A campaign has been launched to help a business organisation get a better picture of how crime affects Harrogate town centre.

Harrogate BID‘s Report a Crime campaign is calling on businesses, residents and visitors to report all crimes and anti-social behaviour via North Yorkshire Police’s website.

The organisation’s manager, Matthew Chapman, said:

“First and foremost I want to say Harrogate is a safe, welcoming and clean town. However, we hear regular stories from town centre traders of anti-social activity, including shoplifting, vandalism and drug abuse.

“In order to get a true picture, we are asking those who are either victims of a crime, or witness incidents, to report it online.

“Unlike calling 101 and then hanging up after several minutes, this means every incident is logged. This way, we can get a true picture of what is happening in the town.”

Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Zoe Metcalfe with Harrogate BID manager Matthew Chapman

The new campaign is being backed by Harrogate District Chamber of Commerce, whose chief executive David Simister said:

“Harrogate is a fantastic town to live and work, but when it comes to crime it’s not immune.

“However, the fear of crime is often worse than perception, but it’s important we get a proper understanding of what is happening – or not happening – in our town centre, hence us giving our backing to this campaign.

“In the past I’ve called 101 and after waiting many minutes I’ve simply put the phone down. And by doing this, an incident has gone unreported. In future, report it online and that way it is logged and recorded.”

It follows a meeting between Mr Chapman and North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Zoe Metcalfe, when he raised BID members’ concerns about a lack of visible policing.

Mr Chapman said the commissioner told him police chiefs rely on statistics in order to prioritise resources and, if crimes go unreported, police are unable to give the right resources to the affected areas.

She urged him to encourage all BID levy payers and others to use online reporting to ensure all incidents were being passed to police.

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Among the levy payers backing the campaign is Justin Sutter, business manager at John Atherton’s, which trades at McDonalds on Cambridge Street, who said:

“We are backing the report a crime campaign because the safety and security of our people and customers is of the utmost importance to us. We hope that we can continue to support North Yorkshire Police with this campaign and be a part of creating safer communities.”

The campaign not only runs during daytime hours, but extends to evening and night-time trading. Alan Huddart, secretary of Harrogate Pubwatch, said:

“Thanks to the BID’s support of Pubwatch and the introduction of the app, we are able to alert those in the scheme immediately to any issues.

“At the same time, I would also ask not just our members, but all licensed premises, to register any incident online, ensuring the police have a proper record of it.

“Harrogate is a great night out, and we want to make sure it stays that way by having adequate policing.”

Three men have been arrested and four weapons seized after a knifepoint robbery in Harrogate.

Three 18-year-olds from Leeds and Sheffield were arrested on suspicion of being in possession of an offensive weapon in a public place and robbery.

One was also arrested on suspicion of assaulting a police officer.

The robbery happened on Knaresborough Road near to Empress roundabout on Saturday, July 23, at 3.30pm.

Officers from North Yorkshire Police found the three men on Parliament Street after viewing council-run CCTV.

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The 18-year-olds had initially attempted to flee from police, but were stopped and arrested.

The men were found to be in possession of a glass ball in a sock and three blades.

A spokeswoman for the force said:

“Thankfully, incidents like this are rare in our county but tackling violent crime and taking horrific weapons such as these off our streets is a priority for us.

“We are absolutely committed to doing all we can to prevent this and to prosecute those who commit or attempt to commit such offences.

“If you have any information that could assist our investigation, including any dash-cam footage that may have captured the robbery, please email cidharrogate@northyorkshire.police.uk or call 101 quoting reference 12220129010.”

The three men remain in custody.

North Yorkshire County Council has revealed it does not use any council tax revenue on road repairs, despite it being among residents’ top concerns.

The authority’s highways executive member, conservative councillor Keane Duncan, highlighted the decision to focus its spending on other areas after hearing further complaints about the parlous state of roads from elected community representatives.

The authority has recognised for more than a decade that it faces a road repairs backlog running into hundreds of millions of pounds and has responded by prioritising routes.

In response to recent complaints, cllr Duncan has started a tour of the county’s 89 electoral divisions.

Ripon councillor Andrew Williams said cllr Duncan should invite North Yorkshire’s MPs to join him on his “state of the roads tour”.

He said:

“Pressure needs to be borne at government level as well to increase the settlement the county.”

Cllr Williams said some of the savings identified in local government reorganisation should be used for the repair of roads, which was residents’ number one complaint.

He added it would be of concern to residents that none of the council tax they paid was being used for highways maintenance:

“I think they equate the council tax they are paying and the state of the roads.

“I think if we are identifying £67m of savings across the county, some of those need to be invested in our highway network. ”

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Scarborough councillor Tony Randerson said he had spent years pressing the council for some roads to be resurfaced, but ones in certain areas, such as Scarborough and Selby, appeared to be lower on the priority list to those in the Harrogate and Knaresborough.

He said:

“Becoming a unitary authority is not going to be good for places like Scarborough and Selby, and Eastfield particularly, because it is difficult enough now to get the necessary services. What’s it going to be like when it becomes ruled through Northallerton?”

The authority’s highways executive member, Councillor Keane Duncan, said during the recent election campaigns, residents’ road maintenance concerns had been among the leading issues raised on the doorstep.

He said:

“We have a network of 8,500km of surfaced road. Very roughly, with the budget we’ve got we can treat 300km annually, through a combination of surface dressing, resurfacing and reconstruction.”

Cllr Duncan said the government road repairs settlement for the county had been fixed at £40m for the next three years by the Department of Transport.

 “We currently do not supplement or support that £40m settlement with local council taxpayer money. None of the council taxpayers to North Yorkshire County Council goes into that road maintenance.

“Clearly, £40m this year will not deliver the same as what £40m would deliver in future years, so what I am trying to do is to ascertain – and obviously we have a very difficult financial climate – what we can do to get the same bang for our buck in future years. as this year, and exploring those opportunities.”

Rishi Sunak was warmly received at a hustings in Masham yesterday as he tried to garner support to become the next Conservative party leader and Prime Minister.

Mr Sunak took questions from a crowd of more than a hundred party members at the Black Sheep Brewery. He was asked about a wide range of issues from local farming to China.

Mr Sunak is in the final stages of a leadership contest with foreign secretary Liz Truss, to become the next Conservative leader and Prime Minister.

Both need the votes of Conservative party members. Mr Sunak, so far, is behind in the polls.

Amongst those present at the hustings in Masham was Ripon and Skipton MP, Julian Smith and Harrogate and Knaresborough MP, Andrew Jones.  Both are backing Mr Sunak.

Mr Smith tweeted after the event:

Great to welcome @RishiSunak to a packed @BlackSheepBeer in #masham today. Excellent feedback from @conservatives members across North Yorkshire #Ready4Rishi pic.twitter.com/aCY9s3gZy2

— Julian Smith MP (@JulianSmithUK) July 24, 2022

Chris Brown, a former Harrogate Borough councillor, asked Mr Sunak a question about the serious problems facing farming – particularly the issue of volatile prices.

He was happy with Mr Sunak’s answer:

“He said he’d been on a diary farm and a pig farm and had actually worked not just visited. I was impressed by that. He’d done more than just homework. I was impressed that he had an understanding of farming.”

Mr Brown though said he remained undecided about who to vote for and was waiting to hear from Liz Truss who he thought would also visit the region.

Mr Sunak’s campaign has centred on not lowering taxes in the short term to curb inflation.  Another attendee, Nick Brown, conservative councillor on both Harrogate Borough Council and North Yorkshire County Council, said he felt many there agreed with this approach:

“I think there were a fair number there who were predisposed towards him. Sound money is what’s really important, keeping a check on inflation.

“The majority of younger people won’t remember the 1970s – I had to pay 19% interest on my mortgage! People do not understand how inflation can cripple families.”

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North Yorkshire Police has launched an investigation into a robbery at the Empress roundabout in Harrogate.

Officers are investigation after three men threatened and robbed a victim on Saturday, July 23, at 3.30pm.

Police have appealed for witnesses in the area to come forward with more information.

A North Yorkshire Police statement added:

“Three males have approached the victim, who has been threatened and forced to hand over some property.

“One of the males has punched the victim before the three males have walked off towards Harrogate town centre.

“We are looking for dashcam footage / CCTV / witness accounts from anyone in the area at the time.

“If you have any information that could assist us with this investigation, please call us on 101 and quote reference 12220129010.”

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The upper floors above a traditional pub in central Harrogate could be converted to holiday accommodation.

An application has been submitted to turn the second, third and fourth floors of 6 Royal Parade, above the Old Bell, into letting rooms.

The pub is owned by Market Town Taverns, part of Heron and Brearley (H&B) based on the Isle of Man.

The proposal, submitted by Darren Clibbens of H&B, would see the basement, ground and first floors of the building unchanged. The upper floors would be turned into holiday accommodation, though the plans do not reveal how this would be laid out or how many rooms would be created.

The application is for an area of 360m sq, and states that, if approved, the change of use would see the number of full-time equivalent jobs at the site increase from five to eight.

The upper levels of the building are currently vacant office space, according to the application, with one studio apartment on the top floor.

Harrogate Borough Council’s estates team, and parks and gardens team, have both responded to the application and have not raised any objections. However, they have asked for consideration to be given to the storage of resulting trade waste on the site, and highlighted the fact that the area in front of the building, including the pavement, forms part of the Stray.

To view or comment on the proposal, visit the Harrogate Borough Council planning website and use reference 22/02231/FUL.

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The largest weir removal project ever in the UK has begun on the River Nidd at Scotton.

The scheme, which costs about 80,000 euros, will open up another 18km of river to migratory fish such as salmon, sea trout and European eel.

If Nidd tributaries are also included then 35km of rivers will be made available for salmon and sea trout spawning.

The project is being led by river conservation charity the Wild Trout Trust and funded by the European Open Rivers Programme – a grant-giving organisation dedicated to restoring rivers.

It started last week with the creation of an access ramp down to the weir and is expected to get underway properly this week. Work removing the dam is expected to last up to two weeks before further work restoring the bank takes place.

Scotton Weir is at the entrance to Nidd Gorge, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

It was built at the end of the 18th century to power the nearby mill. At 75m wide and 4m high, it is thought to be the largest weir removal project ever in the UK.

The weir breached in the floods of 2019 so is already partly demolished. Leaving it to disintegrate gradually over time would have reduced the risk of bankside damage.

Removing Scotton Weir will benefit more than just migratory fish. All fish move up and downstream to some extent as part of their life cycles and the weir removal will help to restore natural processes to the river.

Currently only 16% of rivers are rated as being in ‘good’ condition by the EU Water Framework Directive. A significant cause of failure is man-made barriers interrupting a river’s flow, such as Scotton Weir on the Nidd.

Jonathan Grey, a part-time professor in practice at Lancaster University who is project managing the Scotton Weir removal for the Wild Trout Trust, said:

“The weir has been impounding about 800m of channel for over 100 years, creating deep, sluggish water in a section of the Nidd gorge where the flow should be swift and shallow.

“Think of a river as a conveyor belt of sediment as well as water. Boulder, cobble and gravel that is vital to the health of the bed of the river has been trapped upstream of the weir, unable to resupply that which has been transported away downstream. So the physical habitat downstream has become simplified, dominated by large boulders.

“Then there is fish passage to consider. All fish have to move up and downstream during different stages of their life for a variety of reasons. The weir has made it nigh on impossible to move upstream, and much more difficult to move downstream, and then only under specific flow conditions, so populations have become fragmented or isolated.”

The weir is already damaged.

Prof Grey said although it was not certain that salmon or sea trout got as far as Scotton Weir, nearby surveys suggested it was “very likely”.

He added:

“There are still more barriers further upstream, the next being at Birstwith 11km away, so there is still work to be done to restore the natural heritage of the river.

“We are aiming to reinstate the natural flow regime to the river by removing the barrier.”

Dr Marie Taylor, operations director for the Yorkshire Dales Rivers Trust, said:

“This project is a great example of partnership working between landowners, experts from the Wild Trout Trust and government bodies, which will deliver benefits to angling groups along the River Nidd as well as wider benefits to nature gained from improving the connectivity of one of Yorkshire’s iconic rivers.”

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Ofsted has given Spofforth Childcare a glowing report following an inspection.

The education inspectors visited the club, which operates at Spofforth Church of England Primary School on School Lane, in June.

The setting provides before and after-school care for 47 children in term times and during the summer holidays.

Ofsted found that children who attended the setting “behave well and show respect for others” and staff “set clear expectations for children’s behaviour and are good role models”.

It added:

“They offer children plenty of praise and encouragement. This supports children’s confidence and self-esteem.”

“Children thoroughly enjoy their time in this before- and after-school club. They are happy and settled.”

Inspectors also found that the club had effective safeguarding measures in place and have a good understanding of how to identify possible signs of abuse.

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They also said the management team is keen to ensure that all children, including those with special educational needs or disabilities, have their individual needs met.

Responding to the report, Sharon Hoskin, owner, said:

“When Ofsted visit you know every area of your practice will be scrutinised and the inspection was fairly rigorous, but it was fair. We’re delighted with the final outcome because we realise all our hard work and effort is worth it. This isn’t only a positive for staff morale, it’s for the parents and children too.”

After-school and holiday clubs can now only receive a ‘met’ or ‘not met’ rating from Ofsted.

Ms Hoskin added:

“We would prefer the old way of doing it because if you do one thing considered ‘not met’ then the whole thing is graded ‘not met’.

“Not just for us, but for other settings, we always strive to try and get an ‘outstanding’ but we can’t do that now. It doesn’t alter our practice, but it would be nice to be able to achieve that. Quite a few settings who have had ‘outstanding’ can’t get that now.”

Business Breakfast is sponsored by Harrogate law firm Truth Legal. 

Harrogate College in line for sustainable education award

Harrogate College has been shortlisted for a Green Gown Award, recognising the best efforts to build sustainability through education.

The college is nominated in the Tomorrow’s Employees category for “feedback driven curriculums brought to life through collaboration: embedding sustainability and excelling in retrofit provision”.

It faces competition from six other institutions, including the University of Aberdeen, Nottingham Trent University and York St John.

The category called for entries which demonstrated students were leaving education “future-fit” with an understanding of a sustainable industry and economy.

Harrogate College’s cultural, contemporary and heritage studies programme manager, Jason Parry, said:

“Taking college-wide steps to reduce our carbon footprint while supplying the green skills that our local economy needs is a key part of what we do.

“An important aspect of that over the past year has been our work, with Zero Carbon Harrogate, to promote eco-renovation through hosting special courses and information events.

“We are proud to be shortlisted, for a second year running, for a Green Gown award. It is a sign that the college’s work to become a centre of green excellence, by working with and supporting our many local partners, is being recognised.”

The awards are organised by the EAUC, an alliance for sustainability leadership in education, and sponsored by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

Professor Sir Duncan Wingham, executive chair of the Natural Environment Research Council, said:

“Congratulate all the finalists. Their work is helping us to meet the challenge of ensuring environmental sustainability is an inherent part of research and innovation excellence.”

The awards will be presented in a ceremony at Loughborough University on November 8.

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Cycling fundraiser in memory of Knaresborough company’s employee

An employee of pest control specialist Pelsis Group is cycling 550 miles from the Netherlands to the company’s Knaresborough headquarters to fundraise in memory of a former colleague.

Sales manager Chris Rodgers is undertaking the challenge to help raise funds for Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD), which former Pelsis employee Derek Hurst died from in 2019 aged 49.

Named the “Tour de Derek”, the 13-day challenge will see Chris cycle from Pelsis’s office in Barneveld, the Netherlands, via its office in Bornem, Belgium, all the way to the company’s headquarters in Knaresborough.

All funds raised from the challenge will be split equally between the Cure CJD Campaign and St Teresa’s Hospice in Darlington, where Derek was cared for following his diagnosis.

Chris Rodgers from Pelsis with his bike

Chris said:

“Not only was Derek my colleague, but he was also my mentor and my friend. To be able to undertake this sporting challenge in memory of him is truly an honour.”

“Since Derek’s passing, it’s always been my intention to raise vital funds for the Cure CJD Campaign to help develop a treatment for cure for CDJ and increase awareness and understanding of the disease.”

For more information on how to donate to Chris’s Tour de Derek cycling challenge, visit https://www.gofundme.com/f/raising-funds-in-memory-of-derek-hurst.

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“After the devastating blazes the country saw last week, and all the media coverage that ensued, we’d encourage you to have a serious conversation about fire risks.

By lighting a deliberate fire they’re not just putting their life in immediate danger, but they are potentially damaging it in other ways too.

Arson is an offence and one that comes with a criminal record if convicted. Criminal records are horrible things – they can restrict job prospects, your travel plans and eligibility for financial products, including mortgages.

What may seem like a ‘joke’ or a ‘laugh’ when they are young may not be so funny a few years later when they want to travel to America, buy a house or apply for their dream job.