”

The move to roll out the policy by NHS England comes after it was first introduced by Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust in May 2023.

The trust, which provides health services in Hull and East Yorkshire, said it implemented the policy as a “compassionate move” for its staff.

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Council applies for cash from chewing gum firms

The drive to clean chewing gum off the county’s streets has taken a step forward following a decision by North Yorkshire Council. 

The local authority has agreed to apply for a grant of up to £27,500 from Keep Britain Tidy to purchase specialist chewing gum removal equipment. 

Keep Britain Tidy is administering the grants on behalf of the Chewing Gum Task Force, which brings together some of the UK’s major chewing gum producers, including Mars Wrigley, which makes Orbit and Extra, and Italian-Dutch firm Perfetti Van Melle, best known as the maker of Fruit-tella and Smint, in a partnership to remove gum litter from UK high streets and prevent future littering. 

Participating firms have pledged to invest up to £10 million over five years to achieve two objectives: cleaning up staining caused by gum and changing behaviour so that more people bin their gum. This is the third year that grants have been available, but this is the first time that North Yorkshire Council has applied for a grant from the fund.

The grants are supplemented by fully-funded gum litter prevention packages for each council, including targeted behaviour change signage and advice, designed and produced by social enterprise Behaviour Change. 

Last year, 55 councils across the UK benefitted from the grant fund, and the £1.65 million distributed helped clean more than 100 acres of urban streets.

By combining targeted street-cleansing with specially designed signage to encourage people to bin their gum, participating councils have seen reductions in gum littering of up to 80% in the first two months, with a reduced rate of gum littering still being observed after six months.

However bad North Yorkshire’s gum problem is, many other places have it far worse. Mexico City, for example, employs an army of full-time gum-cleaners, and New York – dubbed the “gum splotch capital of the world” by the New York Times – has been waging a well-publicised but losing war against discarded gum since the 1930s. Singapore even banned chewing gum in 1992, and people spitting it out onto the street risk fines of up to $1,000.

North Yorkshire Council’s decision to apply for the grant was only approved by the its Corporate Director, Environment and Assistant Director, Resources on Wednesday (March 27), but the deadline for grant applications to Keep Britain Tidy fell at midday today.

The Stray Ferret has asked North Yorkshire Council whether the deadline was met.

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Yemi’s Food Stories: Easter baking with cupboard staples

Yemi Adelekan is a food writer and blogger who was a semi-finalist in the 2022 series of BBC TV’s Masterchef competition.

Every Saturday Yemi writes on the Stray Ferret about her love of the area’s food and shares cooking tips – please get in touch with her if you want her to review a restaurant, visit your farm, taste the produce you sell or even share a recipe.

Easter season is here which means it’s time to make a mess and bake with the little ones, from hot cross buns to no bake creations.

Many of us have a bit more time on our hands and often need to entertain adults and children during the holidays. You might find yourself wondering what to cook or bake during the school holidays or when you have guests without having to go to the supermarket.

I love looking through my cupboard and fridge to see what is available there. Ingredients that I usually can always find include canned pineapple chunks – I use Del Monte –  oats, flour, butter, sugar, almond flour, chocolate chunks and coconut milk.

With these staples, I can create my favourite drinks or bake some goodies from cookies to cakes.

Here is a recipe using ingredients that most of us should have at home. It’s cheap, cheerful and delicious – costing only 56p per serving, the recipe will be enough for 16 servings and ready in just over an hour.

Pineapple white chocolate cake with salted brown sugar glaze 

Preparation: 20 mins      

Cooking time: 45 mins

Before baking

Ingredients:

 Cake:

Salted brown sugar glaze:

Instructions:

After baking

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The auction house where Mouseman sits alongside Ikea

For some of us, auction houses are regarded as niche and expensive, the kind of places you might look for a unique piece of vintage jewellery, antique furniture or a collector’s item. 

But what is perhaps less well known is that alongside these higher-end auctioneers are auction houses that offer more affordable and everyday pieces.

Thompson’s Auctioneers in Killinghall is one such place. While the odd piece of furniture goes for over £1,000 – and a sideboard 12 years ago went for £8,000 – the average is about £80 to £100. Well-known names such as Mouseman and Ercol pop up now and again, but the saleroom is largely made up of reasonably-priced furniture, household and garden items, and gold and silver jewellery.

Lots in Thompson’s auctions, held every Friday, usually carry estimates of between £20 and £800. 

And not all of it is vintage or antique. Ikea rugs and Emma Bridgewater bowls sit alongside Victorian necklaces and 1960s drop leaf tables. There are collections and trays of assorted jewellery, glassware and coins, and even some white goods. Each weekly sale opens up a new Aladdin’s Cave, and you never know what you might find there. 

Ercol and Vanson

It’s this element of discovery that is one of the things Thompson’s director Kate Higgins loves about her job. As well as leading the auctions, she spends her week sifting through items at house clearances and valuations. She said: 

“It’s exciting. I love it, I like going to look at a job. I’ve been to house clearances where you can barely get through the front door and you have to go through all of it but it’s worth it because of what you might come across.” 

Among the pieces that Kate occasionally finds and sells are pieces by the famous Kilburn furniture maker Robert ‘Mouseman’ Thompson and the ‘Yorkshire Critters’ group of makers who were inspired by him. A Beaverman oak table and six chairs went for £1,500 a couple of weeks ago, while a Mouseman ashtray and set of nested tables was in the most recent sale. Kate said:  

“They are quite desirable. We get quite a lot of 1960s teak furniture which is very popular. People are paying decent prices for that. We’ve had a nice Ercol blond elm table and four chairs for £380 and a Vanson teak sideboard for £300.” 

Changing times

The auction house was started in 1989 by Brian Thompson. Kate has been at Thompson’s for 25 years and when Brian retired in 2012, she and another employee, Colin Evans, bought the business. Kate had started doing the auctions a few years before after remarking to Brian how easy it looked, to which he had answered, ‘Get up and do it then.’ She did, and found she loved it. 

Thompson's Auctioneers auction house in Killinghall

Kate Higgins, director of Thompson’s Auctioneers.

But times have changed. Since Thompson’s were forced to take their auctions online during the pandemic and it’s stayed that way, Kate now finds herself leading the sale by “staring at a computer and talking to myself. It’s not quite the same but you have to move with the times”.

But she recognises the benefits that being online brings in reaching a wider audience and enabling more lots to be sold. Each week, about 500 lots are listed in the auction, and it takes around four hours to get through them all. Bids can come from far and wide, and items are shipped anywhere as long as the customer pays for the costs. Kate said: 

“Ninety-nine percent of people have been absolutely fine with us being totally online, even the older generation. There’s still the chance for buyers to view the lots between 3pm and 7pm on Thursdays, and people can drop off and collect items on Saturdays and Mondays. But most people are happy to buy from the website without viewing the piece in person. 

“We were shut for a year during the pandemic, and it took a while to get going again. We are actually selling more now than we were pre-covid. We are so busy that we are looking for more staff to help collect furniture – there’s currently a four-week waiting time for us to collect items from sellers.” 

Period drama props

Among their customers are regulars that come in for a browse every week, while others visit for specific items. She’s seen an increase in customers looking for affordable household goods while others are after a little project. They even have two or three TV companies looking for authentic props to use in period dramas. 

While the trend for ‘shabby chic’ has died down and people are no longer looking for cheap furniture to paint, original pieces that can be restored and reupholstered are in demand. Kate said people will go away and research items and are happy to buy them with faults such as woodworm or damage if it’s the kind of thing they are looking for. And the popularity of items can also change as fashions come and go. She said: 

“At the moment antiques are not very popular because nobody wants dark mahogany anymore, they want the lighter colours such as beech, ash and elm. Years ago, people would collect pieces of crockery and display them in cabinets but they don’t do that any more. People are buying second-hand furniture and watching what they spend.”

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Editor’s Pick of the Week: Bettys Easter egg, sewage and new offices

Easter is a time to ponder the big questions in life, such as: what happens to the giant egg in the window of Bettys in Harrogate?

Reporter Lauren Ryan has been tracking down the answer. Look for her article on Sunday.

The Stray Ferret is now a stone’s throw from Bettys — we moved into our new office on Cambridge Crescent on Monday. I may have a claim for the best view from office in Harrogate. It’ll look even better if the sun ever comes out.

Talking of throwing things, my Wednesday morning routine was abruptly cut short this week when I heard Harrogate’s Parliament Street was closed die to a police incident.

I hotfooted it to the scene in time to find a shocking number of broken windows in the buildings above shops. The ages of the boys arrested was even more hard to believe.

Some of the smashed windows on Parliament Street.

Political shenanigans are hotting up in a year of elections of ever-increasing magnitude: there’s the Stray, Woodlands and Hookstone council by-election in April, the North Yorkshire mayor election in May and a general election further down the track.

The Lib Dems were reported to the police this week when their by-election candidate sent out a leaflet falsely claiming the Green Party wasn’t standing. Andrew Jones, the Conservative MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, wrote to Lib Dem leader Ed Davey claiming the local Lib Dems had “totally gone rogue”, which drew a sharp retort that he was “out of touch”.

The political wrangling continued when the Environment Agency released its latest data about sewage discharges, which made unpleasant reading for those of us living close to the Nidd and Ure, i.e. everyone in the former Harrogate district.

Mr Jones and his Lib Dem rival Tom Gordon had vastly different takes on the results.

Politics is a dirty business — and with elections looming, it’s only likely get murkier.

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Harrogate interior designers share their top spring trends

(Above: Farrow & Ball, Design Alchemy: Kevin Miyazaki, Walls: Setting Plaster No.231, Cabinets: Bamboozle No.304)

Spring has officially sprung, and if you’re looking to spruce up your living space this season, here’s what’s trending right now.

Earthier tones

This year has been a rise in the popularity of rich, natural browns, a trend that was recently seen at London Design Week 2024. These can help to bring warmth to a space and can be used in different shades throughout the home, such as through the choice of flooring, wall colour and soft furnishings.

Rebecca von Achten from Just So Interiors in Harrogate describes:

“Earthy colours like chocolate, clay and nutmeg add warmth and cosiness and this year are forecast to supersede paler neutrals.”

She also explained how colour drenching – painting walls, ceilings and woodwork all in the one colour – remains in vogue, and has replaced feature walls as a way to make a statement and impact in a room.

(Zoffany Paint, Raw Umber)

Rebecca Thomas, junior interior designer at Richard Grafton Interiors in Harrogate, details how the colour can be implemented in homes:

“Browns can be introduced gently using natural wood floors or tables, chocolatey-hued mohair throws, rich tortoiseshell accessories, as well as local artisan latte-toned ceramics while dark mahogany and walnut will bring warmth and richness to interiors, making the space feel cosy and elegant.”

(Richard Grafton Interiors)

Bright and bold colours

In total contrast, as well as there being a step away from neutrals – especially greys ­– in recent years, there has been a move towards colour.

(Richard Grafton Interiors)

Bright hues can add the wow-factor and the use of colour can be implemented through various schemes; whether its through statement key furniture pieces or simply with cushions that can be rotated as the seasons change.

Rebecca Thomas explained how the use through of colour in an interior space can lift your mood when needed, promote joyfulness and creativity but also sooth and calm. She went on to describe the colours that are standing out for Richard Grafton Interiors at the moment:

“Pinks, greens, reds and yellows are very much taking centre stage for the more daring of us. Being colour confident is not a trend that’s going ‘out’ anytime soon.

Go all out with maximalism

As well as this year being all about unconventional colour combinations, patterns and maximalist décor are also becoming big in the world of interiors. Rebecca von Achten explains:

“This spring we’re seeing a chintz revival with ‘Nancy Meyers’ style interiors, floral patterns, contrasting textiles and vintage pieces dominating the interior world. It’s all about surrounding yourself with things that spark joy and displaying them to look carefully curated.

(Farrow & Ball, Design Alchemy: Kevin Miyazaki, Walls: Setting Plaster No.231, Cabinets: Bamboozle No.304)

“Don’t worry if extravagant wallpaper, lavish wall art or floral sofas isn’t in the budget though; start small by adding checkerboard, gingham or striped patterns, ruffled cushions, scalloped edge accessories and a variety of vintage finds that evoke the feeling of nostalgia.”

Shapes

(Richard Grafton Interiors)

There has also been a move away from angular square and rectangular furniture that can often look harsh in spaces, with homeowners looking more towards organic, softer contours for their pieces, even down to the finer details such as vases and display pieces. Rebecca Thomas elaborates:

“The more rounded silhouettes bring natural flow, complementing harsh architectural straight lines of the typical home. From puddle shaped relaxed dining tables, curved sofas to wavey cabinetry and bobbin handles, organic shapes continue to trend this spring.”

Don’t forget… peach is back

(Farrow & Ball, Walls: Setting Plaster No.231)

Pantone has declared its 2024 colour ‘peach fuzz’, a hue that’s aimed to evoke a sense of kindness and ‘warm fuzzy feeling’ to a space, and it also marks the 25th anniversary of the Pantone Colour of the Year.

And finally, your outside space…

(Susie Watson Design)

As the weather starts to warm up, there’s more and more opportunity to socialise outside, giving the perfect opportunity to dress the garden table for the occasion. Tracy Stark, head of retail at Susie Watson Designs in Harrogate says:

“At this time of year, I tend to favour the softer pastel colours at home and in the garden and am always thinking of pretty table arrangements such as our Fritillary pottery collection that’s perfect for spring entertaining.”

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What the UK’s top climate scientist wants from the next governmentWhat the UK’s top climate scientist wants from the next government

There can’t be many people whose grasp of environmental issues is broader than Professor Piers Forster’s. Locally, he’s patron of Zero Carbon Harrogate and has campaigned against the expansion of Harrogate Spring Water’s bottling plant, but in his day job he operates at a different scale altogether.  

He’s professor of climate physics at the University of Leeds and director of the university’s Priestley Centre for Climate Futures, and since 2018 he’s also been interim chair of the government’s Climate Change Committee (CCC), representing the UK at the COP28 UN Climate Change Conference in Dubai last year. As a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), he was instrumental in getting the world to aim for a global warming limit of 1.5°C and helped persuade the UK government to adopt its Net Zero 2050 target.

One week he can be talking about saving saplings in Rotary Wood, the next he’ll be advising on global carbon reduction targets.

When the Stray Ferret spoke to him at his home in Harrogate, he’d just got back from Oslo; in a couple of months he’ll be off to Bonn, in December it’s Azerbaijan, and at some point he expects to go to Beijing for bilateral talks with the Chinese government’s advisers. 

The irony of someone with his brief jetting off around the world is not lost on him. He said: 

“I fly for work because I’m an international climate scientist, but I am now more conscious of whether I really have to get on an aeroplane. 

“I’m not at all perfect, but I have become more conscious of my green carbon footprint over time. We have an old diesel car. We could have an electric car, but I don’t drive the car at all, really. I drive it once every four months. 

“I walk into town, I take public transport to work at the University of Leeds and go down to Westminster on the train. I walk to the supermarket to get the exercise. 

“My wife’s Australian and going back there has a big carbon footprint, but I do not think that preventing people from going to see their family around the world or escape the wet, dreary winter… I think it’d be very difficult to say ‘You can’t do that’.” 

It is this sense of pragmatism – a practical approach rooted in an appreciation of the world as it is – that politicians across the spectrum value, and is perhaps why Prof Forster is still in post at the CCC six years after he was appointed to it temporarily. 

He also appears to be a glass-half-full kind of climate scientist, a tendency that always goes down better than doom-mongering, which inevitably implies reducing services or spending more money. 

He said: 

“We see wildfires in Portugal and Spain and we’re beginning to see them coming to this country now. We’ve had incredibly high temperatures in Canada, we had huge fires sweeping across California, and they shut down Silicon Valley for a bit. We’ve seen drought in China that meant they couldn’t supply water to their industries, so they had to shut them down for a bit too.

“If you look at the UK, we get off better than virtually any other country, and yet we’ve had by far the wettest winter ever recorded. Flooding is the greatest threat for us.

“But I’m an optimist. I think we have the ability to stop this. We’re not on track, of course, to hit our targets, but we’re also not completely off track. With concerted effort we can get back on track.

“We ought to be able to build more resilient infrastructure, and there’s opportunity now with the whole Net Zero transition thing, with brand-new grid and energy storage and offshore and onshore wind, or onshore solar. We do have the opportunity to try and make our towns and countryside more resilient.”

Photo of Harrogate resident Professor Piers Forster, who is interim chair of the government's Climate Change Committee, at the meeting in Incheon, South Korea, to approve the ​IPCC's 1.5C report in 2018.

Prof Piers Forster at the meeting in Incheon, South Korea, to approve the ​IPCC’s 1.5°C report in 2018.

While the benefits to the environment of developing a more sustainable economy are clear, he says that there are business opportunities that could further incentivise their development. He said: 

“It’s going to be challenging for the SMEs – they’re going to struggle with all the red tape, so we have to try and make it easy and support them to change. But for our other industries, especially the financial-type service industries, there are big opportunities, not only to support decarbonisation here, but also decarbonisation around the world, for example, we can reduce the cost of borrowing to build renewable energy in, say, Nigeria.” 

A prerequisite of Prof Forster’s CCC role is that he remains broadly apolitical, lest the credibility of his advice be compromised by perceived partiality.

But he does worry that, faced with the apparently conflicting priorities of high office, governments often tend to do far less than they say they do. For example, the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, recently said that government plans to build new gas-fired power stations were in line with the recommendations of the CCC, which has said a “small amount” of gas generation without carbon capture is compatible with a decarbonised power system.

Prof Forster said:

“That’s technically correct, but it’s all about the quantities. We need to talk about the trajectories. In the 2035 timeframe he spoke about – that’s only a 10-year timeframe – we think there’ll be instances where we do need to get a little bit of electricity generation from gas. But if you look at the quantities of it, its tiny. It’s only about 1 or 2% of the country’s energy supply. So it does almost completely disappear by our 2035 target. After that time, we expect to go completely to renewables potentially, but that will take a bit more time. Basically, the amount of gas we need in this country is expected to decline, and decline very significantly.”

Taking the difficult decisions on climate change is not something every government is willing to do, but which one would be best placed – or most able – to do that is not something that Prof Forster, as arguably the country’s foremost climate scientist, can comment on. But he said: 

“I can’t say which party would be best for the environment, but I definitely would say that whichever party gets in, they have to get on with it.  

“What I’m a bit worried about currently is the things that need to be done. For example, we had an announcement just recently saying that they’re going to delay the clean heat market mechanism. This is to make air-source heat-pumps much more attractive compared with gas boilers, and just by delaying it and trying to call for one more consultation, it kicks the whole thing slightly into the long grass. Quite a lot of things are being kicked into the long grass.  

“Exactly the same thing is happening with bio-energy and carbon capture, with a big pipeline going into the North Sea.  

“On these very big decisions, we need to see a government that is bold enough to do it.” 

Those “very big decisions” span a wide range of policy areas. In agriculture, he’d like to see less farmland given over to cattle and more reforested, in housing he’d like all newbuilds to be fitted with an air-source heat-pump to head off the necessity of retrofitting them in 20 years’ time, and he’d like HS2 and the Trans-Pennine high-speed lines built too. He said: 

“Whatever big infrastructure the government can build that is sustainable is a really good thing to do.

“Remember all the fuss about building the Channel Tunnel, and how much it cost? We can’t survive without it now, and that is a really good thing for our economy, ultimately. These things are worth it.” 

He adds: 

“You have to come up with a solution that works for everyone. You have to be quite pragmatic, and I think the more we can be based on the evidence and the more we can try and take the political shenanigans out of it, I think that is ultimately the way to get to where you want to go.” 

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