In Depth: Where is the infrastructure plan for 4,000 homes in west Harrogate?

With as many as 4,000 homes planned for the Western side of Harrogate, a document is being drawn up by Harrogate Borough Council to nail down the infrastructure requirements of the area and who will pay for it.

HBC is working with developers and North Yorkshire County Council on the West of Harrogate Parameters Plan (WHPP). It will aim to allow for a more joined-up approach to infrastructure, including addressing roads and traffic, rather than assessment on a site-by-site basis.

But residents and councillors have grown frustrated with broken promises about when it will be published.

HBC initially said it would be published in October 2020, which was delayed until March 2021, then September 2021. It now says a draft version will be published in February 2022.

Harlow Hill, Rossett, and Pannal Ash are already some of the most popular residential areas in Harrogate and the stretch of Otley Road from Cardale Park to Beckwithshaw is set to be transformed with new housing developments.

However, the 200-home police training centre scheme in Yew Tree Lane was passed this week before the WHPP has seen the light of day.

Rene Dziabas, chair of Harlow & Pannal Ash Residents Association, told the Stray Ferret he is concerned that the decision not to wait until the plan is published before approving the police training centre scheme will set a precedent.

With a new local authority set to be created for North Yorkshire next year, he’s also worried the plan could be kicked down the road further. He believes staffing issues in the council’s planning department has contributed to the delays.

He said:

“If it’s delayed any further there will be the temptation to let the new unitary authority deal with it. That’s a concern.”

HAPARA is hoping the plan will go some way to tackling congestion and traffic on the west side of Harrogate, which could worsen considerably due to car-dependent housing developments.

“We’d like to see greater frequency of buses, junction improvements, the widening of pavements, cycle paths.

“Subject to appropriate investment, we can then start making improvements, otherwise why are you doing the plan?

He gave some examples of areas that he feels needs improvement:

“Leadhall Lane Marks and Spencers junction is known to be a pinch point, some work needs to be done there to help flow of traffic.

“The Prince of Wales roundabout is another pinch point as is other end of Otley Road and the tiny roundabout in Beckwithshaw.”

Poor communications

HAPARA has been unhappy with the level of consultation offered to residents by HBC during the process.

Mr Dziabas said the council has “confused contact and communications” and people who will be affected by the massive expansion of new housing have not felt like active participants in how the area will change.

He said:

“Not once has the council come back to us and said, ‘This is what we’re thinking, how do you feel this would work?’

“We’ve had no opportunity, all we’ve had from council is process. Communication has been poor.”

Mr Dziabas added:

“Perhaps the council feel if they involve residents too much it will slow the process down, or we might put an idea forward that doesn’t align with what a developer is saying.

“In their mind it might be a lot of extra hard work dealing with the nitty gritty with residents, so they keep us at arm’s length.”

‘Very frustrating’

Liberal Democrat councillor Pat Marsh sits on the 12 person planning committee that decides whether to approve or refuse large housing schemes.

She told the Stray Ferret it has been “very, very frustrating” that councillors are now being asked by officers to approve planning applications in the western side of Harrogate before the WHPP has been published.

She believes the majority of councillors wanted to defer the police training centre scheme until the plan is published, but were “bullied” into approving it by Homes England who threatened legal action.

She said the plan should have been drawn up years ago, before sites were allocated for development in the Local Plan, and that she shoulders some of the blame for that.

“It should have been in place prior to the Local Plan. I’ll hold my hand up for not realising that. Infrastucture is not being dealt with now.”

Cllr Marsh is concerned that even with the WHPP in place, it will be the houses that get built first and the necessary infrastructure such as schools or healthcare facilities could take years to follow.

“It will be the houses that get built first to make the money.”

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Council’s response

In a written statement sent to the Stray Ferret, Conservative councillor Tim Myatt, Harrogate Borough Council’s cabinet member for planning, said the WHPP will create a “clear vision” for infrastructure in west Harrogate.

He said “rather than rush” the council has been making sure the document is right for the town.

“By providing first-class community facilities, school provision, green infrastructure and sustainable travel opportunities, for example, we will be able to achieve the WHPPs goals and objectives.

“A significant amount of work – by qualified experts – has gone into what has been produced so far and we will continue to work hard until we’re comfortable we can achieve the best outcome in terms of quality of development and delivery of infrastructure.

“Rather than rush and produce a plan that fails to deliver this vision, we are taking a planned and strategic approach and anticipate concluding work on the WHPP in the New Year alongside an addendum to the Infrastructure Delivery Plan (IDP) thereafter.”

In response to HAPARA’s claim that residents had not been consulted, Cllr Myatt said several suggestions from residents have helped to shape the document.

He added:

“Although there is no statutory requirement to consult on the preparation of the WHPP, we value residents’ views.

“And a number of suggestions have helped shaped the WHPP, so I’d like to thank those residents for their valuable feedback.

“We will also engage with local stakeholders, of which HAPARA is one, in January to help achieve a WHPP that sets a benchmark for future communities across the Harrogate district.”

Meet the showground heroes boosting Harrogate’s vaccine programme

About 20,000 people are expected to receive booster jabs at Harrogate’s Great Yorkshire Showground between December 6 and 22. Another 35,000 are set to follow in the New Year.

Most people who go agree it’s a slick, well-run operation. That it works so well is down to the efforts of 50 staff and 60 volunteers behind the life-saving operation.

The Stray Ferret spoke to some of those on site this week. The 60 volunteers are divided into four teams of 15 volunteers a day supplied on alternate days by community groups Boroughbridge Community Care, Harrogate and District Community Action, Nidderdale Plus and Knaresborough Connectors.

The Boroughbridge team, led by volunteer coordinator Jan Seymour, was on duty when we visited.

Ms Seymour was holding a box of chocolates, donated by a patient. All such gifts get shared between the helpers. She jokes:

“The people we like most are the ones that bring us chocolate and cake!

Jan Seymour

The set-up at the Yorkshire Event Centre is the same as it was from February to August this year when some 120,000 first and second dose vaccines were administered.

The volunteers remain relentlessly cheerful and helpful but there is a wearier feel to the place than there was in spring. Ms Seymour says:

“When we opened in February everyone was absolutely desperate to get it. Now the attitude is ‘I’m a bit busy today, can I come tomorrow?'”.

Volunteers typically do half a day each, either from 8am to 1pm or 1pm to 6pm. They meet and greet people, direct traffic and take people to one of the 16 vaccination pods, which can cater for up to eight vaccinators. Ms Seymour says:

“During lockdown it was easy to get volunteers but recently it’s become harder. Some people are back at work and many volunteers are older people who have childcare duties.

“The majority of patients are absolutely wonderful. They could not be more thankful. We get the odd one who isn’t. One guy had a go at me on Monday when he said ‘why can’t I go to my doctor for this? But that’s unusual. Most people are great.”

Staffing fatigue

Yorkshire Health Network, which is a federation of the 17 GP practices in the Harrogate district, manages the vaccination sites at Harrogate and Ripon racecourse.

Tim Yarrow, operations manager for the network, says the Harrogate site can handle greater numbers of walk-in patients because of its size and abundant parking.

Tim Yarrow

The quietest time, he says, is early to mid afternoon, then numbers soar towards the end of the day as many people try to get in at the end of their working days. The decision to allow walk-ins this week sparked a surge of visitors with queues of up to an hour at peak times.

Mr Yarrow says:

“We set this up in one-and-a-half days. It was easier second time round. We knew the snagging points from last time.

“The main challenge is staffing fatigue. During lockdown we had a lot of people with not a lot else to do. As people have gone back to their day jobs their availability has become more sparse.”

Yorkshire Agricultural Society, which owns the site, has “bent over backwards to enable it to happen”, says Mr Yarrow. When the site re-opens in January, jabs will take place in another building at the showground so the society can resume holding events in the Yorkshire Event Centre.

Moderna provided

Barnaby Roe, general manager of Yorkshire Health Network, oversees the operation at the showground.

In a makeshift office on site, he explains that the 50 staff are comprised of GP practice staff, who are helping for free on their days off, members of Yorkshire Health Network, pharmacists, pharmacist technicians and nurses. Half work the morning shift and half work in the afternoon.

“This programme will be for 20,000 to December 22 then going forward we think it will be another 35,000.”

Barnaby Roe

The site is giving doses of the Moderna booster but also administers some Pfizer jabs to children from immunosuppressed families.

“The people who work here have done it for some time and it’s down to a fine art.”

Booster appointments can be booked at the showground here. The site provided some walk-in appointments this week for over-18s who were eligible for jabs and has yet to decide whether they will be available next week.

Knaresborough family grateful for Saint Michael’s remembrance event

A Knaresborough family are to return to Saint Michael’s Hospice for a remembrance service after losing their loved one.

The remembrance service has become a tradition in Harrogate district over the past 20 years.

For families such as the Gill’s the service is a comforting experience. It gives them the chance to return to the place their loved one, Tim Gill, spent his final days.

Tim was cared for by Saint Michael’s from October 2018 to January 2019 after his kidney cancer progressed and he lost the use of his legs. His family said he was a lover of nature and the outdoors and often took refuge in the hospice’s peaceful grounds in Hornbeam Park overlooking the Crimple Valley.

The remembrance service gives families a moment to come together to remember loved ones and bring comfort and hope to families living with terminal illness and bereavement.

Tim’s daughter, Sam Gill said:

“The care Dad and our family received at Saint Michael’s could not have been more perfect. What was absolutely priceless was feeling that Dad’s and our individual wishes were respected. Dad could be exactly who he wanted to be thanks to their wonderfully personal approach.”

The tree will be lit during the service on Sunday.

The Light up a Life remembrance event had to be held online last year due to covid but this year it will be held in the hospice’s grounds at 4pm on Sunday, December 12.

There will also be a virtual service later on the Sunday at 6.30pm.

The events will feature readings, reflections from the community and live music, as well as the memorable moment when the outdoor trees are illuminated – each light dedicated to the memory of someone special.

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Tony Collins, Saint Michael’s chief executive said:

“We are pleased to be able to gather, while taking the necessary safely precautions, with members of our community in-person once again, if the time is right for them.

“We know how much Light up a Life means to the families we’ve cared for and our wider community, and it means so much to us too

“After another challenging year of the pandemic, we want to let our community know that we are here for them. We understand the winter months can be difficult emotionally, especially if living with bereavement or anxiety, and we want to do all we can to support people in whatever way is right for them.”

The charity’s  Just ‘B’ team will be sharing comforting reflections during the Light up a Life services. The service helps those experiencing bereavement, anxiety or low mood via its Hear to Help helpline

To make a donation or dedicate a light on the virtual tree, click here.

Harrogate councillor calls for campaign to make class A drugs ‘shameful’

A fresh education campaign, with a similar message to the anti drink-driving stance embedded in the 1970s, is needed to teach children that taking class A drugs is “shameful”, a meeting has heard.

North Yorkshire has seen a significant rise in complex child death cases, such as drug-related ones over 2020/21 and analysis is being undertaken to examine why.

In a report to a meeting of North Yorkshire County Council’s young people scrutiny committee, the Child Death Overview Panel chair Anita Dobson said over the last year the panel was “mindful of an increase in drug-related deaths”.

She said it was thought the rise “may well be an indication of reduced mental wellbeing amongst young people, for which coronavirus could be a contributing factor” and that the panel would monitor the situation closely.

The concerns follow pledges by North Yorkshire and York’s past and present police, fire and crime commissioners to prioritise tackling county lines drug dealing gangs, which often target children, particularly in Harrogate and Scarborough.

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Councillors were told there had already been “a lot of work in educating children and young people directly” as well as parents and carers, to ensure people were aware of the risks of taking class A drugs.

Harrogate Central councillor John Mann told the meeting as well as tackling the supply of class A drugs, efforts to reduce demand for them were needed as “without the demand there would be no supply”.

He suggested an education drive, using a similar antisocial message to the 1970s drink-driving campaign, was required.

Cllr Mann said:

“As a local authority and as a country we need to try to reduce the demand and make it shameful to take class A drugs because we all have wider responsibilities as citizens.”

‘Complex situation’

After the meeting, the authority’s children’s services executive member, Cllr Janet Sanderson, said she agreed with making taking class A drugs socially unacceptable.

She said:

“We have to get the view of the young people out on the streets who are being tempted by these things and probably deal with an innovative approach to tackle it.

“In the 1970s it was normal to drink-drive. And then all of a sudden if you drove at 32mph in a 30mph area they stopped you and breathalysed you and it stopped it overnight.

“However, I can’t see that is going to be a straight lift and shift scenario with drugs because you can see people driving on the road, but drugs are more covert.

“With county lines we are looking at the people who are often selling the drugs also being the victims. It’s a hugely complex situation. We have got some good people working on this and some innovative ideas, but it is not going to be one single solution like naming and shaming.”

Secret Shopper: Run out of gift ideas? There’s plenty of choice in Harrogate…

A bit about me: I’m not a Stray Ferret staffer, I’m a consumer journalist who loves shopping and loves Harrogate. I’m really spoilt for choice here – but these are some of my favourites for the festive season

The items I have picked are my personal choices – I haven’t been paid to feature them.  

      PYJAMA SET, The Luxe Company, West Park.  £348

What?  £348?  What?  Yes.  It is a lot of money.  But they’re fabulous.  There’s a kimono jacket and there’s silk, lace and some transparency going on.  The pyjama bottoms are wide legged with a deep hem that gives them a good strong line and they hang well.   They’re flattering.  They’re made in Italy and inspired by renaissance Florence.  I would be delighted if someone bought them for me.  The Luxe Company have a great collection of classy lounge and sleep wear, and the shop stocks homewares too.  Highly recommended if you’re stuck for ideas.

LANTERN, Oxfam, Montpelier Parade. £8.99

Charity shops are great for ethically sourced and often unusual gifts.  I found this lovely lantern which just needs a tea light to add a bit of seasonal sparkle. It’s part of the ‘Sourced by Oxfam’ range – independent businesses, social enterprises or co-operatives that share the charity’s values.  This comes from Asha Handicrafts, who support artisans in India. You can get your fair trade Divine chocolate Christmas coins (obligatory in a Christmas stocking I believe) here too.

SHEEPSKIN LADIES SLIPPER, Westmorland Sheepskins, Montpelier Parade.  £69

Sheepskin slipper with a metallic gold trim anyone?  Yes I thought so.  These are from the Swedish (read very tasteful) Shepherd range.  There are plenty of other styles, and men’s slippers as well.  Nothing wrong with a pair of slippers, especially if they’re really good quality, super-tasteful ones, for Christmas.

 

 BAROQUE PEARL EARRINGS, India Mahon Jewellery, Montpelier Mews £396.

Wow.  These are just gorgeous. Baroque pearls – the ones which are irregular, non spherical and I think the most attractive – are very fashionable. These earrings are some of the best I’ve spotted on my shopping adventures.  They’ll look good with day or evening wear, whether you’re in jeans or a posh frock.  The store also carries jewellery in gold and silver with diamonds, emeralds, rubies and sapphires.  It also offers a custom design service using fairtrade gold.

Plus there’s a beautiful – fully colour co-ordinated –  golden retriever in the shop sometimes too, so its all-round well worth a visit.

VINTAGE CRAVATS AND SCARVES, Space Vintage, The Ginnel, £10

Don’t say you’ve never been tempted to a cravat.  Or, when all other options have been exhausted when you’re looking for something for a male loved one, to buy a cravat for someone else. Ironic or not, fancy dress or not, if you’re running out of Christmas gift ideas, I would have a rummage through.  It takes a certain amount of panache to carry one off, but maybe you, or a  a man in your life, can rise to the occasion.

 

CAP, Hats on Top, Station Parade. £19.50

A well dressed man, particularly of a certain age, often benefits from a cap.  This shop with its hundreds of hats for men and women, to suit all occasions, surely has ‘the one’.   This flat cap has nice country ‘Harrogate-y ‘ feel, but you could equally well go for one in corduroy, or even a Peaky Blinder, a Fedora or a Trilby.  Hats on Top also do bespoke.

 

MENS TRENCH COAT, Jaeger at Marks and Spencer, Cambridge Street, £279

Hurrah Jaeger have a concession in M & S. How Jaeger has been missed in Harrogate since it closed its doors in Cambridge Crescent earlier this year. Judging by a steady stream of quite excited fellow browsers I chatted to, this new strategy, of teaming up with established brands, might just help the troubled national treasure department store pull through.  I hope so.  There’s a good selection of women’s clothes, and I particularly liked this men’s trench coat.  It’s water resistant with a detachable gilet.  But its main attraction is its clean, simple, elegant lines.

THONG, Rigby and Peller, Station Bridge, £56

I’ve been a Rigby and Peller devotee ever since they sorted out my friend’s cleavage (madame was very ‘close set’ apparently). Equipped with a new top of the range bra she launched into a passionate affair, which turned into 20 plus happy years and several dogs together. Underwear might be a cliché for Christmas – but when it’s nice who cares?

 

VINTAGE CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS, Antique Market, Montpelier Mews. £10 each

For a 50s/60s kitch vibe (Christmas isn’t supposed to be tasteful so I think its okay) these are perfect.  My favourite is the bird, which still has its fibre tail intact.  I have one at home that belonged to my parents.  But minus the tail, so might be snapping this oe up myself.

Get down there quick and Happy Christmas Stray Ferreters.

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Green Shoots: What it’s like to own an electric car in Harrogate

Harrogate residents Ralph Armsby and his partner Judy Carrivick ditched their petrol car for an electric Kia e-Niro earlier this year.

They got the car on a four-year lease and pay around £450 a month plus £460 a year in insurance.

Because it’s a low emission vehicle they pay zero car tax, and when they charge it at home it ends up costing just over 1p a mile to drive.

Mr Armsby said switching to an EV was “a no-brainer” due to the environmental cost of driving a petrol car.

“We’re very aware of air pollution, not just from the car but it starts when they take the oil out of ground, to tankers driving around the UK.

“You should get something that is powered down a wire rather than being pumped out at stations all over the place.”

Mr Amsby said it’s important to check with Northern Powergrid that your home is able to install a charging point because there was a lack of fast public charging points in Harrogate.

It cost the couple around £600 to install one, which they plug into the car overnight whilst they sleep so they can wake up with a full charge.

If they decide to charge the car throughout the day, it works out at around 3p a mile.

Range anxiety

Mr Armsby said he sometimes suffers from “range anxiety”, the phenomenon where EV drivers are worried their car will run out of charge before they find somewhere to power it up. But on a full charge, their car can manage over 280 miles, depending on driving style.

They use an app called ZapMap to find public charging points. During a recent trip to Wales, they found towns much smaller than Harrogate were better equipped for EV drivers with more places to charge.

Harrogate has several public charging points, with 7kw, 24kw and 50kw connections.

The only fast 50kw charging points are at Harrogate Borough Council’s civic centre at Knapping Mount, where it costs more to charge than at home. There are also three fast charging points outside Lidl in Knaresborough.

If you charge your car at the civic centre it takes around half an hour to get a full charge.

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Mr Armsby said the council charging points were welcome, but Harrogate needed more and was poorly equipped for business travellers who might be using the convention centre.

He said:

“If you come here on a conference, you’ll be fighting for a space there.

“We desperately need more fast charging points.”

There are other slower charging 7kw charging points around the district, which are able to give an EV a short boost.

There are even now charging points at the almost 1,000-year-old Fountains Abbey. Mr Armsby said he has visited twice because he could charge his car outside the ruin.

In total, the Harrogate district has 53 EV charging points in 30 different locations, but some can only be used by Teslas.

Mr Armsby plugging in

Mr Armbsy said many more on-street charging facilities were needed in Harrogate so people can plug in whilst they shop.

He added:

“Other countries have had on-street charging and had it for years, we’re not world beating in the UK, we’re miles behind European countries.”

Joy to drive

The couple are retired and use their car mainly for leisure and shopping. 

Mr Armsby said:

“It’s a joy to drive, we’re fighting each other on who’s going to drive!”

Whilst electric vehicles still produce emissions through their tyres — and there are concerns over the mining of minerals to make the batteries — Mr Armbsy said he would never go back to driving a petrol car.

He said:

“Harrogate is quite polluted. Cold Bath Road, for example, is a rat run in the mornings with kids being dropped off in Range Rovers. It would be so much nicer on these roads if everyone was driving electric.”

Do you have an interesting project or passion that improves the environment and could feature in Green Shoots? Contact thomas@thestrayferret.co.uk

Harrogate vaccine walk-ins: go in afternoon tomorrow to avoid queues

Staff giving vaccines at the Great Yorkshire Showground in Harrogate have advised anyone planning a walk-in booster jab tomorrow to go in the afternoon.

The decision to allow over-18s to just turn up and get boosters prompted a wave of visitors to the showground today. Some people queued for an hour to get jabbed.

Tim Yarrow, operations manager for Yorkshire Health Network, which is a federation of the 17 GP practices in the Harrogate district, said the site had a lot of booked appointments tomorrow morning but the afternoon was quieter.

Anyone arriving for morning walk-ins would receive a booster, said Mr Yarrow, but they might have to wait for up to an hour.

He said it was likely to be quieter after 12.30pm.

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Another 102 covid infections were reported today in the Harrogate district.

The district’s seven-day infection rate has fallen slightly to 422 cases per 100,000. The North Yorkshire average is 380 and the England average is 505.

No further covid-related deaths have been reported at Harrogate District Hospital, meaning the overall total remains at 200.

Andrew Jones MP tells constituent that clarity is needed on No 10 party

Conservative MP for Harrogate & Knaresborough Andrew Jones says the findings of an investigation into an alleged Christmas party at 10 Downing Street last year should be published as soon as possible.

Harrogate resident Patrick Milne sent Mr Jones an email this week asking him to “speak out” against the party or “gathering” as the government phrases it, which has dominated headlines and TV news reports all week.

Mr Milne shared the response he received from the MP with the Stray Ferret.

Mr Jones wrote:

“Some gatherings were permissible of course but if the reports of cheese and wine, crowding, secret santas and so on are true it is very difficult to see how on earth such a gathering can have been within the rules.”

“There are two sides though to every story and I am willing to hear both. At the moment though, and the story evolves hour-by-hour, we are only hearing one side. That is why I think a clear statement of what happened needs to be released by Number 10 detailing what the gathering was, who was there, what refreshments were served, how this complied with the rules at the time and so on.”

The government has since ordered an investigation into three alleged parties at 10 Downing Street and the Department for Education. The Labour Party has called for prime minister Boris Johnson to resign if he is found to have misled MPs.

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Mr Jones said he hopes the findings of the investigation will be published “in days”.

“I hope therefore to see the full report in days and, by that, I mean before Christmas.”

The MP said he cancelled plans to comply with rules last Christmas and that he expects leaders to set an example to others.

He added:

“Like many others I spent the Christmas period following the rules, cancelling plans to comply with rule changes, sitting outside talking to elderly relatives, dropping off shopping on the doorstep and video calling.

“I know too that some people broke the rules, inadvertently or otherwise, and so I have taken the view that I will be accountable for my own actions and others need to be accountable for theirs.
I recognise that there is a huge chasm between minor and inadvertent infringements at Christmas and a party among those whom we want and expect to take a lead, where an example must be shown.

“That is why the investigation and a final statement from Number 10 are needed. As with the Cummings affair and the standards issue, I will not offer my support if that statement points to wrongdoing.”

Mr Jones has not made any public comments about the recent scandal facing his government. Instead today he used his party’s Harrogate Community News website to publish an article about the winner of a competition for his electronic Christmas card.

 

 

Harrogate High closes year group due to illness and teacher shortage

Harrogate High School told all Year 10 students not to attend school yesterday because it was unable to find enough teachers to cover classes.

The school tweeted to say a combination of staff illness and difficulty recruiting supply had prompted it to make the decision to close to Year 10 students.

The Stray Ferret contacted the school today it said it didn’t want to comment further but agreed recruiting supply staff was a problem.

Year group closure Thursday 9th Dec
Unfortunately, due to high levels of staff absence as a result of illness and a widespread issue with recruiting supply teachers, we have taken the decision to close to Year 10 students (Thursday 9th).
Please check your email for full details.

— HarrogateHighSchool (@HarrogateHigh) December 9, 2021

It also said no more days such as these were planned for any year group.

The independent academy school caters for about 600 students aged 11-19 and is based on Ainsty Road.

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Arrests made after 2am crash near Harrogate Asda

North Yorkshire Police has arrested two teenagers after a stolen car crashed into several parked vehicles on Dragon Parade in Harrogate.

The Stray Ferret reported on the crash on November 17 after a bystander sent us photos of the aftermath.

Police said today the occupants abandoned the vehicle, which was later found to be stolen.

They added a 17-year-old male had been arrested on suspicion of aggravated vehicle taking and property damage. He was interviewed and released on bail.

A 16-year-old male voluntarily handed himself into the police and was also interviewed on suspicion of aggravated vehicle taking and property damage. He has been released under investigation.

Enquiries are ongoing.

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