A BAFTA-nominated investigations journalist who lives in Harrogate has published his first novel.

Peter Woolrich, who along with his wife Tracey used to run Cold Bath Deli on Cold Bath Road, spent 12 years working on A Corroded Soul.

The novel is based on his own life as it tells the story of a 50-year-old journalist with questionable character traits who evaluates himself after his mother’s death.

Mr Woolrich said:

“During my career I had guns, knives and a samurai sword pulled on me. I’ve worked for national newspapers, magazines and television.

“In writing my book, you might say I’ve turned the spotlight on myself rather than criminals.”

Peter Woolrich

The novel is set in a fictional village similar to the one Mr Woolrich grew up in and is the first in a planned trilogy.

A Corroded Soul is available in bookshops and can be viewed/ordered here.

The book launch, which is open to everyone, is being held upstairs at North Bar in Harrogate at 7pm on April 6.

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• Free entry to Harrogate district attractions starts tomorrow
• Value of Harrogate district tourism up by £31m, new figures reveal

Several Harrogate district attractions will be offering free entry in the days ahead as part of National Lottery Open Week.

The lottery has raised more than £47 billion for good causes since it started in 1994. To thank players, it runs an annual week in which organisations it has funded are invited to provide free entry and special offers.

This year’s open week begins tomorrow (Saturday) and ends on March 26.

The following offers in the Harrogate district apply to anyone who presents a National Lottery ticket or scratchcard, digital or physical.

For the terms and conditions click here, and check the venue listings for dates, times and other terms and conditions. You can search for events here.

• Fountains Abbey near Ripon — free entry from March 18 to 26
• Nidderdale Museum in Pateley Bridge — free entry tomorrow (Saturday)
• Beningbrough Hall — free entry tomorrow and Sunday and from March 22 to 26
• Ripon Museum Trust — free entry for a family or group of up to six people at its workhouse, prison and police and courthouse museums in Ripon on March 25
• Harewood House — £5 entry tomorrow and Sunday

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• Value of Harrogate district tourism up by £31m, new figures reveal
• Ripon residents get free entry to city museums on Saturday

Inspectors have raised concern over North Yorkshire Police’s ability to keep people safe and reduce crime.

His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services undertook an inspection of the force in October 2022 for its effectiveness and efficiency.

The report, published today, rated the police as inadequate in good use of its resources.

Meanwhile, the force was rated as requires improvement for responding to the public, investigating crime, protecting vulnerable people and developing a positive workplace.

However, it was assessed as adequate for preventing crime and managing offenders. It was rated as good for treatment of the public.

Concern over police performance

In his report, Roy Wilsher, inspector of constabulary, raised concern over how the force kept people safe and reduced crime.

In particular, he said senior leaders did not have enough oversight of human resources and IT or of the “impact that failures in these areas have had on policing services”.

Mr Wilsher said the force did not have enough trained detectives and pointed out there was  “only a limited plan to address this”.

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He added that the force should improve the speed with which it answers and responds to emergency and priority calls.

The speed of responding to 999 calls was criticised.

However, Mr Wilsher said that North Yorkshire Police worked well with other organisations to safeguard vulnerable people.

He said:

“I have concerns about the performance of North Yorkshire Police in keeping people safe and reducing crime. In particular, I have serious concerns about its strategic planning and organisational management.

“Senior leaders in the force need to ensure they have effective oversight of its enabling services, such as IT and HR functions. Failures in these areas impact the service the force provides.

“North Yorkshire Police also needs to improve the speed with which it answers and responds to emergency calls. The force is well below the national standard, with only 41.9 percent of 999 calls being answered within 10 seconds.

“However, we did find that the force works well with partner organisations to safeguard vulnerable people. We found good examples of the force working with other organisations to divert young people away from offending and to reduce the vulnerability of people who may become victims of crime.

“Although I have concerns about corporate processes, I am pleased that the force has accepted our findings and is engaging with us and other partner organisations to ensure improvements are made. I remain in regular contact with the chief constable and will monitor the force’s progress towards addressing the cause of concern and areas of improvement I have established.”

In response, Lisa Winward, chief constable at North Yorkshire Police, said the force had recently approved a £1.8 million investment in its force control room to help tackle call response times.

She said:

“The report highlights a number of areas that the force delivers well but also reports on a significant number of areas that require improvement. A number of these relate to the corporate capacity and capability of the organisation linked to workforce planning, governance, performance management, financial planning, and the overall efficiency and effectiveness of our shared enabling services.

“They told us that while the right actions might be taking place on the ground by our people, they were not able to find sufficient evidence of how this was directed and overseen through our governance structure.

“The inspectors told us that every single person they spoke to was committed, fully engaged in their work and doing a really good job in difficult circumstances. They told us that our people take pride in being part of North Yorkshire Police and that there is a strong sense of belonging in the force.

“Since we received the hot debrief from HMICFRS in October 2022, we have been working at a pace to address the issues that they have raised so we can focus on our core responsibilities to the public.

“The Organisational Improvement Plan that we have put in place focuses on achieving the standards required to deliver a good service to our communities. The force has been through a significant period of change since our last inspection in 2018, and in particular to our corporate services where our inadequate grading has been identified. We are investing heavily to make these changes.”

Commissioner ‘more than disappointed’

Zoe Metcalfe

Meanwhile, Zoe Metcalfe, the Conservative North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, said she expected to see “immediate change” in police response to call times after approving a £1.8 million investment in the force control room.

She added that she was “more than disappointed” with other findings in the inspector’s report.

She said:

“I’m more than disappointed with other findings in the report and I’m sure members of the public will be too. It’s unacceptable that North Yorkshire Police requires improvement in multiple areas, in particular its strategic planning, organisational management and value for money – clearly more needs to be done and is being done as I continue to hold the chief constable to account. Our police force needs to do significantly better.

“I’m confident that the chief constable is overseeing significant transformation work within North Yorkshire Police to improve these outcomes, and that since October 2022 has implemented a trusted organisational improvement plan that can be effective at pace.”

A blanket 20mph speed limit across the south side of Harrogate is “urgently needed”, a councillor has said.

The proposal would see all streets between York Place and the southern edge of Harrogate limited to 20mph.

The petition has been set up by parents Hazel Peacock and Vicki Evans, who founded the Oatlands Road Safety and Active Travel Campaign. They say it is vital to ensure children can travel to and from school in safety.

The pair presented the case to councillors on Harrogate and Knaresborough constituency area committee yesterday.

Ms Peacock told councillors that the group wanted “safer streets for the community” and pointed out that the petition had already reached 700 signatures.

She said:

“Maximum speed limits of 20 miles per hour have been delivered in other rural and urban areas of Yorkshire and the UK including Calderdale, Cornwall, Oxford, Edinburgh and the Scottish Borders and London with positive effects.”

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She highlighted recent crashes on Beechwood Grove and on Yew Tree Lane, where two teenagers from Rossett School were seriously injured and required hospital treatment.

In the wake of the incident on February 2, headteachers from almost every primary and secondary school in the area met at Harrogate Grammar School to urge representatives of North Yorkshire County Council to take action.

During the meeting, Cllr John Mann, who represents Oatlands and Pannal, said he backed the proposal and described it as being “urgently needed”.

He said:

“I support the Oatlands road safety petition.

“I have written to the head of highways and the cabinet member for highways saying that I support the petition. 

“I have also called for Yew Tree Lane, Green Lane, Hookstone Road and Beechwood Grove to have 20mph speed limits.

“In my view, as a member for the area, this change is urgently needed to improve road safety and reduce air pollution.”

Melissa Burnham, area highways manager for the county council, said the authority was meeting with the group to discuss the proposals.

Next week, the group is due to meet again – this time at St Aidan’s Church of England High School – and will be joined by a caseworker for Andrew Jones, the Conservative MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, as well as the county council’s transport lead, Cllr Keane Duncan, and local councillors whose divisions are affected.

The meeting of more than 30 people will follow a walk around the Pannal Ash area led by the parents, for councillors and school representatives to discuss the issues.

It’s time to join the Stray Ferret Business Club. The third in our series of networking events in association with The Coach and Horses in Harrogate is a lunch event on March 30 from 12.30pm.

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

The Swinton Estate in Masham has announced a raft of staff promotions

Kevin Sansom, John Lawrence and Jordan McPhillips will be taking on new roles as Samuel’s Restaurant manager, head concierge and assistant financial controller respectively.

Meanwhile, Louise Dermott and Helen Pritchard have been promoted to spa guest services manager and therapist trainer within the country club and spa team.

The estate has also hired Nicolay Araujo as Terrace Restaurant manager.

Swinton Estate said on its Facebook page:

“A huge thank you to all the team for their continued hard work and the important part they play in our Swinton family.”

Government minister visits Harrogate Bus Company

Buses minister Richard Holden (second left) at Harrogate Bus Station with (from left) Transdev operations director Vitto Pizzuti; Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Andrew Jones; Transdev commercial manager Matt Burley; and network manager Alex Spencer.

The government’s buses minister paid a visit to Harrogate Bus Company this past week.

Richard Holden visited the firm’s training centre in Starbeck where he spoke with trainee drivers, before visiting the bus station in Harrogate town centre.

The minister also met younger colleagues starting out in the bus industry, as well as older recruits taking up bus driving as a change of career.

Accompanied by Andrew Jones, Harrogate and Knaresborough MP, the minister then attended the operator’s headquarters with operations director Vitto Pizzuti, training manager Dale French and commercial manager Matt Burley.

Mr Pizzuti said:

“We’re delighted to have welcomed the buses minister, who saw for himself the lengths we go to during wintry weather to keep our buses on the road serving our customers.

“The minister was also impressed to learn of the success of our government-supported £2 price drop, which has helped us to attract record numbers of motorists to leave their car keys at home and choose the bus instead.”

Mr Holden said:

“Having invested more than £2 billion to support bus services since the pandemic, it’s fantastic to see so many people using the bus here in Harrogate.

“Our £2 bus fare cap is helping to turbocharge the return of passengers, and we will continue to work hard with local authorities and operators like the Harrogate Bus Company to get even more people to hop back onto the bus.”

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A young Starbeck boy has been putting his passion for the environment to good use to support a cause close to his heart.

Owen Sutcliffe has been a keen litter picker for the last three years, encouraging his family to go out regularly and clear areas of Harrogate.

The nine-year-old Hookstone Chase Primary School pupil is also a supporter of exotic pet rescue centre K’Rescue Knaresborough. When he saw it was struggling to cover its rising costs, he was determined to do all he could to help.

Mum Clare told the Stray Ferret:

“He’s obsessed with the rescue centre. He’s also an avid litter picker ever since he was in year 2 at school.

“In the first lockdown, he still went to school twice a week because his dad and I were key workers. They were learning about litter and how all litter eventually goes to the sea.

“Owen had just fallen in love with frogs and we had made a frog border in our garden. The teacher was trying to engage him and told him litter ends up in frog ponds too.

“He didn’t sleep for a week! We had to buy litter pickers and we’ve been picking litter ever since.”

Owen has set himself the challenge of collecting 100 bags of litter in the next six weeks, aiming to raise £250 for the rescue centre.

Two weeks into the task, he’s on track with around 30 bags collected – and his fundraising has already more than doubled his initial target, at just over £500.

He has been venturing out to areas around Harrogate nominated by friends and family as being in need of a clear-up. The worst so far was along the bridge on the A61 between Killinghall and Ripley, where Clare said the family spent three hours filling bags with litter but still “didn’t make a dent” in what was there.

Even in the recent hail and snow, Owen has been out collecting bags of litter, often taking enthusiastic friends with him as he aims to raise as much as possible for the centre.

He has also got members of his school’s eco club involved and the group will be picking litter around the grounds before the Easter break.

Clare added:

“They all love it! He is so proud of himself as well, and so grateful because a lot of the donations have come from complete strangers.”

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K’Rescue owner Dan Holmes has said the rise in electricity and other costs is having an impact on his bills, which are currently around £1,500 a month. While he has a local vet who provides his time for free, medicines and other treatments also add up.

There has also been an influx of animals to the centre over recent months, as owners struggle to afford to look after their pets.

K’Rescue takes a donation from anyone adopting one of its animals, but Dan said the amount given each time has also been falling, as has the amount people donate when they visit the rescue centre.

Despite the challenges, Dan is proving an inspiration to Owen, who hopes to train as a vet specialising in exotic animals so that, when he opens his own rescue centre, he can treat the pets himself.

Clare said:

“He’s mad for animals. We can’t go on any kind of walk without him finding some animal in the wild.

“We’ve got two rescued axolotls. We made our frog border in the garden and we get so much frogspawn every year.

“The frogs there are so tame, they just come and sit on him. He’s like the animal whisperer.”

To support Owen’s fundraising, click here.

For more information about K’Rescue, visit its Facebook page.

A senior county council officer has said the authority is not guaranteed to receive any funding to improve cycling and walking in Harrogate.

Officials at North Yorkshire County Council have bid for £3 million to fund three schemes across the county.

Their priority scheme is Victoria Avenue in Harrogate, which would see parking spaces removed to create segregated cycleways.

But they also have plans to create cycle lanes on the A59 Forest Lane in Knaresborough from Maple Close to Knaresborough High Bridge.

The government told the council it had an “indicative allocation” of up to £1.08 million, which it could put projects forward for in order to be assessed. It then encouraged the authority to apply for more funding, which led the council to bid for an additional £2.16 million.

A decision on the funding is expected by the Department for Transport tomorrow.

However, at a meeting of the council’s Harrogate and Knaresborough area constituency committee this morning, Cllr Michael Harrison, a Conservative who represents Killinghall, Hampsthwaite and Saltergate, asked senior officers whether the indicative allocation was guaranteed.

Melissa Burnham, highways area manager for the council, said:

“We have put the bid in for the three schemes, but we are not necessarily guaranteed to get any of them.

“We are hopeful. But until tomorrow, we just don’t know.”

Cllr Harrison said that councillors should measure their expectations ahead of the decision on funding.

He said:

“We need to bear that in mind when we keep promoting things.

“We have to be realistic about what we can deliver and that’s assuming that we get the money.”

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Visitors to the Harrogate district are staying longer and spending more than they were pre-pandemic, according to new statistics.

However, the number of visitors over the same 2019 to 2022 timeframe fell by 650,000 from 6.47 million to 5.82 million.

Destination Harrogate, the Harrogate Borough Council tourism organisation, said today visitors contributed £637 million to the local economy last year, compared with £606 million three years previously.

The organisation also said the average length of stay increased from 2019 to 3.5 days, compared with 3.3 days three years previously. This is despite the fact the UCI Road World Championships took place in Harrogate in 2019, leading to high hotel occupancy rates in September that year.

John McGivern, destination events manager at Destination Harrogate said it was “fantastic news for our local businesses and residents”, adding:

“The fact that people are staying longer and spending more aligns directly with our objectives of a sustainable tourism model, attracting more revenue into the local economy, whilst minimising the impact on the environment.

“Together with our partners, with whom we share this achievement, we can celebrate the significant impact that our visitors are making on our local economy and can we look forward to further successes going forward.”

The figures are based on a tourism economic impact modelling process called STEAM that uses local supply-side data and visitor survey data. More information on the Harrogate district data is here.

Destination Harrogate aims to grow the visitor economy to £836.7 million by 2030, however its future is unclear after Harrogate Borough Council is abolished to make way for the new North Yorkshire Council in two weeks’ time.

Rudding Park Spa. Pic: Charlotte Gale

Cllr Stanley Lumley, cabinet member for culture, tourism and sport at Harrogate Borough Council, applauded Destination Harrogate for “boosting the economic impact of visits to the area”. He added:

“Harrogate’s visitor economy is the largest driver of the local economy second only to the property sector, and its value cannot be underestimated.

“With such a positive set of results we can look forward to a prosperous future for Harrogate as a major tourism destination within North Yorkshire.”

Since its launch a year ago, Destination Harrogate has delivered activities including a health and wellbeing campaign under the Visit Harrogate brand to attract higher spending visitors to stay longer for healthy breaks, Harrogate Christmas Fayre; events on the Stray marking the Queen’s platinum jubilee and the return of Harrogate Carnival.

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North Yorkshire Police has been urged to start recording acts which breach legislation governing the protection of wild animals and plants.

Wildlife crimes, including badger baiting and hare coursing, emerged as among the five leading concerns of North Yorkshire residents following a public consultation over the statutory police and crime plan to 2025.

A meeting of North Yorkshire and York’s police, fire and crime panel heard despite repeated requests by the watchdog for figures to illustrate how wildlife offenders were being tackled, such details had not been made available.

In response to the public identifying wildlife crime as a priority, the panel announced last July that it would be examining progress on tackling such offences in the county, and during several subsequent meetings called for evidence to show police action.

North Yorkshire has repeatedly been identified by national organisations as having among the worst records for bird of prey persecution.

Nature charity RSPB says much of the persecution is linked directly to driven grouse shooting and has called for the industry to be regulated and in 2020 found North Yorkshire had topped the UK raptor persecution table for the seventh year in a row.

The panel meeting at County Hall in Northallerton heard raptor persecution had been linked to rogue shooting estates and gamekeepers. 

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Concerns have previously been expressed by the panel that due to the difficulty of investigating and successfully prosecuting wildlife crimes “very few” offenders were being brought to justice.

The panel’s deputy chairman, Cllr Peter Wilkinson said: 

“We are still getting bad publicity nationally, where we might not be the worst geographical area, but we’re pretty high up there.”

When asked if she was happy with progress made over tackling wildlife crime and the number of people being taken to court, North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Zoe Metcalfe stopped short of either criticising or praising police action.

She said: 

“I would like to see more progress, but I think we have made significant progress going forward, but obviously we would want those prosecutions to increase.”

Ms Metcalfe did not indicate what she had based her assessment of police performance on, but the meeting heard as there were “no specific wildlife crime offences”, police would face an onerous task of analysing crime reports to find “indicators” of offences against wild animals or plants.

The commissioner told the panel she would keep “a watching brief” over wildlife crime.

Cllr Tim Grogan, a former police officer, said while he did not expect the force to use vast amounts of resources trawling back through its records to identify wildlife offences, it should be simple for officers to start recording wildlife crimes from April 1.

He said: 

“I don’t think it’s beyond the wit of man to record wildlife crime. If that’s too difficult I’m sad because it’s what my residents asked for.”

Almost 100 staff at failed Harrogate telemarketing company Amvoc are to take legal action over the way redundancies were managed.

The Stray Ferret revealed yesterday up to 450 people received an email at about 10pm on Tuesday night from chief executive Damian Brockway informing them the firm had ceased with immediate effect.

Mr Brockway said the company had entered administration and blamed “covid debts”.

Based at Cardale Park in Harrogate, Amvoc also has offices in Leeds and Manchester.

Within hours of the news breaking, employment law firm Aticus Law said it had been contacted by 91 people affected.

The firm said it was now in the early stages of investigating the circumstances of the company’s collapse and concerns around how the redundancy process was managed.

It was also looking into whether ex-employees were eligible to claim for a protective award claim against the company.

Aticus said if its clients were able to successfully pursue a claim, those involved would receive up to eight weeks’ worth of pay in compensation, with a cap of £571 per week.

The Manchester-based firm is currently representing over 130 ex-employees to bring a protective award claim against Made.com which entered into administration last year, around a dozen former employees of FlyBe, and more than 50 staff who lost their jobs when BritishVolt collapsed earlier this year.

Edward Judge, a founding partner at Aticus Law said:

“We have now been contacted by 91 individuals who say that they have been affected by job losses following the recent collapse of Amvoc.

“We are in the early stages of investigating those claims, and advising our clients on their options.”

“As is always the case with protective award claims, the individuals who have reached out to us for advice regarding their rights are understandably very anxious and concerned about what the future has in store for them.”

A protective award is compensation awarded by an employment tribunal if an employer fails in its duties.

Mr Judge added:

“The protective award is a vital safety net for so many families in fast-paced redundancy situations that often leave them with no source of income and absolutely no notice.

“However, many people don’t realise that you can only get a protective award payment if you are included as part of the claim and are listed as part of the Schedule of Claimants attached to the tribunal judgment.”

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Mr Brockway’s email to staff, seen by the Stray Ferret, said: 

“We have appointed administrators with immediate effect who will now be responsible for paying wages this week and all outstanding bonuses.

“I am gutted. Words fail me.

“Unfortunately our covid debts were too high and repayments not high enough. We have been issued with immediate request to pay all outstanding within seven days which is impossible.

“I cannot tell you how upset this makes me.”