Nearly 250 jobs at Harrogate Borough Council are under review in a potentially major shake-up of several departments.

Not all 250 staff in the review are at risk of losing their jobs but some will receive ‘at risk’ letters warning them that they could be made redundant.

The review is across departments, including parks and environmental services, transport, street cleaning, pest control, bereavement services, recycling and waste.

Trade union Unison is currently holding a consultative ballot with members who are employed by the council over whether to accept the local authority’s “derisory” pay offer.

Dave Houlgate, Unison’s Harrogate branch secretary, said council staff were experiencing “review fatigue”, with members feeling “overworked and undervalued”.

He said:

“This is the latest in an ongoing cycle of reviews staff at Harrogate Borough Council have been through now over the last decade.

“It could be said that staff are now experiencing ‘review fatigue’, which on the back of the ongoing pandemic and derisory pay offer does present a challenge in relation to ongoing recruitment and retention issues.

“Our members feel overworked and undervalued.

“Whilst this is clearly a major review, Unison remains confident that none of our members at Harrogate Borough Council will be made redundant against their wishes in this particular review.”

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A council spokesperson said the review was about ensuring “the best value for money for the taxpayer”.

They added:

“All organisations, whether they are public or private sector, routinely review their services so that they are fit-for-purpose.

“This review will provide us with the opportunity to listen to feedback from our staff and partners – such as the union – and ensure we provide the best service possible for our customers, residents and of course staff.

“As the union have suggested, a review doesn’t automatically mean job cuts. The purpose of this review is to ensure a better service for everyone and create opportunities for existing and new people to join our team, learn new skills and support the delivery of our services.”

A £275,000 contract to come up with a business case for the refurbishment of Harrogate Convention Centre has been handed to consultants KPMG.

Harrogate Borough Council awarded the contract to the London consultants ahead of making a final decision on whether to spend £47 million redeveloping the convention centre.

As part of the deal, KPMG will also assess the economic impact of covid on the events industry.

Trevor Watson, the council’s director of economy, environment and housing, approved the contract following a competitive tender process in which the council only received a single bid for the work.

A council spokesperson said previously the award of the contract would mark “a significant step forward in our major investment”. They added:

“Harrogate Convention Centre makes such a significant contribution to the district’s economy by bringing visitors and investment.

“And this investment will deliver a major component of the Harrogate town centre masterplan and will be key to the district’s covid-19 economic recovery plan.”

It comes as a major shake-up of local government in North Yorkshire looms, which will see the Harrogate Borough Council and North Yorkshire County Council scrapped and replaced with a new super council.

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Control of the convention centre will be handed over to the new super council, which the government aims to have in place by 2023.

However, Harrogate Borough Council officials have said they remain “committed” to completing projects and that the convention centre redevelopment and plans to scrap the two-tier council system were “two entirely separate things”.

£288,000 contract for Brimham’s Active

Meanwhile, a separate contract to overhaul the booking management system in Harrogate district leisure centres has been awarded to an Oxfordshire company.

The £288,000 contract has been handed to Gladstone MRM Ltd, which has offices in Wallingford.

The council has commissioned Gladstone to upgrade its current booking system, which it said is 20 years out of date.

According to the government’s procurement portal, the contract will run until July 2025.

Brimham’s Active, which was set up by the council in August, now runs leisure facilities such as Harrogate Hydro, Starbeck Baths, Knaresborough Pool and Ripon Leisure Centre.

A group of parents of St Aidan’s Church of England High School pupils will form a ‘human chain’ outside the school tomorrow to protest against giving covid vaccines to children aged 12-15.

Children will be able to get their first shot of coronavirus vaccine from next week, the government has confirmed. It says this will reduce the chances of children getting covid and reduce the spread of the virus.

However, a group of Harrogate mums and dads angered by the move will hold a demonstration tomorrow. At least 10 parents are expected to take part in the protest on Oatlands Drive at 10.30am.

One of the parents, Laura Brett, told the Stray Ferret that giving vaccines to schoolchildren was “100% not worth the risk” and she hoped the protest would send a message to government.

She said:

“We need to do something. It’s like a bad dream. The narrative the government gives us doesn’t make sense.

“Vaccinating children on school grounds feels totally unethical. It’s a disgrace.”

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Another parent, Alexandra Campbell, told the Stray Ferret she was taking part in the protest because she doesn’t believe the vaccine will benefit children.

She added:

“The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation have not recommended it for children but the government are ignoring this and doing it anyway. No one knows the long-term effects so why on earth would anyone want to put this in children’s bodies.

“This should be about choice, not pressure, virtue signalling or guilt.”

The Stray Ferret contacted St Aidan’s but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

Haverah Park & Beckwithshaw Parish Council has raised concerns that a major housing development on Otley Road will significantly increase traffic through the village.

Planning consultants Johnson Mowatt has released details of a 780-home development and new primary school that could be built on Otley Road, less than a mile from Beckwithshaw.

The Windmill Farm development would be the largest housing scheme to be built in Harrogate for many years. It would dwarf Beckwithshaw, which has a population of 400.

Cllr Derek Spence, chair of the parish council, told the Stray Ferret he expected residents of the new development would drive through the village to get to Otley and Bradford, or Leeds via North Rigton.

He said:

“Our overriding concern is traffic through the village, it’s increased quite remarkably over the last decade. The development will make the situation worse.”

Harrogate Borough Council is drawing up a West Harrogate Parameters Plan, which is a document assessing the transport and infrastructure needs associated with plans to build up to 4,000 homes on the western side of Harrogate.

Mr Spence said local residents’ groups would like to see the plan published before any further decisions are made on the Windmill Farm development. He said:

“It’s been massively delayed. It’s almost a year late. We want some public involvement.”

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‘We don’t want to be NIMBYs’

Windmill Farm is allocated for development in the Harrogate district Local Plan, which outlines development in the district until 2035. This means the battle over whether it will be built has effectively been lost already and the debate is more about the amount and type of homes plus infrastructure.

Mr Spence said the parish council hoped the new homes reflected the character of the surroundings. He added:

“We don’t want to be NIMBYs, we respect the fact that people need somewhere to live.

“We want the village of Beckwithshaw to retain its influence rather than be subsumed into a massive development. Our little community wouldn’t be the same.”

Harrogate jewellers Fogal & Barnes will move into a new shop on Cambridge Street next month.

The luxury retailer will relocate from its current location on Oxford Street, where it has been for the past 10 months after initially launching online.

It will move into a unit between Marks & Spencer and Card Factory on Cambridge Street in about three weeks, after shopfitting is complete.

Fogal and Barnes’ new unit on Cambridge Street.

Richard Norman, who co-owns the business with his wife Mona, said the new shop was a better size and location. He added:

“We need to be in a prime location.

“It also gives us the opportunity to hire more people and we’re looking for one full time and one part-time staff member.”

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In July, Ms Norman was left terrified when specialist police officers took over her shop as part of a VIP training exercise. One officer, wearing a bulletproof vest, blocked the door.

She had not been forewarned about the visit and feared she was going to be robbed.

Durham Constabulary apologised, saying the officers should have identified themselves.

Bettys has announced the closure of its smallest branch in York, leaving nine jobs at risk.

The shop, known as Little Bettys, is on Stonegate, just around the corner from the Harrogate-based company’s larger tearoom on St Helen’s Square.

The decision to close follows a three week consultation with staff.

Little Bettys’ upstairs cafe closed in March, which affected 34 employees.

The company said in a statement today it was “an increasingly challenging environment to operate in, and the least commercially viable of the branches”.

Simon Eyles, managing director of Bettys, said:

“This has been a very tough decision, but one we have made for the long-term future of our business.

“Our people are our strength and we are focussing our energy now to find opportunities for the Little Bettys team in other roles within the business.

“We hope people will be able to pay us a last visit at Little Bettys and that we can help them create new memories in our other branches over the years to come.”

A final closing date is yet to be confirmed.

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Bettys’ other tearooms in Harrogate, Harlow Carr, Ilkley, Northallerton and York remain open.

Earlier this year Bettys said it faced its worst recruitment crisis in recent years, forcing it to close its Harrogate store four hours earlier than usual.

A tidy-up is underway at a central Ripon location where a sinkhole prevented new homes from being built.

The Stray Ferret understands the area in Allhallowgate will remain as green open space for the public to enjoy. Further details are expected shortly.

Grey hoardings around the site were taken down yesterday as part of the proposed makeover.

Harrogate Borough Council was set to build 17 homes to replace a block of flats in poor condition on Allhallowgate.

However, serious ground stability issues came to light during demolition of the existing properties and the project was scrapped in 2019.

The proposed scheme was backed with funding from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government but the sinkhole made the development economically unviable.

The site, pictured in February before the tidy-up began

The area remained dormant. Hoardings were erected and an entry gateway was chained and locked.

In February, Ripon councillor Mike Chambers, Harrogate Borough Council’s cabinet member for housing and safer communities, told the Stray Ferret:

“The area is going to be tidied up, levelled, re-seeded and greened to improve its appearance.

“It has become overgrown and the hoardings are a bit the worse for wear.”

With the removal of the hoardings, the extent of the tidy-up operation has become evident.

Bushes and overgrown foliage have been cut back and grass is starting to grow.

Removal of the hoardings started yesterday

Residents of the demolished block were all permanently re-housed by Harrogate Borough Council and funding has been allocated for extensive refurbishment and improvement of the remaining Allhallowgate block, which is due to start shortly.

Ripon’s gypsum issue

Ground instability problems caused by the soluble nature of gypsum have been seen in many parts of Ripon.

The Stray Ferret reported in October about the evacuation of a residential block at Bedern Court, caused by subsidence in the area.

In February 2018, a sinkhole opened up on the car park of Ripon Leisure Centre, off Dallamires Lane. A further void discovered near the leisure centre entrance a year ago is under investigation.

In 2016, a dozen homes in Magdalen’s Road were evacuated after a 66-foot wide sinkhole opened up.

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Harrogate Borough Council has approved new rules on staff severance packages after a review into the payments.

The payments, which can include allowances, hardship payments and paid leave for departing staff, will now have to be approved by the council leader and chief executive, and reported on an annual basis.

Any payments over £100,000 will also require approval from full council.

Previously, the payments were signed off by a monitoring officer and only those to senior staff were reported annually.

The new rules were approved at a meeting on Monday after independent auditors Mazars warned this year that the previous process risked a lack of balance between “inappropriate expenditure” and “allowing ineffective employment relationships to continue”.

£354,000 paid out in 2019/20

The council’s annual statement of accounts showed £354,000 was paid to 19 former employees in 2019/20 for wider payout packages, also including redundancy costs and compensation for loss of office.

This was an increase from the previous financial year, when £278,000 was agreed for 15 staff.

The statement of accounts also showed one member of staff received a £62,000 exit package in 2019/2020, although it is not known what job title they had or how much they were earning before they left their role.

The only member of staff who was named in the document was former director of community Paul Campbell, who left last year and was paid £55,065 in compensation for loss of office.

Mr Campbell had an annual salary of £89,727 and oversaw a range of council services, including emergency planning, housing, parks, waste and health and safety.

He has not been replaced since leaving 18 months ago. The council has said his responsibilities are being shared by other directors.

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At Monday’s audit and governance committee meeting, Jennifer Norton, head of legal and governance at the council, explained the new rules to councillors. She said:

“In accordance with current regulations, you do receive in the annual report the remuneration of senior employees including details of any severance payments.

“What I am proposing in line with government guidance is that regardless of seniority, all severance payments are reported on an annual basis.

“In terms of member involvement in the approval process, then the government guidance says that should sit with the leader of the council, which is what is proposed here.”

The new rules were unanimously voted through by members of the committee.

Harrogate Borough Council has installed two new beehives to help pollinate flowers and support biodiversity.

Once established, the bee colonies will produce honey that could be sold to the public.

A council spokesman said the beehives had been put on council-owned land off Wetherby Road, although the precise location wasn’t revealed.

They will be looked after by Terrence Ogilvie, a keen beekeeper who works in the council’s parks and street cleaning team.

If the experiment proves successful, the council could introduce more beehives across the district.

Conservative councillor Andrew Paraskos, cabinet member for environment, waste reduction and recycling, said:

“Bees are a vital part of the ecosystem to help pollinate many of the trees and flowers that provide habitats for wildlife.

“By introducing beehives we are further playing our part to help stop and reverse the decline of wildlife in the district.”

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• Harrogate’s ‘rewilding’: untidy or biodiversity boon?

Earlier this year, the council’s new rewilding strategy saw swathes of green spaces, including on the Stray, left untouched by mowers and strimmers to allow nature to grow free and attract bees.

The idea was welcomed by many, who saw it as a sign that the council was serious about improving biodiversity. But others, who cherish Harrogate’s reputation for organised and elegant planting, believed it made the town look untidy.

A new app showcasing walking trails of historic Harrogate locations has been launched.

Harrogate Civic Society started a website two years ago featuring walks around the brown heritage plaques of Harrogate.

Now a free app version, which includes trails for every brown heritage plaque in the town, is available.

It features seven walks, including the Starbeck trail, High Harrogate trail and the Montpellier trail.

Each one takes in a series of plaques across the town. They includes the Magnesia Well in Valley Gardens, the Tewit Well plaque at Cherry Tree Walk and the Southfield plaque, which commemorates Richard Ellis, former Mayor of Harrogate, at Station Parade.

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The app was developed by Simon Dicken, son of civic society treasurer Chris Dicken, who set up the Harrogate plaques website.

A spokesperson for the civic society said:

“It is hoped that visitors and local residents alike will use this new app to help them discover, through the plaques, the people, places and stories that are part of Harrogate’s rich spa history as well as looking at parts of the town with a new perspective.”

The app can be downloaded via the Google Play store on an Android phone for free.