North Yorkshire’s Police Fire and Crime Commissioner has declined to respond to a call for her to resign after a government watchdog found some vulnerable children “remain at risk unnecessarily” due to delays in police investigations.

Zoe Metcalfe, who is aiming to be the Tory candidate to be the first North Yorkshire and York elected mayor, said she would not be commenting on a notice of motion lodged by North Yorkshire Council’s opposition leader, Cllr Bryn Griffiths, which is tabled to be considered at a full meeting on Wednesday.

However, rather than debate the issue at the meeting, one option for the council’s chairman would be to refer the notice of motion to one of the authority’s scrutiny committees for consideration.

The critical Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary report followed its assessment last year which found the force was “not effectively safeguarding children”.

Last week, at a public accountability meeting Ms Metcalfe said the information she had been provided about the force’s progress over its failings was bogus.

She said: 

“We were led to believe that North Yorkshire Police were in a better position than they ultimately were and we accept this.

“And as a result, we have entirely overhauled our scrutiny and assurance process, I have clearly set out how I will hold North Yorkshire Police to account for delivery.”

Read more:

• Crime commissioner’s office to move to Harrogate Police Station
• North Yorkshire Police ‘still needs to improve’ on child safeguarding, say inspectors
• Crime commissioner Zoe Metcalfe under pressure following critical report

Cllr Griffiths called for Ms Metcalfe’s resignation to be debated at the meeting.

He said the second report, published earlier this month, had examined 33 child protection cases, of which 11 were found to be good, eight required improvement and 14 were inadequate.

He said: 

“For so many cases to be found inadequate is a damning entitlement not only on the police, but also on the overall management of the force by the police and fire commissioner.

“The police, fire and crime commissioner is elected to be responsible for generally overseeing both police forces and fire services. Clearly has failed and is continuing to fail to hold the North Yorkshire Police force to account and keep the public and in particular children safe.

“Urgent action is therefore needed to remove the existing commissioner immediately and replace with a far more effective manager.”

In response, a spokeswoman for Ms Metcalfe said the motion was being put to the council “for discussion only, and so we will not be commenting at this time”.

Some of Ms Metcalfe’s Conservative former colleagues on the authority said they believed the notice of motion was “political” and that they would not be supporting the call for her to resign.

The Tories said those behind calls for her resignation had misunderstood the situation as the reports referred to a time before she was the commissioner.

Bus fares in the Harrogate district are set to increase from tomorrow.

Transdev, which runs Harrogate Bus Company, has an announced an increase in prices on some of its tickets from Sunday, May 14.

It will effect services in Harrogate, Knaresborough and Boroughbridge.

However, tickets for single fares will remain at the £2 cap until the end of June – but will return to original prices with no increase as of July 1.

A statement from the bus firm said:

“Unfortunately due to the rate of inflation we are seeing the cost of running our buses increasing. 

“We’ve been able to freeze many of our fares – our single and return fares will not change, including the £2 maximum single fare. 

“We still think these fares offer excellent value for money, especially compared to the cost of driving and parking.”

The price increases will be as follows:

• Harrogate one-day – £5 to £5.70
• Harrogate one-day (under 19) – £3.40 to £3.80
• Harrogate seven days – £15.50 to £18
• Harrogate seven-days (under 19) – £10.30 to £12
• Harrogate 28 days – £58 to £66
• Harrogate 28 days (under 19) – £40 to £44
• Boroughbridge – £32 to £36
• Boroughbridge (under 19) – £16 to £18
• Transdev Gold ticket (7 days) – £40 to £45
• Transdev Gold (under 19) – £26.50 to £30
• Transdev Gold ticket (28 days) – £130 to £150
• Transdev Gold ticket (28 days, under 19) – £86 to £100
• Daytripper – £12 to £14
• Daytripper (under 19) – £8 to £9.50
• Daytripper group (up to five) – £22 to £25

Read more:

• Ripon’s new city-wide bus service launches with guaranteed funding
• Harrogate Station Gateway: What happens now?

North Yorkshire Councillors have voiced frustration at proposals to delay the introduction of a separate food waste collection service for another 20 years.

The delay has happened due to the government’s failure to state how much funding it would give the service.

Several members of the council’s executive underlined that the recommendation to delay the service until up to 2043 did not reflect their determination to rapidly reduce carbon emissions.

The urgent calls for government action appear to mark a significant shift in policy for the authority. Four years ago its leadership stated it was opposed to the introduction of a separate food waste collection service.

In 2019 the council stated it did not support the separate collections as it already recovered organic matter from residual waste at the county’s Allerton Park energy-from-waste plant in a “very cost-effective way”.

When a year later, the government committed to rolling out separate household food waste collection across the country by 2023, 51% of local authorities already collected food waste separately.

A meeting of the council’s current executive heard how separate collections could realise up to a 3,300-tonne reduction in carbon emissions a year compared to the current arrangements.

By collecting food waste separately, the council could increase the amount that can be converted into green electricity using an anaerobic digester. The delay would mean the carbon equivalent of an extra 18 million kilometres of diesel car emissions every year.

Although the council has effectively been given consent by Whitehall mandarins to delay implementing one of its flagship carbon cutting schemes due to its waste disposal contract running until 2043, the authority’s executive members said they wanted the service launched long before that “backstop position”.

Read more:

• Weekly food waste collections in Harrogate district to be delayed over costs
• ‘Few teething issues’ with North Yorkshire Council launch, say political leaders

However, officers told the meeting the council had received “no further clarity” over government funding for introducing the new food waste collection service, saying the authority faced a bill of anything up to £6.4m annually.

Climate change boss Cllr Greg White said while council wanted to launch the separate collections with a county-wide overhaul of bin collections in 2027, it faced “very significant additional costs” over the separate food waste service.

He said: 

“Three thousand tonnes of carbon dioxide saved is huge, significant and something we want to do, but we can’t do that – with the best will in the world – if we don’t know what it’s going to cost us and at the moment we haven’t got sufficient clarity from the government.”

Other executive members said the authority, which is already facing having to cut a 30m annual deficit, needed “crystal clear” figures from the government before it could launch separate food collections and emphasised they had been left facing a choice of cutting carbon or funding other council services.

Cllr Simon Myers said: 

“As a responsible executive what we can’t do is take a decision when we don’t know the financial consequences for our residents at a time when there are financial pressures anyway.”

Staff at Harrogate District Hospital sold back almost 2,000 days off that they were entitled to in just six months, figures reveal.

Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the hospital, introduced a policy last year where staff could ‘sell’ time off they had accrued back to the trust in order to receive extra money in their pay packets.

It was hoped the move would ease the financial burden that many staff have been under throughout winter as the cost-of-living crisis deepened.

At the time, chief executive Jonathan Coulter even said the finances of some people working for the trust were putting them under more stress than the benefit of having a holiday.

The policy, which has now closed, was capped at a maximum of five days off sold per employee.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service sent a freedom of information request to the trust, which employs around 3,500 people, asking how many staff had taken the trust up on its offer.

The figures show that between September 2022 and March 2023, 492 employees sold back 14,480 hours.

If this were divided into seven-and-a-half hour shifts, it equates to around 1,800 individual days off sold.

Since the policy was introduced in September, members of health unions have gone on strike over low pay, which they argue is compromising patient safety and leading to an exodus of trained professionals from the NHS.

Ben Kirkham, GMB Union regional organiser, said the move by the trust to let staff sell days off is exacerbating staff burnout and sickness. He added:

“The NHS is suffering from chronic underfunding and a major crisis in staffing, resulting in huge appointment and operation back logs.

“For both staff and patients its vital that the NHS is funded properly and that means urgent investment.”

A Royal College of Nursing spokesperson said:

“RCN members are caught between twin crises. The cost-of-living crisis in which selling annual leave is one method of making ends meet and the staffing crisis. Nursing staff are already required to work significant levels of unpaid overtime to support increasingly unsafe levels of staffing across many health and care settings.”

‘Help staff with their money worries’

A Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust spokesperson said:

“Last year, as a consequence of the cost of living crisis and the pressures faced by our staff due to spiralling day-to-day costs, we introduced a cost of living package providing a wide range of support to help colleagues who were struggling.

“The support included financial aid in the form of a hardship grant, general help, advice and resources on financial and mental wellbeing, and for the first time, the opportunity for staff to sell up to five days of their holiday entitlement during 2022/23 financial year.

“Whilst we encourage colleagues to take their annual leave as it enables our minds and bodies to rest and recuperate, we felt that the option for staff to sell some of their annual leave would be appreciated as it would provide a further opportunity to help them with their money worries.

“The scheme ran until the end of March this year and we were pleased to support 492 colleagues who chose to sell some of their annual leave.

“Our staff are our greatest asset and it is important that we support them in these challenging times. Our range of support for staff continues to develop and we will look at introducing further means of support for our staff in the future.”

A public meeting is being held in Ripon next week to hear views on how to shape a new tourism strategy for North Yorkshire.

North Yorkshire Council, which came into existence last month, is devising a strategy to boost the county’s multi-million pound tourism industry.

As part of this, the council is staging three free workshops, including one at the Old Deanery in Ripon from 11am to 1pm on Wednesday.

A council press release this week said the events would “gather information and views from key organisations and enterprises involved in the tourism sector to develop the first countywide destination management plan”.

Attendees will be asked about their priorities and aspirations for the tourism industry as well as the strengths, opportunities and challenges being faced by North Yorkshire’s visitor economy.

Newby Hall. Pic: Mervin Straughan

The council’s Conservative leader, Cllr Carl Les, said:

“The opportunity to develop the first county-wide plan to promote tourism is a major milestone for North Yorkshire.

“The views of businesses and organisations involved in tourism will be key to developing the strategy and the future of the industry as a whole.”

Read more:

• Harrogate council’s tourism body facing uncertain future
• Value of Harrogate district tourism up by £31m, new figures reveal

In-person events will also be held in Ripon, Skipton and Scarborough followed by two online sessions from 5.30pm to 7pm on Tuesday, May 23, and then from noon until 1.30pm on Thursday, May 25.

The draft destination management plan is due to be finalised by the end of June, before being presented to councillors the following month.

A bid is then due to be submitted to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport in September for North Yorkshire to be home to a Local Visitor Economy Partnership, which would involve both the private and public sectors and would need to follow a new national process to be eligible for support and potential funding from the government.

Tourism in North Yorkshire accounts for 11 per cent of the county’s overall economy and employs 41,200 workers.

The county is home to two National Parks for the Yorkshire Dales and the North York Moors, as well as Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal, which is one of only two World Heritage Sites in Yorkshire.

North Yorkshire also has stately homes, including Castle Howard, Kiplin Hall and Newby Hall, as well as 23 English Heritage sites, including Whitby Abbey, Richmond Castle and Rievaulx Abbey, along with the recently acquired Thornborough Henges.

The county also has a wealth of famous food and drink producers responsible for brands including Bettys Café Tea Rooms, Wensleydale Cheese, Harrogate Spring Water and Yorkshire Tea.

Further details of the workshops are available here.

You can complete a 10-minute questionnaire on North Yorkshire’s visitor economy here.

It’s time to join the Stray Ferret Business Club. Our next networking event is after-work drinks at Manahatta, on May 25th at 5:30.

Don’t miss out on this chance to network with businesses from across the Harrogate district. Get your tickets by clicking or tapping here.

A Boroughbridge company is celebrating reaching a milestone as 200 employees have now worked for the firm for 10 years.

Reed Boardall, which is based off Bar Lane, was founded in 1992 and has gone onto become one of the biggest employers in the area with 745 staff.

The company operates in food logistics and reports a turnover of £66 million.

As well as over a quarter of staff having completed more than ten years of service, 31 have chosen to stay with the company for two decades or longer.

Andrew Baldwin, managing director of Reed Boardall’s cold storage division, said: 

“There’s no doubt that our high staff retention levels play a key role in the continued success of the business and our ability to consistently deliver on our promises to our customers. We don’t use any agency workers, instead all of our team are long term employees, many of whom have built up valuable understanding and knowledge about what we do and this gives continuity to the business, enabling us to be the reliable, responsive partner that our customers need.

“This constancy of approach is reinforced by the high numbers of family members all working here across the generations- we have numerous husbands and wives, a mother and daughter and several dads and sons as well as a husband, wife and father in law. What makes us unique is that we have the same staff, providing the same levels of service – it is all about the people and we’re proud that so many of our team choose to stay with us.”

Harrogate financial firm launches rebrand

A Harrogate financial services firm has launched a rebrand.

FinancialForce, which is based at Cardale Park, has renamed itself as Certinia.

The company was co-founded in 2009 by local businesswoman Deb Ashton.

The firm has gone onto employ more than 1,000 people at offices across five countries.

Speaking about the rebrand, Scott Brown, chief executive of Certinia, said:

“FinancialForce was the perfect name when the company was founded in 2009 describing its intent to deliver ERP on Force.com.

“Over the past decade, the company invested heavily to become the most trusted PSA solution in the market.

“Now, we have expanded our ERP leadership with the addition of FP&A, and recently launched new products in two additional markets with Customer Success Cloud and Services CPQ. Together, these are a comprehensive and tightly integrated platform for services businesses. It was time to ensure our name and brand align with all we do in the marketplace today.”

Read more:

• Business Breakfast: Ripon auctioneers announces new name and sales structure
• Business Breakfast: Harrogate family launches UK’s first stocked German kitchen business

Villagers are celebrating the restoration of their Victorian church clock following a £7,000 restoration project.

Residents came together last year to launch the platinum jubilee clock restoration project for St Bartholomew’s Church in Arkendale, which is between Knaresborough and Boroughbridge.

A community event has been held to unveil the clock, which features gold leaf gilded dials that match the original, and the clock mechanism has been deep-cleaned.

Cllr Robert Windass, a Conservative who represents Boroughbridge and Claro on North Yorkshire Council, was the largest funder with £2,500 from his locality budget.

The locality budget provides £10,000 for each councillor to spend on specific local activities each year.

Cllr Windass said:

“I’m delighted to join the community in celebrating the long-awaited unveiling of the church clock. The large-scale project involved making new clock faces to match the original, and the mechanism was overhauled to make sure it will run for many years to come.

“It has been a joint effort to pull this off and I’m proud to have contributed some of my locality budget to such a worthwhile cause.”

(from left), Colin Fletcher, account director at Allerton Waste Recovery Park, Cllr Robert Windass and church warden Robyn Cox

Funding also came from local sponsors and donations through a Sponsor a Numeral Campaign, as well as Thalia Waste Management at Allerton Waste Recovery Park, the Church of England’s ChurchCare scheme, the Moto Foundation and Hanson Cement at Allerton Park.

Harrogate adult mental health charity Claro Enterprises carved the plaque.

It was made using offcuts donated by furniture makers Robert Thompson’s Craftsmen, which is responsible for creating famous Mouseman furniture in Kilburn.

Robyn Cox, the warden of St Bartholomew’s Church, added:

“It’s a new moment in time at St Bartholomew’s where the community came together with support from grant-funding bodies and local businesses to restore the clock dials and mechanism. It was a project we started to celebrate the platinum jubilee of our beloved late Queen Elizabeth II.”

A place of worship has stood in the village since the 14th century, although the present building dates from 1836. It was the first church to be consecrated in the then new Diocese of Ripon in January 1837.

Read more:

• Harrogate church saves £20,000 on clock repairs with can of duck oil
• Bond End roadworks in Knaresborough due to end on Friday

Police have issued a warning today over a recent spate of moped and motorcycle thefts in the Harrogate district.

North Yorkshire Police said the area had seen a “spike” in thefts, particularly of mopeds.

The force added mopeds had often been taken without keys, with secure locks being cut off.

In a statement, police said:

“Our area has seen a recent spike in the theft of motorcycles, predominantly mopeds.

“Often these are being taken without keys, with secure locks cut off before being driven around then discarded.

“Please take extra care when securing motorcycles, and preferably keep them out of sight. If you have any information about the thefts, please call us on 101, or speak to Crimestoppers anonymously.”

Read more:

• Leeds United star fined for speeding by Harrogate magistrates
• Harrogate man jailed for ‘sexualised’ online chats with young girls
• North Yorkshire Police ‘still needs to improve’ on child safeguarding, say inspectors

North Yorkshire Police also issued an appeal today over a spate of bike thefts in Harrogate.

The force continues to investigate the thefts, which happened on Saturday, April 8.

Police released a 50-year-old man on conditional bail in connection with the incident.

A three-day weekend of celebrations and volunteering saw thousands of people mark the coronation of King Charles III in the Harrogate district.

Stray Ferret reporters were out and about every day capturing the fun and numerous activities taking place to commemorate the historic occasion.

Sunday’s glorious weather attracted a huge turnout to Knaresborough Castle for Party in the Castle.

Sunday Party in the Castle. Pic: Charlotte Gale Photography

People getting into the swing of the coronation concert at Knaresborough Castle. Pic: Charlotte Gale Photography

Knaresborough Castle was lit up for the occasion. Pic: Mike Whorley Photography

The royal city of Ripon once again proved it is the little city that knows how to stage a big party as live music filled Market Place on Saturday and Sunday nights, culminating in fireworks to the sounds of a Queen tribute band.

Ripon Cathedral also provided a focus for official events marking the coronation.

Jo Ropner, Lord-Lieutenant of North Yorkshire and Dean John Dobson at Sunday’s coronation commemorative service at Ripon Cathedral

Mr and Mrs Alex Petherbridge and their daughters Tabitha, Silvia and Claudia arrive to watch Ripon cathedral’s livestream of the coronation.

Carr Close in Ripon enjoyed the best of the weather when it staged a street party on Sunday.

Fireworks in Ripon Market Place rounded off Sunday’s activities.

In Harrogate, a big screen in Valley Gardens broadcast the coronation live. Many community groups staged events in villages nearby and also organised volunteering activities yesterday as part of the Big Help Out national initiative.

Watching the coronation in Valley Gardens

Oatlands Community Centre’s coronation gathering

Community Fit’s Anna Gazier (left) and Lisa Tilburn, who work with HADCA, litter picking in Valley Gardens.

Three generations of bell-ringers took part in Saturday’s coronation service at St Wilfrid’s. Pictured are Sally McDonagh, mum Shirley and daughter Bethany, 11.

Sixteen thousand plants were woven together to create the royal cypher on Montpellier Hill.

The sun shone in Masham for its parade of floats on Sunday and nearby Kirkby Malzeard had a lunch party.

One of the Masham floats

Masham Market Square on Sunday

Flying the Union flag in Kirkby Malzeard

Read more:

• As it happened: Second day of coronation celebrations in Harrogate district
• As it happened: Harrogate district celebrates King Charles III coronation

The Wild Swan at Minskip, near Boroughbridge, has unveiled a new-look beer garden.

The garden, situated in a secluded area at the back, can cater for up to 36 drinkers and diners, on top of the 60 covers in the main premises.

Alex Bond, who co-owns the Wild Swan with business partner Stephen Lennox, said:

“We have always had tables outside, but our new look beer garden provides a much richer and more attractive eating and drinking experience.

“It is the picture-perfect suntrap, set between the rear of the historic inn and a characterful disused mill. It will be ideal for the coming summer months.”

(left to right) Stephen Lennox, chef Frazer Ross, new head chef Jason Bishop and Alex Bond. Photo by Monika Kus.

The inn, which is close to Junction 48 of the A1(M), has also appointed a new head chef, Jason Bishop, who replaces Paul Murphy.

Mr Lennox said:

“Jason is a wonderfully talented chef who has worked in some of the finest establishments across Yorkshire. He has been on our radar for the last 18 months and the opportunity to make this partnership happen heading into a busy summer is one we couldn’t pass up.”

Wood-fired pizzas will be returning to the inn on Wednesdays Fridays and Saturdays each week and a new summer menu will be introduced shortly.

Main pic shows (left to right): Stephen Lennox, chef Frazer Ross, new head chef Jason Bishop and Alex Bond. Pic by Monika Kus

Read more:

• Angry Minskip villagers fight developer over possible Roman site
• New children’s nursery planned for farm near Boroughbridge