Calls for North Yorkshire Council to hand local areas more powers

A senior county councillor has backed giving greater powers to North Yorkshire Council area constituency committees.

Currently, county councillors in parliamentary constituency areas such as Harrogate and Knaresborough meet every two months to discuss and debate issues from education and transport to housing and the environment.

These area constituency committees can propose motions and make recommendations to the council’s executive, but in practice, the bodies have little power.

The impending abolition of the seven district councils in North Yorkshire will concentrate decision-making into the hands of the new unitary authority in Northallerton, which has led to concerns that local councillors will find it harder to influence decisions affecting their areas.

However, Conservative councillor for Mid-Craven, Simon Myers, who also has responsibility for planning on the council’s executive, said he supports area committees “taking some of the burden” off North Yorkshire Council.

He said:

“I was involved with running Craven District Council for many years and I know how many decisions we took.

“The idea that the executive can take all those decisions from Bentham to Scarborough is to me, too much work. I can see using area committees to take some of that burden as a valid thing to do.”

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At a meeting of the Skipton and Ripon’s area committee last week, Andy Brown, Green Party councillor for Aire Valley, said local government reorganisation presented an opportunity for area constituency committees to become “more than talking shops”.

Cllr Brown said:

“We have to decide whether the area committees are with people with a vision for the area and are thirsty with ideas, or do we want to lobby the MP and listen to a few reports?

“We’d like to be hearing officers on important issues like economic development, we’d like powers on things like planning. We’d like to send a message to the executive that local area committees need to be significant.”

Last week, North Yorkshire County Council announced the new authority will create six new planning committees to oversee decisions across parliamentary constituency areas to run alongside the current area committees.

Stray Ferret Business Awards: Does your business deserve the Inclusivity award?

The Stray Ferret Business Awards 2023 are for businesses across all sectors in the Harrogate district.

Over the next few weeks we will reveal what our judging panel is looking for when it comes to each of the 10 categories.

First up is the Inclusivity Award, which is sponsored by Kempston-Parkes Chartered Surveyors.

This award is designed to give vital recognition to a company that has demonstrated working practices with a proactive approach to inclusivity.

These businesses have made employees and customers feel welcome, safe and free to be themselves, regardless of nationalities, gender, race or sexual orientations.

Companies looking to enter for the Inclusivity Award need to provide details of its policy for inclusivity and, if applicable, provide and example where it has given significant support to an employee or customer.

By giving vital recognition to those who have inclusivity at the heart of their business, we hope others will follow their example.

Does your business deserve to win the Inclusivity Award at the Stray Ferret Business Awards? Entries close on January 16. It’s simple and quick, so enter today!

Click here or the banner below to enter for the Stray Ferret Business Awards, sponsored by Prosperis.

Harrogate district single bus fares to be capped at £2

Bus tickets in the Harrogate district are set to be capped at £2 for three months as part of a government scheme.

The Get Around initiative is funded by the Department for Transport and will run from January 1 to March 31 next year.

It will see single tickets on services capped for 130 bus companies across England.

Both Harrogate Bus Company and Connexions Buses will be taking part in the scheme.

https://twitter.com/harrogatebus/status/1604777134941167620

 

Buses Minister Richard Holden said:

“Brits love buses. They’re the most popular form of public transport in England, making up half of all journeys. So we’re investing £60 million to cap single bus fares at £2 to help families, students and commuters and help get people back on the bus.

“The scheme will also take two million car journeys off the road and it’s fantastic to see so many bus operators signing up.”

The scheme forms part of the government’s Help for Households campaign, which provides help with the cost of living increase.

Ministers said the move will help the bus industry continue to recover from the covid pandemic.

North Yorkshire bus services face ‘grave situation’

It comes as concern has been raised over the future of bus services in the Harrogate district.

Last month, Cllr Keane Duncan, executive member for highways and transportation at North Yorkshire County Council, said the county’s bus network was “facing a really grave situation”.

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Cllr Duncan said bus services in the county were facing unprecedented pressure due to higher costs and passenger numbers.

He added:

“The message across the county is use it or lose it. We need people to support these services.”

Liberal Democrat councillor for Pateley Bridge, Andrew Murday, said residents of his division faced having just two services a day to Harrogate.

He said:

“We just have to do something about bus services, and encourage more people onto buses. We need to know how we are going to go about discouraging people from driving and encouraging people on to buses, so bus services can thrive.”

North Yorkshire Police urged to explain 20mph zones enforcement

Police and North Yorkshire crime commissioner, Zoe Metcalfe, are facing mounting pressure over claims that 20mph zones in the county are never enforced.

Councillors from across the political spectrum in North Yorkshire have said residents deserve answers from both the force and Ms Metcalfe after they declined to answer questions over why 20mph zones are not even enforced in areas such as outside schools.

Recent meetings of North Yorkshire County Council’s constituency committees have heard that although many residents want the number of 20mph zones increased or introduced across all built-up areas, zones which have been in place for 15 years had never been policed.

Councillors have said while the force’s safety camera vans enforce 30mph restrictions, irresponsible motorists appear to be able to drive with impunity in the 20mph zones.

In responses to questions over why North Yorkshire Police did not enforce 20mph zones, neither the force nor the commissioner denied 20mph zones were not policed, and the police appeared to suggest it would largely be up to trained volunteer residents to do so.

A police spokesperson said: 

“When concerns are raised by a local community about a 20mph zone, this may result in a Community Speed Watch outcome via our speed management protocol process. This process is speed and collision data-led and determines the most appropriate outcome for each complaint received.

“Anyone exceeding the speed limit whilst CSW are on deployment can be dealt with. Our roads policing officers may also be requested to conduct speed enforcement as part of their daily duties wherever it is determined necessary – again based on data.”

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When asked why 20mph zones were not being enforced, Ms Metcalfe said operational policing, such as deciding where and when to enforce the law, was the chief constable’s responsibility.

She said: 

“I am hearing that road safety is becoming more of an issue for some communities and next year I will be holding a public accountability meeting to look, in depth, at how North Yorkshire Police are keeping our roads and communities safe.

“Speeding motorists and anti-social behaviour on our roads has always been a major concern with communities and I will continue to raise this with the chief constable to ensure that the force are taking the most appropriate action necessary.”

Speed review

Cllr Keane Duncan, executive county councillor for highways, said the authority was reviewing the most effective approach to speed limits following a request by elected community representatives for a default 20mph zone throughout their area.

He said: 

“We must ensure that all of our efforts, particularly when resources are tight, are focussed on saving lives and avoiding injuries.

“As part of this review, we will be formally asking the police about their approach to speed enforcement inside 20mph limits so that councillors can consider this.”

Richmond Independent councillor Stuart Parsons said when a large 20mph zone was introduced in the town police stated there would be no enforcement, which made the zone “totally pointless”.

He said: 

“The police should be explaining why they are not enforcing the law in its entirety. 

“If they’re not there enforcing the 20mph, then they’re not going to be out there enforcing it when the cars are driving at 40mph, 60mph or 80mph. The boy racers know they risk nothing.”

While Cllr Parsons described the Community Speed Watch scheme as a farce as residents faced indefinite waits to be trained,  Stray, Woodlands and Hookstone Liberal Democrat councillor Pat Marsh said volunteers had to give motorists advanced warning of speed radar guns, which undermined the deterrent.

Cllr Marsh said she had double checked the force did not enforce 20mph zones, adding: 

“They do monitor 30mph areas, but they don’t even do that very often, they want this Community Speed Watch, which isn’t accurate and what surprises everybody is there is an allowance for people to drive at up to 37mph without incurring a fine.

“If the police and the commissioner know how people are feeling why aren’t they addressing that?”

North Yorkshire Police strip searched 90 children in three years, figures show

North Yorkshire Police carried out strip searches on 90 children over the last three years, figures show.

Figures obtained by the Stray Ferret through a Freedom of Information request show 34 children were searched in custody in 2019 alone. Twenty-seven were searched in 2020 and 29 last year.

The force said the searches involved removing jacket, overcoat and gloves and carrying out a procedure known as a “more thorough search”.

None of them involved an “exposing intimate parts” search, which the force said has not been conducted on a child under 18 in the last three years.

While the figures show the number of individuals who have been strip searched by officers following an arrest, they do not reflect whether the child had been searched on multiple occasions. 

North Yorkshire Police also revealed it had conducted a total of 43 strip searches as a result of stop and search on children since 2019.

Table showing strip searches carried out by North Yorkshire Police. Data: NYP.

Officers have the power to order an individual to remove clothing as part of stop search, if they have reasonable grounds to suspect they have a dangerous or prohibited item.

The figures come as the Children’s Commissioner for England criticised the Metropolitan Police in August this year after it was revealed the force strip searched 650 children over two years – the majority of which were found to be innocent of the suspicions against them.

Iryna Pona, policy manager at The Children’s Society, said the Home Office and police forces should investigate the practice.

She said:

“Strip searches are intrusive and traumatic for children, and we are urging the Home Office and police leaders to investigate the concerning scale of this practice.

“Guidance and training for officers needs to be reviewed to ensure strip searches only happen when absolutely necessary, and that children and young people are treated with dignity and respect. Nationally, we’ve heard examples where safeguards like an appropriate adult being present, are not followed, and we see an over-representation of black children in strip search figures.

“When police officers arrest or stop and search children this should be a golden opportunity to identify risks like exploitation to courier drugs and work with other services to offer protection and help.”

Police response

In response to the figures, a North Yorkshire Police spokesperson said:

“Alongside our partners, we work hard to engage with and educate children and young people about the consequences of crime.

“Our dedicated anti-knife crime operation, Operation Divan looks to reduce the number of young people carrying weapons by challenging misconceptions and educating them on the consequences of doing so. Working in partnership with education, social care and youth justice any young person identified as potentially carrying a weapon or being involved in county lines, drug or child exploitation is invited to take part in the scheme, which has recently been recognised by the Howard League for Penal Reform in their community awards.

“Thanks to our preventative approach and our close partnership working, the number of children arrested has also fallen year-on-year since 2018, as reported by the Howard League – The Howard League | Child arrests in England and Wales reduced by 74 per cent in a decade

“Sadly though there are some children who do become involved in criminal activity and in order to safeguard them and keep the public safe, at times it is necessary to conduct searches. Stop and search is a valuable tool in preventing and detecting crime and we recognise it is essential that its use is legitimate and proportionate, in order to maintain public trust.

“We follow guidance from the College of Policing regarding the use of stop and search and we have a number of measures in place to ensure that decisions around its use are recorded and scrutinised. We believe transparency is important to maintaining public trust, so our stop and search figures are published to our website on a monthly basis. Stop and search | North Yorkshire Police”

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A spokesperson for the children’s charity the NSPCC said:

“Like all forces, North Yorkshire Police must fully acknowledge that safeguarding should be at the heart of their policies and procedures when it comes to searching children.

“National guidance on the use of these searches would provide clarity and help to ensure young people’s rights and needs are paramount in these situations.”

Council considers North Yorkshire knowledge test for taxi drivers

Harrogate taxi drivers may be required to have knowledge of Skipton and Ryedale, under proposals being considered by county council bosses.

The local knowledge test licensed drivers must pass to carry passengers looks likely to be adapted, a meeting examining a move to create the country’s largest single taxi zone has heard.

Under proposals already put forward, the new North Yorkshire Council would create a single licensing policy for hackney carriages and private hire vehicles in the entire county.

It would mean drivers in Harrogate could operate anywhere in North Yorkshire, whereas they are currently restricted to the Harrogate district.

Councillors examining issues over harmonising taxi services heard the Department for Transport believed abolishing the seven zones would cut dead mileage for drivers and boost customer choice.

At the moment, the district and borough councils all have a knowledge test restricted to their areas, and it is unclear how much knowledge a taxi driver based in Selby would need to have of villages in the Yorkshire Dales.

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To ensure customers get good service, taxi drivers wanting to trade in Hambleton district must pick the right multiple choice answer to questions such as: 

“You are on the rank situated on Northallerton High Street when a customer asks you to take him to Darlington. Which road would you take out of Northallerton?”

Officers leading the proposals said they were examining how the knowledge test could be applied across North Yorkshire.

However, the proposals have been criticised by some local drivers.

Councillors were told taxi drivers in Harrogate in particular had formed “very vociferous” views over the proposals, which also include not setting a limit for the amount of taxis that can be licensed.

‘Straw that breaks the camel’s back’

Since North Yorkshire County Council launched a consultation over the proposed changes in October, many taxi drivers have criticised the plans, saying they could be the straw that break’s the camel’s back after suffering a loss of trade due to covid and high fuel costs.

Richard Fieldman, who has operated his cab in Ripon for 28 years, told the Stray Ferret previously that the planned changes would see drivers “swamp” areas during the busiest times of day.

Mr Fieldman said the move would see quieter areas deprived of taxis during the busier times.

He said:

“It will mean that any taxi can work in any area.

“You are going to have swamps of taxis in busy areas at busy times. That in itself brings chaos.”

A consultation into the policy changes is open until January 19, 2023. You can have your say here.

Stray Views: Knaresborough gyms should provide ‘human-powered energy’

Stray Views is a weekly column giving you the chance to have your say on issues affecting the Harrogate district. It is an opinion column and does not reflect the views of the Stray Ferret. Send your views to letters@thestrayferret.co.uk.

As Knaresborough is now to have the Pure Gym, as well as the existing gym in the old town hall, and the new leisure centre on Fysche Field, isn’t it time that the machines in these gyms were attached to electricity generators to provide human-powered energy for the town?

Shan Oakes, Knaresborough

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Nidderdale ‘poorly served’ by buses

This letter was submitted prior to leak fix

Nidderdale is poorly served by buses as it is, they are every two hours. But now, until the burst pipe is fixed there’s no bus running through Darley.

It’s not good enough just to cut out a huge chunk of the bus route and provide no alternative. It’s a four mile walk from Darley to Birstwith to pick up the bus there before and after it’s diversion. 

I have been quoted £30 for a taxi on Saturday morning at 7.30 am to get to Harrogate from Darley. The same to return is £60. They are having a laugh.

Helen Staniforth, Birstwith

Do you have an opinion on the Harrogate district? Email us at letters@thestrayferret.co.uk. Please include your name and approximate location details. Limit your letters to 350 words. We reserve the right to edit letters.

Stray Ferret Christmas Appeal: ‘I shouldn’t need this – but it’s a lifesaver’

This year’s Stray Ferret Christmas Appeal is for Resurrected Bites in Harrogate and Knaresborough. Today, Vicky finds out how a series of life events left one woman unable to afford food.

Please give generously to support local people who are struggling this Christmas. They need your help. 

 

“I feel guilty every time I go to Resurrected Bites. I keep saying I shouldn’t be here. I work full-time for the NHS. But it’s a life-saver.” 

Lara Rundle is a single mum to four grown-up children. 

For the last three years, she has lived in Burton Leonard, having moved up from the south-east following the death of her father. 

It was the first in a string of events that left her struggling to cover all her outgoings – even before she tried to buy food. 

“I had lost my dad and he was helping me pay my mortgage. Even a rabbit hutch in the south-east is mad money.  

“When he passed, he said to me and my brother that he had left the money to clear our mortgages. We found out after that his partner had accidentally lost the will and she took everything.  

“My house was on the point of being repossessed and I had a breakdown.  

“I had only been in Harrogate twice in my life and had a midlife crisis and said I was moving to Yorkshire.” 

With some savings in the bank and a small, fixed-rate mortgage, Lara had enough money to get by. However, a reaction to the covid vaccination left her leaving hospital treatment and unable to work for some time.  

As she recovered, Lara received some devastating news: 

“The second of my four children was in a car accident in Sussex. She broke her back in two places.  

“Her friend was killed, and another friend was in intensive care.” 

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Lara spent many months travelling up and down the country to visit her daughter, eating into her dwindling savings. 

She began to look into ways to cut her costs and find some money. 

“I’ve got this big, flash car that I can’t afford, but because it keeps breaking down, the garage won’t take it back. It’s in negative equity. If it wasn’t for that, I would probably be OK. 

“I’ve got equity in the house – I’ve got a very small mortgage, but the building society won’t let me release any equity because they said I don’t earn enough to repay it.” 

Lara had been in receipt of some benefits, but that changed when her youngest daughter went away to university. She was given an annual pay rise of £90 a month, which meant she was no longer entitled to the £180 a month she had been receiving in Universal Credit. 

At £90 a month worse off than before, she then received a letter saying her council tax was going to increase because the valuations office believed her house should be in a higher band. 

Lara simply didn’t know what to do. 

A volunteer stacks the shelves at the Resurrected Bites community groceryShelves full of products at Resurrected Bites’ community grocery

She was helped by her GP practice, which put her in touch with Resurrected Bites.

She became a customer of the community grocery at Gracious Street in Knaresborough, paying £3 for a shop worth many times that amount. She said:

“When my kids were small, I was on my own with four kids and we did have to use a foodbank.  

“Now they’re grown up, I never thought I would be in this situation again. 

“I had never heard of Resurrected BItes before.  

“You feel you are paying something, so it’s not a hand-out. It’s fresh fruit and vegetables. They’re the kind of things I can’t afford to buy.

“If I go to the supermarket, the only thing I have to buy is cheese and butter, sometimes meat. There’s stuff there I could never have afforded to buy even if I wasn’t in this situation.” 

With her daughter well on the road to recovery and the support of Resurrected Bites when she needs it, as well as welcoming neighbours in her new home, Lara feels much more positive about the future. 

She said: 

“It has made such a massive difference. I know I don’t have to worry.

“If you have an extra fiver you put it on your account so you don’t have to worry about paying next time.

“I just can’t thank them enough. They’re angels. The service is a life-saver.”

Nobody in the Harrogate district should go hungry this Christmas. 

It costs £300 to run the community grocery for one day. Please help to keep it open for everyone who relies on it. 

Click here to contribute now. 

Harrogate district worst in county for drink driving

The Harrogate district has had more drink and drug driving arrests in the last week than anywhere else in North Yorkshire.

North Yorkshire Police said today 32 people had been arrested in the last seven days of the campaign — a big increase on 18 in the first week.

Of the 32, 10 were from the Harrogate district. The next highest is York with seven, followed by Scarborough with six, Hambleton with four, Ryedale with three and Craven and Richmondshire with one each.

The campaign started on December 1 and has now seen 50 arrests in total at the halfway stage. Of the 50 arrests, 38 were men and 12 were women.

The highest reading was from a 46-year-old woman in Northallerton who was four time over the legal limit.

Superintendent Emma Aldred, head of specialist operations at North Yorkshire Police, said:

“It’s alarming to see that we have arrested 50 people in just over two weeks for drink or drug driving in North Yorkshire.

“The message is clear; we will not tolerate drink and drug drivers on North Yorkshire’s roads”.

Emmerdale actor Mark Charnock, who plays Marlon Dingle, launched this year’s campaign when he participated in a mock road traffic collision.

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Environment Agency calls for Allerton Park asphalt plant to be rejected

The Environment Agency has called for the creation of an asphalt plant near Knaresborough to be rejected.

The government department has raised concerns over potential pollution to controlled waters in response to Tynedale Roadstone’s planned plant at Allerton Waste Recovery Park, just yards from the A1(M).

The firm, which produces bituminous macadam and asphalt products for roads, already has plants in Newcastle and County Durham and says it needs a third facility to serve contracts for customers in the Yorkshire area.

The plant would include facilities for recycling plastics and other waste products, which could be supplied from operations within the recovery park, into asphalt materials.

Tynedale says the plant would also have the capability to recycle old road material into new asphalt products.

In planning documents submitted to North Yorkshire County Council, agents for the firm said the plant would create about 10 jobs. They said:

“The very nature of the proposed scheme means that it will be crucial to facilitating and servicing highways works and projects in the area.

“The plant would be suitably located in terms of surrounding land uses and would complement the wider Allerton Waste Recovery Park, particularly due to its ability to utilise plastic waste from the waste recovery plant in the production of final asphalt products.”

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The wider site includes Allerton Waste Recovery Plant, which process 320,000 tonnes of waste a year from York and North Yorkshire councils, a partially completed landfill in a former quarry, a concrete batching plant and a methane gas plant.

Planning documents reveal pre-application talks with the council’s planning officers concluded the principle of locating an asphalt plant at the site was considered a compatible use with the other operations on the site.

However, lodging an objection to the development. the Environment Agency said the firm needed to demonstrate the risk of pollution to controlled waters could be appropriately managed.

The agency stated: 

“The previous use of the proposed development site as a landfill presents a high risk of contamination that could be mobilised during construction to pollute controlled waters.

“Controlled waters are particularly sensitive in this location because the development site is located upon a principal aquifer.”

Principal aquifers provide significant quantities of drinking water.

The agency said the applicants had identified the pollution risks without providing adequate mitigation and the plans for piling on the site could result in risks to aquifers.