Conservative councillor speaks out against James Street pedestrianisation

A Conservative Harrogate borough councillor has spoken out against plans to temporarily pedestrianise James Street.

Cllr Nick Brown, who represents the Bishop Munkton and Newby ward, said it was “not the time to deliver a further body blow” to retail in the town.

While Cllr Brown has positioned himself as a “lone voice” in opposition to the plans, it is not the first time he has spoken out against the issue.

At an Overview and Scrutiny meeting last month, he told Conservative council leader, Cllr Richard Cooper, that the coronavirus pandemic was not a reason to start the trial run for pedestrianisation.

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North Yorkshire County Council, which is the highways authority, is expected to implement a temporary pedestrianisation of James Street at the request of the borough council.

The measure has already been met with fierce criticism from landlords and store managers, including former England and Leeds United star Danny Mills.

Now, Cllr Brown has broken rank and criticised the move which forms a part of the council’s masterplan for the town centre.

He said:

“Much has changed in retail since 2016, with the rise of Internet shopping, accelerated by the covid lockdown since March this year. 

“Sadly, retail in central Harrogate is suffering badly. Now is not the time to deliver it a further body blow by pedestrianising the town centre. 

“I believe that the 2016 masterplan, which promotes further widespread pedestrianisation in central Harrogate, is totally out of date and will not serve local businesses well. It may be relevant and have merit sometime in the future but certainly not now, when our retailers need all the help from us that they can get.”

Cllr Brown questioned what economic modelling had been done for the pedestrianisation and whether the consultation for the move was sufficient.

Harrogate Borough Council has maintained that the temporary pedestrianisation was for “social distancing and safety purposes”.

A spokesperson for the council said:

“The proposal to temporarily pedestrianise part of James Street, that already has parking restrictions in place, is to support existing social distancing measures during the continuing covid-19 pandemic and allow people to feel safe when visiting the town centre.

“There is also a wealth of evidence that suggests pedestrianisation supports town centres, increases footfall, reduces vacancy rates, supports local businesses and is viewed positively by visitors.”

Cllr Don Mackenzie, executive county councillor for access, previously defended the the measure and said it was “timely and appropriate”.

Harrogate people switch energy suppliers more frequently than anywhere else

Harrogate people are more likely to switch energy providers than anywhere else in England.

Comparison website Uswitch based the finding on analysis of how often residents changed their gas or electric supplier over the past 20 years.

Harrogate topped the table with 196 switches per 1,000 people, whereas London was bottom with only 116 per 1,000.

London is believed to be last because more people rent than own their own property and are therefore less inclined to switch.

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Will Owen, energy expert at Uswitch.com, said:

“Northerners are showing southerners how it’s done when it comes to switching, with Harrogate residents switching at twice the rate of those in central London.

“Yorkshire residents are earning their reputation for being frugal, with five locations in the top ten being from God’s Own Country.”

Leeds was fourth, with 182 people switching per 1,000.

According to government energy regulator Ofgem, households can save on average £300 a year by switching energy providers.

Daughter of Coach and Horses landlord applies for licence

The daughter of Coach and Horses landlord John Nelson has applied for a licence to run the pub.

In the latest twist to a saga that has rumbled on all summer, Samantha Nelson has applied to take over the pub after her father’s licence was revoked.

In July, Harrogate Borough Council’s sub-licensing committee heard how John Nelson was “aggressive and abusive” to council officials and showed a “blatant disregard” for social distancing guidelines over the course the weekend of May 30.

Mr Nelson’s lawyer Paddy Whur said his client “accepted he made a chronic error of judgement”.

In August, Mr Nelson lodged an appeal against the council’s decision to revoke its licence. No date or location for the hearing has been set and the situation may not change for several months as the courts struggle to deal with a backlog in cases. The pub remains closed.

The Stray Ferret asked Mr Whur if the appeal has now been withdrawn but we had not received a response by the time of publication.

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The Coach and Horses is one of Harrogate’s oldest pubs, having opened in 1827. John Nelson had been the licensee for 33 years.

Samantha Nelson already holds a personal licence to sell alcohol but now wants to be the sole licensee of the premises.

According to the application, the pub would open from 10am to 00.30am, seven days a week. Interested parties have until October 1 to send Harrogate Borough Council their views.

Last month, 449 people signed a petition calling on the council to give Ms Nelson a licence to run the pub.

Harrogate’s Nightingale hospital cost £27m to set up

The government has revealed it cost £27.3 million to set up Harrogate’s Nightingale Hospital.

The sum is the third highest of the seven Nightingale hospitals in England and almost twice as high as previous data had suggested.

Health minister Edward Argar gave the total set up costs of each hospital on Friday in response to a written question by Layla Moran, the Liberal Democrats spokesperson for education.

The figures were:

Mr Argar said:

“The total set up costs for all seven Nightingale sites equates to approximately £220m.”

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The NHS took over Harrogate’s Convention Centre in April for the hospital but so far it has not been used to treat coronavirus patients.

It has capacity for 500 patients across the eight halls in use for the hospital. Birmingham’s Nightingale had 500 beds on set-up, with capacity to double that immediately if required, and increase to 8,000 should the number of cases rise significantly.

Similarly, London’s ExCel centre was set up for 500 patients, with the ability to expand to take 5,000 if required. Manchester has 1,000 beds, Sunderland 460, Exeter 116 and Bristol 60, with expansion potential for 300 beds if needed.

Government figures in July showed the Department of Health and Social Care spent £14.89m constructing the Harrogate hospital. Dutch construction firm BAM was awarded the contract.

The Stray Ferret asked NHS England why the new figure was so much higher but had not received a response by the time of publication.

Year 12 students keen to get back to education

After six months of no school, pupils heading into sixth form seem keen to get back into the swing of things this week.

Having had no proper exams for their GCSEs, students in Harrogate told the Stray Ferret that, while they are nervous, they are just hoping to be able to get back to normal as they start their A-level years.

Year 12 pupil

Year 12 student, St Aidan’s High School, Harrogate

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We spoke to some of year 12s as they were going through the school gates to start their first day at St Aidan’s and St John Fisher Associated Sixth Form and, for some, they were starting a totally new school. One said:

“It’s very nerve-wracking but also very exciting to be able to have that structure back in your life. Years 12 and 13 will be separated and some teachers will be wearing PPE. I’m still nervous what will happen for my A-levels, but we just have to hope it’s all ok by then.”

Another added:

“This is my first ever day at St Aidan’s so I am nervous as I know it will be very different, but I am looking forward to meeting new people.”

Harrogate family pet shop to close after more than 50 years

A Harrogate family pet shop will close after 52 years because the owners have seen footfall and sales drop.

Mick Stothard, who started working at A P & K Stothard Pet Store when he was 10 years old, will retire and the shop will shut its doors on October 3.

He believes that there is not enough support for independent businesses in the town and called for local councillors to step up to help.

A P & K Stothard in 2014 when it owned more unit.

Peter and Kath Stothard, Mick’s parents, started the pet store in 1968 with just £47. It had spanned over four units along the street before it reduced in size to one unit in recent years.

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Mr Stothard told the Stray Ferret that he will transfer most of his stock over to his son and daughter’s shop, Posh Paws on Leeds Road, which will continue to trade. He added:

“We are just not getting enough people through. The town centre is struggling, there are so many shops that are closing down.

“It is all I have ever known. It will be tough to say goodbye after so many years. It is much more difficult now.”

What the pet shop used to take in one week is now taken over four or five weeks. This latest closure follows Bookstall Newsagents, The Cooperative Bank and Gambaru Fitness all closing their doors in recent weeks.

However, it has not been all bad for businesses on Commerical Street. A new fishmonger opened today, with queues out of the door.

Harrogate street spends days in darkness

A street in central Harrogate has spent the past three working days in darkness after the power company failed to fix a fault.

Businesses on Victoria Avenue said that the constant power cuts have been very disruptive.

Northern Powergrid has been trying the fix the issue since Friday. However, businesses report that, each day, the power goes off for several hours and offices have had to close as a result.

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Many on the street are offices, but there are also opticians and dental practices which have had to cancel some appointments.

Andrew Gray, the director of Truth Legal and a landlord on the street, told the Stray Ferret that all of his tenants have gone home:

“It has been massively disruptive. I have a team of lawyers, together with five sets of tenants in this building, and they are all trying to work from home. With coronavirus some businesses are already prepared to switch to home working but there are some office staff who don’t have laptops.”

David Simister, one of the directors at Different PR, also told the Stray Ferret:

“There haven’t been this many power cuts since the Winter of Discontent. It is a nightmare to deal with but I have been able to work from home as a result. Following on from coronavirus this has been the last thing many businesses on this street need.”

Northern Powergrid’s live power map shows that 40 properties have been affected. A spokesperson said:

“We have had engineers out again today. They dug up the road to get access to the faulty cables. It will only be a temporary fix but it should stop the power going out on an intermittent basis.”

‘Emotional’ day as children head back to school

Today was a big day, as many children across the district returned to school for the first time in six months.

The Stray Ferret has been outside the gates of St Aidan’s High School speaking to parents as they waved their children off for their first day back.

For children starting year 7, today is a particularly big milestone: the first day at high school, unfamiliar surroundings, new friends – and on top of this, having to get used to a strange ‘new normal’ with covid restrictions in place.

Ruth Dunn, Mum of a year 7 pupil at St Aidan’s.

Mary Buck, was one of those at the gates, saying goodbye to her daughter who was starting high school today.

“It makes it worse when she’s crying as it makes me cry. Normally her big sister would have been able to walk her in, but she wasn’t allowed with covic.

“My daughter has a medical issue, she doesn’t know her form tutor, she doesn’t know where she’s going. Normally they have a half-day and then a full day induction but they haven’t had this this year.

“The transition from primary to high school is a big change and they didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye to all their primary friends.”

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Despite the nerves and emotion felt among the pupils and parents, most expressed how important it is that they get back to school.

Another mum who was also dropping her child off for her first day at high school said:

“It couldn’t have gone on any longer – the children’s mental health was going to suffer. I feel very reassured by the school, It is my daughter’s first ever day at St Aidan’s but I know they have great processes in place.”

The headteacher at St Aidan’s, Chris Burt,  told the Stray Ferret that he recognises the significant step from primary school to secondary school:

“We have been delighted to welcome Year 7 into St Aidan’s for the first time today. Throughout the day. students will familiarise themselves with the building, meet their fellow students, meet their teachers and get a good feel for what a typical day will be like going forwards.

“The transition from primary to secondary school is a significant step for many students in normal circumstances; ever more so in the context that we are all working in at present and our staff and dedicated pastoral team are on hand to support them throughout.

“We are incredibly proud of how all of our students have coped over the last five months and we look forward to having everyone back in school tomorrow.”

Home library service maintains morale

The home library service has earned praise in Harrogate for its support for local people as lockdown restrictions are eased.

The service delivers books to those who cannot select them in person, including people with disabilities, illness and caring responsibilities.es.

The service is run by volunteers and was operating out of libraries across North Yorkshire since before lockdown. As libraries began to reopen, the service has also been restarted.

Doris Guiseley, 92, from Harrogate, said:

“I’ve had the service since I was 80 and to me it is a godsend. I’m an avid reader and can get lost in a good book, it’s what keeps me going. I recommend it to everyone I meet and tell them it’s a brilliant service.” 

The Harrogate library volunteers have been praised for their support over lockdown.  

Edith Beckley, a 96-year-old from Harrogate, said: 

“The volunteers have become friends too and when they couldn’t visit they rang me every week during lockdown just for a chat.” 

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The service has now been adapted to ensure the protection of both volunteers and the community. All books are left in a secure place on a pre-arranged date and quarantined after collection. 

In July, a Select and Collect service was also launched to allow customers to limit contact whilst collecting books. 

County Councillor Greg White, executive member for libraries, said:  

“I would encourage more people to take advantage of our brilliant service. If you or someone you know would benefit please get in touch.” 

Andrew Jones MP enters devolution debate

Local government minister Simon Clarke has sidestepped a request by Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Andrew Jones to state the minimum population size for a new unitary authority.

Mr Jones submitted a written question asking what the minimum size should be to achieve value for money and quality service delivery.

But Mr Clarke’s response did not give a figure. He said:

“Whilst traditionally various population ranges for unitary councils have been referred to, where a unitary council is proposed its particular circumstances need to be considered when assessing whether its population would be appropriate.”

Mr Clarke added the government’s devolution and local recovery white paper, due to be published this autumn, would provide more details.

‘Too big and remote’

Population size is a critical issue in the ongoing devolution debate in North Yorkshire.

North Yorkshire County Council has proposed creating one large authority that would serve all 610,000 people in the county besides York, which would remain a separate unitary authority.

The seven district councils, including Harrogate Borough Council, have put forward an alternative east / west model that would result in two smaller authorities.

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The district councils claim the county council’s model is too big and remote and their alternative suggestion would lead to more responsive local government.

In June, Mr Clarke said the size of unitary authorities “depended on local circumstances but as a rule of thumb are expected to be substantially in excess of 300,000 to 400,000”.

The Stray Ferret asked Mr Jones if he was satisfied with Mr Clarke’s response and his view on the best devolution model for North Yorkshire but he had not replied by the time of publication.