Harrogate hospital to ease restrictions on pregnancy visits

Harrogate District Hospital is set to ease restrictions on pregnancy visits next week.

From Monday October 19, partners will be welcome to attend the consultant antenatal clinic appointments.

The hospital has asked partners to arrive on time and not early so they don’t crowd the waiting area.

Previously, partners have only been allowed to be present at the 20 week scan – and before mid-September were not allowed at any appointments during pregnancy.

Read more:

There are still visiting restrictions on midwifery antenatal clinics and drop-in clinics, which the hospital says is out of its control.

A spokesperson for the hospital said:

“We appreciate how difficult it has been for pregnant women attending the consultant clinics in the hospital at Harrogate without their partners. After careful consideration and discussion we have made this plan.”

The home birth service was suspended from August in Harrogate due to increased sickness absence levels in the hospital’s midwifery team.

It will remain suspended until the end of October, for which the hospital has apologised.

Care home visit scheme branded ‘placatory’ by dementia patient’s daughter

A Harrogate woman campaigning for care home visits to be allowed said she does not see a government pilot scheme as a significant step forward.

Speaking to MPs this week, care minister Helen Whately said a pilot scheme to give relatives ‘key worker status’ – testing them for covid and allowing them to visit care homes – is being planned.

However, Judy Bass, whose 99-year-old father lives in a Harrogate care home, said more urgent progress needs to be made across the country for the sake of residents’ well-being.

“I don’t think it’s particularly a step forward. I think it’s placatory, because they have known about this for so long. It just needs to be put in place.

“Piloting it – I don’t even know how that would operate or if it would have any effect. They just need to put it in place. Relatives need to be given key worker status and tested and allowed to visit.”

Ms Bass also questioned whether the project would even be possible, given the struggle to deliver testing around the country.

Last month, introducing a ban on visitors across the county throughout October, North Yorkshire County Council’s head of health and adult services, Richard Webb, said although he was in favour of testing relatives to allow them to visit, the lack of tests available made that “unrealistic”.

Read more:

Ms Bass and her brother are being allowed to visit their father this week for the first time – but only to see him through a window. As he has dementia, she is concerned the visit will distress him or, even worse, that he will not recognise his children.

“We will try and see how he copes with it, but he might not understand what’s going on. He might not know who I am, he might be exhausted by the whole thing. I go with trepidation.”

This week, care homes have reacted strongly to the suggestion that they could be asked to take in patients from hospitals who have tested positive for covid. Some councils have approached care homes to ask them to provide separate space for people recovering from the virus after being discharged, away from other residents.

Sam Monaghan, the chief executive of MHA, which runs care homes across the country including Berwick Grange in Harrogate, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme he was “highly concerned” about people with the virus being brought into close contact with vulnerable communities. Speaking about the logistics of accommodating them separately, he added:

“Unless you are talking about care home providers who have got buildings that aren’t yet occupied, it will be moving people out of their home, their room that they have got, if you are trying to cohort part of the home.

“You would be having to separate your staff group into those who are working with people without covid and those who are working with covid, and what the arrangements and protections for those staff at the heightened level of risk would be.

“And then there is the risk of transmission within that geographic space, even if you managed to create an artificial barrier between the two.”

Judy Bass and her father

Judy Bass and her father, a few years ago.

For Ms Bass, who has not seen her father since March, introducing covid patients to a care home while still preventing relatives who have tested negative for the virus from visiting, is beyond comprehension.

She told the Stray Ferret action needs to be taken quickly for the sake of residents who may not have long left to live and whose families are missing vital time with their loved ones.

“It’s going to be a hard enough winter for everybody, but to make things harder for us and our relatives is so unfair. We speak as often as we can, but conversation is very limited. He is stable, but it’s very difficult for me to tell how he is mentally without sitting with him and being with him to get those vibes.

“I don’t think we have seen a particular mental deterioration, but it’s just he shouldn’t be in that situation and we shouldn’t either.

“Ours is very minimal compared to a lot of people, but if my father has deteriorated and doesn’t know who we are, we’ve lost that little window of time with him that we had.”

Council could take enforcement action over Pannal Ash disruption

Harrogate Borough Council could take enforcement action against Stonebridge Homes’ 130-home Castle Hill Farm development on Whinney Lane in Pannal Ash, after complaints from residents.

At a full council meeting on Wednesday, Conservative councillor John Mann, who represents the Pannal ward, said several residents had contacted him with concerns about issues such as early morning working, mud on roads, parking on pavements and construction traffic.

Cllr Mann asked HBC’s cabinet member for planning, Cllr Rebecca Burnett, if any enforcement measures could be taken against Stonebridge Homes to reduce disruption.

Cllr Burnett said HBC’s compliance officer was speaking to the developer about the issues and added:

“If it’s persistent, the council’s team can take stronger enforcement action.

“Our compliance officer is raising these issues with the relevant people and trying to deal with them. There’s a lot going on at the site that’s upset residents.”

The Stray Ferret asked Stonebridge Homes to comment but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

Read more:

Whinney Lane is closed until February due to the construction of two site access points for the Castle Hill Farm housing development, as well as a new roundabout.

The lengthy closure has proved controversial: the manager of the Squinting Cat pub told the Stray Ferret it “could kill” his business.

Cllr Burnett said she sympathised with the residents’ concerns.

She added:

“We know it’s difficult for anyone living next to a building site and we hope as a council we are doing all we can to support the residents.”

Harrogate Borough Council accused of ‘behaving like a secret state’

A local man has accused Harrogate Borough Council of “behaving like a secret state” after winning a six-month Freedom of Information battle.

Jerry Diccox submitted a FoI request in March after council leader Cllr Richard Cooper rejected calls to stream meetings live online.

Mr Cooper said he could not justify spending tens of thousands of pounds on streaming meetings that would be watched by two or three people.

Mr Diccox asked the council to provide evidence substantiating Mr Cooper’s claims. The council said the information was exempt from disclosure because it was commercially sensitive.

Mr Diccox requested an internal review, saying the issue related to public money and therefore the information should be in the public domain. But the council’s chief solicitor upheld the original decision.

‘Nothing short of shameful’

However, the Information Commissioner’s Office ruled in Mr Diccox’s favour when he appealed and, six months after his original request, the information was released.

Writing back to the council, Mr Diccox said the process had been a “huge waste of time”. He added:

“That it took pressure from the ICO and over six months of waiting for Harrogate Borough Council to provide this information, during which time it attempted to hide it behind the “public interest” exemption, is nothing short of shameful.

“It demonstrates either a wilful determination within the council to avoid public accountability, democracy and openness

“In future, the council should try to follow its own aims of being more open and democratic, and stop trying to behave like a secret state.”

Read more:

Harrogate Borough Council denied there was any attempt to avoid accountability:

“The quotes were provided by external suppliers as part of the process to investigate the cost of equipping the council chamber with the hardware necessary to live-stream meetings and software for proceedings to be ‘broadcast’.

“We believed this information to be commercially sensitive and therefore exempt from disclosure under section 43(2) of the FOI Act. The Information Commissioner disagreed with our judgement, so we have released the information.”

Mr Diccox’s efforts revealed the council received three quotes for streaming its meetings, ranging from just over £5,000 to nearly £48,000:

HBC did not take up any of the options to stream meetings from the council chambers.

Since covid it has, however, held meetings on Microsoft Teams and broadcast them on YouTube. They are then removed after two weeks.

 

Greens step-up campaign for Stray wildflowers

Harrogate Borough Council is to publish a 10-year vision for horticulture in the district — but it’s unclear if it will include plans to grow wildflowers on the Stray.

The Harrogate and District Green Party has called for wildflowers to be planted to attract more wildlife, such as bees, and to act as a focal point for visitors.

It recently launched a petition, which has almost 600 signatures, urging the council to support this.

At last night’s full council meeting, Rebecca Maunder, chair of the Harrogate and District Green Party, asked Cllr Andy Paraskos, cabinet member for the environment, if HBC would commit to planting more bulb species as well as sowing wildflower seeds on the Stray.

Cllr Paraskos said he “absolutely” agreed with the Green Party’s sentiments on biodiversity but did not commit to any specific changes on the Stray.

He said:

“Biodiversity is not just about the Stray but across the whole district so hopefully we will see some exciting projects over the coming years.

“The Stray does not belong to us, so everything we do on the Stray is by negotiations with the Duchy, but we will continue to look at biodiversity”.

Read more:

The council held a consultation on the future of horticulture in the district this year.

Its horticulture strategy, which is yet to be approved, will detail the authority’s planting plans.

Cllr Paraskos said biodiversity “is a strong theme” of the upcoming strategy.

The council has already committed to planting 60,000 crocuses on the the Stray at West Park in the coming months.

Speaking to the Stray Ferret after the meeting, Ms Maunder said “now is the perfect” time to add a greater mix of bulbs when the Stray is replanted.

She said:

“Why not grasp this opportunity and make a significant impact?”

Harrogate embraces coffee shop working culture

Bars and cafes in Harrogate are increasingly opening their doors to people forced to work from home due to covid.

The shops typically rent out a table and plug socket, hook you up to the WiFi and keep the coffee or tea running for a set fee over a set period of time.

North Bar Harrogate and the Harrogate Tea Rooms are two of a growing number of venues enticing workers away from their home offices with the promise of endless coffee and other perks.

Read more:

Since the offers began, people have turned up in numbers at both venues. Indeed coffee shop working has become so popular the venues are considering carrying on with it beyond coronavirus.

Deborah Przychodna, the manager at North Bar Harrogate, told the Stray Ferret:

“This is the third day of Work From North and it has been great. The response from people has been amazing. I think a lot of people are tired of working from home, they want to see other people and they feel safe here.”

What are the offers?

There may be other bars and cafes with similar offers – If your favourite bar or cafe has a similar offer then lets us know by email – but here is what we found:

North Bar Harrogate (five hours): For £15 customers get a refillable tea or coffee, a focaccia sandwich or similar and a pint of beer to end the day. Available from 12pm to 5pm.

Harrogate Tea Rooms (three hours): For £10 customers get unlimited tea or coffee and brunch. Available from 10am to 3.30pm.

How practical is it?

As one of those people working from home and tiring of the same four walls, I thought I would try the concept.

So I packed up my laptop, chargers, camera and notepad and headed to North Bar Harrogate at 12pm.

With a coffee boost I interviewed the manager Deborah, took a couple of pictures and connected my laptop to the WiFi to write this article.

It may not work for those who prefer privacy but for many it can be a welcome change of scene.

Personally, I enjoyed the coffee and the bright space at North Bar. The staff were welcoming and helpful.

At £15, I wouldn’t rush back straight away but I definitely plan to head back sometime soon or try out the Harrogate Tea Rooms.

16 historic Harrogate district sites on ‘at risk’ list

Sixteen historic sites in the Harrogate district have been included on Historic England’s at risk register, which was published today.

The register identifies sites most at risk of “being lost as a result of neglect, decay or inappropriate development”.

Historic England, a non-departmental public body, uses the register to work with owners to understand repairs and find funding.

The register downgrades the condition of the Church of St Mary on Harlow Terrace, which is disused, from ‘poor’ to ‘very bad’.

The grade II* listed building dates back to 1916 but has structural problems and needs lots of work. Mineral felt in the roof is leaking and the stone is deteriorating.

The register says proposals to convert St Mary’s into new use are not progressing.

Read more:

Other Harrogate district heritage sites ‘at risk’

The Heritage at Risk register highlights the plight of a further 15 historic buildings or places in the district:

 

Harrogate hosts contest to find Downing Street Christmas tree

The competition to find Britain’s best Christmas tree, which will then stand outside Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Downing Street home, is to be held in Harrogate this month.

It is the first time the town has been chosen to stage the event, which also includes a category to find a champion wreath to hang on the PM’s door at number 10.

The competition will take place at the Great Yorkshire Showground on October 28.

It is run by the British Christmas Tree Growers Association, which is now managed by the Yorkshire Agricultural Society.

The association, which is a trade group for people who grow specialist Christmas trees, has 320 members nationally.

Yorkshire TV stars Amanda Owen, shepherdess on Channel 5’s Our Yorkshire Farm, and Peter Wright, from Channel 5’s The Yorkshire Vet, will join the judging panel.

Because of covid, growers will send their tress to the ground but will be unable to attend in person.

Heather Parry, managing agent for the BCTGA, who is also the managing director of Yorkshire Event Centre, said:

“We are very much looking forward to seeing the best in the business being crowned, right here on the Great Yorkshire Showground. The champion tree winner will head to 10 Downing Street to provide that iconic Christmas tree for this year.”

Peter Wright said:

“There’s nothing like the scent of a real Christmas tree to really launch you into the festive spirit and I am really looking forward to seeing some of the best in Britain at the Showground.”

Read more:

Many growers in the competition have changed their business to suit covid measures by, for instance, introducing online sales and allowing customers to pick their own tree with social distancing measures.

Christmas tree orders are reported to have already exceeded early orders from 2019.

Harrogate club temporarily closes after covid case

A private members’ club in Harrogate closed this week due to a positive case of coronavirus and will reopen on Wednesday next week.

Oatlands Mount Social Club, which was established in 1918, informed members on Facebook.

Its post said:

“Unfortunately we have had a positive covid test result for a prominent member of the club. Although we have been advised not to close our doors by Public Health England, we have decided to close the club to protect our members and employees.
“Public Health England feel that all covid safety procedures have been put in place by the club so they are not going to track and trace members at this moment in time.”
The club introduced several safety measures when it reopened following lockdown. Members were asked to wear face coverings until seated, hand sanitiser was provided and seating was distanced.
All surfaces will be cleaned before the club reopens.

Read more:

Wedding venue transforms into ski lodge to save staff

A luxury Harrogate wedding venue is transforming into a ski lodge restaurant to keep staff in work this winter.

Current covid restrictions limit weddings to a maximum of 15 guests.

This has had a huge impact on venues like Wharfedale Grange, near Harewood, which is able to seat 270 wedding guests and can cater for 165 people in its restaurant.

It hopes that by adapting the use of its barn it will be able to retain staff, especially with the furlough scheme ending this month.

Claire Thomas, managing director of Wharfedale Grange, said:

“We’ve got 18 full-time staff and 12 part-time staff so we’re effectively keeping 30 people in work by converting to a restaurant and not making them redundant.”

Described as ‘La Folie Douce meets Yorkshire’, the restaurant — called Apres Bar & Grill — will incorporate elements of ski lodge resorts.

It is due to open from November 1 to the end of March.

Read more: