Local Harrogate News & Views around the district - Page 968 of 1072

Whinney Lane lights ‘like Leeds Bradford Airport runway’

Residents on Whinney Lane have said lights used to brighten a temporary footpath at night are so intense they are like “a Leeds Bradford airport runway”.

Whinney Lane in Pannal Ash is closed to traffic until February 28 while work on the 130-home Castle Hill Farm housing development is carried out.

A temporary footpath has been created through a field that bypasses most of Whinney Lane.

The Squinting Cat pub requested developer Stonebridge Homes installed lights on the footpath to make it safer for people walking to-and-from the pub at night.

One resident, who did not wish to be named, said the lights have been in operation since Monday. He praised Stonebridge for installing them but said the brightness was “totally over the top”.

He said the lights were good for safety but added:

“It’s lit the footpath up but it’s also lit our bedroom up. I’ve had enough of it.”

Another resident Mike Newall, who is a former pilot, said the lights reminded him of his flying days. He welcomed them being installed but described the brightness as “overkill”.

North Yorkshire County Council said it had not received any complaints from residents about the lights.

The Stray Ferret contacted Stonebridge about the brightness but had not received a response at the time of publication.

Seven weeks to raise £115,000 for Harrogate community woodland

Just seven weeks remain to raise a further £115,000 to build a community woodland between Harrogate and Knaresborough.

So far, the volunteers behind the Long Lands Common project have raised £186,000 towards their £300,000 goal.

If they manage to pass that figure by November 20 they will consider trying to raise another £75,000 to improve access to the woodland.

Long Lands Common is 30 acres of open farmland surrounded by fields and hedgerows between Bilton Triangle and The Avenue in Starbeck.

A duck pond, wildflower meadow, sensory garden and woodlands craft area are all included in the plans.

It is an ambitious target but the organisers behind the project remain confident they will reach it.

Chris Kitson, one of the organisers and a teacher, told the Stray Ferret:

“We are confident but we are not complacent. It is going very well but we need people to buy more shares. There are 700 people who have put down a pledge but not yet bought any shares.”

To increase support, the organisers plan to deliver 48,000 leaflets and have asked volunteers to come forward.

Anyone interested in volunteering can email Long Lands Common by clicking or tapping here.

Shares in Long Lands Common need to be bought by people aged over 16 in £50 lots, with the minimum amount set at £50 up to a maximum of £37,500.

To learn more and buy shares, go to the Long Lands Common website.

The project received help recently in the form of £35,000 match funding from the Community Shares Booster Programme.

Another 19 coronavirus cases in Harrogate

A further 19 cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in the Harrogate district.

Daily figures from Public Health England show the increase takes the total number of cases since the start of the pandemic to 1,056.

A total of 56 cases were confirmed across the whole of North Yorkshire today.

The weekly rate of infections county-wide up to September 28 stands at 55.2 people per 100,000 population, according to NHS figures.

Dr Lincoln Sargeant, director of public health at North Yorkshire County Council, has said the authority did not expect Harrogate to be added to the government’s covid watchlist this week.

However, he added that it does not mean the situation could change in the coming weeks.

Harrogate Town chairman on life without fans

The chairman of Harrogate Town has warned the club faces financial difficulties as fans continue to be banned from grounds.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said current Covid restrictions could last for six months.

For football clubs like Harrogate Town, this means having to face up to the prospect of empty stadiums for the foreseeable future.

This presents a big financial challenge for Town chairman Irving Weaver.

Mr Weaver said the uncertainty meant Town and other clubs faced a “cliff edge scenario”.

He said:

“When crowds mean 30% of revenue that’s a black hole. The furlough scheme was a big help but in the next six months we are looking at a problem that all clubs need help with.

“The subsidy grant we received was really helpful and the income from our games on TV wasn’t budgeted for so these two things have got us on our way. Our streaming figures are growing too, which we also didn’t budget for. All of this has helped make up for a loss of crowds.”

The club has has raised its concerns about the impact of playing without fans for a further six months.

The club’s recent promotion to the English Football League was its second in three seasons. But fans have only been able to celebrate the club’s recent successes at home or socially distanced in pubs, and missed out on a trip to Wembley.

With no idea when fans will next be able to attend, Mr Weaver is concerned some may not return.

He added:

“We need to grow our fans, especially if we want to attract players who want a big crowd.

“We are probably worrying more than most, but missing all this excitement is a big loss for fans. I think the solid fans will stay but we also want new people, which becomes difficult when they can’t experience the roar of a crowd at a match.”

Mr Weaver assured fans that these tough times will be overcome. He said:

“I want to say that ‘we are still kicking and we really want you to come back!’

“We will keep going and keep the atmosphere. We want to maintain our desire to succeed”

No plans to add Harrogate to Covid watchlist

Harrogate is not expected to be added to the government’s Covid watchlist this week, according to North Yorkshire’s public health bosses.

However, they said the situation could change if the number of infections is not brought under control.

Scarborough and Selby districts are currently on the watchlist as “areas of concern” and neighbouring Leeds was put into local lockdown last week.

Further restrictions were announced elsewhere in the north today, including Middlesbrough, Hartlepool, Warrington and Liverpool.

Dr Lincoln Sargeant, director of public health at North Yorkshire County Council, said the county had asked for a cautious approach to putting districts on the watchlist after Scarborough and Selby were added to it even though other districts that are not on the list have higher infections rates.

He added:

“As the national system is revised in terms of where the whole country is, we will probably get some more detailed guidance about how the watchlist system will work in the future. That may or may not come out this week.

“But we have no expectations that Harrogate will be added this week. That does not mean that situation may not change for next week.”

Meanwhile, Richard Flinton, chief executive of the county council, said yesterday in a council newsletter that the transmission of infections was mainly between households.

Latest Public Health England data shows 519 new cases in the county in the past two weeks at a weekly rate of 36 per day.

Harrogate saw 16 new coronavirus cases yesterday and hit a three-week daily high of 19 on Tuesday.

Mr Flinton said the county’s infection increase was in line with the national picture.

He said:

“We are studying the data carefully and can clearly see that the majority of cases can be linked back to household and social transmission.

“This is important, because what it also tells us is that our schools are safe places to be. That, in turn, is testament to all the hard work schools, colleges and childcare setting have put in to plan for a safe return for pupils.”

Harrogate TSB to close next month

Harrogate TSB will close next month, with the bank attributing the move to a shift in customers to online banking.

The branch on Oxford Street, which was part of the first wave of 82 TSB closures announced last year, will close on November 27 .

TSB has since announced a further 164 branch closures as part of plans to save £100 million by 2022.

When the Harrogate branch closes, the nearest TSB bank will be in Leeds.

A TSB review into the use of the Harrogate branch found 73 customers visited it regularly each month.

It also revealed weekly transactions had gone up in 2019 compared to the same time in 2016.

A notice in the bank’s window.

Debbie Crosbie, chief executive of TSB, said:

“We are reshaping our business to transform the customer experience and set us up for the future. This means having the right balance between branches on the high street and our digital platforms, enabling us to offer the very best experience for our personal and business customers across the UK.”

Another central Harrogate bank, The Co-operative Bank, is due to close by December 1. The Co-op also blamed a drop in footfall for it closure.

Killinghall school closes after positive coronavirus case

Killinghall CE Primary School is set to close today after someone at the school tested positive for coronavirus.

The school, on Otley Road in Killinghall, sent a letter to parents this morning asking them to pick up their children at staggered times according to year groups, starting at noon.

The letter, written by headteacher Sarah Bassitt, said the school will open again tomorrow and all children are expected to attend unless they develop Covid symptoms.

The letter said the school, which has just over 100 pupils, had identified a “very small” number of staff who had “close contact” with the individual concerned. It says:

“We have been advised by Public Health England that there has been a confirmed case of Covid within the school community. I appreciate that you may be concerned by this information.”

The Stray Ferret approached the school and North Yorkshire County Council for further information. The school declined to comment but the council has not yet responded.

Friends conquer the hills for Ripley charity

Karen Evans’ coast to coast cycle ride had its ups and its downs, but ended in triumph with £2,500 raised for charity.

Over three days, she and friend Judith Nickols rode from Whitehaven to Tynemouth in weather conditions ranging from bright sunshine to heavy rain and with the occasional hailstorm along the hilly route.

Karen told the Stray Ferret:

“The first day’s weather was gorgeous and we thought it was a breeze, but the second and third days were very challenging and I’m just pleased that we got through it because of the training we had put in.”

In addition to the hilly terrain, road closures and diversions added 17 miles to a journey that should have been 137 miles.

Home and dry – Karen Evans

There were other mishaps – as Karen pointed out:

“Judith and I had planned to have lunch at the top of the Hartside Pass but when we got there we discovered that the cafe we were planning to go to had burnt down.

“However, our spirits were lifted when we discovered that friends from All Saints, John and Jane Buckley and Joy and Nevill Rice, had waited there for hours in the pouring rain to cheer us on and give us a slice of cake.”

Karen, who lives near Fountains Abbey, announced her charity challenge after the Ripley Scarecrow Pigfest, which she has organised for 20 years, had to be cancelled.

The annual August Bank Holiday festival has, in previous years, raised money for the All Saints Ripley fabric fund and she was determined that the loss of the fundraiser would not prevent a donation being made this year.

In addition to the money raised for the village church where she worships, a donation will also be made to the Sir Robert Ogden Macmillan Centre at Harrogate District Hospital.

For Karen and Judith, there was a little help on the steeper sections of their fundraising journey, as they had electrically-powered bicycles, though on occasions the batteries were perilously close to running out of charge.

MPs WATCH: Care home visits, the Brexit bill and a visit to Ripon Cathedral

Every month the Stray Ferret tries to find out what our local MPs have been up to in their constituencies and in the House of Commons.

September saw MPs return to Parliament after the summer recess. Several important votes took place on issues such as Brexit, the military, and fire safety in high-rise buildings.

We asked Harrogate & Knaresborough MP, Andrew Jones, Ripon MP Julian Smith, and Selby and Ainsty MP Nigel Adams if they would like to highlight anything in particular, but we did not receive a response from any of them.

So here is what we know after analysing their online presence.

Andrew Jones, MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough.

In Harrogate and Knaresborough here is what we found on Mr Jones:

On September 15 and September 29, Mr Jones voted in line with the government on the Internal Markets Bill. The legislation sparked controversy after Northern Ireland secretary, Brandon Lewis, said it would break international law in a “specific and limited way”.
On his website, Mr Jones called on local politicians at Harrogate Borough Council and North Yorkshire County Council to “engage constructively” in the issue of devolution and “think beyond” party political rivalries. He called devolution a “moment of opportunity”.
The MP voted for the Overseas Operations Bill on September 23. The bill states that prosecutions against overseas military personnel should only take place “in exceptional circumstances”. The former chief of the defence staff, field marshal Lord Guthrie, co-signed a letter to Downing Street that called the bill “disturbing” and said it could lead to immunity from torture prosecutions.
Mr Jones published information on his website that in August 136,000 meals were sold in Harrogate and Knaresborough through the Eat Out to Help Out scheme.
In the House of Commons on September 28, Mr Jones suggested that family visits at care homes could take place behind glass.
At Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy questions on September 29, Mr Jones raised concerns about Harrogate’s hospitality sector to business secretary Alok Sharma.
The MP hailed Harrogate Town’s start to life as an EFL club after they beat Southend United 4-0. He wrote on his website: “What a perfect start to the league battle – and away from home too!”
The parents’ group Ready Steady Mums made contact with Mr Jones who reassured them that they can resume their weekly walks after the government’s rule of six came into place.
On September 7, Mr Jones voted down recommendations from the first phase of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry as part of the Fire Safety Bill. It would have forced building owners to share information with fire services about building design and materials.
Mr Jones did not send a single tweet in September.

Julian Smith, MP for Ripon and Skipton.

In Ripon here is what we found on Mr Smith:

Mr Smith abstained on both Internal Markets Bill votes. He is a former Northern Ireland secretary and opponents of the bill said it could lead to a trade border between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.
Mr Smith tweeted 12 times in September.
On September 28 he tweeted that he has spoken to North Yorkshire County Council’s director of health and adult services Richard Webb about how safe visiting can begin again in care homes. The council has asked all care homes in the county to restrict visitors during October.
The MP visited Ripon Cathedral to view their £6m new design plans which include new toilets, a cafe and the creation of rehearsal space for Ripon Cathedral Choir.
On September 25, Mr Smith was a keynote speaker at The Centre for Cross Border Studies annual conference, which was held online. The organisation aims to “foster practical co-operation” across the Irish border.
Mr Smith tweeted that he had received an update from Harrogate Borough Council about their plans for “local place-making, transport and sustainability” in new developments in Ripon.
The MP voted for the Overseas Operations Bill on September 23.
On September 9, he voted against replacing the coronavirus support schemes for employees and the self-employed with more targeted income support.

Nigel Adams, MP For Selby and Ainsty

In rural south Harrogate here is what we found on Mr Adams.

On September 23, the minister for Asia met with the Cambodia ambassador Kan Pharidh to discuss how the two countries can work together on trade.
On September 14, he met the ambassador for South Korea, Enna Park, where they discussed collaborating on a coronavirus vaccine.
On Twitter, Mr Adams praised MPs for backing the government’s internal Markets Bill. He tweeted: “Not only have they backed the bill, they’ve backed #Brexit, backed @BorisJohnson and honoured the result of the #EUReferendum and #GE2019″.
Mr Adams hit out at environmental group Extinction Rebellion after they blocked vehicles from leaving a printing press in London, causing disruption to several national newspapers. He called the group “socialist anarchists masquerading as well-meaning hippies”.
On September 3, he met with the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Rights of the Rohingya, which works to support the plight of the persecuted Rohingya population in Myanmar.
Mr Adams’ website was updated for the first time since April with two updates about Selby.
He tweeted 13 times in September.

Care home visits in district may be allowed after October

North Yorkshire County Council may allow visits to care homes after this month following a backlash from upset relatives.

Richard Webb, director of health and adult services at the council, wrote to care homes this week advising them to halt routine visits throughout October.

This prompted some members of the public, as well as Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Andrew Jones, to say visits should be allowed to go ahead.

At a press briefing yesterday, Mr Webb said the council would set up a working group with relatives and care home providers to investigate ways that allowed people to visit homes after this month.

One possible solution, he said, would be to allow a nominated person to visit.

But Mr Webb added he “could not make any promises”.

One Harrogate resident, whose 99-year-old mother has dementia and is in a local home, contacted the Stray Ferret to say care home residents deserved better. She said:

“It is sheer cruelty and tragic to not address this problem and leave our loved ones to live out their last days alone and severely depressed, as is happening now.

“What we desperately need is adequate testing, which would enable one key visitor, who should be tested and treated in the same way as staff, to be allocated with unlimited access to each resident.’

The resident was critical of Mr Jones’ suggestion to Parliament that visits could take place behind glass screens or windows.

She said it would add to the confusion and frustration felt by residents with dementia, adding:

“It would most likely seriously distress them and add to the cruelty of this situation.”

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