A Doncaster man has been jailed for 11 years after targeting nine cash machines across Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire including Starbeck.

George Tunney has been sentenced today at York Crown Court on charges of conspiracy to cause explosions and to burgle. As well as theft and handling stolen goods following the offences committed in January and March 2020.

Just a few months after being released from prison, Tunney began his first spate of burglaries in January 2020 in the Doncaster and Hull area.

In a second spate in March that year an ATM at the Co-op in Starbeck was targeted alongside The Post Office in Shepshed, Leicestershire and the Jet garage in Adwick near Doncaster. One of these crimes saw Tunney steal over £35,000 in cash.

In between January and March the 24-year-old targeted a further three cash machines in Grantham, Mansfield and Nether Poppleton.

His numerous offences caused in excess of £60,000 worth of damage to a number of businesses,

A few days after the second spate of attacks Tunney was found along the River Ouse near the York Designer Outlet after fleeing from the North Yorkshire Police officers.

Tunney pleaded guilty to all charges and was sentenced to 11 years in prison, plus banned from driving for eight years.

Read more:

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• Local fire crews attended a bench on fire near the Pinewoods over the weekend, the cause is thought to be deliberate.

North Yorkshire Police Detective Superintendent, Fran Naughton, said:

“The sentence given to Tunney today is a clear demonstration that this type of crime will not be tolerated.

“Not only did Tunney and his associates endanger many lives through the dangerous use of explosives, some of which were deployed at fuel forecourts, they caused well in excess of £60,000 damage to a number of businesses.

“These businesses provide essential local services to their communities and many were out of use for extended periods of time whilst repairs were made.”

Famous Harrogate fish and chip restaurant Graveley’s is to re-open under its new name Catch in a fortnight.

The business was sold two years ago to Harrogate-based Catch Seafood, which owns four other fish and chip restaurants in Yorkshire.

The site on Cheltenham Parade has undergone a £250,000 transformation during lockdown, and will open as a takeaway on April 19.

The restaurant is due to open in May in line with government restrictions.

A press release by Catch today said the kitchen had been upgraded and the menu would be broadened.

It added:

“A new bar area has also been incorporated into the refitted restaurant, which will serve a range of draught products, delicious cocktails and fantastic wines.

“Exclusive to Catch Harrogate is a champagne and oyster bar for diners to enjoy.”

Read more:

• Graveley’s fish and chip restaurant to be renamed Catch Harrogate
• Ripon’s Grantley Hall restaurant wins first Michelin star

Sarah Stuttle, managing director at Catch, said:

“Graveley’s has been a part of the local community for a long time, and we’re excited to welcome these loyal customers to Catch, as well as some new faces, when we reopen.”

The Catch group also has fish and chip restaurants in Holmfirth, West Vale, Headingley and Street Lane.

The company, which describes itself as ‘a casual seafood dining experience built on family values’, is owned by three Yorkshire-based entrepreneurs — Patrick Allen, Andrew Bartle and Philip Rushfirth.

Staff working on behalf of NHS England have dismantled large parts of the former Nightingale hospital in Harrogate, including the oxygen tanks that have loomed over the town for a year.

Construction workers started the job at 4am today, almost a year to the day since the temporary hospital started to take shape.

The stretch of Ripon Road immediately outside the Royal Hall and Harrogate Convention Centre was closed to traffic while cranes operated.

Read more:

• Investigation launched into Harrogate Nightingale hospital
• NHS confirms Harrogate Nightingale to close

We understand the CT scanners will also be removed later today.

The NHS confirmed last month it will dismantle all seven of the Nightingale hospitals across the country.

NHS Nightingale Hospital Yorkshire and the Humber, which was the Harrogate Nightingale’s full name, which never treated any coronavirus patients.

But it was used to provide CT scans to non-coronavirus patients.

A senior Harrogate Borough Council officer who was responsible for the authority’s response to the coronavirus pandemic and left suddenly during the first lockdown was paid £55,065.

Paul Campbell, who was director of community for three and a half years, was paid the sum as part of a compensation for loss of office, according to the authority’s latest statement of accounts.

Mr Campbell’s departure came just days after the first national lockdown was announced. As part of his role, he was the authority’s gold commander for emergency planning which would have included responding to the pandemic.

According to the statement of accounts, £20,650 was included in the sum as a payment in lieu of notice. The director of community has an annual salary of £89,727.

The document also said the role of director of community was vacant from March 29. The council has since not replaced Mr Campbell.

Read more:

• Questions over sudden departure of Harrogate council department head
• Plans in to transform Crescent Gardens into offices

The Stray Ferret asked the borough council what the circumstances were around his departure, how it arrived at the payment sum and how his leaving impacted on the council’s covid response.

A spokeswoman for Harrogate Borough Council said:

“We don’t comment on HR issues relating to individual members of staff.

“The director of community role responsibilities are being shared by the other directors. The director of community’s departure had no effect on the council’s response to the pandemic.”

While no explanation has been given for Mr Campbell’s departure, a source who worked closely with him told the Stray Ferret at the time:

“After three and a half years Paul had seen so many budget cuts and cost saving reviews of waste services, the street cleaning service and the parks service, that I think he was planning to move on.

“I think he delayed it because he had the opportunity to work on the UCI championships and to establish the council’s housing company and push up the level of affordable housing.”

Mr Campbell’s role included overseeing a range of council services range including housing, parks, waste and health and safety.

He was also lead director for the UCI World Cycling Championships, which cost the council more than £600,000 and saw global audiences of more than 300 million. However, it left many town retailers unhappy and caused damage to the West Park Stray – which later cost the council £130,000 to restore.

The NHS will remove the oxygen tanks from the former Nightingale hospital in Harrogate tomorrow. It will be an historic moment for the town. The tanks have loomed over Harrogate and overshadowed the Royal Hall for a year.

The Nightingale hospital never treated coronavirus patients. Staff did use it to provide CT scans to none coronavirus patients.

The NHS confirmed last month that it will dismantle all seven of the Nightingale hospitals across the country.

A small section of Ripon Road, immediately outside the Royal Hall, will close at 4am to allow for a crane to remove the tanks. It is unclear how long it will take.

Read more:

• Investigation launched into Harrogate Nightingale hospital
• NHS confirms Harrogate Nightingale to close

Meanwhile, local councillors from the West Yorkshire Joint Health Scrutiny Committee are investigating whether lessons could be learned from Harrogate’s Nightingale hospital.

The committee will look into how the hospital would have been staffed and what services would have been affected if it had been needed.

When the oxygen tanks went up last year.

Councillors agreed to start the investigation at the next meeting of the health scrutiny committee on June 22. They will call in NHS officials to give evidence.

The Harrogate Nightingale cost £27 million to set up and served the entire Yorkshire and Humber region,

The 10-day International Gilbert & Sullivan Festival is returning to Harrogate this year, in a major boost for the town’s economy.

Harrogate hosted the event annually from 2014 until last year, when it was cancelled due to covid.

The festival, which will take place from August 8 to August 18 at the Royal Hall, attracts thousands of visitors from around the world.

Covid restrictions require the productions to be adapted to ensure the safety of performers, audience and backstage staff.

Janet Smith, festival director, said:

“After the horrible year we have all endured, we cannot wait to get back into the theatre.

“Our seating plan in the theatre is socially distanced, and only 40% of the usual Royal Hall seats are available, so we expect tickets to sell out quickly.

“We will have to wait to hear the government announcements about easing restrictions on June 21, when hopefully we will be allowed to open up more seats.”

The National Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company will open proceedings with HMS Pinafore.

Other highlights include Simon Butteriss directing and starring in The Mikado. The opera company will also bring along a brand-new production of Patience.

Read more:

• Harrogate bed and breakfast diversifies to survive coronavirus
• Jimmy Carr first confirmed show at Royal Hall

Charles Court Opera will present its production of Iolanthe and Charles Court Opera also give two performances of its new G&S Express.

Forbear! Theatre, directed by Rachel Middle, will bring two productions of The Pirates of Penzance and The Yeomen of the Guard.

For something completely different, on August 6, Simon Butteriss will premiere The Diary of a Nobody comedy.

There will be an additional fringe programme of morning talks, masterclasses and afternoon concerts.

Tickets go on open sale from May 5 and can be ordered on 01422 323252 or online at www.gsfestivals.org.

A 20-year-old woman from Harrogate has set up a business giving restaurants a platform to make a website and take bookings without paying commission.

Marina Prokoiosifi moved to Harrogate 4 years ago from Greece and has worked in hospitality since.

During her years in various restaurants Marina said she became aware of the huge amounts businesses would spend using commission-based platforms for bookings and takeaway orders.

After losing her job in December, Marina spent time working with a developer to set up the website Dinerly.

The platform allows restaurants to build their own website to use for orders and table bookings. They then pay a subscription fee each month, ranging for £25 to £65 a month. Marina says this makes it much cheaper than using other websites.

She already has two Harrogate restaurants signed up, Taverna and Doe Bakehouse.

Marina has dreams of having a 1,000 restaurants signed up in five year times.

She said:

“I thought why not make something that is easy and sleek to use. It also means restaurants have direct contact with their customers. I was always baffled why businesses had to use the big companies and pay lots of commission.”

Read more:

• Plans revealed to boost Harrogate district economy after April 12. 
• Council’s former offices, Crescent Gardens, set to be turned into office space with rooftop restaurant. 

Since setting it up Marina said she has faced some hurdles. She said her lack of formal qualifications and young age has meant some businesses have “questioned” what she has proposed.

She added:

“People don’t always take me seriously. It’s been difficult at times but it’s been a learning curve.”

Marina now has a new job at a branding agency but will continue to work on the website as her “side hussle”. She said she is very passionate and will continue to build the platform and encourage other restaurants to sign up.

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