Harrogate smart parking scheme set for extension after trial success

Harrogate’s smart parking scheme looks set to be extended until at least 2023 after positive results from a two-year trail.

AppyParking – which uses sensors to give app users a real-time map of available spaces – was said to be the first of its kind in any UK town when it was launched in 2019.

The app allows motorists to pay for the exact minutes they are parked and now looks set for an extension. Council figures showed there is strong support for it to be made a permanent solution with 93% of users saying they found it easier than pay and display.

This is according to a report to a North Yorkshire County Council meeting on Friday which also says there has been a boost to the economy with some users spending up to 50 minutes longer in the town.

Jon Savage, project manager at the ncounty council, said in the report that given its success there is a recommendation for AppyParking to be extended between two to four years in Harrogate and that it could also be introduced in other North Yorkshire towns.

He said:

“Smart parking is more convenient for the customer, increases dwell time in Harrogate town centre and enhances its offer.

“The recommended option to put in place a smart parking provision on a medium-term basis maintains delivery of the identified benefits and enables planning for a longer-term, scalable solution.”

There are more than 2,200 sensors with a lifespan of 10 years installed at on-street and off-street parking bays in Harrogate but it is only proposed to extend the scheme for an initial two-year period because of plans to end North Yorkshire’s two-tier councils.

By 2023, the county council and seven district councils could be abolished under government proposals to hand over control of all services including parking to a new unitary structure.

Mr Savage said the planned changes have caused “uncertainty” over the future of how parking will be managed and that a review of AppyParking would be needed at a later date.

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At Friday’s meeting, councillors will be asked to support the proposed extension before Harrogate Borough Council will look to appoint a new contractor to run the system at an estimated annual cost of around £18,000.

Cllr Don Mackenzie, the county council’s executive member for access, said he hoped councillors would support the scheme which he described as a “great success”.

He said:

“AppyParking is convenient for users but also for us as the local authority as it means we don’t have to go around collecting as much cash from ticket machines.

“The great benefit to users is being able to visually check if parking spaces are available even before they reach Harrogate, plus it can all be booked and paid for from inside the car.

“Anything that can make parking more convenient is always good news for the town.”

Cllr Mackenzie, who represents the Harrogate Saltergate division, also said the scheme had shown parking remained a priority for the council as it pushes ahead with other plans to support cycling and walking.

“We always encourage people not to bring their cars into town if they are taking short journeys but we also understand the importance of having parking spaces available.

“North Yorkshire County Council clearly supports active travel schemes and projects like the Gateway transformation but nevertheless I still hear what businesses are saying in that around 90% of their customers travel by car.

“We have to have these arrangements in place for this, especially for people who are travelling long distances.”

Campaigners protest against Harrogate Spring Water’s Pinewoods plans

Campaigners gathered at Valley Gardens yesterday to protest against Harrogate Spring Water’s expansion into the Pinewoods.

It was organised by Harrogate & District Green Party who had members on hand to provide information to the public about the proposals alongside activities for children and live musicians.

Harrogate Spring Water, which is now owned by multinational firm Danone, was granted outline planning permission in 2017 to expand into Rotary Wood in the Pinewoods.

Danone recently bid to vary the terms of this by increasing the size of the bottling plant even further into the woodlands. Harrogate’s planning committee rejected the proposal in January after almost 400 people objected.

Many objectors were jubilant at the outcome but the original outline permission in 2017 still applies. 

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A Green Party spokesperson said:

“We were able to inform people of the proposals and how to object to the Danone/ Harrogate Spring Water compensation plans and highlight the tragic potential loss of woodland habitat in our community. 

“Many people don’t realise the planning application could still go ahead – and we feel strongly they should be able to understand the process and the potential outcomes – and importantly make their voices heard.

“It was fantastic to see so many people enjoy the weather, and families and children get involved with learning more about nature and share how they feel about trees. The community came out together to share the goal of saving our trees and highlighting the plight of Rotary Wood.”

Harrogate hospital staff walk, run and bike to New Zealand for charity

Staff at Harrogate District Hospital have raised money for charity by walking, running and cycling the distance from Harrogate to Wellington in New Zealand.

They started the challenge in February and walked 22,866 kilometres by Easter, raising £1,600 in the process. That is £400 more than the original target.

45 staff from the pharmacy department took part. They all tracked how far they had ran, walked and cycled each week and added up the total.

The money will go to Harrogate Hospital and Community Charity. It supports staff, services and patients at Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust.

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Elizabeth Gill, pharmacy support worker and organiser, said:

“At a time when we are all stretched thin and covid has meant we can’t get together outside of work, we wanted to come together to challenge ourselves while raising money for our hospital charity.

“We decided to do the ultimate challenge and get to Wellington in New Zealand as this is the furthest capital from Harrogate and also a country which is covid-free!

“I’m so proud of everyone and how hard we’ve all worked. Our fundraising total is over £1600 which is incredible!”

Yvonne Campbell, head of charity and business development project manager, said:

“Everyone at Harrogate Hospital and Community Charity is blown away by the amount raised by our pharmacy team and the effort they’ve put in to supporting us.

“Recently, money raised by our supporters funded some portable DVD players for inpatients to use to watch films on while they’re in hospital, so the money they raise will go a long way to supporting services, patients and fellow colleagues at the trust.”

Fire brigade rescues stranded teenagers from Rudding Park pond

Two teenage boys had to be rescued by firefighters after being stuck in the middle of a pond on Rudding Park’s golf course.

Rudding Park has an ‘access pontoon’ to allow staff to cut the grass on an island on the golf course.

The two youths, who were believed to be trespassing, decided to take the pontoon across to the island yesterday evening and made the mistake of letting go of the rope.

The fire brigade was called and officers threw lines to reach the boys and pull the pontoon to shore.

Other than perhaps a dented ego, the boys were both unharmed. Officers advised them on their future behaviour.

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North Yorkshire health boss challenges care home isolation guidance

A local public health official has challenged the government over new care home guidance, which he has condemned as a “backwards step”.

The new guidance tells residents to only leave care homes for medical appointments or in exceptional circumstances. On their return they will need to isolate for 14 days.

Richard Webb, director of health and adult services at North Yorkshire County Council, has raised his concerns about the new guidance with the Department for Health and Social Care.

He believes that residents should be able to leave care homes.

Mr Webb said:

“The government guidance is quite restrictive about people in care homes taking trips out. We felt that was a backwards step.

“If you live in a care home you are entitled to get some fresh air. We were a bit disappointed to see some further restrictions. We have raised that with the Department for Health and Social Care.

“As long as it is done safely we would like to see people enjoy the spring sunshine as the rest of us can. Hopefully that will be looked at and we can give some better news in the future.”

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This comes as residents at a care home on Claro Road, which is run by Disability Action Yorkshire, said they will defy the guidance as it was a “clear breach” of their human rights.

Jackie Snape, chief executive of the charity, has written to Harrogate MP, Andrew Jones. She warned him that he will receive furious e-mails as a result of the guidance.

She said:

“For the people that live at 34 Claro Road this is devastating. They are young people who just want to have the same freedoms as everyone else.

“They are seeing pictures of groups enjoying a beer outside the pub and they are being told they can’t even go for a walk around the block.”

Hollywood director stars in Harrogate Film Festival this week

The Harrogate Film Festival returns this week and will start with an exclusive interview with Hollywood director Oliver Stone.

Oliver Stone directed the film JFK about the assassination of American president John F. Kennedy, which was nominated for eight Academy Awards, including best director.

The festival is returning for its fifth year this Friday, April 23, with numerous events. The festival is being held differently this year with a series of mini festivals between April and September.

This year is also the 30th anniversary of JFK. Prior to the virtual screening on Friday, there will be a 30-minute question and answer with Mr Stone.

Talking about the film, Mr Stone said:

“In the United States we did $70 million alone, for a three-hour eight-minute film. It’s extraordinary as in that era we didn’t have three-hour movies because we had lost that with the roadshows back in the 50s. So, to make a film of this length and be successful it was an amazing, amazing breakthrough.

In many ways, it was the climax to a strange film career that I’ve had.”

The JFK event is part of the festival’s Independent Filmmakers Competition which offers a platform for up and coming filmmakers.

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Festival director, Adam Chandler, said:

“As ever, Oliver is open and candid with his answers. He doesn’t shy away from giving difficult answers to the questions put to him in the interview and he covers so much ground in the 30 minutes.”

Mr Chandler said all of this year’s events will run in-line with covid restrictions. If these are eased the events will still stream online as well as in person.

When restrictions ease in May, the JFK event and Independent Filmmakers will be re-run in cinemas.

LIVE: Harrogate district traffic and travel

Happy Monday and welcome back to the traffic and travel service. It’s Leah here with you this morning, with updates every 15 minutes as more people get onto the roads.

The live blogs, brought to you by The HACS Groups, aim to keep the Harrogate district moving.

Make sure to keep in touch via social media or email us on contact@thestrayferret.co.uk.

9am – Full Update

That’s it from me this morning, Suzannah with be back with you tomorrow morning from 6.30am with updates every 15 minutes.

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Traffic is starting to increase in the Harrogate, Knaresborough and Ripon centres.

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8:45am – Full Update

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Traffic is starting to increase in the Harrogate, Knaresborough and Ripon centres.

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8:30am – Full Update

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Traffic is starting to increase in the Harrogate, Knaresborough and Ripon centres.

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8:15am – Full Update

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8am – Full Update

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Traffic is starting to increase in the Harrogate, Knaresborough and Ripon centres, no traffic hotspots yet.

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7:45am – Full Update

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Traffic is starting to increase in the Harrogate, Knaresborough and Ripon centres, no traffic hotspots yet.

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7:30am – Full Update

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Traffic is starting to increase in the Harrogate, Knaresborough and Ripon centers, no traffic hotspots yet.

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7:15am – Full Update

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The roads are looking clear so far this morning, no traffic hotspots yet.

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7am – Full Update

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The roads are looking clear so far this morning, no traffic hotspots yet.

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6.45am – Full Update

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The roads are looking clear so far this morning, no traffic hotspots yet.

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6.30am – Full Update

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The roads are looking clear so far this morning, no traffic hotspots yet.

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Strayside Sunday: Low rent politics stinks

Strayside Sunday is our monthly political opinion column. It is written by Paul Baverstock, former Director of Communications for the Conservative Party.

It’s good to be back.

Now then, what’s happening?  Ah yes, it seems that the British political establishment stinks from root to branch.  It turns out, that while our attention was distracted by the exigencies of Covid-19 – not least the awarding of millions of pounds worth of PPE contracts to the Boris Chumocracy – our former Prime Minister David Cameron was up to no good.  Working for Greensill Capital, a purveyor of ‘supply chain financing solutions’ (purchasing the accounts payable debt of others and taking a hefty fee for the pleasure), including to Her Majesty’s Government, Dave Cam was bombarding his mates in high office, Chancellor Dishy Rishi for example, with telephone calls, texts and emails on behalf of his Australian employer.  That he stood to make millions through a stonking equity consideration in Greensill, were it to continue to succeed, is no excuse.  As it is, Greensill has gone spectacularly bust leaving Dave both with egg on his face and a significant reduction in future earnings.

Frankly, although it looks cheap, I am less concerned about a former Prime Minister being in close contact with friends and ex-senior colleagues than I am about the revelation that the founder of Greensill, the eponymous Lex, was given a desk at the Cabinet Office.  He was also given a government business card and license to roam across 11 government departments; all with a brief to create a new financial product.  Am I alone in thinking that this can’t be right?  Of course government needs to work closely with business, but surely it ought not give business unfettered access to create its own opportunities to benefit from the public purse (otherwise known as your money and mine).  That Mr. Cameron gave a 2010 speech in which he presaged that “lobbying was the next big scandal” awaiting government fills my schadenfreude goblet to the brim.  For, in the immortal words of the great Gore Vidal; “every time a friend succeeds, a little piece of me dies.”

The new Cabinet Secretary Simon Case is on the warpath.  It seems that Greensills tendrils penetrated deep into the Civil Service.  One Bill Crothers, the founder of the Crown Commercial Service, was double dipping, being paid both as a public servant and as a Greensill employee (before he crossed to the dark side completely and joined Greensill full-time; swapping, as it were, his Anakin Skywalker for his Darth Vadar).  In fact, there is deep suspicion that Mr. Crothers is not the only civil servant moonlighting in the private sector, so this is a story that will likely run and run, further undermining our brittle faith and trust in our government.

Closer to home, here in the great parliamentary constituency of Harrogate and Knaresborough (including Boroughbridge) we can be assured, can we not, of the probity, straight talking and all-around excellence of MP Andrew Jones?  Or so we thought.  Much ado this week over the quality news organ and website “Community News.”  It turns out that the MP’s office is publishing a digital news alternative; a platform for Conservative politicians to report their own activities and campaigns in the Conservative interest, Community News though states it is committed to providing news in a “non-political way.”

One has to dig pretty deep to uncover the origins of the website’s publishing in the office of the sitting Conservative MP; the office, by the way, that is run by the sitting Conservative Leader of Harrogate Borough Council; the office too that employs another leading Conservative councillor; the office, in fact, that employs the current Conservative candidate for the pending Bilton Ward by election.  Let’s generously call the lack of the Conservative logo an attempt at subtle branding; a desire perhaps to have the ‘issues’ front and centre.  Come on, who am I kidding?  Community News has a blue banner, ‘reports’ exclusively blue mouthpieces and offers no counter opinions.  If that’s “non-poilitical” I’ll bare my bottom on James Street.

The News Media Association, the voice of national, regional and local news media in the UK, has unleashed a campaign calling for an end to such fake newspapers (which is to say an end to the practice of political leaflets not-so-craftily disguising themselves as anything but).  The campaign is called “Don’t Be Duped.”  Don’t let mendacious pols pull the wool over your eyes.  The thing is, that whether it is fake Community News, civil servants on the make and take, or hustling former Prime Ministers (and by the way DC is far from the only one), it’s all a bit low rent.  We need to rise up and demand better, or we will continue to get the politics and politicians we deserve.

Finally this week, how great it is that society is opening up again.  Whatever its faults (and boy does it have them), the government has played a blinder with its vaccination programme.  Sunny skies have seen people flood to outdoor spaces and places and, wrapped up against the wind, begin again to feel the benefit and glow of precious human connection.  We can eat and drink outdoors, non-essential shops are open again, the hirsute are being shorn and the energetic are returning to gyms, swimming pools and leisure centres.  Well, except, that is, in Knaresborough, Ripon and Starbeck, where, for reasons various, the town’s swimming pools remain closed.  What a pity that the council hasn’t been able to deliver an essential service at such an important moment in our national reopening.  This wasn’t covered in Harrogate, Knaresborough and Boroughbridge Community News; and I suspect it won’t be.  Denied the masking whiff of chlorine, the awful smell of politics carries on the wind and tickles the nostrils.

That’s my Strayside Sunday.

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Harrogate district care home residents remember Prince Philip ‘fondly’ today

A number of care home residents sat and watched the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral this afternoon.

Care homes in Knaresborough and Harrogate sat to share their memories and remember Prince Philip.

The care homes said a number of their residents has spent this week thinking of Prince Philip and the royal family as they mourn.

At The Gatehouse, on Manor Road in Harrogate, the residents sat to watch the funeral on TV and the staff had put on an afternoon tea for them to enjoy.

Home manager, Adam Carling, said:

“Remembering Prince Philip here at The Gatehouse today. He was an amazing man and our residents remember him fondly. A sad day for all.”

gatehouse care home

Residents came together this afternoon to watch the funeral.

gatehouse care home

The staff decorated the room and organised an afternoon tea.

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At the Manor House care home in Knaresborough the residents also wanted to come together to watch the funeral.

A notice was put up during the week telling residents it would be shown on the TVs in the lounge.

Carer, Alison Morgan, said:

“Lots of our residents have admired the Royals through their lives and today is a very sad day for them, and how we hope the Queen and her family feel the warmth and love and wishes from the public and that in some small way it helps.”

Knaresborough Manor resident

Some residents at Knaresborough Manor watched the service privately in their rooms.

Knaresborough Manor residents

Others sat together in the lounge to watch the service.

The Cuttings, run by Harrogate Neighbours, in Harrogate also encouraged residents to sit together this afternoon to watch the funeral broadcast on TV.

Sue Cawthray, chief executive of Harrogate Neighbours, said:

“Staff and tenants came together to pay their respects to Prince Philip who had been part of their lives for many years. Everyone has a fond memory of a man who has given so much to this country and the commonwealth. Our thoughts are with the Her Majesty The Queen.”

The Cuttings

Residents at The Cuttings sat in the lounge this afternoon to watch the broadcast.

The Cuttings

Many of the Harrogate residents wanted to pay their respects today.

The man hired to revive one of Harrogate’s most historic hotels

Fifteen years ago Paul Donkin applied for a job as a waiter at the St George Hotel in Harrogate.

Now he is the hotel’s general manager and recruiting his own team of staff ahead of re-opening on May 17.

At 35, Mr Donkin may seem relatively young to hold such a senior position at one of Harrogate’s premier hotels.

But he has worked in hospitality since he was 15, lived in Harrogate for the last decade and a half and is brimming with ideas to revive the 90-bed St George.

The hotel, opposite the Royal Hall, is steeped in history but has had a troubled recent past.

After a multi-million pound refurbishment in late 2018, it closed during the first lockdown 13 months ago and then its owner, Shearings Hotels, went into administration in May.

The St George was one of 39 hotels in the group bought by Coast and Country Hotel Collection under an agreement with management company Bespoke Hotels.

Few people, besides a caretaker, have been inside the building for the past year, so it remains in superb post-refurbishment condition.

Gin bar

Mr Donkin’s plans include changing the menu, re-starting weddings and creating a gin bar.

He also wants to create an afternoon tea room, which seems a brave thing to do in a town not exactly under-served by tea rooms. But he sees an opportunity to entice locals to enjoy a brew beneath the magnificent stained glass domed ceiling in one function room.

He also has plans to improve the Dog and Duck bar, which has lacked the appeal of some other Harrogate hotel bars despite its central location. As part of this, he has been talking to Cold Bath Brewing Company about introducing new beers.

What about reviving the hotel leisure club and swimming pool? The pool has been drained. Mr Donkin says:

“It’s on the radar of the owners. The Majestic and Rudding Park are the only hotel leisure centres so it would be nice to have one.”

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Mr Donkin is currently recruiting about a dozen staff for what he calls a ‘soft launch’ in May. He says:

“Once we pick up speed we will be recruiting more.”

What does he think will be the biggest challenge in the new covid world? He replies immediately:

“Customer confidence. Everyone is still a bit nervous about sitting in a restaurant with up to 100 other people.”

‘Harrogate remains a great destination’

At York Pavilion Hotel, where Mr Donkin was previously general manager, he says  more people booked directly with the hotel rather than through websites when it briefly re-opened after the first lockdown in September so they could ask questions about the covid protocol.

He predicts this will continue and there will be more last minute bookings until people feel confident again about going away. He says:

“It’s not going to be easy. But hospitality in Harrogate has always been strong. It’s always been a great destination to come to. We live in one of the most beautiful parts of the country.”

Although he welcomes the impending reopening of Harrogate Convention Centre, he says the town’s hospitality sector needs to be less dependent on it and “explore other avenues, such as leisure and corporate travellers”. He adds:

“I don’t think we will ever be back to where we were, with 200 or 300 people regularly attending conferences. People do that on Zoom now.”

Mr Donkin, who is married with two children and plans to run his first marathon in October as part of an ambition to complete a triathlon, clearly has a task on his hand. But he knows what he is letting himself in for.

He has worked at many of the town’s major hotels, including the Cedar Court, Old Swan and Crown, and knows the other hoteliers.

“In York, we knew each other but there wasn’t the same community feel as there is in Harrogate.

“I’ve been very excited since I got the role and can’t wait to re-open.”