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In this article, we take a look at the 24 councillors who will no longer represent the district.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.
Read more:
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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.
Harrogate’s youngest councillor says unaffordable housing threatens future of villagesThe 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:
North Yorkshire Council £252m saving target ‘massively tougher’, say council bosses“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:
Farewell – the Stray Ferret compiles its top ten Harrogate Borough Council moments“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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17 more defibrillators to be available in Harrogate district
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 to be abolished todayHarrogate 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.”
Read more:
- Explained: What happens to bin collections in Harrogate after devolution?
- Explained: Who will make planning decisions in Harrogate district after devolution?
Record readership for Stray Ferret with 2 million page views this month
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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Minister: no plans to house migrants at ex-airfield near Harrogate district — for now
The government has no current plans to house migrants at a former RAF base on the edge of the Harrogate district, Immigration minister Robert Jenrick has said.
The government scrapped plans last year to house 1,500 asylum seekers at Linton-on-Ouse after a fierce backlash from local people and politicians.
The former airfield is nine miles from Boroughbridge, 13 miles from Knaresborough, and even closer to Harrogate district villages such as Great Ouseburn, Little Ouseburn and Nun Monkton.
Immigration minister Robert Jenrick told the Commons yesterday the government was now considering housing migrants at at Catterick Garrison in Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s constituency.
Ex-military bases in Essex, Lincolnshire and East Sussex are also being assessed for suitability as part of plans to cut down on hotel use.
Former Home Secretary Priti Patel, who was behind the Linton proposal, said the proposed Essex site “is no different in rurality and village size from a former site, Linton-on-Ouse”, adding:
“Why is it deemed appropriate for asylum seeker accommodation for single men to be placed in a rural village in Essex, where there is no infrastructure and no amenities, when it was not appropriate for somewhere like Linton-on-Ouse?”
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In response, Mr Jenrick said:
“We do not have a current plan to proceed with the Linton-on-Ouse proposition, but the sites I have announced today are just the first set that we would like to take forward, because we want to remove people from hotels as quickly as possible and move to this more rudimentary form of accommodation, which will reduce pull factors to the UK and defend the interests of the taxpayer.
Labour shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper described the announcement as “an admission of failure” on asylum policy.
Junior doctors set for 96-hour strike at Harrogate hospitalHarrogate District Hospital is braced for further disruption as junior doctors prepare for a 96-hour walk-out next month.
The British Medical Association announced members will strike from 7am on Tuesday, April 11, until 7am on Saturday, April 15.
Junior doctors are walking out in a dispute over pay and conditions.
Both the BMA and the Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association are calling for a 26% pay increase, which they claim will “reverse the steep decline in pay faced by junior doctors since 2008/9”.
Junior doctors at Harrogate hospital formed a large picket line on Wetherby Road as part of a 72-hour walkout on March 13.
Dr Vivek Trivedi and Dr Robert Laurenson, co-chairs of the BMA junior doctor committee, said:
“It is with disappointment and great frustration that we must announce this new industrial action.
“The government has dragged its feet at every opportunity. It has not presented any credible offer and is refusing to accept that there is any case for pay restoration, describing our central ask as ‘unrealistic’ and ‘unreasonable’.
“Even yesterday they continued to add new unacceptable preconditions to talks instead of getting on and trying to find a resolution.”
A statement from Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust said:
“We are working hard to ensure there is minimal disruption to patient care and that emergency services continue to operate as normal.
“We are currently developing our plans for the propose action and its impact on our services, patients or staff.
“Outpatients appointments and planned activity may be affected. Patients should continue to attend appointments as planned unless contacted to reschedule. We will be re-arranging any postponed appointments as a priority. We appreciate this situation is frustrating for patients affected and apologise for any inconvenience caused.
“Nobody should put off seeking urgent or emergency care during the strikes, and key services will continue to operate.”
You can read the full statement on the trust’s website here.
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Harrogate chamber chief executive David Simister seriously ill in hospital
David Simister, chief executive of Harrogate District Chamber of Commerce, is seriously ill in hospital.
The business organisation said on its website yesterday Mr Simister had suffered a “serious medical episode”.
It added:
“I am sure all our members, and friends in the wider business community of Harrogate will join us in wishing him and his family our thoughts and prayers for a positive outcome and want him to know that we will all be with him on his road to recovery.
“We are deeply saddened by the news and greatly miss David’s infectious enthusiasm and dedication.”
The message added the chamber’s management team led by president Sue Kramer and vice-presidents, Martin Mann, Sam Oakes and Jackie Snape would continue to support and represent chamber members.
Former journalist Mr Simister is well known in Harrogate. He co-founded the Harrogate communications firm Different PR and is a former councillor.
The Stray Ferret sends our best wishes to Mr Simister and hope for his speedy recovery.
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