A picket line is operating outside Harrogate train station this morning as rail strikes resume.

The RMT union and Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (Aslef) are striking today, Wednesday and next Saturday over pay and conditions.

Previous industrial action was cancelled because it coincided with the Queen’s mourning period.

The strikes have affected some people travelling to Harrogate for the three-day Green Party autumn conference, which started yesterday, as well as football fans that planned to catch the train for today’s Harrogate Town vs Bradford City derby at 1pm.

About 15 picketers turned up to support the action today.

Rail passengers have also been warned to expect disruption on Harrogate’s LNER services from today until October 9.

Major engineering works in the Newcastle area by Network Rail will affect many services on the LNER route during this period.

Read more:

• Ouseburn councillor opens Green Party conference in Harrogate
• Harrogate and Knaresborough commuters face further strikes

Harrogate man Rod Findlay takes a minute out of each day to take stock of where he is — working with one of the best views of one of Britain’s finest stately homes, Castle Howard.

Breathtaking as the estate is, with more than 200 listed buildings and monuments set over around 8,800 acres, there is much to do to ensure Castle Howard retains its prestigious reputation for generations to come.

The estate, 15 miles north of York, has been home to the Howard family for 300 years and is rich in history. The Great Fire of 1940 devastated the building decades ago and, more recently, covid has proved hugely disruptive.

Castle Howard’s worldwide reputation, enhanced by its many screen appearances in films such as Brideshead Revisited, meant it relied heavily on international visitors, mainly from China, so covid restrictions hit visitor numbers dramatically.

With every cloud comes a silver lining, though. Covid also made people want to seek out local places of beauty they had previously taken for granted, and the challenge now is to capitalise on that.

Mr Findlay started his career in law before moving into leadership roles in sports such as rugby league, golf and cycling. His current role as chief operating officer and company secretary at Castle Howard presents numerous challenges. He said:

Rod Findlay enjoys nothing more than a walk with his dogs.

“It’s really varied. You know, one day you are talking about Santa Claus and the next day you are talking about the long-term strategic vision for Castle Howard.

“That is interesting to me. We have a really ambitious plan to turn the house around. In the last few years we have done some work to look at the heritage deficit here.

“To look at Castle Howard, it’s a beautiful house but it needs investment.

“The mausoleum on the outskirts of the estate needs £18 million, the house needs £50 million, the gatehouse needs £15 million.

“It is a 300-year-old house so it needs continual investment. This is a long-term vision and requires a major change in our approach as we won’t get that money by putting up the price of scones.”

More than a house

Profit from the estate is invested in areas such as reports, conservation and restoration.

Castle Howard posted a loss of £2.1 million in its 2020 financial year, but recorded a profit the following year of £5.7 million.

A major reason for that quick turnaround was £7.5 million in upwards property revaluation on Castle Howard’s investment property portfolio, which is made up of the estate, residential accommodation and the holiday park.

So if an opportunity arose to expand its property portfolio in areas identified for development in the Ryedale Local Plan, Castle Howard would be keen to get involved.

The estate has bid to develop four areas of its 8,800 acres, which is made up largely of farmland and woodland.

There is, Mr Findlay says, a severe need for housing in the area surrounding the estate:

“We have a waiting list to get into our properties of 180 people. So it’s clear there are a lot of people who want to live and work in the area but they can’t find those opportunities.

“So if we increase the housing stock there’s another benefit as we can invest that money back into the estate, which also benefits the local economy.

“The first job is to get these properties included in the local plan, as it is currently listed as farmland. Then we can start work with a developer to bring them to life.

“We are keen to keep some control over the look and feel of these properties while the developments need to be responsible and sustainable.”

Can Harrogate improve its events?

Mr Findlay, who is originally from Newcastle, moved to Harrogate in 2014.

He has always enjoyed living in the town but the open spaces of Valley Gardens, Crimple Valley and the Stray enhanced his appreciation during covid lockdowns.

Castle Howard is embracing new kinds of events.

Mr Findlay believes the town should embrace more larger events. He said:

“I do think those large events will drive people.

“We certainly have seen that at Castle Howard where, we have attracted visitors we perhaps otherwise wouldn’t get with events like Cafe Mambo, Duran Duran and the Chemical Brothers.

“This attracts a demographic we’re not necessarily seeing. Harrogate shouldn’t shy away from those events, even if the town had a mixed experience like with the UCI.

“People should remember the positive benefits of those large scale events and I feel we should be using our incredible public spaces to that end all year round, weather depending.”

What next for Castle Howard?

Building work began at Castle Howard in 1699 but it took more than 100 years to complete, spanning the lives of three earls.

The estate has seen a lot in that time. While Castle Howard works well as a visitor attraction with around 250,000 expected annually, it’s clear the leadership will not rest on its laurels.

Mr Findlay and his team work for the Howard family, specifically Nicholas Howard and Victoria Barnsley, who are heavily involved in the business and its direction. He said:

“The family wants to make sure this is a place welcoming visitors for many years to come. It’s that long term vision which is important, we are talking about developments we will never see.”

Christmas is coming to Castle Howard.

There are lots of reasons to visit Castle Howard this year with Stately Superstitions: Eerie Encounters at the Castle from October 21 to 31 and Into the Woods: A Fairytale Christmas from November 12 to January 2.

Every month the Stray Ferret tries to find out what our local MPs have been up to in their constituencies and in the House of Commons.

September was a monumental month for the country. Queen Elizabeth II died after over 70 years on the throne, a new Prime Minister was appointed and proposed tax cuts by the Conservatives sent the value of the pound into a tailspin.

We asked our three Conservative MPs, Harrogate & Knaresborough’s Andrew Jones, Skipton and Ripon’s Julian Smith, and Selby and Ainsty’s Nigel Adams if they would like to highlight anything in particular that they have been doing this month, but, as usual, we did not receive a response from any of them.

Here is what we know after analysing their online presence.

Andrew Jones, Harrogate and Knaresborough MP.

In Harrogate and Knaresborough, here is what we found out on Mr Jones:

• Mr Jones praised Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-budget last week. He wrote on Community News: “There are a huge number of measures, many focused on our productivity and investment which are the platforms for future growth”.
• On September 10 in the House of Commons, Mr Jones paid tribute to the Queen on behalf of the residents of Harrogate & Knaresborough.
• Constituents can now find out what the MP has been up to through his new Instagram account that he launched this month.
• Following reports in the Stray Ferret about water pollution in Oak Beck, Mr Jones called for action against those responsible. He wrote on Community News: “I am keen that those responsible face a substantial penalty for doing so”.
• On September 28, Mr Jones posted a photo on his Instagram page of a Scout group in Knaresborough where he spoke to young people about life as an MP.
• The MP welcomed the government’s announcement that household energy bills will be capped at £2,500 a year for two years. He called the plan “a welcome step” on Community News.

Read more:

• Is there a part for you in Ripon Theatre Festival project?

• Knaresborough car finance company shortlisted for four awards

Julian Smith, MP for Skipton and Ripon.

In Skipton and Ripon, here is what we found on Mr Smith:

• In sharp contrast to fellow Harrogate district Tory MP, Andrew Jones, Mr Smith has been critical of the government’s proposed tax cuts and called them “wrong”.
• He has continued to offer his thoughts about the financial crisis on Twitter in recent days. On Wednesday he tweeted: “It is critical that the government is honest about the current situation & plays its part in stabilising markets. It can keep a growth plan but needs to make changes. Not doing so will only continue further stress & strain on UK citizens”.
• On Thursday, he tweeted: “The government must scrap 45p, take responsibility for the link between last Friday & the impact on peoples mortgages & make clear that it will do everything possible to stabilise markets & protect public services.”
• Following the Queen’s death, Mr Smith attended a service at Ripon Cathedral.
• Mr Smith attended the Nidderdale Show in Pateley Bridge. It was brought forward a day to Sunday September 18 due to the Queen’s funeral.

Nigel Adams, MP for Selby and Ainsty

In rural south Harrogate, here is what we found on Mr Adams:

• On September 6, the Boris Johnson loyalist resigned from cabinet ahead of new Conservative Party leader Liz Truss becoming Prime Minister. He was minister without portfolio.
• The latest MPs register of interests show Mr Adams was paid £3,950 by the Jamaica Tourist Board as part of a Lords and Commons Cricket delegation to Kingston. The trip was to celebrate 60 years of Jamaican independence.
• Mr Adams hailed King Charles III after he delivered his first address to the nation. He said: “It was as good as it gets, God save the King.”
• The MP got into a Twitter spat with Lib Dem leader Tim Farron after he joked about Liz Truss’ history with his party. “You’d struggle to fill a phone box full of ministers let alone a cabinet, so pipe down,” Mr Adams retorted.

The Green Party autumn conference was opened this afternoon by Harrogate man Arnold Warneken, North Yorkshire County Council councillor for Ouseburn.

Cllr Warneken was elected in May with 69% of the vote and he gave a passionate speech to delegates at Harrogate Convention Centre.

He recalled how he was first elected as a councillor 32 years ago to the then-Harrogate District Council.

In those days, he was the only Green Party councillor in the north of England.

After his recent return to local politics, he said the five Greens elected to the county council in May were “already starting to make a difference”. He accused the Tory-led council of “procrastinating” on the climate emergency.

Cllr Warneken also had some sharp words for Harrogate Spring Water and its plan to fell trees in Rotary Wood to expand its bottling plant.

He said:

“At the pump rooms, people came from all over the country to have our foul-tasting and smelly water heal them. It was dispensed in a ladle by Betty Lupton.

“However, 100 years later Betty Lupton has been replaced by Danone. Her ladle has been replaced by millions of plastic bottles produced by Harrogate Spring Water and Danone before being sent all over the world. Shame on them.”

He was followed by a speech from Green Party co-leaders Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay.

The three-day conference ends on Sunday.

Read more:

• Green Party chooses man to fight Andrew Jones in Harrogate and Knaresborough
• Value of North Yorkshire pension fund secure following crisis, says council

The Stray Ferret spoke to Cllr Warneken beforehand where he said he was “proud and honoured” to open the event.

Cllr Warneken added:

“We are at a turning point in Green politics. In 2018, we had 150 councillors, now in 2022 we have over 500. We are hoping we can get somebody to help Caroline Lucas MP in Parliament.

“We have Liberal Democrat councillor Pat Marsh speaking here on Sunday. That’s the way politics has to move forward. We’re hoping for a hung parliament so we can introduce PR. The future’s bright, the future’s green.”

Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust has revealed plans to become the second in the country to launch its own home care service in a bid to free up hospital beds.

Chief executive Jonathan Coulter said the problem of patients staying in hospital longer than they should because of a lack of private care services was the “biggest issue” that the trust currently faces.

Up to 90 patients were medically fit but could not leave Harrogate District Hospital in August, compared to around 20 before the covid pandemic.

The trust now wants to follow in the footsteps of the NHS in Northumbria and start providing care for patients in their own homes.

Russell Nightingale, chief operating officer at the trust, told a board meeting on Wednesday the move was a “huge change and big decision” for the trust, but one it had to take because the problem of bed blocking was “only going to get worse”.

He said: 

“If you are in a hospital bed and fit to leave but can’t, it is probably one of the worst places to be.

“In some instances, we have seen a degradation of people’s health in hospital beds when they do not need to be there, despite the great clinical service they receive.

“People want to be in their own homes as this is where they live and are comfortable.”

Mr Nightingale also said he was concerned the current situation would only get worse despite a recent government pledge of £500 million to help people get out of hospitals, which he described as a “drop in the ocean”.

Bed blocking has repeatedly been raised as a concern by hospital bosses who have warned of knock-on impacts on A&E waiting times.

This comes as Harrogate District Hospital has had an exceptionally busy summer and pressure on services is only likely to grow over winter as it tries to tackle long waiting lists and staffing shortages.

Read more:

• Harrogate hospital plans new £14m operating theatres
• Hospital ‘not anticipating’ service cuts due to energy price surge
• Harrogate hospital staff selling days off to cope with cost of living crisis

The trust’s home care service will initially run as a six-month trial and cost around £146,000 to provide care for 36 patients.

If the trial is a success, it is estimated around 15 patients who otherwise would be stuck in hospital could be moved back into their own homes each day.

The trust – which already provides home care for some children – has been in dialogue with Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust which this year became the first to launch such a scheme.

Some concerns have been raised over the high turnover of staff, as well the impact on the private care sector.

However, Wednesday’s meeting heard that care packages under the Harrogate plans would initially be offered to private care firms for 24 hours before the trust steps in.

More details of the scheme are set to be revealed in the coming weeks.

A bumper crowd is expected at Harrogate Town tomorrow as they welcome Bradford City in a crunch Yorkshire derby.

Town are on on a poor run of form and haven’t won in League Two since beating Gillingham away on August 16.

It’s been even longer since they last tasted victory at home, when they beat Swindon 3-0 on July 30.

The squad had a major overhaul during the summer, with 15 new signings, but it’s taking longer to gel than manager Simon Weaver would have liked.

Despite all he’s achieved during his 13 years in charge, Weaver’s position is being questioned by some fans.

In a pre-match interview, he said:

“We expect Bradford will bring lots of fans. There’s lots of interest from a Harrogate point of view and we expect a buoyant crowd. It should be an eventful game.”

Read more:

• ‘Weaverismo!’: Meet the Harrogate Town fan who lives in Argentina
• New Harrogate Town clubhouse plan approved

Attendances at the EnviroVent have been down on last season but around 2,500 tickets have been sold for the game so far, which includes 600 Bradford fans.

The game kicks off at 1pm.

Tickets are on sale from the club’s Commercial Street store until 4pm today. There will be no further sales after this point.

The organisers of the annual Bonfire Night celebrations in Tockwith have said the event will not take place this year.

Tockwith and District Agricultural Society has previously used the bonfire and fireworks to raise funds for the village show in the summer.

However, the committee has decided not to run it this year because of the amount of work involved and the difficulties of using the showfield site.

Committee chair Georgina Watson said:

“It was a hard decision for the committee but ultimately our focus as an agricultural society is making sure we can put on the annual Tockwith Show.

“We have just held an incredibly successful show in August, but organising it, staging it on the day and most importantly clearing up the field afterwards involved a tremendous amount of work by a relatively small group of volunteers, and the burden of organising the Bonfire Night event would have fallen on the shoulders of that same group.

“Unlike the show itself the Bonfire Night event is totally at the mercy of the weather but still involves the same amount of hard work, so given both reasons we have with regret decided to cancel the event.”

The event was held last year, after a gap in 2020 because of the covid pandemic. In 2019, it had to be called off at the last minute when heavy rain left the showfield waterlogged.

The waterlogged field in 2019. Photo: Tockwith and District Agricultural Society

The announcement this week follows a decision by Harrogate’s Round Table to alter the format of its event on the Stray.

Rather than a bonfire, the volunteers said they would offer family entertainments including fairground rides, as well as the popular firework display.

A survey of the public after last year’s event found people were ambivalent about the bonfire, which the Round Table said was expensive and challenging to organise.

Are you putting on a community Bonfire Night event? Email the details to us for our round-up next month.

Read more:

• Farming life on display as Tockwith Show returns
• No bonfire on the Stray in Harrogate this year

Scrutiny of North Yorkshire Police’s use of force in custody is “not good enough”, say inspectors.

An inspection report by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services found that scrutiny and quality assurance could not show that force used was “necessary, justified and proportionate”.

Inspectors also found that recording in custody records was “often poor” and important information, including reasons for decisions such as the removal of clothing, is “sometimes missing”.

They added that a review of CCTV found that incidents “weren’t always managed well, and techniques weren’t always used correctly”.

In a report published today, inspectors said:

“The force’s governance and oversight of the use of force in custody isn’t good enough.

“Although there is some scrutiny and quality assurance of incidents, the information that supports this scrutiny is inaccurate.

“This means North Yorkshire Police can’t show that when force is used in custody it is necessary, justified and proportionate.”

However, the report did find that officers interacted respectfully with detainees and were “patient and reassuring”.

It also found that the standard of care offered by custody staff to detainees was “very good”.

The inspection was carried out into the force’s custody suites during June and July this year. There are custody suites in York, Harrogate and Scarborough

In the report, inspectors raised two causes for concern which included scrutiny of use of force and managing detainee risk.

Read more

• North Yorkshire Police progress on stalking ‘positive’ but needs more detectives
• North Yorkshire Police 999 response times ‘unacceptable’, says superintendent

Recommendations were made to improve scrutiny of use of force and to mitigate the risk of detainees in custody.

Police response

In response to the report, Elliot Foskett, North Yorkshire’s assistant chief constable (pictured above), said:

“We welcome the HMICFRS report, as it helps us to further understand how we can continue to improve our custody provision here in North Yorkshire Police.

“Working within the legislative framework, our absolute priority is the safety and welfare of detainees, avoiding any adverse level of risk.

“It is acknowledged that some processes, such as the recording of information, are not of the highest possible standard and this is something we have already started to look at.

“We are pleased the HMICFRS has recognised we have good measures in place to oversee the safe and respectful provision of custody.

“It’s also good to see the acknowledgement of the good work of our custody staff in relation to how they deal with detainees respectfully, patiently, and reassuringly, recognising the array of diverse needs.”

North Yorkshire County County has said the value of its £4.9bn pension fund is secure.

It follows this week’s unprecedented move by the Bank of England to step in and calm markets after fears that some pension funds were at risk of collapse.

The bank ended up pledging to buy £65bn of government bonds, which many pension funds invest in, after their value plunged following last week’s government mini-budget.

To pay for retirement pensions, staff from Harrogate Borough Council and 30 other district, city and town councils in the county pay into the North Yorkshire Pension Fund through their salary.  The fund is administered by North Yorkshire County Council.

According to the pension fund’s latest annual report, the fund has £141m in government bonds, also called gilts.

However, the investment is worth just 3.1% of the total portfolio. The majority of the fund has been invested in shares and other financial products.

North Yorkshire Pension Fund treasurer Gary Fielding said:

“We are monitoring the current situation closely. Although the UK financial market and the value of sterling have been under pressure, this has had a very limited impact on the fund. 

“The investments are spread across the globe and in a range of assets classes, providing the fund with a high degree of resilience.”

Read more:

• Business Breakfast: Harrogate district hotels win national awards
• Harrogate BID manager to leave role

Two teenage girls are to appear in court after police officers were allegedly assaulted in McDonald’s in Harrogate.

The incident happened at the restaurant on Cambridge Road on April 1 this year.

North Yorkshire Police said two community support officers were allegedly assaulted while responding to an incident at around 7pm.

A 13 year-old and 15-year-old girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, have been charged and will appear in court on October 28.

Read more:

• Police recruitment won’t be felt ‘for years to come’, says chief constable

• Teen girl referred to youth panel after Harrogate McDonald’s police attack

• Two PCSOs seriously injured after attack in Harrogate McDonald’s

Another girl, 14, was referred to a youth outcomes panel following the incident and was dealt with by an out of court police disposal.

The panel, which is a partnership between police, North Yorkshire Youth Justice Service and York Youth Offending Team, decides what action, if any, is most appropriate to pursue.

It encourages a restorative approach with victims and looks to address the causes of the young person’s offending.