Bunting, flags and even a giant crown have been appearing across the Harrogate district as preparations get under way for the coronation weekend.

Shops, cafes, hotels and community centres have all been adorned with union flags and royal symbols ready for the coronation of King Charles III on Saturday.

Among the most eye-catching displays is a huge crown added to the Market Cross in Knaresborough today. It has been created by members of Knaresborough Flower Club, with a £300 grant from Knaresborough Town Council.

The crown was put together in the conservatory at club chairman Lesley Dalton’s home. She said:

“One of the girls worked out we had spent 100 hours on it – and that’s without the time spent travelling to buy supplies and so on.

“We’ve had flowers round the Market Cross every time there has been a big occasion like the Queen’s funeral and the jubilee last year. We try to put Knaresborough Market on the map!”

Club members Margaret Darley, Maureen Robinson, Dorothy Gerrard, Julie Ward, Trish Hesford and Cath Oldfield were instrumental in its design and manufacture, as well as adding the flowers to the sculpture.

They spent almost six hours today putting it all together and will be out watering it regularly until it is taken down on Sunday, May 14.

Meanwhile, shops around the town have also got into the spirit, with plenty of bunting on show in their windows.

Harrogate has also got into the coronation spirit.

Supplies shop Party Fever, on Lower Station Parade, has been inundated with customers this week.

Owner Sue Saville and her team have been answering requests for themed plates, napkins, balloons, flags, hats and more, with demand growing over the last few days.

The shop will be open all day tomorrow and on Saturday morning from 9am to 11am for last-minute shoppers.

The Stray Ferret will be out and about across the Harrogate district this weekend, reporting on how our communities are marking the historic event.

Send us details and photos of your event by email and keep an eye on our live blog for the latest pictures and news from around the area.

Still looking for things to do this weekend? Check out our list of local events.

Read more:

• Coronation events: where to celebrate across the Harrogate district
• Fireworks finale will end Ripon’s coronation day celebrations

A petition calling for improvements to roads around schools in Harrogate will be delivered to the highways authority next week.

Set up by a group of parents concerned about safety for youngsters travelling to and from school, the petition has attracted almost 900 signatures.

It calls for a 20mph limit on roads across Oatlands, Pannal Ash, Rossett and the Saints area of Harrogate. The parents said thousands of pupils travel to four primary schools, five secondary schools, Harrogate College and several nurseries and pre-schools in the area each day.

In their petition, the parents said:

“Change is urgently needed. Without it the safety, health and well-being of the children, young people and the wider community remains at stake and road safety will continue as a barrier to walking and cycling in the area and across Harrogate.

“Maximum speed limits of 20mph have been delivered in other rural and urban areas of Yorkshire and the UK including Calderdale, Cornwall, Oxford, Edinburgh, the Scottish Borders, London and in Wales. We want these improvements for south and west and other communities within Harrogate.”

The petition references two serious collisions earlier this year – one on Beechwood Grove and one on Yew Tree Lane – which left three children hurt and requiring hospital treatment.

The incident on Yew Tree Lane left two 15-year-old Rossett School boys with serious, potentially life-changing, injuries.

Read more:

• ‘Comprehensive’ road safety improvements announced for Harrogate schools
• Children raise awareness of road safety issues affecting Ripon schools

After the collision, there were renewed calls for better safety measures around schools in the area. However, the campaign for changes dated much further back, with local parents having presented their requests to North Yorkshire County Council last year.

This year, meetings have been held between all headteachers in the area with representatives of North Yorkshire Council’s highways department. All the affected schools have put their names to the campaign for reduced speed limits.

Hazel Peacock, one of the parents who set up the petition, said:

“A big thank you to all of you who have signed the petition for a maximum speed of 20mph on roads in south and west Harrogate to improve road safety. There are a a total of 870 signatures to date!

“We will be submitting the petition to North Yorkshire County Council [next week]. If you have yet to sign it or would like to share with friends or family living or working in the Harrogate and Knaresborough constituency area, who may also be interested in supporting the campaign, please sign and share the petition by May 8, 2023.”

To see or sign the petition, click here.

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A nursery set up just two years ago in Starbeck has been rated ‘good’ in its first Ofsted inspection.

Finding Nature’s Little Learners achieved that rating in all four areas, inspector Janet Fairhurst praised its focus on developing children’s communication skills.

Her report said:

“The nursery is a happy and welcoming place for children. They have lots of fun learning and playing. Children are safe and well cared for by staff who want the best for them.

“Even the very youngest children settle quickly and happily in the calm and nurturing environment.”

Ms Fairhurst found children enjoyed reading books with staff, who made story time a “thoroughly enjoyable experience”.

She also highlighted the work done to encourage friendships between children and to teach them to share and take turns. She added:

“The experienced leadership team show dedication to their roles. They have created a curriculum which identifies what they want children to learn.

“Leaders and staff know each child’s needs well. This starts with the building of strong relationships with families before a child joins the nursery.

“Staff get to know the children and are alert to any barriers they face and the knowledge they need to learn next. Such strategies ensure that staff can quickly identify and meet the learning and development requirements of children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities.”

After the inspection in March, the report praised the strong partnerships with parents and the amount of information provided by staff about children’s progress.

It found parents praised the nursery and its staff, appreciating the “wonderful range of learning experiences” it offered to the 136 children registered.

Addressing areas where improvements could be made, the report added:

“Overall, leaders are aware of staff’s strengths and aspects of their practice that can be developed further.

“However, monitoring of teaching has not been precise enough to identify where some staff need further support and guidance. For instance, staff do not always consider the environment when planning adult-led activities, so that distractions are reduced, and children are able to concentrate.

“Equally, on occasion, some staff interactions between children and staff do not stretch or develop older children’s mathematical skills, such as counting and calculation, as well as they might.”

‘Proud of the team’

The report has been welcomed by the nursery, which said a ‘good’ rating is “increasingly difficult to achieve”. Owner Samantha Williams said:

“I am exceptionally proud of the team and their continued commitment to ensure that the children attending our setting receive the very best possible care and education. The inspection was really relaxed and the inspector herself said if she was a child attending our nursery she would want to come back day after day.

“We thank all the parents who flooded our inbox with emails to include their feedback on the day – there is no better representation of the hard work and dedication of the practitioners than what the children and parents have to say about their experiences here.

“As a newly established nursery in the area, we are welcoming ways to strengthen our practice and the Ofsted inspection gave us just that. Through our recent staff training day we have already addressed the improvements suggested and made adjustments in our environments.

“I am a firm believer in there is always room to improve, room to grow and our experienced team show true dedication in their reflective practice.”

Read more:

• ‘Good’ Ofsted rating for Boroughbridge nursery and out-of-school club
• ‘Nurturing’ staff help children to learn at ‘homely’ nursery near Ripon

A floral tribute to King Charles has been created in Harrogate.

North Yorkshire Council‘s parks team created the eye-catching display on Stray land on Montpellier Hill. It is currently behind railings, which will be removed on Saturday’s coronation day.

The parks team made the royal cypher using a technique called carpet bedding, which involves using plants so compact and tightly knitted that the result looks like a woven carpet. The display will stay in place for 12 months.

Some of the parks team that worked on the display.

A council spokesperson said:

“The display is made up of more than 15,600 plants, including sedum, sempervivum and ajuga, which are all compact plants ideal for this type of display.

“The temporary fencing will be removed first thing on Saturday morning to enable people to enjoy the display fully.”

Read more:

• Coronation events: where to celebrate across the Harrogate district
• Fireworks finale will end Ripon’s coronation day celebrations

Rossett Acre Primary School and Oatlands Junior School are to install solar panels on their roofs to generate renewable energy.

Plans were approved by North Yorkshire Council this week to install the technology under permitted development rules, which don’t require full planning applications.

Rossett Acre will see around 120 panels installed with a capacity to generate up to 50.90 kWp of renewable electricity.

Around 48 panels will be installed at Oatlands with a capacity to generate up to 20.40 kWp.

Schools have been particularly affected by the rise in energy bills with the National Education Union warning last year that children’s education could suffer as headteachers face extra cost pressures.

Read more:

• Rudding Park installs 12 new electric vehicle charging points
• Knaresborough businesses criticise ‘ludicrous’ empty electric vehicle charging bays

From April, the government extended its energy support for schools by a further 12 months but it only applies to those paying the highest gas and electricity rates.

Both Oatlands and Rossett Acre are part of the Red Kite Learning Trust. Its estates manager Samantha Shuttleworth wrote in planning documents about both applications:

”It is considered that the proposed solar panels would be complementary to the character of the building.

”The visual appearance of the solar panels on the roofed area is considered appropriate for the school building, thereby enhancing the visionary appearance of the site as an up-to-date centre for learning, creating responsible citizens for tomorrow’s world with an appreciation for their surroundings and a duty of care for the environment.

”It is considered that the panels could have a positive impact on the character of the building and no overall detrimental impact on the surrounding area.”

North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Zoe Metcalfe is facing pressure to step down following further criticism that the police are failing to protect vulnerable children.

Ms Metcalfe’s role includes scrutinising the performance of North Yorkshire Police.

But leading North Yorkshire councillors have voiced dismay over the lack of progress Ms Metcalfe has brought about in the force over the last year.

It comes after His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services highlighted continuing concerns over child protection.

A HMICFRS report this week found evidence-gathering delays and a lack of knowledge about online abuse inquiries were reducing North Yorkshire Police’s ability to safeguard children.

Following a re-inspection of the force in December, the watchdog revealed police officers had not forensically examined digital devices connected to a suspected child rape six months after they were submitted.

In response, the commissioner, who is tasked with holding the force to account, said both her and her team had been “regularly assured that all concerns would be tackled head on and improvements made at a significant pace”,only to find “12 months later, the force is not in the position I expected them to be in”.

She said:

“Not enough has been done and there is simply no excuse – North Yorkshire Police have let the public and the most vulnerable in our society down.

“I know that it is my responsibility to increase the accountability of and pressure on the chief constable, to demand answers and not accept anything other than immediate and significant improvement.”

Within hours of the report being published Ms Metcalfe struck a determined tone as she held a public online meeting with senior officers, including chief constable Lisa Winward, where she questioned them over the progress made over 10 recommendations.

The meeting heard the force fully accepted the criticisms and was investing in officers’ training and in control room staff, the recruitment of specialist child protection workers, and cutting the time it takes to examine digital devices to less than 72 hours.

The force said it had spent £400,000 on reducing its digital forensics backlog and £1.17m on hiring specialist child protection staff, and was establishing dedicated safeguarding teams in each of the three regions it covers.

Call to resign

Once the elections for City of York Council are concluded the North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime panel, which exists to hold the commissioner to account, will reconvene and consider holding an extraordinary meeting to question the commissioner.

The panel pushed Mrs Metcalfe’s predecessor, Philip Allott, to step down and heavily criticised the county’s first commissioner, Julia Mulligan, over her treatment of staff.

Ms Metcalfe has confirmed she is seeking to be the Conservative candidate for mayor of North Yorkshire and York, elections for which are due to take place in May next year. She has claimed to be “uniquely qualified” for the role.

Leader of the opposition on North Yorkshire Council, Cllr Bryn Griffiths said the Liberal Democrat group would be calling for Ms Metcalfe to resign at the next meeting of the authority.

North Yorkshire Council’s Labour group leader, Cllr Steve Shaw Wright said the commissioner had been in charge for “nothing but a series of calamitous reports”.

He said:

“She is doing very little. Police at the coal face are actually doing a brilliant job across North Yorkshire, but the ones who lead them need to get on with the job they are supposed to be doing.

“They have been short-staffed for a while, but that lays at the door of the Tory commissioner, who should have been banging doors down for a lot longer than this.

“‘Call me Zoe’ wants to be the Conservative candidate for the mayor of North Yorkshire and York, but I think she’s blown it.”

Read more:

• Crime commissioner’s office to move to Harrogate Police Station
• North Yorkshire Police ‘still needs to improve’ on child safeguarding, say inspectors

The North Yorkshire Council Independent group leader said the latest criticism showed there was no legitimate reason by commissioners should exist.

Cllr Stuart Parsons said increasing “scrutiny” by calling for the police to provide evidence of progress would only take more police officers off their day-to-day jobs. He said:

“What is the point of a police, fire and crime commissioner if she can’t ensure the force is doing what it is meant to?

“Instead of believing everything she has been fed she should have been investigating what was really going on and then calling them to account.”

The number of nurses recruited from overseas to work at Harrogate District Hospital has jumped from fewer than five in 2017 to 31 last year, figures show.

Harrogate & District NHS Foundation Trust, like many health trusts across the country, has increasingly relied on overseas workers to plug the gap left by UK-based nurses leaving the profession.

Recruitment within the NHS has been highlighted recently by the striking nurses’ union the Royal College of Nursing. It has said low pay and working conditions are leading to a “mass exodus” of young nurses from hospitals.

A report published by the royal college in February found that between 2018 and 2022, nearly 43,000 people aged 21 to 50 left the Nursing and Midwifery Council register.

Figures on overseas nurses at Harrogate hospital. Data: Local Democracy Reporting Service.

A freedom of information request submitted by the Local Democracy Reporting Service found that 31 nurses were recruited from overseas last year, which is almost three times higher than the figure for 2021.

The figures also show 10 doctors were recruited last year from abroad.

Read more:

• Harrogate hospital advertises for new chief executive
• Harrogate hospital to remove parking barriers to ease traffic queues
• Almost 500 appointments cancelled at Harrogate hospital due to junior doctors’ strike

Since 2017, the trust has recruited nurses from India, Nigeria, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and the USA but a trust spokesperson said the number makes up a small number of its total workforce.

The social care sector has also looked to employ more overseas workers to help ease a well-documented staffing crisis, with North Yorkshire Council recently bringing in over 30 care professionals from South Africa and Zimbabwe.

A Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust spokesperson said:

“Recruitment from outside of the UK is an important part of the workforce supply strategy of NHS organisations, including HDFT. Recruiting internationally enhances our workforce with different skills, experience, expertise and perspectives.

“Whilst the majority of our workforce are employed from within the UK, we have an active programme of recruiting nursing, midwifery and allied health professionals from overseas, which complements our national recruitment activity as well as supporting the development of a multicultural workforce more representative of the people we serve.

“To ensure ethical recruitment, we do this work in collaboration with other NHS organisations. For instance, we are in partnership with the Kerala Government in India for nursing and allied health professional recruitment via the West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership.

“Staff members who have been recruited from overseas have stayed in Harrogate to continue their careers in the NHS and are a valued part of our workforce, and we will continue to recruit internationally in the future.

“Whilst overseas recruitment has grown over the last few years in a number of areas, it still remains a small part of our recruitment activity.

“We value every member of our workforce and the important role they play in providing a health care service that we can all be proud of.”

A large tree that damaged a Porsche in Harrogate during recent storms has been felled.

Zenya Dunn, who lives on Granby Road, told the Stray Ferret her partner Michael woke to find his car beneath a large splintered branch during February’s Storm Otto.

Speaking back then, she said it was the second time the Porsche had been struck by falling branches from the tree.

Ms Dunn added her Range Rover, parked nearby, and the house front window had narrowly escaped being damaged by the tree during storms. She said the couple had alerted the council to the danger numerous times.

Zenya Dunn, standing next to her partner’s Porsche in the aftermath of Storm Otto. 

North Yorkshire Council has now pruned the tree to little more than a stump.

Read more:

• Harrogate couple’s dismay after tree crashes on Porsche for second time
• Historic Harrogate house to be auctioned next month

Jon Clubb, acting head of parks and environmental services at the council, said:

“Storm Otto caused considerable disruption to parts of North Yorkshire in February. Our parks and grounds maintenance team acted swiftly to remove a large branch on Granby Road which had fallen during the storm.

“Unfortunately, damage to the tree was so severe that it needed removing and the work was recently carried out. We will be carrying out replacement plantings this winter in line with our trees and woodland policy.

The splintered branch being removed in February. 

It’s time to join the Stray Ferret Business Club. Our next networking event is after-work drinks at Manahatta, on May 25th at 5:30.

Don’t miss out on this chance to network with businesses from across the Harrogate district. Get your tickets by clicking or tapping here.

A Knaresborough green energy company has appointed a new chief financial officer.

Harmony Energy, which is based at Conyngham Hall Business Centre, has hired Rob Scott to the position.

Mr Scott, who lives in Boroughbridge, previously worked at Key Group, as well as AA and Saga.

He will be tasked with overseeing finance, IT and human resources at Harmony Energy.

Peter Kavanagh, Harmony Energy’s chief executive and co-founder, said: 

“I am delighted to welcome Rob to the business. 

“He brings with him a wealth of experience and will provide the strategic guidance, insight and leadership we need as we continue to grow, not only in the UK, but overseas as well.”

Mr Scott said:

“Harmony Energy presents an exciting challenge for me, as it’s a business that I believe has the ambition and drive for growth.

“It has a fantastic team led by an exceptional management team who collectively are committed to delivering excellence in the global renewable energy sector.

“The company has achieved great success to date, and I look forward to adding to that as we build on what has already been accomplished.”

Harrogate business group meeting to focus on tourism

A Harrogate business group’s next monthly meeting will focus on tourism in the town.

Harrogate District Chamber of Commerce is holding the event, which will include its annual general meeting, on Monday, May 15.

The meeting will include a presentation from Helen Suckling, destination events manager at Destination Harrogate, about the organisation’s strategy for 2022 to 2025.

The event, which is being held at Windsor House on Cornwall Road, will include a networking session and refreshments for guests.

For more information and to register attendance, visit the EventBrite page here.

Guests can arrive at 5.30pm and the meeting will start at 6.15pm.

Read more: 

• Business Breakfast: Harrogate businesses invited to free ‘growth networking’ sessions
• Business Breakfast: Harrogate property specialists move to new office
• Business Breakfast: Harrogate mobile company partners with United States firm