Harrogate residents have joked that “someone is getting sacked” for a printer error in a new bus shelter advertising campaign.

North Yorkshire County Council has put up posters encouraging people in Harrogate to run, bike and walk to work but there’s a small problem.

The poster has four symbols and while the ‘walk it’ and ‘love it’ match up there has been a mix up with the ‘bike it’ and ‘run it’ lines.

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Some eagle-eyed residents noticed the mistake and took it to a Harrogate community Facebook page to poke fun at the council.

Rachel Webster snapped a picture on Knaresborough Road and shared a post which said: “When you see it…Bravo North Yorkshire County Council, bravo.”

Others commented that it “took a while to see the mistake,” that “someone was getting sacked” and that the proof reader “had one job”.

The Stray Ferret asked North Yorkshire County Council how many of these posters it had printed, how much it cost and what they plan to do now. The council did not respond to those questions but said it was happy for the publicity.

Fiona Ancell, Road Safety Team Leader, said:

“While we can see there is a mistake in their poster, the messages are still clear and we are glad for the extra publicity the posters are receiving.”

Open Harrogate is a North Yorkshire County Council project aimed at encouraging people to use more environmentally-friendly ways of travelling.

The police treatment centre in Harrogate will reopen on Monday.

The centre, which provides physiotherapy and psychological rehabilitation services for police officers, has been closed since March due to coronavirus.

The St Andrews treatment facility in Harrogate, previously known as the Northern Police Convalescent Home, has operated on the same site on Harlow Moor Road since 1903.

It is one of two sites run by the Police Treatment Centres charity. The other is located in Perthshire. 

The charity supports the recovery of both serving and retired police officers. Its patients primarily serve in the forces of northern England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. 

The organisation is funded by a voluntary levy of £1.80 a week by police officers.

It will restart its psychological wellbeing programme next week. Physiotherapy services will also recommence but at reduced capacity. 

A new wing, scheduled to open in spring 2021, will offer 20 new beds and space for group activities.  

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The Stray Ferret recently reported that assaults on police officers and police staff in North Yorkshire rose by almost 60% during lockdown. 

In 2019, the charity supported 215 officers from North Yorkshire. 

Harrogate Borough Council is looking to loan its housing company Bracewell Homes £10m to invest in shared ownership homes.

A report is due to go before HBC’s cabinet next week to rubber-stamp the move, which would see the authority make more investments like its recent unprecedented £4.5m spend on 52 homes on Whinney Lane.

With shared ownership, people buy between a quarter and three-quarters of a property from the council but then have the option to buy a bigger share in the property at a later date. The scheme is aimed at people who don’t earn enough to buy a home outright.

The council sees shared ownership as a way for people earning a modest salary to get on Harrogate’s notoriously unforgiving housing ladder.

HBC’s draft housing strategy 2019-24 said the town was one of the most unaffordable places to live in England, with average house prices around 11 times the median annual income of people who work in the town.

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HBC asks housing developers to include 40% “affordable” housing in every development, which can include shared ownership homes.

When the council formed Bracewell Homes in 2019, a key part of its business plan was to purchase affordable shared ownership homes from developers, as it is doing on Whinney Lane.

With several major developments planned for the district over the coming years, HBC now says it wants to accelerate these types of investments.

Bracewell Homes has also earmarked other sites in the district to develop, including Frogmore in Knaresborough, on vacant and derelict land behind some council homes.

A council spokesperson said:

“The report going to cabinet next week is to seek approval for Bracewell to borrow £10m to acquire properties. If approved, this will include 16 shared ownership at Whinney Lane.

“Bracewell Homes has sold three properties and offers accepted on a further six.”

Harrogate Town’s stadium on Wetherby Road has been renamed the EnviroVent Stadium ahead of the new season kicking off next week.

EnviroVent is a Harrogate-based manufacturer of ventilation equipment to homes and social housing, employing over 230 people at its Hornbeam Business Park headquarters.

The firm has a long-standing relationship with the club and has sponsored a stand for the past seven seasons.

2020 marks 100 years since the opening of the stadium, which was previously known as the CNG Stadium.

EnviroVent’s managing director Andy Makin said:

“We are delighted to extend our sponsorship of the club and obtain the naming rights. We are extremely proud of our local club, they have come very far over the past few years and have achieved so much recently.

“The club is an important part of the local community and it’s an honour to be able to play a part in its journey at this monumental time.”

A new main stand was recently constructed at the ground with close to 1,000 seats, boosting capacity to 5,000.

Garry Plant, managing director at Harrogate Town, added:

“We would like to thank EnviroVent for their continued support and look forward to working to making them proud!”

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The first few home games of the season will be played at Doncaster Rovers’ Keepmoat Stadium as Harrogate’s artificial 3G pitch is replaced with grass due to English Football League regulations.

The club aims to be back at its ground by early October.

The club kick-off their first-ever campaign as an EFL club with a trip to Tranmere Rovers in the EFL Cup on Saturday.

House sales in Harrogate virtually halved in the first six months of the year but estate agents say a “manic” July and August means 2020 will end strongly.

The Stray Ferret analysed Land Registry data, which shows when and where houses with a Harrogate postcode were sold.

From 1 January 2020 to 30 June 2020, 442 homes were purchased, compared with 872 in the same period in 2019. This represents a decline of 49%.

Estate agents were forced to close from 23 March until 13 May and the figures show how lockdown hit the previously buoyant sector hard.

However, Alex Atkinson, sales manager at Linley & Simpson estate agent in Harrogate told the Stray Ferret that despite the sluggish figures for January to June, it had experienced a “manic” July and August, with several homes sold for above the asking price.

He said this has been driven, in part, by the stamp duty holiday that was announced in July.

Mr Atkinson said:

“The market has been brilliant. I cannot remember the last time we agreed five sales above the asking price in one week.”

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UK house prices are at a historic all-time high but Mr Atkinson said it’s unlikely the housing boom will last into 2021 as the long-term economic impact of coronavirus deepens.

He said:

“The furlough scheme is still yet to end and there will probably be an economic downturn with redundancies, then the stamp duty holiday will end after Christmas. It won’t last forever but my hope is it will quieten down for a little while before picking back up next year.”

Mr Atkinson said about 30% of people currently buying a home in the Harrogate district are from out of the area. He said people from cities like Leeds were being tempted by the large gardens that houses in the district can offer, especially after being cooped up indoors during lockdown.

He added:

“Since lockdown we’ve seen a massive shift in our village and rural properties. Anything with land or outdoor space is selling like hotcakes at the moment.”

Loyal listeners of Stray FM have been asking an important question this week – just how local can Greatest Hits Radio be if it covers the nation?

The Stray FM brand has been wiped off the internet. The station no longer has its local presenters. There is one regional drive time show each day.

Instead of Stray FM, those tuned into the frequency will find a different experience. Most of the schedule is filled with music from the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. On the hour there is a mixture of local and national news stories. The Harrogate and Yorkshire Dales version of Greatest Hits Radio featured Harrogate-only advertising when we tuned in today.

In July Dee Ford, group director of Bauer Radio, said:

“Our plan at this stage is to deliver local news much as it is currently delivered by Stray FM. 

In fact, we expect access to the size and scope of the wider Bauer news team will enable the local team to better cover major local stories and issues. 

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David Dunning, a local radio expert currently based at the York Mix, told the Stray Ferret that the regulator is to blame:

“This is clearly not the same station as Stray FM. When you take away the local station you take away the presenters who have a real connection with the community. I do not think that it is right to blame Bauer Media for this. Ofcom are to blame for allowing this through.”

David Dunning is a local radio expert with 35 years experience.

It has been a controversial move for fans of Stray FM who have seen those behind Stray FM leave the radio station.

Sarah Berry, Stray FM’s managing director, is the latest to leave. She had been at the station since it launched in 1994 and said:

“I’d like to thank each and every single person who has connected with us over the years, I include all our stakeholders from listeners, charities, emergency and public services, suppliers and advertisers. I am incredibly proud to have been part of Stray FM and I wish everyone well for the next chapter.”

The process to replace the damaged sculptures in Harrogate’s Valley Gardens is underway after private donors gave about £2,000.

Vandals ripped out chunks of wood from the kiwi bird and the carved Maori bench in the New Zealand garden section of Valley Gardens in July.

Harrogate International Partnerships (HIP), a grant-making charity that supports the twinning of places, has led attempts to replace the sculptures with more durable versions.

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With some funding now in place, Dennis Richard, chair of HIP, told the Stray Ferret it was working with Harrogate Borough Council on plans for replacement sculptures:

“It was shocking to see the state that the sculptures are in. We know we need to put this right as soon as possible. Damage attracts more damage so it needs to be fixed.”

The carved Maori bench has been badly damaged.

A Harrogate Borough Council spokesperson told the Stray Ferret it was too early to provide fuller details of timescales and plans.

The New Zealand garden commemorates Harrogate’s twinning with Wellington and the country’s airmen being stationed in the town during World War Two.

The garden dates back to 1954 and chainsaw sculptor Mick Burns carved the Marlin, Kiwi, and bench in 2010.

A new travel agent has opened in Harrogate’s Montpellier Quarter.

The Travel Journal opened yesterday on the site of the former Isles of Wonder gift shop.

It has started trading at a time when quarantine rules are playing havoc with many people’s holiday plans.

However Ben Poole, the owner is buoyant about prospects.

Although some travel agents have seen bookings plummet during lockdown, as more customers turn to staycations, Mr Poole said bookings were bouncing back. He said:

“Business has been great for the past few weeks and green shoots are certainly appearing for our industry.

“The surge of high quality last minute bookings to places that remain on the government’s safe quarantine list has been a very welcome surprise as I had written off summer 2020 but I have probably done more business this summer last minute than I would have done any previous year.

“Yes there is a worry destinations could be added to the quarantine list without much prior notice but all my clients are made aware of the risks.”

This new shop is set alongside multiple other independent shops recovering from months of lockdown.

Mr Poole, who has been in the travel industry for 21 years, began his new venture at home in January and has been forced to cope with the impact of lockdown.

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He hopes the pandemic will encourage more people to use travel agents after hearing stories of people unable to get refunds from some online companies.

The Coach and Horses pub in Harrogate faces an uncertain future as its appeal against the decision to revoke its licence threatens to drag on.

Solicitors acting on behalf of landlord John Nelson sent the appeal to magistrates in early August.

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.

Harrogate Justice Centre, which is likely to hear the appeal, told the Stray Ferret it did not currently have the capacity for any private prosecutions and did not know when this might change.

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Harrogate Borough Council revoked the pub’s licence in July after it showed a “blatant disregard” for coronavirus social distancing rules.

Mr Nelson was allegedly “aggressive and abusive” towards council officials and the police when they served him a prohibition notice on May 31.

A total of 449 people signed a petition calling on the council to give Mr Nelson’s daughter, Samantha Nelson, the licence to run the pub.

At the licensing sub-committee where the council revoked the licence, Mr Nelson’s lawyer Paddy Whur said his client “accepted he made a chronic error of judgement”.

The Stray Ferret has approached the Coach and Horses several times to inquire about its future. We had still not received a reply by the time of publication.

A power cut in Harrogate this morning led to 6,603 homes losing electricity.

The power cut affected homes in the HG3 postcode, which includes Beckwithshaw, Killinghall and Pannal.

Northern Powergrid said power returned at 9.30am this morning.

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