Stray Views is a weekly column giving you the chance to have your say on issues affecting the Harrogate district. It is an opinion column and does not reflect the views of the Stray Ferret. See below for details on how to contribute.

Harrogate’s Army Foundation College saves young people

Network Rail has questions to answer about tree felling

Your journalist reports that ‘some trees have been felled’ at Hornbeam Park. As a Harrogate resident living on Tewit Well Road, I want to report that all the trees have been felled. Tell it as it is, please.

We now have a situation where residents are having to prevent some of the young people of Harrogate putting themselves at risk and using this newly cleared area for their own purposes. When the line had mature trees, we may have the occasional leaf on the line, but we certainly didn’t have youngsters jumping over to sunbath, party etc.

I’m afraid Network Rail has a lot to answer for here. A poor ecological management decision has left local residents policing an area that was once a mature habitat for local wildlife.

Who was the ecologist who advised Network Rail? Are they not accountable for the habitat decimation that we have been left with? How can they say anything other than recovery will take years? Is Network Rail pleased with the result?’

Not impressed.

Charlie McCarthy
Local resident

Questions that need answering about Beech Grove

As a resident and local business owner of 11 years, I and many others strongly believe the Low Traffic Neighbourhood experiment on Beech Grove creates more congestion, longer car journey times and increased carbon emissions on surrounding roads.

Otley Road currently has major road works and the planned 20-week cycle lane construction will cause further disruption and congestion.

There are many unanswered questions for North Yorkshire County Council:

1. What is the overall aim of this Low Traffic Neighbourhood?
2. In the latest council meeting we were told that the cycling groups are being consulted to make these decisions. Why are the cycling groups being consulted and the residents and businesses, who pay taxes and rates, not consulted?
3. How do you measure success or failure?
4. What data are you collecting and where from?
5. Which company are you using to analyse this?
6. Did you count how many cyclists and motorists use the roads, before you closed them?
7. Is information collected during the same months of the year, so you can directly compare activity in all seasons and weather?
8. Is it the best time to do this during a lockdown?
9. Why did NYCC approve all the housing developments, each with 2-3 cars, when 84% of people expressed that Harrogate was congested in the 2019 survey?
10.  What’s the projection of people who will swap their cars for bikes and what is this based on?
11. Far more people walk than cycle and yet the pavements are shocking, they are left for months after the Autumn leaves fall without being cleared and go untreated in ice and snow. How does this encourage people to walk?
12. Where is the evidence that there is an appetite for more cycling?

I have spoken to many residents and businesses and cars are critical for the school run, appointments, visiting relatives, holidays, tourism but, most importantly, to access businesses.

Cars are the lifeblood of many businesses and thousands of jobs depend on them. Banning them cannot be the only solution.

Lucy Gardiner, Harrogate Residents Association

Why is government spending so much on roads?

Got an opinion on the Harrogate district? Email us at letters@thestrayferret.co.uk. Please include your name and approximate location details. Limit your letters to 350 words. We reserve the right to edit letters.

A covid-delayed project to refurbish a former Harrogate Borough Council office has taken a step forward after the approval of a £500,000 construction contract.

The council vacated Springfield House, at Harrogate Convention Centre, when it moved all of its operations to its new £13m civic centre at Knapping Mount in 2017.

The office has since been let out to businesses.

A planned refurbishment of the upper floors was due to start last year but hit delays as access was restricted during the convention centre’s use as an NHS Nightingale hospital.

At a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, councillor Graham Swift, deputy leader and cabinet member for resources, enterprise and economic development at the council, said he had been “thwarted and frustrated” by the setbacks.

He added that he welcomed the awarding of the £501,815 contract to York-based Lindum Group Limited after a competitive tender process.

The works will include new office spaces, a refurbished space for convention centre staff and a business incubator scheme which provides mentoring and support services for entrepreneurs starting out in business.

The ‘digital incubator hub’ will be funded through £540,000 through the Leeds City Region Local Enterprise Partnership and is expected to make the council around £49,000 a year.

This is according to a report which also said the other office spaces would generate around £40,000 a year when fully let.

Speaking about the Springfield House plans, councillor Swift said:

“I have been thwarted and frustrated with this project which we would have liked to have implemented over 12 months ago but as the project was up-and-running when then found ourselves in a covid environment.

“This is an essential project for the district and the sort of project other people are investing in too. I know Crescent Gardens is gathering momentum and other developers in town are keen to take advantage of what is going to a fluid but important space in the market for small start-up businesses to grow.”

Read more:

• What have our local MPs been up to this month?
• Knaresborough free parking extension comes to an end this month. 

It comes as plans to transform the council’s former Crescent Gardens headquarters into offices and a roof garden restaurant have been formally submitted.

Harrogate-based property company Impala Estates bought the site in January last year for £4m. Its plans also include creating a gym, as well as turning the former council chamber and mayor’s parlour into meeting rooms.

The Harrogate district has recorded just two coronavirus cases in today’s daily figures, according to Public Health England.

It means that the seven day rate in the district remains low at just 15 per 100,000 compared to the England average of 44 per 100,000.

North Yorkshire as a whole has a slightly lower seven day rate than the rest of the country at 36 per 100,000.

So far 7,590 people have tested positive for coronavirus since the start of the pandemic in the district.

Harrogate District Hospital has not recorded any further coronavirus deaths today.

The hospital recorded a death for the first time in 13 days on March 30. Currently the hospital’s death toll is at 178.

Read more:

• Knaresborough vaccine centre hits out after 450 no-shows
• Harrogate Youth Festival heads online this evening

The Harrogate International Youth Festival will have a new look this year as it heads online tonight.

The festival’s ‘Big Night In’ will take place at 7.30pm.

It is the longest running International Youth Music and Performing Arts Festival in the UK holding an event each Easter weekend since 1973.

The official festival has been postponed until next year, when international travel resumes. The organisers couldn’t let the weekend go ahead without some form of celebration – so instead they arranged the virtual concert.

The festival organisers will bring regular participants together on Zoom to watch key moments of previous festivals.

Micheal Newby, former Harrogate Mayor, will be hosting the online show and introducing a variety of video footage of recent concerts involving local and international artists.

Mr Newby said:

“This really will be a jammed packed evening! We simply could not put everything in that we wanted to – but I think we’ve got a really good selection that we know our audiences will love to see.

“We can’t wait to be together again and perform at these amazing venues in our community – but until then, we wanted to celebrate these amazing schools, groups and colleges that have performed with us over the years and really look forward to a fantastic Festival year next year.”

Read more:

• Hollywood director to start in this year’s Harrogate Film Festival. 
• First ever four-day Great Yorkshire Show confirmed for this July. 

In previous years, the six night festival would start with marching bands parading through the Harrogate town centre. Shows would run in big venues such as the Royal Hall and Ripon Cathedral.

The festival aims to bring, primarily youth, choirs, orchestras and bands together from across the world to perform in Harrogate.

A picnic bench in Irongate Field near the Pinewoods in Harrogate went up in flames last night.

Firefighters from Harrogate attended the blaze at 9.30pm last night and used two backpack sprayers to dampen down the area.

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue has now confirmed it believes the fire was set deliberately.

The person who found the fire said that he found beer bottles around the bench.

A spokesperson for North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue said:

“A crew from Harrogate attended a fire in the open, this turned out to be a fire to a picnic bench.

“They used two knapsack sprayers and dampened down the area. The cause is believed deliberate.”

Read more:

• Wildfire fears over Easter weekend
• Nidderdale eco-business plants 50,000th tree

This article is written by Historian Malcolm Neesam. Malcolm is a much-published author. In 1996 Harrogate Borough Council awarded Malcolm the Freedom of the Borough for his services as the town’s historian.

The rows about the effect on the Stray of the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) cycling event in 2019, and more recent proposals to construct cycle routes and extra outdoor space for bars, emphasise the high importance it has for many people.

This is nothing new, and modern readers may be interested to learn of one of the biggest rows in the history of 20th-century Harrogate which – as ever – was fought between the council and the public, with the result that the council was thrown out of office. Known as the “battle of the flowerbeds”, the issue achieved national press coverage.

It was in November 1932 that the council took up the suggestion of J G Besant, the parks superintendent, that the approaches to the town centre would be made more attractive by the construction of flower beds on West Park Stray between Otley Road and Montpellier Hill. The idea had come to Mr Besant while on holiday at another British resort, which had a similar feature.

Although this was a nice concept, Mr Besant did not seem to understand that the Stray did not belong to the council but was protected by Acts of Parliament for the main purpose of keeping its 220-odd acres intact and free from “incroachment” – any enclosure that hindered public access other than those allowed by the Acts, such as public lavatories.

It is a mystery why town clerk J Turner Taylor did not warn the council that the Besant proposal entailed a breach of the Harrogate Corporation Act 1893. Mr Turner Taylor, who was possibly the best town clerk or chief official ever to work for Harrogate, had come to office in 1897, the year of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee, and worked devotedly for Harrogate, wearing himself out in the process. He had wanted to retire after the First World War, but remained in office at the urging of the council and by the 1930s was exhausted and also ill with the malady that would kill him barely a year after his 1935 retirement.

The 1893 Act, 56 & 57 Victoria, section 10, stated that the corporation “must keep the Stray unenclosed and unbuilt as an open space for the recreation and enjoyment of the public” , with section 11 adding “the Corporation shall at all times… preserve the natural aspect and state of the Stray… and protect the trees, shrubs, plants, turf and herbages growing on the same and shall prevent all persons from felling, cutting, lopping or injuring the same and from digging clay, loam and soil therefrom”.

As the proposed flowerbeds would require removing the surface herbage and disturbing the sub-soil, with the public subsequently being unable to use those areas, a breach of the Act was clear. But for whatever reason, Mr Taylor Turner never appears to have advised the council of this. On the contrary, on December 23 1932 the Yorkshire Post noted that not only had the clerk advised that the proposal was legal, but his opinion was backed by the chairman of the Stray Committee, the lawyer Mr S Barber. Consequently, the council’s pursuance of its parks superintendent’s scheme resulted in disaster.

One and a quarter acres of the Stray were dug up and turned into flowerbeds in 1933, to the anger of residents

Even before the council’s fateful decision, the owner and editor of the Harrogate Advertiser W H Breare wrote a blistering statement warning that the action was illegal. Nevertheless, at a full council meeting on December 12, approval was given to spend £40 on the preparation of the beds, and £70 on labour.

Work on clearing the Stray’s surface then began. The Besant plan called for two rows of variously shaped beds to be carved out between the junction of West Park and Otley Road. The outer row nearest to the highway consisted of 27 beds for flowers between Otley Road and Beech Grove, with a further row of 11 single beds for shrubs between Beech Grove and the footpath that ran from lower Montpellier Hill to Victoria Road and Esplanade.

In all, some one and a quarter acres were lost, with one third of the replacements being filled with shrubs, and two thirds with flowers, for which three plantings per annum were envisaged, requiring about 18,000 plants per planting.

Public reaction was instant and hostile, with strong opposition being expressed to individual councillors as well as to the press. One councillor, Mr J C Topham, tried to have the minutes of December 12 1932 rescinded on January 9 1933, but voting went against this with five in favour, and 20 against. The council now set itself to resist firmly the public opposition, but it miscalculated the degree of resentment towards its intransigence. The battle was only beginning.

Backed with increasing signs of public disquiet, at the February council meeting Cllr Topham introduced a further resolution to rescind the resolution of December 12. Again the resolution failed with five in favour, and 23 against – and the town clerk again stating that the Besant plan was legal.

At this second failure, public opinion exploded, and on February 9 one of the largest public gatherings ever held in Harrogate was held in the Spa Rooms, with the press reporting that hundreds of townspeople had to be turned away.

A satirical cartoon from 1934 shows Old Mother Harrogate haranguing councillors

This meeting, which was chaired by Mr Tyack Bake, included a reference to a 1923 scheme of the council to build 20 tennis courts on West Park Stray, which was abandoned after vociferous public protest. The meeting, which included several members of Harrogate’s legal profession, ended with resolutions to oppose the council’s scheme and to test its legality. A meeting held by the Chamber of Trade expressed similar reservations.

Public fury increased substantially when on May 8 1933 the council gave approval to the Stray Committee to remove 5,000 square yards of turf at Stray Rein for re-laying on the new terraces in Valley Gardens outside the Sun Pavilion. As the turf had already been removed, any objections were a bit late!

Residents of Beech Grove sent their butlers to protest outside the council’s new Crescent Gardens offices. Another wealthy resident threatening to drive his Rolls Royce over the illicit “inclosures”. But by far the greater number of protests came from less affluent members of Harrogate’s citizenry.

By spring 1933, it was clear to the public that the council would not be moved, and so the obvious solution was to remove the council instead. A new organisation, named the “Stray Defence Association” (SDA), was born. As the summer of 1933 progressed, and opinions hardened, the press – both regional and national – was filled with heated correspondence relating to Harrogate’s “Battle of the Flowerbeds”, whose supporters received a considerable boost from a remark attributed to the visiting Queen Mary that the new flowerbeds “looked very nice”.

Due to uncertainty over the legal situation because of a section of the 1893 Act, which empowered the corporation to plant trees and shrubs on the Stray, the new defence association decided not to embroil the town in an expensive legal wrangle, but to oppose at the coming November’s elections those councillors known to support the Besant plan. In September, the SDA sent councillors a letter stating its objective in restoring the Stray and asking for their support.

When in the majority of cases this was not forthcoming, the SDA resolved to stand for election against individual Stray desecration supporters. Mr R Ernest Wood and Arthur Pearson put their names forward. Both were returned as councillors.

With this success behind them, the SDA again asked to remove the beds, which was met with a curt refusal during the council meeting of January 8 1934. So many people tried to gain admission that the council was forced to move the proceedings to the Winter Gardens, where several outbursts of public anger drowned out councillors. However, the opponents of the Besant plan on the council had now increased from five to 12, one of whom was the youthful Harry Bolland, who showed his political sensitivity by admitting the council had got it wrong.

As for the 18 who still remained in support, the SDA announced they would be opposed by its members when the elections came around again later that year. In November 1934, all four association candidates were returned on the policy of restoring the Stray.

It was at a lively meeting on November 9, complete with interruptions and much booing from the public, that the new council debated whether to remove the Besant beds. The motion from Alderman Bolland that it be a matter of urgency that the Stray be restored was supported by 18 votes for against 13 die-hards who opposed it. The motion passed, and work began immediately to restore the Stray, with the sites laid down to grass.

A mock tombstone for Harrogate councillors over the Stray flowerbeds battle in the 1930s.

Throughout the “battle of the flowerbeds”, a hard core of councillors remained oblivious to public feeling, the mayor in particular exhibiting a furious contempt towards his opponents. All this did nothing to maintain respect towards elected representatives. More dangerously, the sudden re-formation of the council on a one-issue basis (i.e. the restoration of the Stray) meant that the council faltered with its three-part plan for the Valley Gardens, until the issue of treatment accommodation at the Royal Baths became of pressing importance towards the end of the decade.

It has been because Harrogate’s history is not taught to councillors that the battle of the Stray has to be re-fought on average once a decade. Invariably, these are the result of the council attempting to foist on the public alterations to the Stray “for the good of the town” or to placate some noisy action group. Most dangerous of all is when the council decides some pet scheme requires new legislation to change the law prohibiting inclosure.

Some examples of these pressures were the suggestions to build tennis courts on the Stray in the 1920s, a boating lake in the 1930s, a hula-hoop park in the 1950s, a conference centre in the 1960s, or an underground car park in the 1970s. But the Stray has survived because the public wanted its Stray to remain untouched. Long may this be true.

Read More:

• History: Where is the vision, where is the hope? 
• Council to recommend Wetherby Road land for Stray swap

The £1million replacement of Harrogate Theatre’s 120-year-old roof is set to get underway next month after councillors agreed funding for the project.

Cabinet members on Harrogate Borough Council – which owns the Grade II-listed building – yesterday agreed to support the project set to start on 3 May.  A huge temporary structure will be erected over the entire building before the ageing roof is stripped back.

The council has already carried out fire safety works over the last year, and the project will also include repairs to windows, brickwork and guttering.

Speaking at a meeting this week, Jonathan Dunk, executive officer for major projects at the council, said it was “likely” that workers would become aware of the need for further repairs once the roof is removed and that costs could overrun.

He said:

“This is a significant investment in Harrogate Theatre which is a key asset that supports the town and will contribute to the council’s economic recovery plan,

“Like any construction project, particularly on a building of this age and complexity, there is a risk of programme and cost overrun. We have done all the correct work and will continue to engage with all parties and take the right professional advice to understand these risks.

“We will bring a further report back to cabinet on 21 July when we have more detail on the condition of the roof and impact on cost.”

Read More:

• Harrogate arts organisations awarded covid culture grants
• Hollywood director, Oliver Stone, to star in Harrogate Film Festival

Due to the disruption the works will cause, the theatre will need to close for the duration of the project which is scheduled for  the end of September.

But David Bown, chief executive of the theatre trust, said it still plans to host shows at other venues in summer, possibly including the town’s Royal Hall, Harrogate Convention Centre and community centres.

He previously said:

“We are extremely excited to be reconnecting with our audiences out in the community, whilst the theatre is being much improved and made safer for our return.

“We are working closely with Harrogate Borough Council to minimise disruption and relocate events where possible and we look forward to hosting live events back at the theatre as soon as we can.”

The theatre has remained closed throughout the covid outbreak.

It has received almost £650,000 in government grants and also raised more than £100,000 during a fundraising appeal to help it survive the pandemic.

Speaking at this week’s meeting, councillor Stanley Lumley, the council’s cabinet member for culture, tourism and sport, said:

“Any district or town is judged by its cultural offer.

“We have a wonderful theatre, museums and art galleries. These, along with the superb Harrogate International Festivals, the Harrogate district has an excellent reputation that we need to support and protect.”

Harrogate Theatre was built in 1900 and has a seating capacity of 500.

The trust that runs it also operates Harrogate’s Royal Hall concert venue.

Harlow Hill locals are suffering from a “constant and continuing” succession of road closures, says a local residents group.

It follows the confirmation that Harlow Moor Road in Harrogate will be closed until April 21, including for pedestrians. A series of roadworks on nearby Otley Road began on January 5.

Whinney Lane has been closed since July 2020.

Northern Power Grid needs Harlow Moor Road closed to relocate underground utilities. This is so NYCC can upgrade the Harlow Moor Road/Otley Road junction as part of the Otley Road cycle scheme.

David Siddans, spokesman for the Harlow and Pannal Ash Residents Association (HAPARA), said locals now expect “years of disruption” due to the various new housing developments on the Western arc of Harrogate.

NYCC has an order to close Harlow Moor Road at any time between January 18 2021 and January 17 2022 but a spokesperson said no further closures are currently planned on the road.

Read more:

• Deja vu on the Stray, as party ends with litter
• Is it a buzzard? A great tit? …Or a police speed van?

Mr Siddans said:

“Whilst we accept that temporary closure works are necessary for works to improve the junction layout, we know that residents in this area are suffering from a constant and continuing succession of road closures and disruption from utilities diversions and construction activities relating to the extensive housing developments, on top of which we fear the prospect of further lengthy delays on Otley Road once works on the cycleway begin later this year.

“It seems that residents will be facing the prospect of continuing disruption from infrastructure works relating to a succession of housing developments on the west side of Harrogate for many years to come.”

When the Otley Road works began in January, Melisa Burnham, the council’s highways area manager, said those involved would try to keep disruption to a minimum.

She said:

“The traffic management will be continuously monitored and manually controlled during peak times each day. We are committed to keeping disruption to a minimum.”

Hotels, restaurants and bars in Harrogate are doubling down on their outdoor dining offering in time for reopening on April 12.

Although hospitality businesses are praying for a great British summer, they are also preparing for rain.

Venues in the Harrogate district had to adapt quickly to covid last year but this year’s roadmap has enabled them to plan to increase their outdoor covered areas based on what they have learned works.

Read more:

• Blow for businesses wanting to use Stray this summer
• First ever four-day Great Yorkshire Show confirmed

The West Park Hotel is one of those trying to take full advantage of space, both at the front and back.

As well as using its back courtyard, it is also working with neighbouring shops to bring the pavement in front of the building into use after hours.

In total West Park will have 160 outdoor seats, with many under awnings and marquees.

Cedar Court Hotel Harrogate is bringing back an updated version of its Tipi on the Stray, which will now has removable sides, making it compliant as an outdoor space. It will be able to serve lunch, afternoon tea and dinner.

It’s here and we’re taking bookings #Harrogate #Yorkshire … #Podville by ⁦@fatbadgerpub⁩ is taking bookings on a first come first served basis so be quick to secure your spot by calling 01423 505681 now! Full food & drink outdoor #hospitality offering in a unique setting pic.twitter.com/4OjtJJZMyn

— simon cotton (@simoncotton69) March 31, 2021

Instead of last year’s beach, the Fat Badger has now built what it calls “podville” in its rear car park.

Six people are able to book one of 15 pods for £5 an hour Monday to Thursday and £10 an hour Friday to Sunday.

Bodybuilding barber David Steca is to stage a Mr Harrogate competition this summer to showcase the area’s finest physiques.

Mr Steca, who owns Steca No6 in Harrogate and another salon in Leeds, is one of the most experienced and successful bodybuilders in the north of England, with a string of titles to his name.

He has won numerous British and international trophies and continues to compete at the age of 61 as well as train clients.

He plans to stage the event on August 1 in a marquee with seating for up to 200 people near his home in Menwith Hill. He said:

“The aim is to inspire and give local physique and fitness enthusiasts a goal coming out of covid.

“I want to give something back and provide a local platform to enthusiasts.”

Read more:

• Harrogate man finishes 9th at World’s Strongest Man
• Harrogate boxing and martial arts gym fighting for survival

There will be a wide range of male and female categories catering for the toned beach body look through to hardcore bodybuilding.

Mr Steca added there will be British and world champion judges, along with food, nutrition and clothing stalls.

There will be HG postcode classes and open classes. Entry fee is £20 and spectator tickets are £20 and £10 for under-12s.

The event will also be a qualifying competition for the IBFA British Championships.

Mr Steca added:

“We already have prizes from local business for class winners. We look forward to an exciting day of muscle and fitness!”