130-home Pannal Ash developer pledges to stick to agreements

The developer building 130 homes at Castle Hill Farm in Pannal Ash has pledged to stick to agreements with the council following complaints from residents.

Several residents have contacted the Stray Ferret recently to raise various concerns about the Stonebridge Homes development on Whinney Lane.

These include builders starting work early in the morning, temporary floodlights being as bright “as an airport runway”, and the road closure potentially putting the Squinting Cat pub out of business.

Whinney Lane closed to traffic in July and is not scheduled to re-open until February 28.

At a full council meeting last month, Conservative councillor for the Harrogate Pannal ward, John Mann, raised the prospect of enforcement action against Stonebridge unless it agreed to certain conditions.

In an email to residents, Cllr Mann said Stonebridge’s site manager had told him the company had an “aspiration” to bring forward the reopening of Whinney Lane to February “but it depends on the weather and progress as its a complex work programme”.

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The entrance to the Castle Hill Farm development on Whinney Lane.

Cllr Mann’s email also says Stonebridge had agreed to reduce the intensity of the four floodlights, abide by the 8am start time, deploy road sweepers three times a week to clear mud and issue a newsletter to residents updating them of progress.

The Squinting Cat pub requested Stonebridge install the lights to make it safer for people walking to-and-from the pub at night.

A spokesperson from Stonebridge Homes said:

“We can confirm that we have agreements in place with Harrogate Borough Council that our team continue to adhere to.

“We are working to reopen Whinney Lane as soon as possible and apologise for any inconvenience this is causing to local residents.”

Local resident Bruce Allison praised Cllr Mann for contacting Stonebridge but said he remained “sceptical” about whether any commitments would be adhered to.

Harrogate binman caught by paedophile hunter group

A 57-year-old father-of-three from Harrogate who tried to sexually groom a 12-year-old ‘girl’ on WhatsApp has been spared jail.

Former binman Gary Milner sent the ‘girl’ pornographic sketches and urged her to send him a lewd picture of herself.

But in fact he had been set a trap by a paedophile hunter group called Dark Light, one of whose members set up an online decoy profile as a pre-teen girl on the dating app Mingle, York Crown Court heard.

Milner was given an 18-month suspended prison sentence and placed on the sex-offenders’ register for 10 years.

Prosecutor Chris Dunn said the vigilante group turned up at Milner’s home in the Harrogate area following the entrapment and uploaded the video on Facebook. Milner was immediately dismissed from his job at a recycling waste service.

“(The vigilante group) contacted police, informing them that representatives (from Dark Light) had attended the home of the defendant following him communicating online with their decoy profile set up to mimic a (named) 12-year-old female,” added Mr Dunn.

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The decoy profile had lain dormant until Milner contacted the ‘girl’ on the dating website, which was for adults.

“For just over a fortnight (in August 2018) the defendant corresponded with this false profile of a child thinking it was a 12-year-old girl,” said Mr Dunn.

“The initial chat took place via Mingle (but) shortly after that, the conversation moved to the personal messaging app, Whatsapp.”

Asked for lewd image

Milner, whose username was ‘Gazza1Gazza’, became “more intimate” in his conversations with the ‘girl’ after only a few days, manoeuvring the chats towards “messages of a sexual nature”.

He talked to the ‘girl’ about “how to have sex”, asked if he could perform a sexual act on her and sent her pictures and sketches from an adult sex manual.

“On a number of occasions throughout this Whatsapp correspondence, (the ‘girl’) told him she was 12,” added Mr Dunn.

“Thereafter, he sent her a picture of his car, asking her if she’d like to go in it for a drive.”

Milner — formerly of Harrogate but now of Horsefair, Boroughbridge — asked the ‘girl’ to send him a lewd shot of herself and sent her a picture of a woman in a state of undress to give the ‘youngster’ a better idea of the kind of image he was expecting, said Mr Dunn.

After being arrested at home, Milner told police he had talked to the ‘girl’ about sex but claimed it was “more educational”.

He claimed he didn’t get any sexual gratification from the debauched chats and didn’t intend to meet her, but these claims were rubbished by both the prosecution and the sentencing judge.

History of dishonesty

Milner — who lived alone following the collapse of his marriage about 11 years ago — claimed he was looking for a long-term adult relationship on the dating site and that he “happened” to talk to a ‘child’ “for friendship”.

However, he ultimately admitted attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child and attempting to cause a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity.

The court heard that although Milner had an extensive criminal history, mostly for “dishonesty” offences, there was nothing on his record for sexual matters.

Susannah Proctor, for Milner, said her client was “deeply ashamed” about his behaviour but that he had not gone onto the dating site looking for children.

She said he had lost his job as soon as his employers became aware of the Facebook video, bringing an end to a 30-year career as a binman and causing him severe financial difficulties.

Moved to Boroughbridge

Since his arrest, Milner had lost all contact with his family. He had moved from Harrogate to Boroughbridge a few years ago following the death of his father.

Judge Simon Hickey said it was clear that Milner thought he was chatting to a real 12-year-old girl and that he had been sexually grooming her.

However, he said that Milner had already been punished of sorts following the “opprobrium” he had received following the Facebook video and the loss of a job he had held since 1989.

Milner was made subject to a 10-year sexual-harm prevention order and ordered to complete a 30-day rehabilitation programme and sexual-offending prevention course.

Harrogate council gives £31,000 to Welcome to Yorkshire

Harrogate Borough Council has today agreed to pay £31,472 to troubled Welcome to Yorkshire to help keep the tourism body afloat.

Cllr Richard Cooper, leader of the council, approved the sum at a meeting with council officers.

It comes as Welcome to Yorkshire faces a funding gap of £1.4 million amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The tourism body revealed the shortfall in July and wrote to council leaders in the county asking for support – of which around £450,000 was needed from authorities in North Yorkshire.

The organisation was deprived of £1 million in business rates after councils in North and West Yorkshire saw the pandemic reduce their income.

A further £400,000 shortfall was created when Welcome to Yorkshire suspended its membership fees.

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Now Harrogate Borough Council has followed North Yorkshire County Council, which has paid £290,000 in additional funding, to help bailout the organisation.

In a report before Cllr Cooper today, the council said it would fund the contribution from both its revenue budget and business rates retention reserve.

‘Positive projection’

Welcome to Yorkshire said failure to support it would reduce the “positive projection” of the county provided by the tourism body.

A spokesperson for Harrogate Borough Council said:

“This financial support will enable Welcome to Yorkshire to continue to support tourism in Yorkshire and the Harrogate district at a time when it is needed the most.”

Welcome to Yorkshire was hit by controversy when former boss, Sir Gary Verity, resigned in March 2019 on health grounds. He later faced allegations of bullying and inappropriately claiming expenses, which he denied.

Two inquiries carried out after Sir Gary’s resignation cost the tourism body £482,500.

Paul Scriven, a former leader of Sheffield City Council and a Liberal Democrat peer, told the House of Lords Welcome to Yorkshire had a “culture of toxicity” and misused public funds.

Harrogate council urges homebuyers to be patient about search delays

Harrogate Borough Council has urged homebuyers to be patient after admitting it is struggling to cope with the volume of land searches.

The council posted a message on Facebook yesterday saying it had received more than 700 search requests in October, which is about twice as many as the same month last year.

Local authority searches, which check there are no hidden surprises for buyers, are an essential part of the home-buying process.

The council said it was doing “everything we can to reduce the processing times for searches that is currently around 30 working days”. It added:

“We have significantly increased the number of staff working on land searches but it will inevitably take time for their training to be completed and a positive impact to be felt.

“With requests continuing to rise we would encourage people to be mindful of the current timescales and advise them to carry out searches as early as possible in their housing buying process.”

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A buoyant market, fulled by the freeze in stamp duty, has left many homebuyers keen to complete moves before Christmas.

A council spokesman said:

“Our normal target for processing searches is seven working days. So we know it can be frustrating to hear our current timescales are closer to 30 working days.

“The main reason for the extended timeframe is due to the high volume of search requests that have been received over the last six months.”

The Stray Ferret first reported the delays last month. Property experts suggested searches in Harrogate were taking several weeks longer than in neighbouring Leeds and York.

The situation is frustrating for homebuyers and estate agents.

Alex Goldstein, an independent property consultant in Harrogate, told the Stray Ferret:

“The turnaround time of searches is currently appalling. I have several transactions currently on hold. Both sides have to put down tools to wait for the searches.

“As a result it can easily take three months from going under offer to exchange. Something that would normally take one month.”

Mr Goldstein added the delays can be particularly hard on those with financial worries.

It costs £103.95 for a search, which reveals information on issues relating to the property such as previous planning applications, roads, utilities and the environment.

The Stray Ferret has previously spoken to a couple selling a property in Grantley near Ripon who waited 10 weeks for a search.

Harrogate solicitor succeeds Greg Clarke as chair of Football Association

Peter McCormick, a senior partner of Harrogate law firm McCormicks Solicitors, has been appointed interim chairman of the Football Association.

The news was announced yesterday following the sudden resignation of Greg Clarke for describing black players as “coloured” and other comments he made about gay and female players.

The Football Association, which was formed in 1863, is the governing body of football in England and Wales.

A Leeds United fan, Mr McCormick is widely recognised as one of the world’s leading sports and entertainment lawyers.

He is now the first person to have been chairman of both the Premier League and the FA.

McCormicks Solicitors, which is based on East Parade, describes itself as a ‘fearless law firm with a fearless reputation’.

Mr McCormick, who was awarded an OBE for services to charity in 2000, was elected vice-chairman of the FA in 2017.

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An FA statement yesterday said:

“Peter McCormick will step into the role as interim FA chairman with immediate effect and the FA board will begin the process of identifying and appointing a new chair in due course.

“We would also like to reaffirm that as an organisation, we are absolutely committed to doing everything we can to promote diversity, address inequality, and tackle all forms of discrimination in the game.”

Clarke said in a statement:

“I am deeply saddened that I have offended those diverse communities in football that I and others worked so hard to include.

 

10 days left to reach £300,000 Long Lands Common target

The organisation behind plans to build the Harrogate district’s first community-owned woodland has just 10 days left to raise the final £50,000.

The Long Lands Common Community Benefit Society, which aims to buy open farmland between Harrogate and Knaresborough, has so far secured £252,400 of its £300,000 target.

It has set a deadline of November 20 to reach the target.

The society recently delivered 48,000 leaflets to local homes encouraging people to buy shares in the scheme.

It now plans to take news of the appeal national and offer people “their own piece of Yorkshire land”.

The greenbelt section of land sits between the Bilton Triangle and The Avenue in Starbeck.

A duck pond and a sensory garden are just some of the ideas for the land. Photograph: Gary Lawson.

It consists of 30 acres of farmland that was previously looked at by North Yorkshire County Council as a location for a bypass.

The society hopes buying the land will prevent another bid for a bypass, create a green space local people can enjoy and increase the biodiversity in the area.

Chris Kitson, one of the organisers, said:

“We want to be part of the solution. Habitats are being lost by local developments and we want to address that imbalance.

“We are very hopeful about reaching our target. We just need more people to buy shares and help make a positive change.”

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One of the first items on the society’s agenda is to improve access to the woodland by creating an accessible entrance suitable for wheelchairs and prams.

Once the money is raised the Long Lands Common team will consider other plans, including creating a duck pond, wildflower meadow and a sensory garden.

The volunteers hope that through further social media campaigning and word of mouth the target will be reached and plans can get underway.

To learn more and buy shares, head to the website here.

Harrogate primary school’s plea: help our pupils who are isolating

A primary school in Harrogate has launched an urgent appeal to help pupils who are struggling with self-isolation at home.

Grove Road Community Primary School currently has 11 staff, including the head teacher, and about 140 pupils self-isolating either because they have coronavirus or have been in contact with somebody who has.

Chris Harrison, the assistant head, told the Stray Ferret its appeal for help had generated an “incredible” response so far:

“We have been trying to look after those families. With job strains and the added pressure of the kids being at home it stacks up.

“Our original appeal was for food but we have had so many food donations. We’d particularly like to thank Resurrected Bites and Chartwells.”

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Now the school is asking people to donate toys to help with happiness or digital devices to help with learning.

The government said it would give devices to schools for pupils to use at home but Grove Road was not allocated any.

Some of the food donations that have flooded in.

Mr Harrison said this was the first time many pupils have had to fully isolate for two weeks.

He added it was particularly difficult for families without outdoor space.

Anyone who can help with the school’s appeal should get in touch with the school on Twitter or give the reception a call on 01423 506060.

Harrogate man who made 3,000 face shields steps up again

A Harrogate man who made more than 3,000 face shields during the first coronavirus lockdown has started production again.

Sid Lovatt began 3D printing as a hobby but it soon took over his life when he became inundated with requests in the spring.

He set up a couple of printers in his home and they were churning out shields 24 hours a day. At one point Mr Lovatt was donating around 100 a day.

The printers can be set to transform sheets of plastic into different objects — in this case, face shields.

The 3D printer set-up at Geek Bar in Harrogate.

Now the UK is in the midst of a second wave Mr Lovatt, who had stopped production entirely, has dusted off the 3D printers for another round.

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Doctors surgeries and care homes are among those requesting face shields during the second wave of coronavirus.

Mr Lovatt will make the masks and the Supplies for Key Workers in and around Harrogate Facebook group, which helps local people affected by covid, will deliver them to those in need. All for free.

This time though, Mr Lovatt will operate alongside a team in the Geek Bar in the centre of Harrogate, where he works.

He told the Stray Ferret:

“We will be making around 30 face shields a day now so it’s not near the same demand as last time.

“Hopefully it will stay that way but we’ve got some stock left over to fill any gaps. This time we will have eight people all working to make the face shields.”

Unemployment claims in Harrogate district fall by almost 300

The number of people claiming jobless benefits in the Harrogate district fell by almost 300 in October, the largest drop since the pandemic began in March.

A total of 3,595 people in the district claimed out-of-work benefits in October, down from 3,875 in September.

The figures, which were published today by the Office for National Statistics, reveal 3.8% of the district’s population claimed out-of-work benefits — down from 4.1% in the previous month.

Harrogate is below the UK-wide figure of 6.3% for people claiming the benefits, which include Jobseeker’s Allowance and Universal Credit.

The number of UK benefits claims fell from 2.7 million in September to 2.6 million last month.

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The government has now extended the furlough scheme until the end of March, and today’s figures suggest it has helped Harrogate safeguard jobs during the pandemic.

The scheme sees the government pay for 80% of employee salaries up to £2,500 a month. Employers cover pension and national insurance contributions.

However, a Harrogate employment lawyer told the Stray Ferret last month he was aware of cases where firms had put restructure plans in place for October 31 and shed staff then, shortly before the Prime Minister announced another lockdown and an extension to furlough.

New bid to get rough sleepers off Harrogate district’s streets

Harrogate Borough Council plans to buy three houses in town to reduce the number of rough sleepers.

The government’s £105 million Everyone In scheme funded organisations that help rough sleepers during the first lockdown.

Now ministers have set up a new programme called Next Steps, which provides further funding.

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Harrogate Borough Council bid for £1,084,570 from the programme to help with short and long term interventions on rough sleeping in the district.

However, the government looks set to offer the authority £449,326 – nearly half the amount requested.

Once finalised, the council intends to use the funding to buy three former council dwellings to house those people at risk.

The authority has estimated the cost of purchasing the three homes will be £696,000, which officials say would be funded from both the grant and the authority’s housing revenue account.

Town centre locations

A report due before senior councillors on the the council’s cabinet today said the homes would be prioritised within the town area.

It says:

“The property purchases will be prioritised within the Harrogate town area In order to provide proximity to services for rough sleepers and that each potential purchase will be approved by the head of housing and property before an offer on each of the properties is made.”

Senior councillors have been recommended to delegate power to the head of housing to accept the the grants from government, subject to confirmation.

Local authorities were encouraged to house rough sleepers temporarily under the Everyone In initiative during the first lockdown.

The borough council housed people in hostels in the town, as well as in Leeds.

According to council figures, 29 rough sleepers in the district were taken off the streets, of which 10 are still being supported by the authority.

The Stray Ferret asked the council what has happened to the remaining 19 which were housed, but has yet to receive a response.