Tesco has submitted a planning application to build a new supermarket on the former gasworks site on Skipton Road in Harrogate.

The new store would be 38,795 square feet and include a petrol filling station, 200 car parking spaces, electric vehicle charging points and 24 cycle spaces. Tesco says 100 new jobs would be created.

For access, a new roundabout would be created on Skipton Road. It would be built close to the New Park roundabout.

Tesco ran two-week consultation on the plans in September and October and received feedback from 190 people. Tesco said 70% of respondents supported its proposals.

If Harrogate Borough Council approves the plans, Tesco said it hopes to open the store in 2023.

Andy Boucher, development executive at Tesco, said:

“We are thrilled with the response we have received from local residents to our consultation and I would like to thank all of those people who took part.

“Our consultation found a majority of local residents support the proposed new supermarket.

“We will now be working closely with Harrogate Borough Council and hope to receive planning permission next year.”

Read more:

• Tesco Skipton Road supermarket ‘could put us out of business’
• Harrogate cycle group accuses Tesco of greenwash
• Tesco to revive controversial Skipton Road supermarket plans

A 20-year history

Tesco has harboured ambitions to build a supermarket on the site for almost 20 years.

The Stray Ferret obtained Land Registry documents that reveal Tesco bought the site for £2.8m in 2003.

It submitted a proposal to build a supermarket there in 2009, which was approved by Harrogate Borough Council in 2012.

However, Tesco pulled out in 2016 following a changing retail landscape and years of opposition from retailers, which said the supermarket would damage local trade. An Aldi supermarket opened on the retail park just off Skipton Road in 2016.

In 2021, Tesco has signalled its intention to return to opening new large-scale supermarkets in the UK.

This year, it opened its first new superstore in six years in Penwortham, Lancashire. Four more supermarkets are scheduled to open this year.

A vaccination centre is set to open at Harrogate District Hospital this weekend as part of the ramping up of covid booster vaccines.

Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust confirmed today that it hopes the site will open on Saturday.

It will provide another booster option for over-18s, who can currently receive jabs at the GP-run Great Yorkshire Showground in Harrogate and Ripon Races or one of several pharmacy sites in the district.

Dr Matt Shepherd, deputy chief operating officer at Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust, said: 

“The trust is responding as quickly as possible to the national ask to rapidly expand and support the covid-19 booster programme.

“We are currently establishing a vaccination centre for the public at Harrogate District Hospital where we can provide them with covid-19 booster vaccinations.

“The centre is aiming to be open from Saturday, December 18, and members of the public can book their vaccination via the national booking service.”

Read more:

• Meet the showground heroes boosting Harrogate’s vaccine programme
• Walk-in boosters at Great Yorkshire Showground extended to Christmas Eve
• First suspected omicron cases found in Harrogate district

Following the announcement of the speed-up in the booster programme, Health Secretary Sajid Javid told the House of Commons that some non-urgent and elective surgery “may be postponed until the new year”.

The Stray Ferret asked Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust whether any non-urgent appointments would be delayed as part of the booster vaccine programme.

In response, Dr Shepherd said:

“We are also reviewing our services to see what treatment we could potentially defer for a few weeks to provide more staff to the community vaccination programme.

“Currently we are not considering delays to surgery, urgent or cancer work. We will of course keep any disruption as minimal as possible and will contact any patients as soon as we can if their care is going to be deferred in any way.”

‘Tidal wave of Omicron’

News that the hospital will provide vaccines follows Prime Minister Boris Johnson announcement on Monday that every adult in Britain will be offered a booster jab by the end of December, as he warned there was a “tidal wave of Omicron coming”.

As part of the effort, the showground site has extended walk-in booster jabs until Christmas Eve.

The showground site, which is run by Yorkshire Health Network, a federation of the 17 GP practices in the Harrogate district, is also offering walk-in clinics for 12 to 18-year-olds from 2pm to 4pm tomorrow and 2pm to 4pm on Monday next week.

So far, 74,680 booster vaccines have been given in the Harrogate district, according to government figures.

An artisan market is set to be held monthly in Harrogate’s Valley Gardens after the success of a festive event there this month.

Little Bird Artisan Markets will relocate to the sun colonnade in the gardens from February.

Little Bird Made, the company that runs the events, has held monthly markets at St Wilfrid’s Church on Duchy Road in Harrogate since the summer.

It plans to continue staging occasional pop-up markets at the church but its regular monthly events in Harrogate will move to the more central Valley Gardens.

Read more:

• Christmas Events: diary of festivities in the Harrogate district
• Harrogate Christmas Fayre could be ‘bigger and better’ next year

Harrogate Borough Council invited Little Bird Made to Valley Gardens to attract more visitors to the town at the start of the first Harrogate Christmas Fayre, which was held from December 3 to 12 in the streets of Harrogate town centre.

At the time, Cllr Andy Paraskos, cabinet member for environment, waste reduction and recycling, said the council hoped that first event would lead to a longer-term relationship.

The two-day event in the first weekend of December hosted about 60 stalls and a steady stream of visitors.

Jackie Crozier, managing director of Little Bird Made, said it was one of the company’s busiest events so far. She said:

“We are really excited to be moving our monthly Little Bird Artisan Market to the bigger venue of Valley Gardens in the heart of the town from February 2022.

“Valley Gardens is the natural progression for Little Bird to expand and offer more opportunities for small local business and to promote our ethos of shopping local.

“It will be great to work with Harrogate Borough Council throughout 2022 and we are looking forward to delivering our events with them.”

When can you next visit Little Bird artisan markets in the Harrogate district?

• Saturday, December 18 from 10am to 3pm: St Wilfrid’s Church, Duchy Road, Harrogate, HG1 2EY
• Sunday, December 19 from 9am to 3pm: Market Place, Knaresborough, HG5 8AL

Christmas is coming to the Harrogate district. The Stray Ferret has compiled a list of events from across the district so you don’t have to miss out on any festive fun.

Whether you want to meet Santa himself, visit a Christmas market or enjoy an evening of late-night shopping in Boroughbridge this list will tell you where to go.

The list runs in date order. We’ll be updating and re-posting it every day. If you want us to add an event get in touch at contact@thestrayferret.co.uk

Harrogate Father Christmas Experience

Where: The Crown Hotel, Harrogate

When: Between November 20 and December 24 (check for dates and times)

Tickets: Adults £9.50 and children (under 18) £12, plus a £1.75 booking fee

Knaresborough Christmas Tree Festival

Where: St John’s Church Knaresborough

When: Saturday, December 4 until December 23 

Church opening times: 12-5pm weekdays, 10-5pm Saturday and 1.30-5pm Sunday

Tickets: Free. No tickets are required but weekends are likely to be very busy and numbers in church will be limited. A one way system will be in operation and visitors may be required to queue outside the building

Washburn Heritage Centre Christmas Stall- RESCHEDULED

The Christmas market was initially planned for December 27 but was cancelled due to the bad weather. A Christmas Market stall has now been set up in the Tea Room.

Where: Washburn Heritage Centre

When: 11am to 4pm every Sunday from December 5

Tickets: Free to enter

Mackenzies Late Night Shopping

Where: Mackenzies Farm Shop and Café

When: 5pm to 7pm on Thursday, December 16

Tickets: Free to enter

Knaresborough’s Christmas Carol Pub Sing

Where: Half Moon Inn, Knaresborough

When: 3pm to 5pm on Sunday, December 19

Tickets: Free to enter

Mayor’s Christmas Carol Concert

Where: Royal Hall, Harrogate

When: 6pm on Thursday, December 23

Tickets: Free to enter but must be booked in advance via this link

Harrogate district students studying away from home can apply for a grant to help pay for books, equipment or travel costs.

Any student currently taking a post-16 education course at a school, college or university outside of the Harrogate borough is eligible to apply.

The fund, which is administered by North Yorkshire County Council, has been made available by Haywra Crescent Educational Trust following the sale of a former education property in Haywra Crescent, Harrogate.

This year the trust has around £1,000 in total to distribute to students.

Further information and application forms are available by emailing post16@northyorks.gov.uk

The closing date for applications is January 31.

Read more:

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• Knaresborough’s Boxing Day tug of war cancelled due to covid

A Harrogate gallery has set up a charity Giving Tree in aid of children from Syria and Afghanistan.

Watermark Gallery has organised the Christmas tree, which is decorated with a tag for each of the 73 refugee children in the Harrogate district.

Anyone who would like to support the project is being asked to take a tag and buy a gift of up to £20 suitable for the age and gender given.

Two-year-old Agatha (pictured above) was the first to buy a gift.

Anna Martola, from Watermark Gallery who has organised the project, said:

“We were struck by how much these families have been through and wanted to do something positive and creative to help welcome them to our region.

“These children have so little and will be surrounded by others who are receiving so much.”

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The gallery is working with Ripon City of Sanctuary, a charity that supports families throughout the Harrogate district, many of whom have recently arrived from Syria and Afghanistan.

For those who are not able to buy their own gift, the gallery is taking donations and will buy on their behalf. It is also donating colouring books and coloured pencils to each family. 

A spokesperson for Ripon City of Sanctuary said:

“We are so delighted that Watermark Gallery has chosen Ripon City of Sanctuary as their charity this year. It is such a positive and welcoming project and we know just how grateful our families will be”.

Anyone wishing to donate a gift is asked to do so before December 18 to give the charity time to distribute them out to each family. 

Watermark Gallery can be contacted on 01423 562659 or in person at 8 Royal Parade, Harrogate, HG1 2SZ.

A Portuguese dominatrix and her English husband have been found guilty of running a sex-trafficking and prostitution racket in Harrogate after “flying in” women from Europe and South America.

Fabiana De Souza, 41, and Gareth Derby, 53, from Norfolk, flew sex workers in from Brazil and Portugal, paid for their flights and met them at airports, before whisking them off to flats where men paid women for “massages” and “full (sex) services”, Leeds Crown Court heard.

Prosecutor Nicholas Lumley QC said De Souza rented a two-bed flat in Harrogate town centre through a letting agency “so it could be used for sex…which would be advertised on the internet by these two defendants”. Mr Lumley added:

“It was run as a business by these two, controlled invariably from their home in Norfolk and the pair of them were in it together.

“The provision of sexual services provided by them was not confined to Harrogate (which) was an extension of an existing business.

“There was another flat in Norfolk put to similar use and when that became unavailable, even the home of these defendants was converted for use by sex workers. The labour force came from overseas, from countries such as Brazil, and they got here by air and their travel in and out of the country was invariably organised and paid for by these two defendants.

“As soon as the (sex workers) arrived here, they would be installed in the flat in Harrogate or elsewhere, always with the purpose of being available for sex.”

The couple, of Town Street in the village of Upwell, Norfolk, each denied one count of people-trafficking and another of controlling prostitution for financial gain. The charges related to six named women who worked at the Harrogate sex den between April and the end of August 2017.

They were found guilty on both counts on Monday following a 10-day trial.

Bower Road flat

Mr Lumley said that at least one other woman was prostituted in other parts of the country, including King’s Lynn in Norfolk and Birmingham, but they were not part of the charges.

De Souza and Derby would pay for sex adverts within hours of picking the women up from the airport and “setting them up” at the flat on Bower Road. The adverts were placed on the classified escorts websites Viva Street and Adult Work and included raunchy descriptions of the women.

They took the bookings and “made the arrangements (with the clients)” who would pay various amounts – from £80 for half an hour to over £1,000 for an overnight stay. Mr Lumley said:

“The defendants would receive their cut.”

Read more:

• Harrogate flat used for sex trafficking and prostitution, court hears
• Harrogate man jailed for ‘using car as weapon’ to cause serious injury

The money, described as “significant cash deposits”, usually ended up in De Souza’s Halifax bank account, but on occasions “cash simply changed hands, handed by the sex workers to one of these two”.

Mr Lumley said one woman was flown in from Amsterdam and was picked up by the couple who had driven from Norfolk in a 4×4 pick-up. Derby also drove a Mercedes.

Police were tracking the couple’s movements, including their journeys between Harrogate and Norfolk using number-plate recognition cameras.

An undercover officer searched the escort sites and called the phone number provided on the women’s sex profiles, pretending to be a client. The call went through to De Souza’s mobile phone in King’s Lynn.

She answered in “broken English”, claiming to be ‘Lisa’, and an “appointment” was made for the Harrogate flat.

Mr Lumley said the couple “often met the flights at the airport or arranged for a train ticket to be available at the airport as they moved these women around the country or put them on a bus and sent them up to Harrogate or somewhere else”.

Harrogate flat rented for £700 a month

Following her arrest, De Souza told police she had left her husband in September 2017 with the intention of divorcing him and moved to Harrogate “where no-one knew me”.

She said she rented the Bower Road flat for over £700 a month and let rooms out to “others”, some of whom were “friends from Portugal”.

She said it was “none of my business what (the women) were doing, as long as they paid (their) rent”.

She claimed that in May 2018, she reconciled with her husband and moved back to Norfolk, to a property in Walpole St Andrew.

Derby said he only had an “inkling that Fabia worked at the Harrogate flat as a dominatrix”.

Mr Lumley said that photos of the women – which were often false and whose profiles made out they were much younger than their true ages – were posted with the ads.

The women arrived at various airports including Manchester, Gatwick and Stansted. Mr Lumley said:

“They are flown in, spend two or three weeks in the country and then flown out again.”

In a text sent to an associate in January 2018, Derby boasted of being a “smuggler of women”.

One advert showed a “Latina” woman who said her services included “tantric massage, role play and fantasy”.

The undercover officer made an “appointment” and went to the Harrogate flat as a ‘client’, dressed in civilian clothes and with female back-up officers waiting outside.

Once inside the flat, he showed the woman his warrant card. She showed him a Brazilian ID card, but her responses were “not entirely honest”.

£40,000 in five months

Police trawled through the bank accounts of De Souza and her husband and found they had spent “thousands on air fares” and over £2,000 on Viva Street adverts alone. Mr Lumley said:

“Who knows how much cash simply changed hands?”

He added that £40,000 appeared in the couple’s bank accounts during the five-month prostitution racket in Harrogate alone.

The undercover cop said that on his first visit to the building on Bower Road, the sex worker named ‘Lisa’ buzzed him into the flats which were above shops. He was met by a woman in a “revealing” short-length dressing gown who said she had also worked as a stripper.

He made “numerous” such visits to other women after responding to adverts including one for a “Hot Brazilian, full service”. She was about 57 years’ old but was advertised as 33.

He said there was another woman in her 50s inside the flat who was also a sex worker. She said she was from the “Republic of Portugal” but was born in Brazil. She had been earning about £280 per day.

Michael Fullerton, for De Souza, said there was no dispute that she was working as a dominatrix before and during the prostitution enterprise. She had previously worked as a stripper.

Richard Mohabir, for Derby, said his client was adamant that he “controlled nobody” and “didn’t know sex work or prostitution was going on”.

However, the jury returned unanimous guilty verdicts on both defendants.

Judge Guy Kearle QC adjourned sentence until January 18. He granted both defendants bail until then.

Disability Action Yorkshire has submitted plans to demolish its 20-bed care home in Harrogate and build a 36-home facility instead.

The charity wants to construct three new apartment blocks on the site of its current home at 34 Claro Road and an adjacent parcel of disused land.

The development aims to partly the shortage of accessible supported housing for local disabled people.

Disability Action Yorkshire plans to complete the scheme in partnership with Highstone Housing Association, which is in the process of buying 34 Claro Road from the charity and the disused land from Harrogate Borough Council.

If the land sales go ahead, and the council grants planning permission for the scheme, work will begin in March to build two apartment blocks consisting of 24 one and two-bedroom flats.

Claro residents will then move in to these and their current care home will be demolished and the final block built.

All current residents will be guaranteed a flat to live in.

Read more:

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• First suspected omicron cases found in Harrogate district

It is hoped the project is completed by the end of 2023.

Jackie Snape, Disability Action Yorkshire’s chief executive, said:

“Our vision is to empower disabled people to live the lifestyle of their choosing, and independent living is at the heart of this.

“This is an incredibly exciting move for us, and something we have been planning for a number of years. Our partners, Highstone Housing Association, are experts in building supported housing.

“Whilst they will develop the site, it will be our staff supporting the residents, all of whom will have tailor-made care packages put in place before moving in.

“Our customers at 34 Claro Road have been fully consulted, and they looking forward to having their own front doors!”

Independent living

Founded 84 years ago, Disability Action has its headquarters and training centre on the town’s Hornbeam Park, a residential care home on Claro Road, and a holiday lodge in Lincolnshire.

It aims to empower disabled people to live the lifestyle of their choosing, through its training, preparation and other living skills.

Gareth Lloyd, Highstone Housing Association’s development and partnerships director, said:

“Highstone have over 30 years of development experience specialising in the delivery of bespoke quality accommodation for people with learning and physical disabilities, alongside complex needs.

“Our developments enable our tenants to have their own front door, living independently, with support.”

Walk-in booster vaccinations will be available at Harrogate’s Great Yorkshire Showground until at least Christmas Eve, health bosses have confirmed.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson last night announced that every adult in Britain will be offered a covid booster jab by the end of December, as he warned there was a “tidal wave of Omicron coming”.

North Yorkshire Clinical Commissioning Group has since confirmed that people over-18 will be able to get a jab at the showground without an appointment until December 24.

Staff at Yorkshire Health Network, a federation of the 17 GP practices in the Harrogate district, also said today the showground site was offering walk-in clinics for 12 to 18-year-olds from 2pm to 4pm on Wednesday and 2pm to 4pm on Monday next week.

On Christmas Eve, the vaccination site will be open from 9am until 11.30am.

Booked appointments

All adults will also be able to book appointments on the NHS national booking service from Wednesday.

Those who choose to book will be given appointments at either the Yorkshire Event Centre, Knaresborough’s Chain Lane pharmacy, Ripon racecourse or other pharmacy sites in the district.

So far, 74,680 booster vaccines have been given in the Harrogate district, according to government figures.

Read more:

• Meet the showground heroes boosting Harrogate’s vaccine programme
• Harrogate district records 200th covid death
• First suspected omicron cases found in Harrogate district

70 infections today

Meanwhile, the Harrogate district has reported a further 70 covid cases, according to today’s government figures.

Data from the UK Health Security Agency shows that five suspected cases of the omicron variant have been reported in the district.

The Harrogate district’s covid rate now stands at 407 infections per 100,000 people.

Across the county, the average stands at 382 and the England rate is 515.

No further deaths from patients who tested positive for covid have been reported at Harrogate District Hospital, according to NHS England.

Latest available figures show nine covid patients are being treated at Harrogate District Hospital.

A Harrogate man has been sentenced to prison for causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

George McGeogh, 24, admitted using his car to injure his ex-girlfriend’s new partner on Knox Lane in May 2020.

Leeds Crown Court was told this morning that McGeogh “used his car as a weapon” to injure the man before driving off and leaving the scene of the incident.

McGeogh, of Harlow Park Road, was sentenced to 16 months in prison and disqualified from driving.

On May 1, 2020, McGeogh pulled up in his Volkswagen Golf on Knox Lane beside his ex-girlfriend and the victim, who were both named in court.

The pair were walking their dog, which the court heard the female had got while with McGeogh.

The court was told that McGeogh then got out of the car and shouted “you think you can walk my dog?”

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He started to throw punches at the man before returning to his car to try the boot. He then returned to throw more punches.

McGeogh got into his car and the victim started to run. McGeogh mounted the grass verge and broke before the man turned and slipped.

McGeogh then hit him with the car and then drove off.

‘Highly remorseful’

The prosecution told the court that it was “miraculous” that the victim’s only serious injury was a broken cheekbone.

The court heard that McGeogh had told a friend he needed to hand himself into police. He had also referred himself to mental health services following the incident.

Knox Lane in Harrogate.

In defence, Graeme Wilson QC, said that McGeogh “saw red mist” and it was “out of a character” for him.

He said:

“His actions were impulsive and reckless, which he accepts. He is highly remorseful.”

Mr Wilson added that McGeogh had since found a stable relationship and was employing four people as a self-employed electrician.

Using car ‘as a weapon’

Sentencing McGeogh, Judge Geoffrey Marson QC said the only “appropriate punishment” was a custodial sentence.

He said:

“It is perfectly clear to me that you were using your car as a weapon to frighten your victim.”

Judge Marson described the attack as “wholly unprovoked” and added:

“It is a miracle he (the victim) was not more seriously injured. But the coward that you were, you simply drove off.”

Judge Marson said he accepted that McGeogh did not intend to run over the man and that the defendant had shown “genuine level of remorse”.

McGeogh is expected to serve half of his 16 months sentence before being released from prison on licence.