Appeal for missing man last seen in Harrogate

Police are appealing for information on a missing man who was last seen in Harrogate.

Danny Love, 38, was reported missing on November 25 and there is concern for his welfare.

Danny, who is from Morley, is described as white, 6ft tall, stocky with brown hair and blue eyes. His left arm is missing from below the elbow.

West Yorkshire Police said his last confirmed sighting was in Harrogate on November 21.

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He was last seen wearing a dark jacket, red t-shirt, black tracksuit bottoms and a black beanie hat.

Police added in a statement:

“Anyone who has seen him or who has any information that could assist in tracing him is asked to contact Leeds South officers via 101 quoting log 889 of November 25 or online via www.westyorkshire.police.uk/101livechat.”

Mayor’s Christmas Carol Concert to go ahead at Royal Hall

The Mayor’s Christmas Carol Concert at Harrogate’s Royal Hall has today been given the green light to go ahead.

The concert is a popular part of the Harrogate district’s festive programme but this year’s event had been in doubt due to covid.

Harrogate Borough Council said a fortnight ago it was “working with public health to determine if and how the event can take place safely given the rising covid rates amongst school-age children who form the choir and orchestra for this event”.

But a council spokesman confirmed today the event, which was cancelled last year due to covid, would take place at 6pm on December 23.

Tickets are free but have to be booked in advance. You can do so here.

Face coverings must be worn.

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Harrogate’s St John Fisher school acquires academy status

St John Fisher Catholic High School in Harrogate has today become an academy.

The school, which has about 1,420 pupils aged 11 to 18, has joined the Bishop Wheeler Catholic Academy Trust, which is based in Menston, West Yorkshire.

The trust has 11 other schools, including St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School and St Robert’s Catholic Primary School in Harrogate and St Mary’s Catholic Primary School in Knaresborough

Academy schools are directly funded by government and have more control than other state schools. They do not have to follow the national curriculum.

St John Fisher school

The trust issued a statement announcing the news.

Headteacher Steve Mort said in the statement:

“The support we have enjoyed over the last year shows how the trust will enable St John Fisher to continue providing an outstanding Catholic education to our children, and I am very pleased that we have already been able to begin reciprocating through our growing partnerships with the trust’s other schools.”

Jane O’Gara, chair of the governing body at St John Fisher, said in the statement:

“We are delighted to be joining our fellow Catholic schools in the Bishop Wheeler Trust and we are looking forward to working closely together with them to continue providing the education our young people deserve”.

The Stray Ferret contacted the school to ask why it had pursued academy status and what it would mean to pupils but nobody at the school was available to respond.

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St John Fisher was graded ‘outstanding’ at its last Ofsted inspection. Many pupils are Catholics but the school educates children of all faiths and none.

It shares an associated sixth form with St Aidan’s Church of England High School, which is itself an academy within the Yorkshire Causeway Schools Trust.

St John Fisher school

The trust, which is named after Bishop William Gordon Wheeler, Bishop of Leeds from 1966 to 1985, has 10 primary schools and two secondary schools serving 4,800 pupils in North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire. It hopes to increase this number to 18 over the next few years.

Diane Gaskin, chair of the trust board, said in the statement:

“The outstanding education that the school provides makes it a great addition to our trust family.”

 

 

 

 

Community groups in the dark about Harrogate Spring Water’s Pinewoods plan

In July, Harrogate Spring Water promised to publish “within weeks” details of a new planning application to expand its bottling plant in the Pinewoods. But as the end of the year approaches, it looks no nearer to being made public.

The company’s pledge followed January’s high-profile refusal to expand the plant, which would have meant destroying public woodland planted by local families in the area of Pinewoods known as Rotary Wood.

To compensate, Harrogate Spring Water offered to replant trees, create scrubland and build a pond on private land behind Harlow Carr Gardens.

But the loss of trees at Rotary Wood provoked a major backlash and councillors on Harrogate Borough Council‘s planning committee voted overwhelmingly to reject it.

Harrogate Spring Water already has outline permission dating back to 2016 to expand its bottling plant, but the company said in July it was working on a completely new application and the old application would be disregarded.

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The company pledged to consult with the community before pursuing a formal planning application to the council.

However, the Stray Ferret has been told that no meaningful talks with community groups have taken place since January’s refusal.

Groups that are still in the dark about what the new application will look like include the Rotary Club, which planted the trees in Rotary Wood, and Pinewoods Conservation Group, a charity that works to preserve the Pinewoods.

A spokesperson for Harrogate Spring Water said:

“Harrogate Spring Water is still in the process of talking to all relevant parties. We will communicate any update as and when it happens.”

Great Yorkshire Showground vaccine site starts taking booster bookings

Harrogate’s Great Yorkshire Showground vaccination site has started to offer appointments for booster vaccinations.

People who are eligible for a booster vaccination in the Harrogate district can now log onto the NHS booking service site for appointments in December.

Yorkshire Health Network, an organisation which represents GP practices in the district, confirmed on its social media channels today that clinics will be held from Monday next week.

Although Harrogate is the largest place in the Harrogate district, it has not had a vaccine site since the summer, forcing residents to travel to  Knaresborough, Ripon and Pateley Bridge, or further afield to Leeds or York.

The showground site is due to reopen for just two weeks as part of the ongoing rollout of booster vaccinations. However, it is unclear if it will continue beyond that period.

The site closed in August after being used to administer covid jabs for most of the year.

A North Yorkshire Clinical Commissioning Group spokesperson said previously: 

“Plans are in place to run pop-up covid vaccination clinics at the Yorkshire Showground at the beginning of December for two weeks, as this is when we are anticipating a peak in the number of patients eligible to receive their booster jabs.”

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The government announced yesterday that vaccinations will be offered to all adults over-18 and the gap between a second dose and booster will be cut to three months.

However, the NHS is currently still only offering appointments to over-40s. The NHS has advised people to wait to be contacted for their booster appointment.

The move comes as 17.8 million booster vaccines have been given nationally, according to government data.

No figures are currently available for the number given in the Harrogate district.

Woman ‘horrified’ at £100 parking fine outside Harrogate pharmacy

A woman in Harrogate said she was “horrified” to be hit with a £100 parking ticket whilst she was collecting an NHS prescription from Well Pharmacy on Wetherby Road.

Shirley Hopkinson collects a repeat prescription from the pharmacy, which is part of Kingswood Medical Centre, twice a month. She said she always phones ahead to check it is ready to collect.

When she came to pick it up on November 17, the pharmacy was busy so she waited for 33 minutes.

This is longer than the 15 minutes free parking allowed in the adjoining car park.

Ten days later, Ms Hopkinson received a parking fine for £100 from a private company called Civil Enforcement, which it said would be reduced to £60 if paid straight away. 

She queried the fine with the pharmacy, which told her customers regularly received fines for overstaying in the car park. It added she could appeal, although there was no guarantee this would be successful.

Ms Hopkinson said:

“I am horrified that an NHS doctor’s surgery and pharmacy have allowed a privately owned parking enforcement company to issue patients, family and friends with huge fines for simply collecting prescriptions.”

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Ms Hopkinson said the car park should be free to use for longer than 15 minutes, which she said is not long enough if there is a queue or you need advice.

She added:

“Wetherby Road is a very busy road with next to no on-street parking available for people to use. 

“When I was in the pharmacy an elderly lady that was collecting her husband’s prescriptions told me she had also been fined. Why should people who are ill, elderly or simply collecting medication be penalised? The car park has a few signs stating a waiting period of 15 minutes.”

A spokesman for Well Pharmacy told the Stray Ferret that it does not own the car park, so it does not control how long people can park there or whether motorists receive fines.

It said it was “deeply regrettable” that Ms Hopkinson had to wait 33 minutes, but said the pharmacy was under extra pressure due to covid.

Police appeal for help finding men with Harrogate links

Police have appealed for information about the whereabouts of three men with links to Harrogate.

Eighteen-year-old Harrogate man Luke Gibson and 20-year-old Leeds man, Ainsley West, who has strong links with Harrogate, are wanted in connection with a serious assault in Boroughbridge this month.

William Smythe, 19, from Harrogate, is wanted for failing to attend court for drug offences.

North Yorkshire Police said in a statement today it believed the three men could be in the Harrogate area, although West could be in Leeds.

It added:

“Significant enquiries have been ongoing to locate the trio and so we are now issuing an appeal to anyone who has seen them or know where they are to come forward with information.”

The police asked people to report sightings or information about their whereabouts by calling 101 and quoting reference number 12210245826 for West and Gibson or 12210248895 for Smythe.

Alternatively, you can pass on information anonymously through the charity Crimestoppers by calling 0800 555 111 or via its website.

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Power cut leaves Harrogate businesses in the dark

A power cut on Beulah Street in Harrogate this morning has forced several businesses to close.

It is not known if the outage is related to Storm Arwen, which is still affecting electricity supply in the district.

Costa Coffee, British Red Cross, Aplifon Hearing Centre are all closed. At CEX the lights are not working but the tills and card reader are so they can still serve customers who must wait outside.

Power went off at about 8.30am and was still off at the time of publication. It is expected to return later today.

James Buckley, supervisor at CEX, said there are several different power lines on Beulah Street, so businesses on the other side of the road are open as normal.

He said:

“We are in darkness. It’s a health and safety issue, but we can still sell stuff but not let customers into the store.”

Connie Lancaster, assistant manager at the British Red Cross, decided to close completely until the power comes back on. She has been unable to get more information from Northern Powergrid due to telephone wait times of almost two hours.

She said:

“We’ve been very unlucky”.

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Many homes in the district are still without power following Friday night’s storm, according to a live map by Northern Powergrid, the company responsible for the electricity distribution network across the North East, Yorkshire and northern Lincolnshire.

One reader, who asked not to be named, said the rural area of Skelding, half a mile away from Grantley village, told us last night:

“We feel forgotten about. We were given a tiny bit of power on Saturday night at 7pm so 21 hours of nothing. However this wasn’t enough for most lights, boilers, washer or ovens. Then this afternoon came the good news that Grantley village and school are back on full power however the farms and houses in Skelding are now without anything

Another reader from Grantley said her family had booked into a hotel when temperatures in their house plunged to six degrees centigrade.

 

Harrogate Theatre panto returns to the stage today following leak

The show will go on! Harrogate Theatre has confirmed the pantomime will resume today after the weekend performances were cancelled because of a leak caused by Storm Awern.

Opening night of Cinderella went ahead as scheduled on Friday but the magic of the panto then had to be put on hold when the storm struck later that night.

Four matinee and evening performances were cancelled on Saturday and Sunday.

The theatre is currently covered in scaffolding due to a £1 million roof restoration project, which began in May. Work was due to be completed by November but has been delayed into next year.

However, the theatre confirmed in a statement this morning that today’s 10am showing and future performances would go ahead.

Councillor Graham Swift, Harrogate Borough Council’s cabinet member for resources, enterprise and economic development said:

“The protective, temporary sheeting over the Harrogate Theatre roof was one casualty of this disruptive weather, which led to water ingress to a small area of the building including the stage.

“Emergency repairs were carried out over the weekend and all necessary safety checks have now been completed today. I am therefore delighted to confirm that the theatre building can now be re-opened and the pantomime can re-start again, as scheduled.”

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Those who missed the show at the weekend have been offered the chance to re-book for future performances. The theatre said there are still plenty of tickets available in January.

Ticket holders can also apply for a refund, put credit onto their theatre account for future shows or leave a donation.

Plans submitted to demolish former Harrogate Debenhams

Developers have submitted plans to demolish the former Debenhams building on Harrogate’s Parliament Street.

Wetherby-based property company Stirling Prescient plans to build 50 apartments on the site along with two commercial units.

The site had been a retail unit on Parliament Street for over a century. Before Debenhams, it housed the Buckley’s and Busby’s stores.

However, the building has stood empty since Debenhams closed for good in January this year.

According to documents submitted to Harrogate Borough Council, a five-storey building would be built in its place.

It would include two commercial units on the ground floor and a mixture of one, two and three-bedroom apartments on the upper floors. The apartments would surround a central courtyard which would include plants and seating for residents.

A CGI of the former Debenhams building from the Ginnel.

A computer generated image of how the former Debenhams building would look from the Ginnel.

Meanwhile, the basement level of the building will include a 15-space car park with access from Union Street. A cycle store with space for 50 bicycles would also be built.

The developer said in a planning statement that there was “no market” for the building to be reoccupied as a department store.

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It added that there was no scope to convert the building into smaller units “due to its internal layout and the age of the building”.

In documents submitted to the council, Stirling Prescient said:

“The proposals as a whole will strengthen the town’s vitality and viability, increasing footfall and contributing to the local economy. 

“The proposal represents a sustainable form of development and therefore benefits from the presumption in favour of sustainable development, meaning planning permission should be granted without delay.”

Stuart Holland, chair of Harrogate Civic Society, a group that comments on significant planning applications in the town, told the Stray Ferret previously that members had met with the developer for a presentation on their plans.

He said due to the historical significance of the building, demolition will only be acceptable to the civic society if what replaces it is “of the highest quality”.

Harrogate Borough Council will make a decision on the proposal at a later date.