Starbeck residents raise concerns over street drinking

Residents in Starbeck last night raised concerns about an increase in street drinking and elected a new committee and chair who pledged to tackle the problem.

Starbeck Residents’ Association, which awards grants and campaigns to safeguard local facilities, had its annual general meeting at St Andrew’s Church. It was well-attended with about 80 residents packed into a room inside the church.

Some raised concerns about the “massive issue” of street drinking, with others saying they felt intimidated.

One said:

“Street drinking is a massive issue that needs to be addressed. People drinking during the day using Belmont Park. It’s not good and it’s a continuous problem.”

Another said:

“Older people feel extremely intimidated. It’s in doorways and in parks.”

Some residents suggested the problem had increased since the council’s homeless shelter Fern House opened this year.

Maggie Gibson, a housing officer from Harrogate Borough Council who works at Fern House, rejected this.

She said:

“There is an assumption it’s our residents. That is unfair. We monitor their behaviour.”

The work at Fern House was praised by SRA treasurer and nearby resident Leisa Mark, who encouraged residents to speak to the people that live there.

“Rather than being intimidated, we said hello. They are aware of how people perceive them.”

Read More: 

New chair

Chris Watt was voted in as the new SRA chair, replacing the outgoing Geoff Foxall.

Mr Watt was voted in by all but two residents, including Starbeck post office owner Andrew Hart who objected to his appointment due to Mr Watt’s affiliation with the local Labour Party.

A new 15-person committee was also elected. It included people who had lived in Starbeck for decades as well as 16-year-old Emily Mark, who spoke of her pride in living in the area.

Mr Watt told the Stray Ferret:

“We as a committee are focused on issues that are important to Starbeck, such as the high street, green spaces and anti-social behaviour. It’s great to have that mix of youth and experience on the committee.”

Grants awarded

The SRA also announced the recipients of four grants to local charities and organisations.

The grants come from interest on a £300,000 gift that was given to the Starbeck community by Taylor Woodrow, a steel fabrication company that moved away from Starbeck in the early 1990s. The grants are administered by Harrogate Borough Council.

These were:

£1,000 to Harrogate Railway Football Club for new nets.

£1,000 to Starbeck in Bloom to improve the area around the war memorial.

£1,000 to the charity Henshaws for new IT equipment

£400 to Starbeck Methodist Church to promote events.

Harrogate’s Rachel Daly dedicates England goal to late dad Martyn

Harrogate’s England football star Rachel Daly last night dedicated a goal to her dad Martyn, who recently died.

Daly, who went to Saltergate and Rossett schools and now plays in the United States for Houston Dash, scored the final goal in a 10-0 win against Luxembourg.

After the match Daly, who has 168,000 Twitter followers, dedicated the goal to her dad.

"I dedicate that to my Dad." ❤️

Amazing, @RachelDaly3. pic.twitter.com/46v5KPB7Sz

— Lionesses (@Lionesses) September 21, 2021

 

Martyn Daly died days before two recent England fixtures.

Daly started in both matches, including an 8-0 win over North Macedonia in which the players wore black armbands in memory of her father.

Speaking to the BBC, England manager Sarina Wiegman praised Daly:

“How she has performed this week and been focused on football is really incredible”.

Defender Millie Bright scored twice against Luxembourg and dedicated the goals to best friend Daly and Martyn.

She said:

“One was for Rach and one for her pops. She’s done him proud.”.

Read more:

The Stray Ferret met Martyn shortly before the Tokyo Olympics and he beamed with pride talking about his daughter’s journey from Killinghall Nomads boys team to the pinnacle of her sport.

Mr Daly, who lived in Harrogate and worked in IT in Leeds, played football semi-professionally for Harrogate Town and Knaresborough Town in his younger days.

He said in July:

“She’ll never realise what she’s done in the game until it’s over.

“Every pro has a cockiness about them but she’s down to earth too, she’s just my daughter.”

Dame Emma Kirkby to sing at Bach masterpiece in Harrogate

World renowned soprano Dame Emma Kirkby will be one of the soloists at a performance of J S Bach’s Mass in B minor in Harrogate next month.

The event will take place at at St Peter’s Church on October 8.

The combined choirs of St Peter’s Church and Vocalis chamber choir will be joined by the Harrogate Bach Players.

The other soloists include James Micklethwaite, Aoife O’Connell, Emma Stannard, and Andrew Greenan.

Dame Kirkby, who started as an amateur singer, was awarded the Queen’s Medal for Music in 2011.

Read More:

John Longstaff, director of music at St Peter’s, has organised the performance.

He said:

“it’s a wonderful and very difficult piece of music, extremely joyous and celebratory at times.

“I’ve loved it all my life but never had the opportunity to direct it and to perform it with the line-up of soloists and orchestral players who we have joining us, is a dream come true.”

Tickets cost £15. Call 07425161425 for more information.

Call for police action against Harrogate Asda car park ‘boy racers’

A Harrogate resident has called for police action against ‘boy racers’ who regularly descend on the town’s Asda car park.

The resident, who lives on Mayfield Grove within earshot of the car park, told the Stray Ferret he would organise a demonstration if nothing was done.

He said people on streets near the store were tired of the noise and had safety concerns about vehicles speeding.

According to the resident, who asked not to be named, about four to six cars belonging mainly to young men congregate nightly in the car park and rev their engines and pop their exhausts.

The resident said they had raised the matter with Philip Allott, the police commissioner for North Yorkshire, and a police community support officer had agreed to visit the supermarket this week to discuss the matter,

They said they would now wait to see what ensued before deciding whether to mobilise support for a demonstration.

“Every night for years these idiots gather in the rear part of Asda car park where they rev their engines then race out of the car park and round Harrogate.

“I have video and pics that I gave to Philip Allott of a Mercedes that is there most nights and which nearly wiped out a couple of customers.

“If the police don’t do anything about it, we are going to arrange a demo at Asda.”

Read more:

A spokesman for North Yorkshire Police said:

“We are aware of anti-social-behaviour problems around the Mayfield Grove area of Harrogate, in particular issues with speeding vehicles.

“We will be actively deploying specialist resource to the area which will include roads policing officers who will be robustly dealing with any offences.

“Officers will also be linking in other local organisations and utilising local CCTV to help us build intelligence.”

The spokesman said these measures were in addition to North Yorkshire Police’s ongoing Operation Crome initiative to tackle anti-social and illegal driving.

An Asda spokesman said:

‘’We thank the vast majority who use our car parks responsibly and we will work with the authorities to ensure that the spaces around our stores remain safe for our customers.’’

Live: Harrogate district traffic and travel

Good morning and welcome back to the traffic and travel blog. It’s Leah with you this morning, back from Portugal, hoping to help you avoid any problems by road or rail.

Give me a call on 01423 276197 or get in touch on social media if you spot anything on the roads or are waiting for a delayed bus or train.

The morning blogs are brought to you by The HACS Group.

9am – Full Update 

That is it from me this morning, I will be back with you tomorrow with regular updates from 06.30. Have a lovely day.

Roads

Otley Road is likely to be particularly busy as work has started on a new cycle route near Harlow Moor Road.

Traffic Hotspots:

Traffic is building here:

Road closures:

Temporary lights:

Trains

Buses

8.30am – Full Update 

Roads

Otley Road is likely to be particularly busy as work has started on a new cycle route near Harlow Moor Road.

Traffic Hotspots:

Traffic is building here:

Road closures:

Temporary lights:

Trains

Buses

 

8am – Full Update 

Roads

Otley Road is likely to be particularly busy as work has started on a new cycle route near Harlow Moor Road.

Traffic Hotspots:

Traffic is building here:

Road closures:

Temporary lights:

Trains

Buses

 

7.30am – Full Update 

Roads

Otley Road is likely to be particularly busy as work has started on a new cycle route near Harlow Moor Road.

Traffic Hotspots:

Traffic is building here:

Road closures:

Temporary lights:

Trains

Buses

7am – Full Update 

Roads

Otley Road is likely to be particularly busy as work has started on a new cycle route near Harlow Moor Road.

Road closures:

Temporary lights:

Trains

Buses

 

6:30am – Full Update 

Roads

Otley Road is likely to be particularly busy as work has started on a new cycle route near Harlow Moor Road.

Road closures:

  • Leeds Road, outside Marks and Spencer – lane closure
  • Rossett Park Road – road closure, plus temporary lights on Leadhall Lane
  • Kingsley Drive, Starbeck – road closure
  • Chestnut Grove, the road rear of Chestnut Grove, and Birch Grove, Bilton – road closure
  • Whiteley Yard, Knaresborough, across from The Crown Inn – road closure
  • Lands Lane, Knaresborough – road closure
  • Copgrove Road, Burton Leonard – road closure
  • Luncarr Lane, Copt Henwick – road closure from 08:00
  • Queen Street, Ripon – road closure
  • B6265 Bishopton to Eavestone – road closure. Diversions through Ripon, Glasshouses and Ripley
  • Westerns Lane, Markington – road closure
  • Main Street to Tanfield Bridge, West Tanfield – road closure

Temporary lights:

  • Leadhall Lane in Rossett Green
  • Ripon Road in Harrogate, near McCarthy’s Storage World
  • Green Lane at the junction with Rossett Avenue
  • Otley Road around the junctions for Cold Bath Road and Harlow Moor Road
  • Wayside Crescent just off Wetherby Road, near Harrogate Town football ground
  • Hawthorne Avenue in Hookstone Chase
  • Station Bridge in the town centre
  • Parliament Terrace in central Harrogate, near Five Guys
  • Ripon Road near Co-op petrol station
  • Hollins Lane, Hampsthwaite
  • Fisher Street, Knaresborough
  • Thistle Hill, Knaresborough
  • Blands Hill, Knaresborough
  • Boroughbridge Road, near Farnham Lane
  • A59 York Road, near the Station Road junction
  • Allerton Park Interchange, at the Flaxby junction of the A1(M)
  • Clotherholme Road, Bishopton near Ripon
  • Minster Road, Ripon, outside the cathedral

Trains

  • 06:03 Harrogate to Leeds is due at 06:44
  • 08:06 Knaresborough to Leeds is due at 08:53

Buses

  • Harrogate Bus Company is running a reduced timetable due to driver availability. The 36 bus will run every 30 mins between Harrogate & Ripon, and every 15 mins between Harrogate & Leeds.

 

Are pop-ups set to stay in Harrogate after boom in popularity?

The trend of pop-ups stores appears to be on the rise in Harrogate town centre with two new ones opening recently at the Victoria Centre.

The latest ones follow the Ellie Warburtons pop-up cake shop which took over the former Swarovski store on James Street.

The idea of a pop-up is that it gives prime town centre space to small, local businesses at a fraction normal Harrogate high street rents.

The pop-up space outside the Victoria Centre near Claire’s is run by property consultants Barker Proudlove.

Before opening, Barker Proudlove had five businesses booked in for the first seven weeks.

The first tenant of the space, last week, Laura Berryman of L&N Candles said her pop-up was a “great success”.

She suggested similar venues should open in Harrogate to give small businesses the chance to reach more customers.

Read more:

Today, a ping-pong pop-up parlour opened in the shopping centre as a community space for locals to use. The aim is to encourage more people in to the town centre.

Pop-ups also stop a unit standing empty in Harrogate, even if only temporarily.

The trend has been welcomed by the Harrogate BID manager Matthew Chapman. He said:

“The BID is very supportive of having pop-up shops, albeit temporary, to bring empty units back to life. It is a great way of helping breathe new life into the high street, and also helps start up and independent businesses to test the market with their products without unnecessary financial risk.

And for the landlord, it also means they aren’t liable to pay ‘empty shop’ rates.”

Harrogate motorists encouraged to ditch car on Fridays

Motorists in the Harrogate district are being encouraged to ditch their car for one day a week and instead walk, cycle or take public transport to work.

It’s for a new weekly initiative called ‘Car Free Fridays’ that has been launched by local green charity Zero Carbon Harrogate. 

It will take place every Friday beginning October 8 and ZCH hopes it will encourage some new greener habits. Transport is the largest source of emissions in the Harrogate District, making up 49% of the total figure.

Jemima Parker, chair of Zero-Carbon Harrogate said:

“It’s a good way of encouraging people to have one day a week where they leave their car at home. It encourages good habits”.

“Reducing cars on our roads also has the added benefit of improving air quality and reducing traffic congestion, and active travel such as cycling and walking is great for our health and mental wellbeing. Good for us, and good for the planet.”

Car Free Fridays is being backed by Harrogate Borough Council and Bettys & Taylors of Harrogate.

Read more:

Walk to School Day

Car-Free Fridays will also coincide with the district’s second Walk to School Day on October 8.

More than 7,000 pupils from 31 schools across the Harrogate district ditched their usual method of transport to take part in the first ZCH event in June.

North Stainley Church of England School won the ‘Zero Hero Primary‘ award, with 94% of its pupils taking part.

Longstanding Harrogate restaurant set to make way for pub

A longstanding Indian and Bangladeshi restaurant in Harrogate has closed and could be converted into a pub.

The Ali Raj, on Cheltenham Crescent, was the first Bangladeshi restaurant in town when it opened more than 35 years ago.

After a couple of tough years for the hospitality industry, restaurant owner Abdul Rashid, who took over the business from its original owners, decided to close.

Mr Rashid announced the news on the Ali Raj Facebook page, saying it was the “end of an era”.

The Stray Ferret tried to contact Mr Rashid for comment but did not receive a reply by the time of publication.

Read more:

Richard Park, owner of The Little Ale House, which is situated beneath the Ali Raj, has applied to Harrogate Borough Council to change the use of the building from restaurant to pub on both the first and second floors of the building.

Mr Park and his wife Danni opened The Little Ale House in 2016 to recreate a rustic country pub atmosphere in the town centre.

They have been keen to support micro breweries and encourage conversation by shunning TVs and background music.

Live: Harrogate district traffic and travel

Good morning and welcome back to the traffic and travel blog. It’s Connor with you this morning hoping to help you avoid any problems by road or rail.

Give me a call on 01423 276197 or get in touch on social media if you spot anything on the roads or are waiting for a delayed bus or train.

The morning blogs are brought to you by The HACS Group.

9am – Full Update 

That is all from me this morning on the traffic and travel news desk. Leah will be back with you tomorrow morning from 6.30am.

The roads are looking quite busy already around Harrogate, Ripley and Knaresborough this morning. There are several construction works ongoing in the area which seem to be causing issues.

Roads where congestion is building:

Road closures:

Temporary lights:

Trains

Buses

8.30am – Full Update 

The roads are looking quite busy already around Harrogate, Ripley and Knaresborough this morning. There are several construction works ongoing in the area which seem to be causing issues.

Roads where congestion is building:

Road closures:

Temporary lights:

Trains

Buses

8am – Full Update 

The roads are looking quite busy already around Harrogate, Ripley and Knaresborough this morning. There are several construction works ongoing in the area which seem to be causing issues.

Roads where congestion is building:

Road closures:

Temporary lights:

Trains

Buses

7.30am – Full Update 

The roads are looking quite busy already around Harrogate, Ripley and Knaresborough this morning. There are several construction works ongoing in the area which seem to be causing issues.

Roads where congestion is building:

Road closures:

Temporary lights:

Trains

Buses

7am – Full Update 

Roads

Otley Road is likely to be particularly busy as work has started on a new cycle route near Harlow Moor Road.

Road closures:

Temporary lights:

Trains

Buses

6:30am – Full Update 

Roads

Otley Road is likely to be particularly busy as work has started on a new cycle route near Harlow Moor Road.

Road closures:

  • Leeds Road, outside Marks and Spencer – lane closure
  • Rossett Park Road – road closure, plus temporary lights on Leadhall Lane
  • Kingsley Drive, Starbeck – road closure
  • Chestnut Grove, the road rear of Chestnut Grove, and Birch Grove, Bilton – road closure
  • Whiteley Yard, Knaresborough, across from The Crown Inn – road closure
  • Lands Lane, Knaresborough – road closure
  • A1(M) northbound entry slip and southbound exit slip at Flaxby – closure
  • Copgrove Road, Burton Leonard – road closure
  • Luncarr Lane, Copt Henwick – road closure from 08:00
  • Queen Street, Ripon – road closure
  • B6265 Bishopton to Eavestone – road closure. Diversions through Ripon, Glasshouses and Ripley
  • Westerns Lane, Markington – road closure
  • Main Street to Tanfield Bridge, West Tanfield – road closure

Temporary lights:

  • Leadhall Lane in Rossett Green
  • Ripon Road in Harrogate, near McCarthy’s Storage World
  • Green Lane at the junction with Rossett Avenue
  • Otley Road around the junctions for Cold Bath Road and Harlow Moor Road
  • Wayside Crescent just off Wetherby Road, near Harrogate Town football ground
  • Hawthorne Avenue in Hookstone Chase
  • Station Bridge in the town centre
  • Parliament Terrace in central Harrogate, near Five Guys
  • Ripon Road near Co-op petrol station
  • Hollins Lane, Hampsthwaite
  • Fisher Street, Knaresborough
  • Thistle Hill, Knaresborough
  • Blands Hill, Knaresborough
  • Boroughbridge Road, near Scriven
  • A59 York Road, near the Station Road junction
  • Allerton Park Interchange, at the Flaxby junction of the A1(M)
  • Clotherholme Road, Bishopton near Ripon
  • Minster Road, Ripon, outside the cathedral

Trains

  • All services from Harrogate, Leeds and Knaresborough are on schedule.

Buses

  • Harrogate Bus Company is running a reduced timetable due to driver availability. The 36 bus will run every 30 mins between Harrogate & Ripon, and every 15 mins between Harrogate & Leeds.
O2 apologises for network problems in Harrogate

Mobile network O2 has apologised to customers in Harrogate who have been experiencing network issues due to a faulty phone mast.

The company said in a statement today it had ordered a new part to fix the problem but it had been out of stock for a long time.

The Stray Ferret understands that customers of O2 have complained about problems with calls, texts and data for about four months.

However, there appears to be no end to the problems in sight.

Read more:

A spokesperson for O2 told the Stray Ferret:

“We apologise to customers who may be experiencing network issues in the area.

“This is due to a faulty unit, which we have requested a replacement for but which has unfortunately been out of stock for a long time.

“We are doing all we can to escalate and progress this, our network team is speaking regularly with the site owners so that as soon as we can, we will have engineers on site to fix the equipment and restore full service for our customers.”

There are other masts serving the Harrogate area. However, the fault has meant that customers are struggling to access 4G speeds.