Local Harrogate News & Views around the district - Page 390 of 1164

Civic society objects to Harrogate Stray common land proposal

Harrogate Civic Society has objected to plans to designate the Stray as common land.

The Open Spaces Society applied to register Harrogate’s 200-acre expanse as common land, a move which has been met with opposition by some in the town.

Andrew Jones, Harrogate and Knaresborough MP, and the Stray Defence Association have already objected to the proposal.

Now, the town’s civic society has become the latest to declare its opposition to the plan.

In a letter to North Yorkshire Council, Henry Pankhurst, of the Harrogate Civic Society, said registering the Stray as common land would lead to “confusion” as it is already covered by the Harrogate Stray Act 1985.

He said:

“If Stray land were to appear on the Commons Registration Act map then it would show up on local search results for property purchasers etc.

“This does not however outweigh the potential for confusion if both the Stray Act and the Commons Registration Act apply to the same land.”

Mr Pankhurst added that the public had been consulted on changes to the Stray Act in 2016/17 and “made it clear that the act should not be changed”.

The move comes after the Open Spaces Society tabled a bid to register the Stray as common land back in January.

Founded in 1865 as the Commons Preservation Society, the OSS is Britain’s oldest national conservation body. Its past victories include the preservation of Hampstead Heath, Wimbledon Common and Epping Forest.

When the Commons Registration Act 1965 came into force, the Stray was exempted from inclusion in the common land register, but following the passing of the Commons Act 2006, the OSS has been trying to register such exempted land and wants to bring the Stray “back into the fold”.

When the application was made earlier this year, OSS case officer Hugh Craddock said:

“The decision in the 1960s to keep the Stray off the registers was understandable but misguided.

“Only a quarter of one per cent of registered common land was exempted from registration, and exemption proved to be both misleading and unhelpful. The Stray has always been common land, and ought to be registered as common land.”

Harrogate nursery praised for focus on children’s development after covid

A Harrogate nursery has been praised by Ofsted for delivering a “safe” environment where children feel “confident” and content.

Acorns In Harrogate, based in the grounds of Hookstone Chase Primary School, has maintained its ‘good’ rating earned at its last inspection in 2019.

In its latest report, inspector Pat Edmond said:

“Children are happy and settled at the nursery. Staff recognise the impact that the covid-19 pandemic has had on children’s development. They have sensibly prioritised children’s personal, social and emotional development.

“The success of this is evident throughout the setting. Children are relaxed, confident and very well behaved.”

Visiting the nursery in June, Ms Edmond found its staff had a good understanding of children’s development and were able to effectively support children with special educational needs.

She said the children enjoyed the ‘healthy, home-cooked meals” on offer and staff helped them to understand about their health, both through food and drink and by spending time outdoors.

Activities helped children to develop skills, she said, from babies crawling to reach their favourite books to older children learning to count through fun group tasks.

The report added:

“Managers lead a stable staff team. On the whole, leaders have a good oversight of the quality of provision.

“They recognise when aspects of the provision require further development. They strive to put plans in place to improve matters. Both the baby room and toddler room are particularly well supported.

“However, monitoring is not as robust as it could be. There are minor inconsistencies in how well the curriculum is delivered, both indoors and outdoors.”

Ms Edmond recommended continuing to develop systems for monitoring the delivery of the curriculum, and ensuring all staff and parents knew what children needed to do to expand their vocabulary.

Responding to the new report, nursery manager Rebecca Lister said the staff were pleased with the outcome and had enjoyed showing the inspector around the setting, despite the visit taking place on a rainy day.

She added:

“The improvement area identified by the inspector has already been addressed by the creation of a beautiful home learning area with information about the songs, signs, stories that we are learning for the week coupled with learning bags for parents to take home and share with their children.

“It was wonderful that the inspector recognised the strong relationships our children share with their key practitioners, who take great pride in really getting to know the children and their extended families.”

Old Birstwith telephone box transformed into children’s library

An old phone box in the village of Birstwith has been given a new lease of life as a children’s book library.

The disused phone box has stood empty for years but has now been transformed by one of the residents to get younger members of the community reading.

Ann Lilley told the Stray Ferret:

“I had an abundance of children’s books from working as a teaching assistant and I know how important it is to get children reading from an early age.”

The idea was approved by the parish council as part of BT’s ‘Adopt a Kiosk’ scheme, which helps people renovate phone boxes to bring value to their community – many have become libraries, food banks or homes for defibrillators.

Phone box libraries are becoming more common,with more than 1,500 being adopted nationally since 2009. There is one on St Hilda’s Road in Harrogate and a book exchange phone box in Marton Cum Grafton.

With the nearest public library approximately 20 minutes away from Birstwith, the new community library makes it easier for people to access books to suit all tastes.

Three year old Elsie Alderson choosing her bedtime story

Kathryn Alderson, whose daughter Elsie is using the library, said:

“I think it’s a great addition to the village and has come at the right time with it being the summer holidays. It’s great for little ones to get them interested in reading or choosing new things to read.”

Ann Lilley told the Stray Ferret that many villagers have contacted her to say what a valuable project this is and how “children have really enjoyed going along”.

The new phone box library is free for everyone to use. People are welcome to donate their own books, as long as there is space on the shelves.

Council approves additional £1m to set up North Yorkshire combined authority

A committee that focuses on North Yorkshire’s devolution deal has approved an additional £1 million to implement a new authority.

The North Yorkshire Combined Authority, which will elect a mayor in May 2024, will oversee £13 million worth of new homes, green economic growth to achieve a carbon-negative region, and further investment in digital broadband, if its setup is successful.

The combined authority is scheduled to be launched in November this year.

It will include councillors from North Yorkshire Council and City of York Council and make decisions on matters such as economic development and transport.

North Yorkshire has already spent £582,000 on the implementation of the authority, but a further £1 million was granted by the committee on July 24.

Nick Edwards from North Yorkshire Council, speaking on behalf of the chief finance officer for the devolution deal, said:

“With regards to the request for an additional £1 million, the principles remain to the initial cash flow and that is on the basis that when the combined authority is established and it receives its grant funding that the implementation costs are repaid immediately to the council.

“If for any reason the combined authority does not proceed, the financial risks of the implementation costs rest equally with North Yorkshire and York councils.”

However, Mr Edwards asked the committee to consider the significant returns this investment would take from securing the implementation of the deal.

Mr Edwards said:

“The combined authority will receive significant funding when it is established – funding which is on top of any specific project funding – from November 1, if that is the setup date, will include funding of around £10 million, and £19.5 million in 2024/25.

“So in a matter of months of the authority going live, there will be funds of circa £30m available to it.”

These funds are expected to go towards the mayoral capacity fund, the transport capacity fund and the investment fund.

A request to approve an adult education budget request of almost £500,000 was also approved at the meeting.

The estimated cost of delivering the implementation stage of the adult education budget over two years is £975,748.

The bid to the Department of Education is £480,932 (49.29%), requiring a local contribution of £494,816 (50.71%).

Review: Lucy Worsley on Agatha Christie’s ‘missing days’ in Harrogate

Lauren Crisp is a book editor, writer and keen follower of arts and culture. Born and raised in Harrogate, Lauren recently moved back to North Yorkshire after a stint in London, where she regularly reviewed theatre – everything from big West End shows to small fringe productions. She is now eager to explore the culture on offer in and around her home town. You can contact Lauren on laurencrispwriter@gmail.com

The twentieth-anniversary edition of Harrogate’s Crime Writing Festival went out with a bang on Sunday, with Lucy Worsley, acclaimed historian, curator and broadcaster, filling the final special-guest spot of the weekend.

Following the publication of her latest book, Agatha Christie: A Very Elusive Woman, Worsley gave Sunday’s crowd an insight into the life of the beloved novelist (a woman whose books, they say, are outsold only by Shakespeare and the Bible). And how very apt that a celebration of the Queen of Crime should provide the grand finale to a weekend’s worth of the genre in all its glory, at a festival with Christie as its very raison d’etre. Christie is, as many Harrogate locals know, inextricably linked to our town’s history. It was in December 1926 that the already fêted Christie, grief-stricken by her mother’s recent death and her husband’s infidelity, seemingly disappeared without a trace. Eleven days later, she was discovered at the Swan Hydropathic Hotel – or the Old Swan, as we know it today.

Simply walking through the corridors of this grand old hotel is enough to spark anyone’s imagination, but for Christie fans, it must be magic to picture her there almost one hundred years ago. It is an enchantingly historic setting, but also one which was for Christie, according to Worsley, quite literally an escape from reality.

The novelist’s “disappearance” was subject to wildly varying interpretations. The discovery of her abandoned car led many to speculate she had taken her own life, yet, without a body, a mammoth police investigation ensued, a public circus involving all manner of theories and personalities: in her book, Worsley explains how Arthur Conan Doyle was said to have employed a psychic to connect to Agatha via one of her discarded gloves.

When a member of the hotel staff eventually revealed Christie’s location to authorities, she was found alive and seemingly well, but, as she claimed, with no memory whatsoever of events. The press pack claimed that such a tale had guilty written all over it: that either she had meant to frame her husband for murder, or it was an elaborate publicity stunt in the style of one of her very own detective novels (indeed, sales of her books went through the roof at the time).

What does Worsley think was really going on with Agatha during these fateful days? She presents evidence to suggest that Christie may have suffered a rare psychological condition described as “dissociative fugue”, thought to be a mechanism by which someone extracts themselves from a stressful situation as a form of self-protection. They forget who they are, taking on a new identity and reality. In Agatha’s case, she became Mrs Teresa Neele from South Africa; she appeared to enjoy her stay, participating in activities and making friends, apparently oblivious to the manhunt.

Worsley has found historical records, as well as autobiographical hints in Christie’s own later novels, to suggest it likely the author subsequently visited a psychotherapist, reinforcing the theory that Agatha was unwell. Worsley decries the injustice of the media frenzy and its enduring impact on Christie, writing “… people ever since have suspected her of duplicity and lies.”

It was, Worsley believes, a terrible time for the author, but asserts that 1926 also acted as a watershed year, one which marked a new phase in Christie’s life and writing. As the historian puts it, “… act one of her life was over […] and even she had begun to see that within an ending, may lie a new beginning”. She divorced her first husband, remarried, and lived out the rest of her truly remarkable life: the author of some eighty books, celebrated the world over. Christie is part of the fabric of the cultural history of this country, and of the small spa town of Harrogate, which, for eleven days in 1926, was home to a slice of crime-writing history.

Developer resubmits plan for retirement homes in Kirk Hammerton

A developer has resubmitted plans for new retirement homes and a community hub in Kirk Hammerton.

SageHaus Living, which is based in the Isle of Man, had previously lodged the proposals for 55 modular units on land off Station Road in the village.

However, the developer withdrew the plans in February this year in order to “consider comments made about the scheme”.

Now, it has tabled fresh plans to North Yorkshire Councl for 61 retirement homes.

SageHause Living, which acquired the site known as Carlton Fields in 2021, said in documents submitted to the council that scheme would help bring more retirement accommodation to the district, while also being environmentally friendly.

The site layout for the retirement homes in Kirk Hammerton.

The developer said in documents to the council that it was still committed to building the scheme in a “sustainable manner”.

It said:

“The revised scheme which is the subject of this application proposes the construction of 61 permanent extra care residential units rather than lodge style modular units.

“However SageHaus Livings objective is still on building in the most sustainable manner so the units will still be delivered by MMC.”

It added that a community hub would also be built, which would be larger than previously proposed.

North Yorkshire Council will make a decision on the proposal at a later date.

Business Breakfast: Harrogate accountancy firm expands apprenticeship programme

Are you booked into our Stray Ferret Business Club’s breakfast event this Thursday at Banyan in Harrogate between 8-10am?

The Business Club provides monthly opportunities to network, make new connections and hear local success stories. Get your tickets now by clicking or tapping here.

One of Harrogate’s oldest accountancy firms has expanded its apprenticeship programme.

A quarter of Lithgow Perkins’ twenty strong team now comprises of trainees at different stages of their accountancy career.

Partner Tom Rhodes, who began as an apprentice at Lithgow Perkins 11 years ago, said:

“Having a strong apprenticeship programme that gives young people the opportunity to develop their careers with us is vital not just for their future, but for ours too.”

Mr Rhodes added:

“As a small, independent firm, we can be flexible in creating opportunities for our trainees to work across a range of disciplines, supported by various specialists from our team.

“It’s not just a case of developing accountancy expertise; it’s also about building confidence in the ‘softer’ skills that are so important when dealing directly with clients.”

Yorkshire Housing has begun to acquire finished homes at a new Knaresborough development.

The homes, built by Countryside Partnerships, feature a mix of tenures – shared ownership, affordable rent, rent to buy and market sale.

They will cater to individuals and families of different sizes. The site is scheduled to be completed in 2024.

Development Project Manager, Steven Harrison said:

“We’re thrilled to get the keys to the first 11 of 120 new homes in Boroughbridge.

“Knaresborough is a thriving market town with a need for more affordable housing and this development significantly helps address this.

“Yorkshire Housing has a goal of delivering 8,000 new homes and the site takes us closer to achieving this target.”

Andy Poyner, Managing Director at Countryside Partnerships said:

“We’re delighted to have handed over the first homes for Yorkshire Housing at the Castle Locke development in Knaresborough.

“The need for more affordable homes across the region is acute and we’re proud to be supporting Yorkshire Housing with its ambitious development programme.”

Council could sell Harrogate’s Jesmond House to raise money

North Yorkshire Council could sell its offices at Jesmond House in Harrogate to raise money.

The building on Victoria Avenue is next to the town’s Jobcentre Plus and is currently used by adult social care staff working for the council.

When the council was created on April 1, the new council took control of assets held by the seven former district councils, including those owned by Harrogate Borough Council.

The authority is facing a £30m shortfall in its first year and is targeting savings of up to £252m in its first five years.

Officers are currently undertaking a review of properties the council owns so it can save money, raise revenue and operate more efficiently.

The council’s Conservative executive member for finance, Gareth Dadd, said a number of “quick wins” are already underway to vacate spaces across North Yorkshire, including moving staff from Jesmond House to the Civic Centre on St Luke’s Avenue.

This could lead to the building being repurposed, sold or rented out to businesses.

A council spokesperson said that the Civic Centre, which opened in 2017, is not on the list of buildings that are at risk of being sold.

Gary Fielding, North Yorkshire Council’s corporate director strategic resources, said:

“We are looking at all council accommodation with a view to consolidating our use of buildings so we make the maximum use of the space we have, reduce our carbon footprint and bring down costs.

“This is in the early stages of detailed work looking at all the buildings, and staff will be consulted.”

Company involved in £46 million Harrogate district broadband installation ceases trading

A civil engineering company involved in the installation of a £46 million all-fibre broadband network in the Harrogate district has ceased trading with the loss of 165 jobs.

Leeds-based Makehappen Group Limited, which was working for CityFibre, the UK’s largest independent fibre infrastructure provider, appointed administrators Interpath Advisory last week.

The huge installation programme covering Harrogate, Knaresborough and latterly Ripon, was announced in 2020 and has been carried out on a street by street basis.

In response to the news, a spokesperson for CityFibre, said:

“We have been made aware that Makehappen Group has entered into administration.

“We would like to assure residents that work sites have been made safe, and we will remain in close conversation with our local authority stakeholders while we review our plans.”

Neil Morley and Howard Smith from Interpath Advisory were appointed joint administrators of Makehappen Group Limited on July 18.

A statement from Interpath Advisory said:

“In recent months, Makehappen experienced significant pressure on cashflow after a number of contracts were withdrawn by their customers.

“As a result, the company was unable to continue trading and service its liabilities as they fell due, so after considering their options, the directors sought the appointment of the administrators.

“The company ceased to trade shortly prior to the appointment of the administrators. With no prospect of trade resuming, it is with regret that the joint administrators have made all of the company’s 165 members of staff redundant.”

Meanwhile, Mr Morley, said:

“There continues to be a number of opportunities, but also challenges for businesses involved in the building of fibreoptic broadband infrastructure across the UK and unfortunately, Makehappen was the latest casualty of these challenges.

“As we commence an orderly wind-down of the business, our priority will be to provide support to all of Makehappen’s employees, including providing them with all of the information they require to make claims from the Redundancy Payments Office.”

Traffic delays on the A61 through Killinghall and Ripley

Drivers have been hit by significant traffic delays through Killinghall on the A61 today as new roadworks have been put in place.

Work has started on the A61 Ripon Road between Ripley and Killinghall.

One Stray Ferret reader contacted us to say they’d left Markington for Harrogate at 12.30pm and had only got as far as the second roundabout in Ripley where the works just over an hour later.

Drivers have also reported being stuck in long queues through Killinghall.

According to OneNetwork roadworks map, temporary traffic lights are in place as Quickline Communications, which is a broadband company, carries out “utility asset works” at Ripley roundabout.

This is due to remain in place until Wednesday, July 26.

Drivers are urged to avoid the area due to long queues.

Meanwhile, queuing traffic has also been reported at New Park roundabout in Harrogate.

According to the roadworks map, Northern Gas Networks has started repair work on Skipton Road near to New Park Academy. Temporary traffic lights are expected to be in place until August 25.

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