Children’s author Hilary Robinson to give talk in Harrogate

Children’s author Hilary Robinson is set to give a special talk at the first meeting of Harrogate Children’s Book Group in 2022.

The event is free to attend. Those who are interested just need to register interest by sending an email here by January 24.

Hilary Robinson will give a presentation and sign copies of her Poppies series of books, which explores stories from the First World War and is now included on the reading list in Key Stage 2.

The meeting will take place at Woodlands Methodist Church Hall in Harrogate from 10.30am to 1pm on Saturday, January 29.

Fiona Brady, chair of Harrogate Children’s Book Group, said:

“We are delighted to be welcoming Hilary to our AGM. Her poetic books are touching tributes to the memories of war.

They celebrate the humanity and compassion that thrive even in the darkest of times, and explore difficult themes in a way that is perfect for younger readers.”

Ms Robinson is a radio producer and broadcaster who has written more than 70 picture books, including the Mixed Up Fairy Tales.

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Harrogate Children’s Book Group was first formed in 1980 and has since encouraged hundreds of local children to read for pleasure.

It is part of the Federation of Children’s Book Groups, a charity that promotes enjoyment and interest in children’s books and reading.

The Federation organises the highly-regarded Children’s Book Award, which is the only national award voted for solely by children from start to finish.

Children at 11 primary schools and seven secondary schools in the Harrogate area take part in the voting process each year.

Fiona added:

“We are looking forward to resuming our regular storytelling events and author talks in 2022 and continuing to work with schools to provide books for pupils.

If anyone with a passion for encouraging reading among children is interested in getting involved in the group, we are always looking for volunteers to join.”

Heritage groups say ‘no justification’ for Harrogate Debenhams demolition

Two influential national heritage groups have issued strong objections to plans to demolish the former Debenhams building on Parliament Street in Harrogate.

Wetherby-based property company Stirling Prescient is behind a proposal to demolish three buildings and replace them with 50 high-end apartments along with two commercial units.

The site has been home to different retailers on Parliament Street for over a century. Before Debenhams, it housed the Buckley’s and Busby’s stores.

But in documents submitted to the council, the developer said the buildings need to be demolished as their size means they are no longer viable for retail.

‘Historic and architectural value’

Campaign group and charity Save Britain’s Heritage submitted an objection to the plans this week, saying the developer had failed to provide “clear or adequate justification” for demolishing the 1902 and 1920 era buildings.

Another building next to Westminster Arcade that was added in the 1960s is also set for demolition.

The group says the two older buildings have “considerable historic and architectural value” and “add greatly” to the character and significance of Parliament Street.

It adds:

“No evidence or analysis has been provided to show unequivocally why the buildings cannot be retained and refurbished. Demolition is an extreme response to development in such a historic context, and therefore sets a commensurately high threshold for justification.”

Busby’s on Parliament Street. Copyright: Walker-Neesam Archive.

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In December, the public body Historic England also submitted an objection to the plans.

Whilst welcoming the regeneration of the site, it said there should be a “sensitive conversion” of the two older department store buildings.

It said:

“We have particular concerns over the proposed demolition of the early 20th century buildings on the corner of Oxford Street and Parliament Street contributing positively to the appearance and character of the conservation area, for which there is no clear and convincing justification.”

A view of the new apartments on Parliament Street.

A CGI view of the new apartments on Parliament Street.

Stirling Prescient said in planning documents:

“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.”

Harrogate Islamic Association hopes to see off anti-mosque campaign

Harrogate Islamic Association has said it is confident of seeing off an anti-mosque campaign fronted by a Bristol-based planning expert who calls himself the “Mosquebuster”.

Gavin Boby takes credit for the rejection of 47 out of 73 planning applications for UK mosques he has contested in the last 10 years.

In his latest video, Mr Boby said plans to convert the former Home Guard club on Harrogate’s Tower Street into a mosque “get under his skin”. He then goes on to make comments about the plan many would deem to be Islamophobic.

Mr Boby, who according to the Daily Mail has the support of the far-right English Defence League, suggests that people emphasise concerns about parking, traffic and pollution when objecting to plans for the mosque.

Since the start of the anti-mosque campaign, households across Harrogate have reported receiving leaflets through their doors encouraging them to oppose the plans with a guide on how to word the objection.

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Harrogate Islamic Association, which is behind the plans for the new mosque, which would be the first in the Harrogate district, has received one of the leaflets and addressed the concerns raised on its social media channels.

Zahed Amanullah, from HIA, told the Stray Ferret:

“Harrogate is a tolerant and welcoming place. That is why we live here and why I do not think a campaign like this will work here.

“For the most part when we have seen comments from Harrogate residents they are supportive. It’s people from outside the area who seem to object the most.

“I think this campaign and these leaflets will backfire on those who oppose the mosque. Residents who have received a leaflet have been in touch to tell us that they will now officially support our plans.”

The consultation period for the mosque plans on Harrogate Borough Council’s planning portal ends on Sunday, February 6.

Council completes £1.8 million purchase of Cardale Park land

North Yorkshire County Council has completed the £1.8 million purchase of land earmarked for a care home near Cardale Park.

The three-acre site on Beckwith Head Road in Harrogate was previously owned by Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust, which runs mental health services in the district.

However, the county council has now bought the land in order to progress a “scheme to assist with social care market development in the Harrogate area”.

Following the purchase, council officials are now expected to outline plans for the facility to senior county councillors in May.

A spokesperson for the county council said:

“We have completed purchase of the land and we are planning to go back to executive in May 2022 for a final decision on the use of the land and in the meantime and we are completing viability studies on best use of the site.”

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The land was previously given approval to build a 36-bed mental health facility on the site, following the closure of Harrogate District Hospital’s Briary Unit, which helped adults with mental illness.

However, those plans were dropped in 2019 and inpatients on the unit were sent to Foss Park Hospital in York instead.

New bar and nightclub to open on Harrogate’s Parliament Street

A new bar and nightclub is set to become the latest addition to the nightlife scene on Harrogate’s Parliament Street.

Best Bar will open as a bar and cafe during the day and then a wine, gin and cocktail bar in the evenings. On Fridays and Saturdays it is will also open as a nightclub.

Best Bar is currently advertising for bar staff, with banners in the shop window advertising it will be “opening soon”.

The bar, next to Santorini Express, isn’t the only new bar due to open on Parliament Street. Leeds-based cocktail bar Roland’s is opening a new venue in the former Moss Bros clothes shop.

Best Bar has been approved for an alcohol licence to sell until 2am Sunday to Wednesday and 4am Thursday to Saturday.

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Parliament Street already hosts numerous bars including Revolución de Cuba, Mojo, Wetherspoons and the Viper Rooms.

The Ginnel also hosts several bars, including Montey’s and Major Tom’s Social.

Harrogate guest house owner was ‘facilitator’ in £500k cannabis racket

A Harrogate woman who played the role of “facilitator” in a half-a-million-pound cannabis racket will have her accounts scrutinised before a financial-confiscation hearing to determine how much she pays back.

Yoko Banks, 73, a former guest-house owner, rented out her properties to an Albanian drug gang for “industrial” cannabis production “in the expectation of significant profit”, Leeds Crown Court heard. 

The disgraced pensioner was jailed for three-and-a-half years in August last year after she admitted three counts of being concerned in the production of cannabis. 

Her six co-conspirators, Visar Sellaj, 33, Kujtim Brahaj, 50, Indrit Brahaj, 27, Bledar Elezaj, 36, Andi Kokaj, 23, and 31-year-old Erblin Elezaj, an illegal immigrant, were jailed for a combined 22 years for various offences including drug supply and production of the highly potent skunk cannabis.

‘Complicated property empire’

Banks, who owns a string of “highly marketable” properties in some of Harrogate’s most desirable areas, now faces financial punishment under the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA), which will determine how much she has to pay back for her part in the drug plot worth at least half a million. 

She was back in court today via video link from New Hall women’s prison in Wakefield.

Prosecutor Michael Bosomworth said the Crown was not yet in a position to make a financial confiscation ruling because Banks’ defence team needed more time to delve into her “complicated” accounts and extensive “property empire”.

He added:

“It’s a somewhat complicated property empire and there’s going to be some time (needed) to prepare it.”

He said that Banks’ solicitors were hiring a forensic accountant to pore over her properties and assets.

Yoko Banks was jailed at Leeds Crown Court last year. Picture: the Stray Ferret.

Banks’ defence counsel confirmed that a forensic accountant had been instructed to scrutinise her accounts and the “considerable amount” of properties and other assets” she owned. 

Judge Neil Clark granted the defence an extra eight weeks to carry out an intensive audit of Banks’ assets.

She and her co-defendants will be back in court on Monday via video link when new dates will be set for the POCA hearings.

London gang invested in Banks’ properties

At the sentence hearing in August, the court heard that the “professional”, London-based gang had invested tens of thousands of pounds into three cannabis factories at Banks’s properties on Alexandra Road, Woodlands Road and Somerset Road near Harrogate town centre.

The criminals had even dug a trench outside the three-storey Edwardian villa on Alexandra Road through which they fed electricity cables to the house to power the “highly sophisticated” cultivation system and bypass the electricity grid.

Their plot finally unravelled when police were called to the five-bedroom villa on September 26 last year after reports of a “disturbance” in the street involving what appeared to be two rival gangs vying for the lucrative cannabis farm.

Officers found 283 plants in four growing rooms inside the mock-Tudor house, which was fitted with CCTV cameras.  Chillingly, they also found a “large” crossbow and arrows next to the front door. The plants had a potential yield of up to 21 kilos.  

Mr Bosomworth said the “organised” gang had operated the lighting, electrical and “security” systems remotely through broadband technology and were even able to watch a “live feed” of the drugs bust over the internet.

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There were other large grows at two of Banks’s other properties, which had the “capability of producing industrial amounts” of skunk. 

She had rented the properties to the Albanians through an “unidentified individual who goes by the name of Francesco”, who sub-let the houses to the gang’s ringleader Sellaj.

Before the drug raid, the gang had fled in a Transit van and an Audi which were “trapped” on the M1 by police in Hertfordshire and finally stopped on the M25 just after midnight.

Police found 30kg of “saleable”, harvested cannabis plants inside the van worth about £300,000.

Inside the £26,000 Audi SQ5, which belonged to Sellaj, police found £3,675 in cash and an 18-carat-gold Rolex watch worth £28,000.

As well as the 283 plants at the Alexandra Road factory, there were also 143 “root balls” from previous harvests and 6kg of cannabis flower buds. The “industrial” operation would have yielded between 11kg and 33 kilos worth up to £330,000. 

Fifty-nine cannabis plants, worth up to £83,000, were found at Banks’s Somerset Road property and 86 plants, with a “bulk value” of up to £62,000, were discovered at the house on Woodlands Road. 

The total potential yield of the 395 plants was 45 kilos, with a combined value of up to £456,000. This was in addition to the 30 kilos found in the van and did not include previous harvests.

Banks played ‘facilitating role’

Although Banks was not involved in the cultivation, she had played a “facilitating” or advisory role in the plot. She was in “regular communication” with ‘Francesco’ and Sellaj through Whatsapp messages and was constantly “pressing to be paid by them”.

Banks -—who had previous convictions for health-and-safety offences through her work — was due to be paid at least £12,000 a month in rent for the three properties and was also receiving “high” deposits.  

Her defence team claimed she had let out the properties to “supplement” her weekly pension due to financial pressures. 

It’s understood that Banks had been planning to appeal her conviction but had since abandoned the idea.

Confirmed: £11m Station Gateway to get green light next week

North Yorkshire County Council has confirmed that the £10.9m Harrogate Station Gateway will be recommended for approval next week.

The Stray Ferret revealed last week that the county council’s executive was expected to give the green light on January 25.

Now the county council, which is the lead partner for the scheme, has confirmed the executive is recommended to take the proposals forward to detailed design stage so work can start in spring or summer.

It says the move will save shops from decline, make the town centre more attractive and improve the town centre for cyclists and pedestrians.

Station Gateway design

James Street will be partly pedestrianised and traffic on some of Station Parade reduced to single lane.

The decision comes despite widespread opposition to the scheme from businesses and residents.

The results of the second phase of consultation, published last month, revealed that of 1,320 people who replied to an online survey, 55% feel negatively, 39% positively and five per cent neutral towards the scheme. One per cent said they didn’t know.

Nevertheless the scheme is expected to proceed with only minor amendments.

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A report to councillors acknowledges there has been “a general reduction in the level of support for the changes”. It says the main concerns are the negative impacts on businesses, congestion, air quality and the attractiveness, accessibility and safety of the town centre.

It adds that officers believe:

“The proposals will have an overall positive impact on the local economy, air quality and the attractiveness, accessibility and safety of the town centre with a minimal increase in journey times and flows in the worst case traffic modelling.

“It is therefore considered appropriate that the proposals be taken forward through detailed design and implementation.”

The report adds the “overall impact on retail footfall is expected to be positive”, adding.

“Evidence suggests that the town centre retail sector is at risk of decline in the medium term. There is also a growing body of case study evidence which indicates that the scheme will increase footfall and economic value.”

Granville Road Gateway protestors

Residents living near the town centre fear their streets will get more traffic.

Extra traffic in residential areas

Regarding concerns that the changes will displace traffic along the A61 Cheltenham Crescent into nearby residential streets, the report says traffic modelling looked at “significant changes (an average change of 3 vehicles per minute or more)”, adding:

“At the worst time of day (the afternoon peak hour) only East Parade experiences a significant increase in flow (5 vehicles per minute).”

The Harrogate scheme is one of three in Yorkshire being paid for with £42m from the government’s Transforming Cities Fund.

County Councillor Don Mackenzie, executive member for access, said:

These proposals represent the biggest investment in Harrogate, Selby and Skipton town centres in decades and aim to increase productivity by making it quicker, easier and safer for people to travel around and connect with economic opportunities.

“We want to encourage more people to travel by foot, bike and public transport because it is good for health and the environment by promoting fitness and reducing congestion. The spending will also provide a welcome boost for our town centres after two difficult years of trading during the pandemic.

“The entire project is a great example of partnership working between Craven District Council, Harrogate Borough Council, Selby District Council, North Yorkshire County Council and the West Yorkshire Combined Authority and is set to deliver real benefits to residents and businesses across our county.

“We have listened to feedback from the public consultations and are confident people will be pleased with the results.”

Bettys marks highest ever Christmas sales

Bettys has reported its highest ever sales figures for a Christmas period with 2021 seeing a 37% year-on-year increase.

The family-owned company, with two cafes in Harrogate, described it as a “huge achievement” after facing financial and recruitment challenges during the covid pandemic.

Its five cafe tea rooms report a £1.6 million increase on previous years with similarly high numbers in its retail sales. All shops also exceeded retail targets.

The 102-year-old company received a 4.2% increase in online orders, with 40% of those from new customers.

In response managing director, Simon Eyles, said:

“The Bettys business has had to weather a few storms in its 102-year history.

“This year all the teams across the Bettys business have done a truly exceptional job in the face of the worst recruitment challenges we’ve known, and the continuing worries and concerns of the global covid-19 pandemic. I am immensely proud of what we have achieved and cannot thank them enough.”

The business is still facing a recruitment a crisis and has been forced to continue with the shorter opening hours, which were brought in last August.

In Harrogate, the current opening hours are Monday to Friday 9.30-4pm, Saturday 9-5pm and Sunday 9-4pm.

It also made the decision to close one of its York stores this year. The 50-year-old store on Stonegate, known as Little Bettys, was closed as it was no longer “commercially viable”.

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Harrogate district unemployment falls again

The number of people receiving out-of-work benefits in the Harrogate district has continued to fall.

Latest monthly figures by the Office for National Statistics show 2,145 people were claiming the benefits on December 9, falling by 80 from November’s figure of 2,225.

The figure, however, remains considerably above pre-pandemic levels. In January 2020, 1,410 people claimed the benefits, which includes Universal Credit.

Universal Credit can also be claimed by people who are in work but on low incomes.

The furlough scheme ended on September 30 and supported around 28,600 jobs in the Harrogate district for 18 months.

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Meanwhile, this month Harrogate College announced it will be offering free haircuts and manicures to jobseekers.

The college, at Hornbeam Park, is providing the treatments to anyone who has secured a job interview.

Haircuts can be booked now between 3pm and 7pm on Wednesdays. Manicures will be available on Thursdays, starting on January 27, from 10am.

Students will provide the services at the college’s professional standard training salons.

Danny Wild, principal of Harrogate College, said he hoped the initiative would boost the participants’ job prospects.

Staffing fears as Harrogate council enters final months

The staffing of council services in Harrogate has been raised as a key concern as budget proposals including a 1.99% tax increase move a step forward.

Members of Harrogate Borough Council’s overview and scrutiny commission yesterday quizzed senior officials over their spending plans for 2022/23, which will be the council’s final full year before it is replaced with a new unitary authority covering the whole of North Yorkshire.

Liberal Democrat councillor Chris Aldred, chair of the overview and scrutiny commission, said staffing would be a “big challenge” during the year as some workers worried about job security look to leave local government.

“It is really important that we hang onto the good staff we have.

“As we move closer to 1 April 2023 when our beloved Harrogate Borough Council will cease to exist, staff are going to be looking elsewhere for a guaranteed job.

“I know the new North Yorkshire Council isn’t going to get rid of people just like that, but everybody is looking for job security.”

Yesterday’s meeting heard complaints over areas including street cleaning and planning as committee members questioned how staff would keep services running until the council is abolished.

This follows the end of a recruitment freeze last August when the council restarted hiring after more than a year of trying to keep costs down during the pandemic.

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Covid has been named as a reason for the proposed 1.99% tax rise, as well as years of government cuts which have seen the council’s grant allocations reduced by £8.2m since 2010.

If approved next month, the tax rise will equate to an extra £5 for the average Band D property which will pay £255.92 a year to the council.

Harrogate Borough Council makes up just under 13% of council tax bills, while North Yorkshire County Council makes up 70% and police and fire services the remainder.

Parish councils also make up a small proportion of bills.

The county council has yet to reveal its budget proposals, while the new North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Zoe Metcalfe has outlined a budget based on a £10 increase for average households.

After rises were agreed last year, average bills in the Harrogate district rose above £2,000 for the first time.

Frontline services remain ‘a priority’

Despite the funding challenges and covid impacts, Conservative councillor Richard Cooper, leader of Harrogate Borough Council, said major projects and frontline services would remain a priority ahead of the authority being abolished. He said:

“This budget is not part of a lull, hiatus or winding down.

“The strategy is to ‘bake in’ projects and initiatives that we want to see carried forward for the good of residents.”

Councillor Cooper, who will stand down after 24 years of service in 2023, added:

“We have young and senior talent all around this council and we will want to see those people represented at a very high level on the new authority.

“The proposal for a 1.99% council tax increase is way below the rate of inflation and is possible because of work over many years to reduce our cost base and make the best use of our assets.

“This is a budget that is a record of success that we are able to take forward into what is the final full year of Harrogate Borough Council.”