An Ouseburn councillor has said a new North Yorkshire County Council strategy to tackle carbon emissions and climate change should focus more on agriculture.

Senior councillors are expected next week to approve opening a public consultation on a draft climate change strategy.

The strategy aims to make North Yorkshire the first carbon negative region in the country, meaning more carbon dioxide emissions would be removed from the atmosphere than emitted.

The document sets out how the new North Yorkshire Council, which will launch on April 1, will develop work already underway to reduce carbon emissions.

Initiatives include producing more renewable energy, reducing the use of fossil fuels, improving insulation in homes, encouraging the use of low-emission vehicles and promoting more active travel such as cycling and walking.

However, Cllr Arnold Warneken, a Green Party member who represents Ouseburn on the council, said the strategy proposed little on how to tackle emissions from the agriculture sector.

Figures show North Yorkshire produced 5,829 kilotonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents (kt co2e) in 2020, with agriculture equating to a third of the total, transport responsible for 28% and 19% coming from homes.

Cllr Warneken said:

“While the plan is claimed to be ambitious we seem unwilling to address the issue of agriculture and cite what other organisations are doing as opposed to what we propose to do, as at the moment that is nothing.

“We could at least start by looking at the farms we own and then move on to working with likes of the National Farmers Union who have their own targets and strategy which we could work with. For example being more supportive of applications for renewables on farms that wish to produce energy for their own use and that of the local communities.”

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Work already undertaken in the county to tackle carbon emissions includes the installation of energy-saving LED street lighting, energy efficient improvements to buildings and trialling the use of electric vehicles.

The route map for the region to become carbon negative by 2040 has been spearheaded by the York and North Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership and has seen a plan drawn up to involve the public sector, businesses and communities.

Conservative Cllr Greg White, executive councillor for climate change on the council, said: 

“Climate change is without question the greatest threat that the world faces, and is already impacting on communities across the globe.

“We have seen an increasing frequency of extreme weather conditions here in North Yorkshire and across the UK as a whole, which scientists tell us is clear evidence of significant changes in our climate.

“Without clear and decisive action, the situation will only get worse. However, we are committed to ensuring that we have a comprehensive strategy in North Yorkshire, especially as we look towards the launch of the new authority this spring.”

The Stray Ferret Business Awards 2023 are for businesses across all sectors in the Harrogate district.

In this final week before entries close, we are revealing the last of what our judging panel is looking for when it comes to each of the 10 categories.

Next up is the Best Employee Development Award, which is sponsored by Jones Myers, Family Law Solicitors.

This award is designed to highlight businesses that develop their employees, giving them the best start for a new career.

Those looking to enter this award need to give details of the business values and culture that lead to the creation of the training programme and highlight employee successes that came as a result.

Do you know a person that deserves to win the Best Employee Development Award at the Stray Ferret Business Awards? Entries close on January 16. It’s simple and quick, so enter today!

Click here or the banner below to enter for the Stray Ferret Business Awards, sponsored by Prosperis.

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North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service has this afternoon urged motorists to heed road closure signs after receiving reports of stranded vehicles.

The amount of water on roads is causing problems throughout the county. But some drivers are ignoring signs telling them to turn back due to flooding.

It has prompted the fire service to tweet:

“We have received reports of stranded cars due to standing water following heavy rain – even when signs are in place.

“Please remember the signs are there for a reason. Information about driving in these conditions can be found on our website.”

Three Environment Agency flood alerts are currently in place in the Harrogate district.

The government department says flooding is ‘possible’ in the Lower River Nidd catchment area and around the Lower River Ure and is ‘expected’ at the caravan park alongside the Ure at Roecliffe, near Boroughbridge.

Details of the alerts can be found here.

The River Ure has burst its banks around Ripon, which prompted one concerned passer-by to dial 999 when he mistakenly thought a statue of a horse was an animal in distress.

A flood alert for the Upper River Nidd catchment area, issued yesterday, has been removed.

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Striking ambulance workers are operating a picket line in Harrogate today.

Members of the GMB union began their 24-hour action at Harrogate Ambulance Station, which is on Lancaster Park Road close to the hospital, at midnight.

They were joined by members of Unison at noon.

It is the second time staff at Yorkshire Ambulance Service have gone on strike in the last month, although they continue to respond to the most serious category one calls.

GMB rep and paramedic Neil Summers told the Stray Ferret the state of the NHS was the main reason for the industrial action. He said:

“We are literally sitting outside hospitals with patients in our ambulances for hours and hours because they have nowhere to go.

“The hospitals are full and it means we are not able to do our jobs. We hear calls for cardiac arrests and can’t do anything.”

Todays picket line

Mr Summers said York Hospital was particularly bad but paramedics could still be waiting at Harrogate District Hospital for “up to three or four hours”.

He said there needed to be greater investment in the NHS as well as social care to ease problems caused by bed-blocking.

He said pay was also a concern, as many staff had not had an increase in wages for years.

“My pay isn’t terrible but some people’s is appalling.”

Picket line Jan 2023

The pickets have been joined today by local campaigner Lindis Percy, a former nurse, midwife and health visitor. She said:

“What’s going on in the the health service is shocking and this government has caused it.”

Health Secretary Steve Barclay said this morning the NHS is under “very severe pressure”.

He added the government has announced further investment for emergency departments, as well as looking into ways of targeting how to get patients who are fit to leave into social care.

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Police are appealing for help after vandals damaged a Mercedes in Harrogate.

The incident happened on Alderson Road, off Leeds Road, shortly before 6.30am on Monday this week.

A North Yorkshire Police statement said two men in dark clothing approached the vehicle on foot from the Leeds Road junction. It added:

“One appears to have kept a look-out while the other damaged the windows of an unattended black Mercedes.

“North Yorkshire Police are requesting the public’s assistance to establish the full circumstances surrounding the incident.

“In particular, officers are asking a female jogger to get in touch. She was wearing a high-vis harness, and may have run past the offenders on Leeds Road immediately prior to the junction of Alderson Road.”

Police also want to contact the driver of a white pick-up truck — possibly a milk delivery vehicle — that pulled into Alderson Road as the damage was taking place.

Anyone else with information or dash cam footage is also asked to email peter.henderson@northyorkshire.police.uk or call on 101, select option 2, and ask for PC 1668 Henderson.

If you wish to remain anonymous, you can pass information to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Quote the North Yorkshire Police reference number 12230004592.

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Accident and emergency department waiting times at Harrogate District Hospital have improved since the Christmas peak but the hospital remains under “considerable pressure” with almost no unoccupied beds available and two days of strike action expected next week.

A challenging winter at the hospital on Lancaster Park Road has seen a higher than average number of admissions to its A&E department as well as a fresh wave of covid and flu inpatients.

The hospital will be under further pressure on January 18 and 19 when members of the Royal College of Nurses strike over pay and conditions.

Workers at Yorkshire Ambulance Service are also expected to walk out today as part of a 24-hour strike.

Members of the royal college who work for Harrogate District NHS Foundation Trust are on the list for the second wave of action in an escalation of its pay dispute with the government.

Two days of strikes were held in England, Northern Ireland and Wales on December 15 and 20 but Harrogate nurses did not take part.

Visitors to A&E have experienced long waiting times as healthcare staff have prioritised patients with serious and life-threatening conditions.

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Between December 19 and January 1 a total of 1,993 people attended A&E, an average of 142 a day.

Of these, 524 were then admitted to the hospital for further treatment.

However, since the new year the average number of daily visitors to A&E has fallen to 127, helping to reduce waiting times and ease the burden on under-pressure staff.

The overall situation at the hospital also worsened due to the high number of beds filled with patients suffering with covid but since January 4 that figure has fallen from 22 to 17.

The number of patients with flu has also dropped to single digits from over 30 last week.

A trust spokesperson said the fall in covid and flu patients has “made flow through our hospitals a little easier”.

To further ease pressure at A+E, the hospital recently introduced a new “streaming model” for minor injuries so staff can focus on patients with more serious conditions.

Last Friday, the hospital had its largest-ever discharge day with 81 patients returning to their homes or care home.

The spokesperson said: 

“We would like to thank everyone involved at HDFT and our partners in social care who helped us which made the weekend a lot easier.”

Two free beds

But despite an improving situation with more free beds in certain wards, the spokesperson said that yesterday there was just two unoccupied beds out of 298.

They added there are still many patients who are able to return home but cannot as they are waiting to be placed into a care home or home.

The spokesperson said:

“We would ask for the families of patients to help us support their loved one’s discharge home as soon as their medical condition allows.

“For people who require medical assistance and are considering visiting our emergency department, unless it’s a life-threatening or severe illness or injury, we would ask them to contact NHS 111 first either by calling or going online. The NHS will help them right away and if they need urgent care, the NHS can book them in to be seen quickly and safely.

“People with life-threatening illnesses or injuries should continue to dial 999 and anyone who arrives at A&E without calling NHS 111 will still receive medical care, with those needing emergency treatment prioritised.”

A Harrogate businessman who sexually assaulted a woman in the street has been spared prison.

Paul Harper, 41, touched or “groped” the young woman on an intimate part of her body while the victim was walking hand in hand with her boyfriend in Harrogate town centre, York Crown Court heard.

Harper, a married father-of-three, denied the offence but a jury found him guilty following a trial.

He appeared for sentence yesterday for his inexplicable and “predatory” act which occurred at night, in a crowded street “in the middle of Harrogate”, in August 2021.

The court heard that Harper, of Hollins Lane, Hampsthwaite, “brazenly” walked off after the bizarre act, leaving the Harrogate woman “aghast, shocked and distressed”.

Prosecutor Michael Morley read out a statement from the victim, who described the dramatic effect the incident had had upon her.

She said she found the experience “shocking” and described Harper’s behaviour as “outrageous, disgraceful and predatory”.

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She couldn’t understand what she had done “which had attracted this man’s attention” and said she had been treated like an “object”. It made her feel “less secure” in a town where she had previously felt safe. Mr Morley said:

“She regarded Harrogate as a fairly safe town and never felt there were problems there, but she feels less safe in her home town now…and upset that her parents saw the state she was in (when she returned home).”

The victim said her “outrage and bewilderment” had been compounded by the fact that incidents such as this in Harrogate and elsewhere appeared to be “commonplace” now, or “just one of those things girls have to deal with”.

She had undergone therapy since the incident to deal with feelings of “anxiety and sadness”.

Defence barrister Helen Chapman said Harper’s business and his employees would suffer if he were sent to jail. He was a man “of some means” and his family were dependent upon him.

Community order

Judge Simon Hickey told the disgraced businessman:

“In a crowded street in the middle of Harrogate, you decided to (sexually assault) a young woman…then you brazenly walked off, leaving that woman aghast, shocked and distressed that she could go out in a public street and still be molested.

“You said at trial, ‘I’m not some seedy guy who goes around imposing myself on young (women)’. I’m afraid that’s precisely what you are and that’s why you decided you could grope a woman when she was simply holding her boyfriend’s hands.”

The judge said he had noted the “significant” effect the attack had had on the victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons.

However, he said he wasn’t going to lock Harper up, “although many women may feel that that’s exactly what should happen to you”.

Mr Hickey said he could veer away from a jail sentence because of the effect this would have on Harper’s family.

Instead, Harper was given a two-year community order and placed on the sex-offenders’ register for five years. He was also given a 10-year restraining order banning him from contacting the victim.

In addition, he was ordered to complete up to 43 days of a sex-offenders’ group work programme, 80 hours’ unpaid work and a 55-day rehabilitation course. He was also made to pay £3,135 prosecution costs.

Now is your time to shine with the Stray Ferret Business Awards. We are encouraging businesses of all sizes from right across the Harrogate district to enter for our awards and get recognition from our top panel of judges. Entries close on January 16.

There are only a few days left to send in entries for the Stray Ferret Business Awards as the closing date approaches. 

The Stray Ferret Business Awards, sponsored by Prosperis, is on March 9 at the Pavilions of Harrogate and will celebrate success and excellence in the business community across the district. 

The closing date for entries for the 10 categories is on Monday 16th. 

The judging panel will meet a week today so submissions cannot be accepted after the closing date.

The event promises to be a celebration of local business – the key note speaker is the Chief Executive of the new North Yorkshire Council, Richard Flinton.

New forager to be showcases at Ripon Farm Services show

Ripon Farm Services is set to showcase its new forager at its new year show next week.

The John Deare 9700 will be unveiled at the event at the Great Yorkshire Showground on Wednesday, January 18.

The show will be held over two-days and showcases leading agricultural machinery.

Geoff Brown, managing director of Ripon Farm Services, said: 

“We can’t wait to welcome our customers and guests for what promises to be a very busy event, for the first time since the global pandemic hit three years ago, our show is back to normal, without any covid-related restrictions. 

“We are absolutely delighted to be showcasing John Deere’s pioneering self-propelled 9700 forager harvester model. We are confident this new machine, following on from the success of John Deere’s 8000 Series, will prove a very popular attraction.

“In addition, we are featuring the latest innovations from our Technology Team to help our customers reduce input costs and improve profitability through more efficient production.” 

For more information on the Ripon Farm Services new year show, visit the company website here.

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A popular tourist attraction on the edge of the Harrogate district is set to close one of its main features.

Harewood House has announced its bird garden will close this year, in the face of growing costs and a £4 million refurbishment bill.

The Harewood House Trust said it could not justify spending the money in order to bring the 50-year-old site up to scratch.

Trust chairman Emily Shard said:

“It is with huge sadness that the trustees have reached the conclusion that the bird garden must close.

“Harewood and the Lascelles family have long been committed to the care and conservation of wildlife and nature, but the wellbeing of the birds is paramount. The investment needed to create a modern zoo and maintain this each year is too much for the trust to afford.

“We therefore realise that we must make this change and focus on the long-term ambition of this wonderful place, and on the opportunities that Harewood has to support our environment, represent the people and the communities that live in this area today, and to continue to develop Harewood, to serve its best purpose into the future.”

The trust said its latest zoo inspection had found the birds were well cared for, but that their environments were not up to modern standards.

Its birds will be rehomed over the next six months to more suitable environments and the final closure date of the bird garden will be confirmed later in the year.

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Harewood plans to retain its farm experience and said it will look at ways to improve the area around its courtyard for visitors, opening up new views of the estate. The bird garden will be replaced with a new woodland garden encouraging native wildlife, including red kites, otters and water birds.

A spokesperson added:

“We realise that many of Harewood’s visitors love the bird garden and have children who love it too.

“It has been an incredibly difficult conclusion to reach but it is the most responsible and ethical decision to make, to ensure the health and care of these beautiful creatures, but also to ensure Harewood can stand the test of time and be here for as long as it has stood already.”

Harewood is reliant on income from grants, including from organisations like Arts Council England, as well as membership and visitor entry money, to continue operating.

The estate is owned by the Lascelles family and is run by a charitable trust.