A walking festival is set to be held in Boroughbridge over the Easter weekend.

The Boroughbridge Easter Walking Festival will see a range of walks take place from Friday, April 7, to Monday, April 10.

They will include three, four, five, 11 and 16 mile walks around the town and surrounding area.

The festival, which has been held annually for 10 years and is free of charge, has seen 200 walkers turn up for the four-day event in the past.

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The guided walks start from a range of places, including the Crown Hotel, Rabbit Hill and Langthorpe Picnic Area.

The hikes are suitable for all abilities and all are welcome. Dogs are welcome on short leads.

For more information, visit the Boroughbridge Walks website here. 

A Green Party councillor has said North Yorkshire Council’s plan to curb climate climate change does not go far enough.

In January the council published a draft climate change strategy includes ambitions such as becoming carbon neutral by 2030, increasing walking and cycling as well as planting 37,000 hectares of new woodland by 2038.

Last month, it then launched a survey called Let’s Talk Climate that asked residents a series of questions about the strategy

However, Arnold Warneken, Green Party councillor for Ouseburn division, said the survey has garnered just over 1,000 responses, which he called disappointing.

He blamed the number of responses on a lack of promotion by the council and said it should be offering more, particularly around agriculture which is estimated to contribute one third of the county’s total emissions.

Cllr Warneken said:

“Air quality is often overlooked and as far as agriculture is concerned we’re taking no action. The council owns its own farms and there are things we can be doing. I don’t think we’re offering enough and the survey isn’t getting the responses it warrants.

“They haven’t pushed the survey hard. I like the officers but I don’t think we’re in people’s faces enough with it.”

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Cllr Warneken called on residents to fill in the survey before the deadline.

He added:

“We’ve got another two weeks where people can spend 10 minutes filling in a form that gives a real chance for county to lead the way on biodiversity and climate change and give our children and grandchildren a better quality of life.”

North Yorkshire County Council’s Conservative executive member for managing our environment, Cllr Greg White, said:

“We remain committed to tackling the threat of climate change, and we recognise that this is the biggest challenge that we face both in North Yorkshire and as a country as a whole.

“We have launched a county-wide engagement with the public to seek their views on a draft climate strategy for the new North Yorkshire Council.

“This includes the first ever public engagement specifically targeting young people, seeking the views of people aged 16 to 25 on the draft climate strategy.

“There are a host of ways for everyone to take part in the latest Let’s Talk engagement campaign about climate, including online as well as face-to-face events and support from the 42 libraries across the county.

“The engagement has also been publicised to the media, and details have been sent to staff, councillors and partner organisations to ensure that the widest possible audience is reached.

“The new council has an ambition to become carbon neutral by 2030, and we have also endorsed an ambitious bid for York and North Yorkshire to become the first carbon negative region in the country, meaning more carbon dioxide emissions would be removed from the atmosphere than are emitted.

“Work which has already been undertaken in the county to tackle carbon emissions includes the installation of energy-saving LED street lighting, energy efficient improvements to buildings and trialling the use of electric vehicles.”

You can take part in the survey on the council’s website here.

In September, the Harrogate district will have a new secondary school — but it won’t be anything like the current ones.

Strive for Education‘s roll will have just 33 students who struggle in mainstream schools and require additional support. Many will have been referred for two or three days a week by other schools in the district.

Strive was set up three years ago by former Harrogate Grammar School assistant headteacher Andy Brown and his wife Sonja, who felt students requiring additional support were under-served locally.

Education inspector Ofsted paved the way for it to transition from an alternative education provider to an independent school, and potentially expand its provision, when inspectors published a report this year concluding it “is likely to meet all the independent school standards”.

Ofsted recognition means Strive will be able to provide a full-time curriculum from September and be eligible to take on students who receive education, health and care plans from local authorities full-time.

Based on North Park Road in Harrogate and with a workshop in Starbeck, Strive classes have no more than six pupils to ensure students get enough support.

The hairdressing area

There is a hairdressing studio and a calm room with bean bags where students can relax, as well as a kitchen and a pool table.

Mr Brown says:

“I identified a huge gap that wasn’t being met locally. A lot of kids were travelling out of the area for this kind of provision.

“Put kids in the right environment with the right support and they feel safe. The big difference is they know we care. Of course all schools care – but it’s different level here.”

Students, who stay for between 12 weeks and two years, have special educational needs, including social, emotional and mental health issues. Autism and ADHD are common.

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Mr Brown admits it can be difficult to pitch the teaching given the wide range of needs and abilities. But he adds:

“If anyone asks me what the greatest challenge has been it’s not the kids — it’s getting the right staff in. They have to be able to relate and provide the right education.”

If the school expands, its main Harrogate site on a residential street might not be able to cope and the Browns are keeping an eye out for a new school – although they have ruled out Woodfield Community Primary School in Bilton, which closed last year. But change isn’t imminent. Mr Brown says:

“The plan is that next year we will be open as an independent school and see how it goes for the first year and take stock.”

Andy Brown

For now though, the timetable and staffing are in place for September.

Mr Brown says his education background and his wife’s business and HR experience makes them a “perfect combination”.

But such specialist education isn’t cheap. Annual fees for full-time places start at £27,000 and vary depending on the needs of the young person, the extra support they require, and any additional professional services needed such as speech and language therapists and educational psychologists.

Strive’s educational offer also depends on whether young people are placed as part of alternative provision or full-time on-roll places.

The school will be holding a drop-in open day on April 28 at which people can meet staff and look round.

As Harrogate Borough Council draws to a close, the move to scrap the authority also sees 24 councillors lose their roles.

The brand new North Yorkshire Council will have 16 elected representatives from the Harrogate district.

However, only 12 of those councillors will move on from seats on the borough council.

Some have successfully sought reelection to the new council.

Among those stepping down include council leader, Cllr Richard Cooper, and deputy leader of the authority, Cllr Graham Swift.

Members of the cabinet Cllr Phil Ireland and Cllr Stanley Lumley have also departed.

In this article, we take a look at the 24 councillors who will no longer represent the district.

Rebecca Burnett

The former chairman of Harrogate Borough Council’s planning committee.

She represented Harrogate St Georges since 2018. 

Trevor Chapman

Mayor Trevor Chapman and wife Janet

Cllr Chapman, who represented Harrogate Bilton Grange, was mayor of the Harrogate borough last year.

The Liberal Democrat was on the council since 2018.

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Richard Cooper

Leader of the council since 2014, Conservative Cllr Cooper represented Harrogate central on the authority.

He announced in October 2021 that he would not seek election to North Yorkshire Council.

Ed Darling

Conservative Cllr Darling was chair of the licensing committee on Harrogate Borough Council and represented Knaresborough Castle ward.

John Ennis

John Ennis, Conservative.

Cllr Ennis, a Conservative, represented the Harrogate Stray ward on the authority.

Sam Green

Sam Green, who was the youngest councillor on Harrogate Borough Council.

Cllr Green, who was only elected in May last year, was the youngest borough councillor at 26-years-old.

He was elected to the Wathvale ward on the council.

Sid Hawke

Cllr Hawke was one of two Ripon Independent councillors on the borough council.

Phil Ireland

Conservative Cllr Ireland was one the authority’s cabinet. He held the carbon reduction and sustainability portfolio.

He also represented Knaresborough Aspin and Calcutt ward.

Steven Jackson

Cllr Jackson was a Conservative councillor who represented the Harrogate Saltergate ward on the council.

Sue Lumby

Cllr Lumby was the Conservative councillor for Harrogate Coppice Valley. She also chaired the council’s human resource committee.

Stanley Lumley

Councillor Stanley Lumley (pictured left)

Conservative Cllr Lumley was the authority’s cabinet member for culture, tourism and sport and oversaw the creation of Brimhams Active, which now runs council leisure centres.

He unsuccessfully stood for election to the new North Yorkshire Council. He also represented Pateley Bridge and Nidderdale on the borough council.

Stuart Martin

Conservative Cllr Martin was mayor of Harrogate borough in 2020.

He represented Ripon Moorside on the authority.

Pauline McHardy

Cllr McHardy, who represented Ripon Minster, was a Ripon Independent on the borough council.

Nigel Middlemass

Cllr Middlemass was a Conservative councillor who represented Harrogate Kingsley ward.

Ann Myatt

Conservative Cllr Myatt represented Ouseburn ward on the borough council.

Tim Myatt

Cllr Myatt was part of the council’s cabinet and held the portfolio for planning.

He also represented Harrogate High ward.

Victoria Oldham

Conservative Cllr Oldham is the current mayor of the Harrogate borough. She chaired full council meetings this year.

She also represented Washburn ward.

Alex Raubitschek

Cllr Raubitschek was a Conservative councillor who represented Oatlands ward.

Matt Scott

Conservative Cllr Scott represented Harrogate Bilton Woodfield on the borough council and chaired the authority’s general purposes committee.

Nigel Simms

Cllr Simms, who represented Masham and Kirkby Malzeard, was vice-chair of the council’s planning committee.

Graham Swift

Conservative deputy leader of the council and portfolio holder for resources, enterprise and economic development, Cllr Swift was among the senior councillors on the authority.

He unsuccessfully stood for election to North Yorkshire Council. He also represented the Duchy ward on the borough council.

Tom Watson

Liberal Democrat Cllr Tom Watson represented Nidd Valley on the borough council.

Matthew Webber

Cllr Webber, who was a Liberal Democrat, represented New Park on the authority.

Christine Willoughby

Liberal Democrat Cllr Willoughby sat on the council for Knaresborough Eastfield.

The youngest councillor on Harrogate Borough Council has said the “critical issue” of young people not being able to afford a home where they grew up could lead to a decline in the district’s villages and rural areas.

The Harrogate district is the most unaffordable place to buy a house in North Yorkshire with a recent report saying a resident needs on average nine times their salary to purchase a home.

The problem is particularly felt by younger people who may have low-paid jobs in agriculture or in the district’s many tourist and hospitality venues.

This week, Sam Green, former Conservative councillor for Wathvale, sent a letter to Cllr Simon Myers, North Yorkshire County Council’s Conservative executive member for housing, that called on the new unitary council to take steps to ensure housing is more affordable for young people.

Cllr Green, who is 27, shared the letter with the Local Democracy Reporting Service. 

It said: 

“I know first-hand from my peers that many young people, first-time buyers and those on low incomes simply cannot afford to remain in the rural villages and settlements they have grown up across the Harrogate district — in many instances due to the high cost of housing or lack of suitable supply.

“If our young people are then forced to move out of the district to meet their housing needs in lower value areas, this creates a brain drain and will have knock on effects across the district which can only then lead to further decline.”

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Cllr Green proposed in the letter that the new council adds additional affordable housing policies to the council’s Local Plan that will open up smaller sites for affordable housing developments.

He also said the council should take advantage of a government planning policy called Rural Exception Sites that permits the delivery of affordable housing on the edges of villages.

He said failure to take these steps would be a “dereliction of duty” on the part of councillors.

Cllr Myers responded to Cllr Green and he shared his response with the LDRS.

He said: 

“As you know, I am wholly committed to delivering affordable housing across North Yorkshire and to addressing what is a crisis for many of our residents and for the sustainability of our communities. I hope that the new North Yorkshire Council will be able to achieve more and to build on the successes of the districts and boroughs.

“I think Harrogate Borough Council has achieved great things of late in delivering housing but I agree that we must not lose sight of our rural areas, not least the national parks. Rural Exception Sites are not necessarily easy, but there is a real commitment in the new council to bring them forward where possible.

“As you know I am always happy to have input on this and look forward to more discussions with you in the future.”

Cllr Green stepped down as a councillor yesterday due to the abolition of Harrogate Borough Council.

In his letter, Cllr Myers added: 

“I would like to thank you for your contribution to public life as a borough councillor and for your dedication to addressing the issues which affect our residents.”

The new leaders of North Yorkshire Council have said making £252 million worth of savings in the next five years as part of local government reorganisation has become “massively tougher”.

Chief executive Richard Flinton and the authority’s political leader, Cllr Carl Les, said almost two years after using large-scale savings as a key plank in its case for creating a single unitary authority for North Yorkshire that “the world is in a different place”.

In 2021, auditors’ analysis of the county council’s unitary found it could save £30m a year by cutting red tape and reducing senior management and elected member costs.

In addition, by using the new council as a springboard for change, the auditors concluded savings could rise to between £50m and £67m a year, netting up to £252m at the end of the first five years, saving of up to £185 a year for households.

However, on the eve of the new authority launching, Mr Flinton said the council was instead looking at needing to cut £70m over the next three years just to balance its books and achieving savings had become “massively tougher”.

He said: 

“Since those predictions were first made the councils have made a lot of savings themselves that would have been in that territory.

“Lots of demand pressures have changed. Austerity has come around the cost of living pressures, the price we are paying for things has increased massively.

“The world is a different place from two years ago where people were making projections using consultants around the art of the possible. The reality against more people having problems looking after kids, more people presenting wanting adult social care, more of the housing challenges such as mould, the world doesn’t stand still.

“Against that backdrop we’re saying we need to save £70m over the next three years. We are going to be honest with people and say that’s not going to be a breeze.”

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The county council has stripped £200m from its annual spending since austerity hit in 2010, partly by relying on volunteers to help run services such as public libraries.

Mr Flinton said: 

“As we come under more and more financial stress that type of innovative dealing with the public is probably going to be more and more.”

“One of the new unitary council’s early cost-cutting programmes will be to sell some of the former district, borough and county council properties, which equate to more than 3,500 bits of property excluding schools.”

When selling the properties Mr Flinton said the council would have regard to the interests of the community and in some cases the property could be used in a regeneration scheme, but in the majority of cases it would be “good old fashioned case back into the bank and value for money.”

The incoming council aims to bolster its online offer, but has pledged face to face contact with residents would continue with a council office kept in each of the former district areas.

Cllr Les said: 

“As soon as we put any one of those properties up for closure you can bet your bottom dollar there will be a campaign to save it.”

Today marks the end of Harrogate Borough Council.

We’ve only reported on the council for the past three years but have pulled together this affectionate, and somewhat tongue-in-cheek, farewell to the authority.

It’s our top ten Harrogate Borough Council greatest hits and best read stories …

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Local voluntary organisations in the Harrogate district are set to be given 17 public defibrillators.

The move comes as part of £22,000 worth of funding from Harrogate Borough Council.

The council, which will be abolished at the end of today, launched a defibrillator grant scheme in January.

Defibrillators provide 24-hour access to life-saving emergency equipment when a cardiac arrest is suspected.

The council has now selected the 17 groups which will receive them.

Cllr Richard Cooper, leader of Harrogate Borough Council and chair of the voluntary and community sector liaison group, said: 

“I am delighted that the borough council has been able to provide these defibrillators to local communities.

“They can save lives, and while I hope they never have to be used, it is reassuring to know that so many are now out there across the district.”

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Dishforth Parish Council, which has received funding for a defibrillator, said: 

“This grant will play a vital part in ensuring our parishioners and members of the public have the use of a defibrillator at the playing field and sports pavilion should it be needed.”

Starbeck Tennis Club said: 

“It is so important to our members and the neighbourhood that this defibrillator is available for anyone who needs access as every second matters in a medical emergency.”

Groups that will receive defibrillators

1.      Dishforth Parish Council

2.      Fewston Parochial Hall

3.      Haverah Park with Beckwithshaw Parish Council

4.      Healey Masham

5.      High Ellington Masham

6.      Knaresborough Football Club

7.      Knaresborough Lions

8.      Knaresborough Forest Cricket Club

9.      Little Ribston Village Hall

10.  Low Burton

11.  Moor Monkton Parish Council

12.  Ripon Community Link

13.  Rotary Club of Knaresborough

14.  Starbeck Tennis club

15.  The Parish Meeting of South Stainley with Cayton

16.  Thornthwaite Scout Centre

17.  Thruscross Parish Council

Harrogate Borough Council will be abolished at the end of today after 49 years of existence.

The council, along with six other district councils and North Yorkshire County Council, will be replaced by North Yorkshire Council from April 1.

The move comes as part of the biggest shake-up in local government since 1974.

It means North Yorkshire Council, which will employ 11,500 staff, will be responsible for all council services in the district, including bin collections, planning, licensing and highways.

The change will also see the district represented by 16 councillors, instead of the current 40 on the borough council plus more on the county council.

Among those councillors stepping down are Richard Cooper and Graham Swift, the leader and deputy leader of Harrogate Borough Council respectively.

‘We will be locally-based’

The new leaders of the unitary council have pledged the new authority will be local, despite being based in Northallerton.

Speaking ahead of the takeover, Richard Flinton, the new chief executive of the council, defended the authority from criticism that it was too remote.

He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service:

“We will have locally-based managers who have a strong understanding of the issues in their areas.”

The authority’s leadership says while one safeguard against parochialism on the new authority would be in its executive members representing communities from across the county, another is by retaining its headquarters in Northallerton.

Richard Flinton, chief executive of North Yorkshire Council.

Mr Flinton said: 

“If our headquarters was in Harrogate or Scarborough then there might be more of a concern that we would be focused on that as the council view of the world. 

“Being in a fairly modest market town mitigates against that.”

Meanwhile, Cllr Carl Les, the Conservative leader of the new council, defended the decision to create 90 councillors to cover the entire county – rather than the current number of 319 which cover different councils.

He said:

“Representation by numbers doesn’t work. What matters is if you’ve got energetic people in the cohort of 90. The great benefit of reducing from 319 is that we have saved £750,000.

“I think we’ve got enough members to represent the people and continue the political process. You don’t have to go to a parish meeting to understand what’s happening in that parish.”

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The Stray Ferret has had a record breaking March, with more than two million page views and almost 300,000 unique users.

The Harrogate district news service, which is now three years old,  has seen consistent growth in readership.

The figures quoted have all been verified by Google Analytics.

More than 30,000 people follow Stray Ferret posts on the various social media channels.

The most read stories in March included hundreds of job losses due to the sudden close of telemarketing firm Amvoc in Harrogate, disruption across the district due to snow fall, Knaresborough tractor run and the closure of the fast food restaurant Leon. 

Tamsin O’Brien, director of the Stray Ferret said:

“We set out to provide a service that we thought the residents of the Harrogate district wanted — well written news and information in an easy-to-read digital format. We constantly  aim to be first with the news and be as local as possible.  To have two million page views shows just how much people value this information and are engaged in where they live.

“Our readers tell us how much they like the fact our news content is free of annoying pop-ups or Google ads and we only allow local advertisers who also want to engage local residents — so the whole site is solely for the people and businesses of the district.”

This month also saw the Stray Ferret launch its annual Business Awards and establish a networking Business Club.

Thanks to all our readers and advertisers. Please keep us up to date with your news and views.

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