The Stray Ferret Business Awards will be held on March 9 at the Pavilions of Harrogate. The event will be a celebratory night with prize draw and afterparty.

Richard Flinton, the chief executive of the new North Yorkshire Council is the guest speaker. Early bird ticket prices are available until February 9 and available to buy here. Bring your team, network and have fun. 

A Knaresborough-based housing developer has appointed a new director to its senior team.

Matthew Gibson has been promoted to land director at Wharfedale Homes.

Mr Gibson joined the firm in 2021 and had been working as land manager within the company.

Previously he has worked with leading listed property companies Barratt Homes, Avant Homes and McCarthy and Stone.

John Edwards, managing director of Wharfedale Homes, said:

“Since he joined us, Matt has been integral to our continued growth and it is testament to his hard work that he has earned this promotion.  

“His new role will help us grow our pipeline of sites and increase the number of completed homes we deliver each year.”

Mr Gibson added:

“I’m really excited to head up the land and planning function and provide strategic input as the company successfully navigates through the ever changing political and planning environment.”

Harrogate firm expands legal team

(Left to right) Brittany Dyer, Lisa Russell, Emma Weatherill, Neil Dring and Kate Banerjee.

Harrogate law firm Jones Myers has expanded its team with the appointment of a new children law paralegal.

Brittany Dyer has joined the company to work within its children’s department.

It follows the appointment of Neil Dring, who was brought in to head the Harrogate office on Victoria Avenue.

Ms Dyer said:

“Jones Myers is a niche and highly respected family law firm which leads the way in areas including international child abduction and is at the forefront of new areas of law. 

“I am very much looking forward to being part of a talented team who are acknowledged leaders in their field.”

Kate Banerjee, partner at Jones Myers, said:

“The reputation of our Department continues to attract clients on a regional, national, and international scale.

“We are delighted to welcome Brittany to our growing team as we continue to further develop and expand our bespoke services.”

Read more:

• Business breakfast: Finalists revealed for first Stray Ferret Business Awards
• Business Breakfast: Harrogate’s Windsor House opens pilates studio for tenants
• Business Breakfast: Bettys of Harrogate wins national retailer award

Stray Views is a weekly column giving you the chance to have your say on issues affecting the Harrogate district. It is an opinion column and does not reflect the views of the Stray Ferret. Send your views to letters@thestrayferret.co.uk.

In reference to the story on changing voting systems, has Cllr Chris Aldred seriously considered the implications of proportional representation? 

I realise the aim is to try and reduce political conflicts, but parties all have different policy aims making agreement difficult. Compromises often are the worst of both. He forgets in countries with proportional representation it can take months for a government to be formed, Germany being an ideal example.

I believe it should be mandatory to vote in elections, also postal votes should be an exception and not the norm

There is no perfect solution and no doubt whatever changes are made there will still be dissenters.

Catherine Alderson, Harrogate

Councillor should be allowed alderman status

From the reports of the council meeting on December 14^th it is clear to me that the councillors attending had not been apprised of all the facts and they were not interested in questioning the report or hearing the real facts.

I have observed at numerous planning committee meetings of over a period of 28 years, that Cllr Pat Marsh always read and assessed accurately plans put before her. 

She addressed persons present in planning meetings to ask necessary questions, courteously and to the point, at very many planning committee hearings at which I was present. 

She has served the residents in her ward without fear or favour for some 32 years and should therefore be eligible to become an alderman. 

In fact, there is no limit to the number of long serving councillors who are eligible to become Aldermen.

Rosemary Carnaghan, Harrogate

Read more:

• Stray Views: Who deserves a pay rise? Councillors? Nurses?
• North Yorkshire councillors set for 50% pay rise from April

Do you have an opinion on the Harrogate district? Email us at letters@thestrayferret.co.uk. Please include your name and approximate location details. Limit your letters to 350 words. We reserve the right to edit letters.

A community building is set to reopen in Killinghall next weekend after a £248,000 refurbishment.

Killinghall Methodist Church has made the investment to help it meet the needs of the village’s growing community.

As well as providing a more modern space, it has reduced the building’s carbon footprint, as part of the Methodist aim to achieve net zero status.

Rev Ron Hicks from the church said:

“It’s becoming an eco-friendly church building. There’s air source heat pumps, and solar panels on the roof.

“Internally we have reconfigured the worship area, taken bits of the partitioning out and opened it up to be one big place for the community to use.”

The first chapel on the Ripon Road site was built in 1793, and its foundation stone still remains in the present building, which was built as a school in 1937. In 1973 the original chapel was demolished and the school room was refurbished, with an extension built around the same time.

The latest work has seen a new kitchen installed along with new windows, carpets, heating, insulation and a cycle rack. The building has also been redecorated.

Before and after photos inside Killinghall Methodist Church

It has been funded by Methodist Church sources, along with a grant of almost £100,000 from the FCC Communities Foundation, a not-for-profit business that awards grants through the Landfill Communities Fund.

Additional money was provided by the Benefact Trust and the Congregational and General Charitable Trust.

Rev Hicks said:

“Now, we’re into the next phase of the building’s life.

“It’s a really good congregation of all ages, from youngsters through to people in their 30s and 40s, right through to much older.

“Upgrading the facilities now is important because there are people coming in who are new to the village. We want a modern building that suits their needs.”

Read more:

• Killinghall Cricket Club applies to build new two-storey pavilion
• Honour for Killinghall resident after five decades of volunteering

The church is also set to become home to a new community cafe run by Resurrected Bites.

The food waste organisation will open its third pay-as-you-feel cafe this spring, using food that would otherwise go to landfill to deliver a menu of breakfasts, lunches, cakes and drinks.

Founder Michelle Hayes said:

“We hope it will be the perfect opportunity for people to congregate and get to know other people from Killinghall.

“We are hoping to find someone to run a great toddler group on Thursday mornings as we are particularly concerned about loneliness for stay-at-home parents or carers. The café will also be a nice venue for people working from home to have their lunch and a chat with people.”

Resurrected Bites is seeking a cafe manager for the new venue. The paid role of eight hours a week involves an hour of prep on a Wednesday and seven hours leading the team on Thursdays.

Volunteers are also being recruited to help prepare, serve and clear away in the cafe each week.

For more information, email Heather Memmott at Resurrected Bites.

An official reopening of the church will be held on Saturday, February 4, from 1pm to 3pm, when the community will have the chance to look at the new facilities.

This week’s photograph was taken by John Brown, capturing the frost one early morning while walking at the Crimple Valley.

John Brown

Photo of the Week celebrates the Harrogate district. It could be anything from family life to capturing the district’s beauty. We are interested in amateur and professional photographs, in a landscape format.

Send your photographs to letters@thestrayferret.co.uk for a chance to be featured next week, we reserve the right to adjust and crop images to fit into our format.

Harrogate firefighters were called out in the early hours of this morning to a report of a female locked out of her home where a pair of hair straighteners had been left turned on.

Fearing the straighteners could catch fire, the crew managed to get into the house via a first floor bedroom window — and discovered no straighteners had in fact been left turned on.

The call to the house on Hookstone Avenue came at 2.06am.

Earlier, firefighters from Knaresborough were called to a small fire in the open on Castlegate at 6.39pm.

They located the fire, which consisted of books and paper, and extinguished it using buckets of water.

Read more:

• ‘Serious concerns’ over North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue finances, say inspectors
• How Harrogate is following the town centre living trend

The Conservative leader of Harrogate Borough Council has said he will be “leaving representative politics” after turning down honorary alderman status.

Cllr Richard Cooper told a meeting of the council’s general purposes committee that the civic side of the authority has “never been for me”.

Harrogate Borough Council has the power to bestow the title of honorary alderman or honorary alderwomen to past members who have given over 15 years of good service.

Cllr Cooper confirmed in October 2021 he would stand down as a councillor when Harrogate Borough Council is abolished and the new North Yorkshire Council comes into force on April 1.

He told councillors on Thursday he was “leaving representative politics” and would not accept a civic role at the authority.

Cllr Cooper said:

“The civic side of the council has never been for me. I’ve never accepted nomination for mayor and I’ve made it clear I’m going to be leaving representative politics.

“I think if you’re leaving something you can’t have one foot in the door and one foot out of the door, even if it’s only a tiny toe over the threshold.

“I think it’s time for me to make absolutely clear that I shall not be at civic dos, civic meetings and what have you in the capacity given to me by the council, sharing my wisdom and thoughts on how things should go forward.

“There’s nothing so ex as an ex. I don’t want to be that person writing letters to the paper pontificating on this, that and the other.”

Read more:

• Harrogate council leader confirms he will stand down
• Harrogate councillors block fellow Conservative from civic title as standards row continues

Cllr Cooper was first elected when he took the Liberal Democrat seat of West Central in 1999 and has since held several cabinet positions, as well as being deputy leader and serving on North Yorkshire County Council.

He was elected as leader of Harrogate Borough Council in 2014 and is the longest-serving holder of the position.

Eleven councillors were put forward for honorary alderman status, including four Liberal Democrats, six Conservatives and one Ripon Independent.

However, Cllr Nick Brown, a Conservative, and Liberal Democrat Cllr Pat Marsh were both denied being recommended for the status by fellow councillors.

The Mercer Art Gallery in Harrogate has launched a new exhibition of pieces by local artists living with disabilities. 

The World Through Our Eyes features pieces created over the last year by “differently able” artists working with Harrogate-based Artizan International. 

The registered charity supports people with disabilities in the UK and in the developing world, through therapeutic arts and crafts workshops, training and social enterprise. 

Liz Cluderay, Artizan’s UK director, said: 

“Adults living with disabilities in our community have the potential to develop their creativity at Artizan, through our programme of arts and crafts activities, we aim to reduce loneliness and support mental health and increase general wellbeing.” 

Artizan hold arts and crafts workshops every day from its town centre premises, overseen and guided by local artists helping to develop their skills and experience of different art mediums. 

Hannah Alderson, who is studying at Harrogate College for an MA in Creative Practice, helped to curate the exhibition. She said: 

“We’re not just holding the art sessions for the sake of it – our artists are all making real progress and becoming very accomplished in a range of mediums and techniques. 

“This is really about the adults with additional needs and celebrating the quality of their work. It just goes to show that they are just as able to create fantastic pieces of art as anyone else.” 

The artists, whose disabilities range from visual impairments to learning disabilities, have selected their best pieces of work for the exhibition, which opened on Saturday. 

The World Through Our Eyes will run for six weeks at the Mercer Art Gallery, Harrogate. There will also be a private viewing, with the chance to speak with Artizan members, on Sunday, February 5, from 4.15 to 5.15pm.

Read more:

• Artizan café in Harrogate expands to second floor
• ‘Drab’ Harrogate town centre street to get colourful makeover
• First look at Harrogate cafe helping disabled people into jobs

A senior county councillor has said It would be morally wrong for a council’s leadership to dispute the findings of an independent panel recommending how much elected members of a new unitary local authority should be paid.

A full meeting of North Yorkshire County Council next month will decide whether to accept setting annual allowances for the 90 elected members of the new council at £15,500.

However, the figure would be a fall for those dual councillors who currently sit on both the county council and district authorities.

The decision follows the county council’s executive supporting the findings of the five-member panel which concluded the workload of councillors would increase by about 25% in serving the unitary authority compared to the county council, which last year paid councillors a basic allowance of £10,316.

The panel, members of which have no connection to the council, said it had also taken inflation and allowances paid in comparable unitary authorities into account when making the recommendation.

The panel said it recognised the economic challenges being faced within the community and had been guided by and taken into consideration the average pay awards in the public sector of four to five per cent.

The panel’s report states: 

“Councillors volunteer for their roles. They are not remunerated at a commercial rate for their time, as if they were employees. However, the allowances should not be set at a level which acts as a disincentive to conscientious performance of duties, or which does not reflect the considerable time commitment required for the role.

“It is important that the council feels able to attract high quality candidates to stand as councillors, from a wide variety of backgrounds.

“There should also be no financial barrier to anyone who wishes to stand for election.”

Read more:

• North Yorkshire Council has reserves to ride out inflation, says senior official
• Explained: North Yorkshire Council’s plan for council tax

As the total cost of basic allowances paid over the last year to the county’s 319 county and district councillors is about £2m, the panel’s recommendation represents a saving of £636,000.

The issue is often among the most contentious decisions councillors are faced with and Cllr David Chance, executive member for corporate services, called for allowances to be set nationally in future.

Cllr Gareth Dadd, the authority’s deputy leader, told the meeting the panel had made its recommendation after taking evidence from elected members as well as from comparable local authorities across the country.

He said: 

“I don’t think it is morally right for us to set an independent panel up and not accept its recommendations.”

Cllr Dadd said elected members would not have to take their full allowances.

He said while people may have a view on how much of an allowance councillors should be given, in approving the panel’s recommendation for consideration by the full council, executive members had to decide whether what was being proposed was “clearly absurd”.

The Thirsk councillor added the panel’s recommendation was “within the realms of reasonableness” and that it would be a dangerous move for the executive effectively to suggest their own pay rates.

Schoolchildren from Follifoot have helped to bury a time-capsule to mark 50 years since the Mackaness family bought Rudding Park. 

The capsule was placed in the ground alongside a time-capsule planted in 1997 to mark the 25th anniversary of the family’s ownership of the estate.  

Replicating the format from 1997, schoolchildren from Years 1-6 at Follifoot C of E Primary School were invited to enter a competition to create a piece of artwork which depicted a winter’s day in Follifoot. The winning entries would be included in the time-capsule, and this time round, the winners would also be invited to private cinema and pizza party. 

Seven winners, William, Imogen, Alex, Florence, Olive, Florence and Beatrice, were selected, and came along to see the time-capsule being planted.

Simon Mackaness, owner of Rudding Park, said: 

“As a local business, we recognise the importance of reaching out to our local community. Children at the school helped us plant our first time-capsule in 1997 and we made a promise to invite the next generation of schoolchildren to help us mark the next 25 years, so to see that come to fruition is quite something.

“The children created some fantastic entries and it was very difficult to make a decision, however were delighted to welcome the winners to help us plant the time-capsule today.”  

Winning entries were placed inside the capsule, along with a number of Rudding Park branded items to reflect the times including: a face covering, Christmas bauble, a medal from the inaugural Rudding Park Race 10K, a silk scarf work by the reception team, and a copy of the Rudding Review – a newspaper with an overview of 2022.  

Rebecca Holland, headteacher at Follifoot Church of England Primary School, said:  

“We are extremely lucky to have Rudding Park on our door-step. They have generously supported the school with numerous fundraising activities over the years, so to be approached to involve the children one again in such an important milestone was an absolute thrill.

“We look forward to continuing our relationship and hope to be invited to plant a third time-capsule marking their 75th anniversary.”

Read more:

• Firefighters called to sauna fire at Rudding spa
• Rudding Park launches 10km trail race
• Harrogate’s Victoria Shopping Centre celebrates 30th birthday

Keane Duncan is only 28 but he has already packed a lot into his political career.

At 19 he was selected as a Conservative candidate for election on to Ryedale District Council. The following year he was elected and at 24 he became council leader.

At 22, he became the youngest ever North Yorkshire county councillor and after being re-elected in May last year he was appointed executive member for highways and transportation — the most high profile role on the executive besides the leader. Criticism — often fierce — is part of the brief.

He says:

“The role I have got right now has been the biggest political challenge I’ve had. We cover an area five times the size of Greater London.

“Everybody has got an opinion on transport and everybody wants to express it. It is difficult to switch off because I feel very heavily the weight of responsibility that I’ve got.

“But it’s my home area. North Yorkshire is where I’m born and bred and an area that I want to do everything I can to improve.”

The role includes oversight of major schemes including the £11.2 million Harrogate Station Gateway, the £70 million realignment of the A59 at Kex Gill, introducing a Harrogate park and ride and the headache-inducing Otley Road cycle route.

He became the youngest ever North Yorkshire county councillor at the age of 22.

Cllr Duncan, who was born in Malton in Ryedale, has also got six other districts besides Harrogate to worry about, not to mention countywide problems such as potholes and trying to prevent a mass cull of bus services at the end of March.

Councillors aren’t paid but they do receive allowances. Cllr Duncan currently receives a basic allowance of £10,316 per year plus £15,939 for his executive portfolio. These sums are set to rise to £15,500 and £19,554 respectively when North Yorkshire County Council is replaced by North Yorkshire Council on April 1.

When he isn’t on council duty he works as deputy news editor of the Daily Star, writing recently about everything from a monster python attacking a child to the death of former Soviet Union president Mikhail Gorbachev — who left power before Cllr Duncan was born.

He says:

“I work full-time in my journalism role and I would say I work full-time plus in my executive role so there is a lot of pressure. It does take a lot of time but I’m committed to my council duties.”

‘I believe in Conservative principles’

Cllr Duncan, a keen gym-goer, was the most eye-catching appointment to leader Carl Les’ 10-person executive, which is effectively his Cabinet, not least because he was 45 years younger than his predecessor Don Mackenzie.

During our interview, Cllr Duncan gave updates on the Otley Road cycle route and the gateway but we also wanted to know what has driven him since his teens to pursue politics so vigorously and what kind of Conservative he is. Even his degree is in politics. He says:

“Fundamentally I believe in Conservative principles — that is people taking responsibility, low taxes, everything you would expect from a Conservative.

“I do think I look at things slightly differently to some of my colleagues. That is maybe a result of being from a younger generation but I have always been prepared to make my own mind up on things. That isn’t always easy but I have done this for eight years through university and all my working life so far.

“I enjoy being a councillor and serving the public and for people who aren’t involved in local politics that’s difficult to explain and articulate. But it’s something I can’t imagine not having in my life.”

Pictured in Harrogate

Here’s what he had to say on the key local transport issues.

Kex Gill start ‘imminent’

Realigning the landslip-hit A59 at Kex Gill is “the most ambitious highways capital project that the county council has ever embarked on”, says Cllr Duncan.

Work has been delayed many times but the scheme is due to start any day. He said it was a deceptively complex project:

“On a map it looks very simple but we know there are all the engineering challenges this scheme presents. But we are committed to delivering this scheme.”

‘More comprehensive’ active travel schemes

The council’s commitment to active travel has been questioned by Harrogate District Cycle Action after Cllr Duncan indicated the second phase of the Otley Road cycle route won’t proceed.

Other cycling schemes on Beech Grove and Victoria Avenue in Harrogate have failed to progress, along with another scheme for Harrogate Road in Knaresborough.

It seems they may now be shelved too as wider, more ambitious plans are drawn up after the council submits a bid to the fourth round of funding by Active Travel England, which funded the schemes.

He said:

“We are progressing on those schemes but there’s the prospect of further funding in active travel round four and there might be a case for using funding we have already secured and funding we might secure in that round to deliver much more comprehensive active travel schemes in the future. So we are really just waiting to see the outcomes of that.

“We are looking to improve those corridors but there might be more comprehensive things we can do in those locations but they would require further funding so we are working closely with Active Travel England, discussing our plans and proposals, and they are saying ‘don’t deliver a scheme just because you have funding for that element of a scheme, take a step back and look at the bigger picture and if you need further funding to deliver a more comprehensive scheme then we want to work with you to provide that’.”

Read more:

• Local Liberal Democrats could determine fate of £11.2m Harrogate Station Gateway
• Cycling group questions commitment to active travel in Harrogate district
• Harrogate’s Otley Road cycleway: next phase looks set to be shelved

Speaking at County Hall in Northallerton

Park and ride location uncertain

The council previously said it had identified two possible sites for a park and ride in Pannal on land near Pannal Golf Club and the Buttersyke Bar roundabout south of the village.

These were identified as they connect to the 36 bus service which runs between Harrogate, Ripon and Leeds on the A61.

But it seems this too is under review. Asked about the Pannal options, Cllr Duncan said:

“As far as I’m concerned that is one of many sites that have been explored so I wouldn’t want to rule anything in or out at this stage but certainly work is ongoing at this stage in the hope that we can get a positive outcome from it.

“I’m open minded about that and want to wait and see the outcomes of the analysis we are doing. I have not yet had confirmation as to when this is expected to conclude.”

Buses face ‘cliff edge’

Although funding for the 24 service between Pateley Bridge and Harrogate was secured for another year this week, Cllr Duncan says 79 services in North Yorkshire are at risk of reduced frequency of service or ceasing altogether.

D-Day is fast approaching. He says:

“Passenger numbers are 80% of where they were before the covid pandemic on average.

“Operating costs and staffing costs have increased significantly and that has created this perfect storm. The scale of that challenge will far exceed the £1.6m of subsidy we set aside every year which has been the case since 2016.

“The cliff edge moment is going to be March when the central government funding comes to an end. But when the people of North Yorkshire are for whatever reason not using buses, it wouldn’t be right to then ask the public to pay more to subsidise services they are not using. That is not sustainable.

“The only real way forward is passengers. Passengers are the key to this problem and we need people to use buses.”