North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Zoe Metcalfe has rejected claims that proposed changes to Harrogate’s night time fire service will increase the risk to lives.

Ms Metcalfe is consulting on a three-year plan for fire services in the county in the face of severe financial pressure.

One of the proposals is to reduce the number of fire engines operating overnight at Harrogate and Scarborough fire stations from two to one.

This has been criticised by firefighters and trade unions, who fear it could cost lives.

But in her first interview with the Stray Ferret since she was elected commissioner in November, Ms Metcalfe said she disagreed with this assessment:

“From everything I’ve seen I’m confident that won’t happen. This is a genuine consultation. I would really urge everyone to engage with it.”

Ms Metcalfe’s Risk and Resource Model 2022 to 2025 Consultation, published in May, sets out how the fire service will deploy its resources over the next three years. It puts the emphasis on fire prevention, especially during the day when most fires occur.

Firefighters tackling a recent blaze in West Tanfield.

Harrogate and Scarborough currently both have an emergency fire engine and a tactical response fire engine operating 24 hours a day.

The model proposes both stations have two emergency response vehicles during the day but only one at night. They would lose their tactical response engines altogether.

Ms Metcalfe was accompanied at the interview by Dave Winspear, who is part of the senior management team at North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service.

Mr Winspear, who is based in Ripon, said the changes would enhance the current fire service model across the county, adding:

“During the times when we know we are busiest we are providing additional resource into those two towns by bringing in a different type of fire engine.

“It improves the ability to respond to a wide range of incidents.

“We are looking to remove a fire engine in the evening when we are quiet but based on the fact that we have robust arrangements in around the Harrogate and Scarborough area from other fire stations that can respond into that area.”

He added the tactical response engine, which will be lost, had “limited response capability” compared to emergency fire engines.

Harrogate fire station

Harrogate currently employs 40 firefighters across four watches and five could be affected by the changes. Mr Winspear said they would be offered the chance to be redeployed.

Government cuts £8m a year

The new model for fire services is being drawn up against a bleak financial backdrop.

The government recently axed North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service’s capital grant, worth about £8m a year.

It means the service could have to borrow up to £31 million over the next five years. Steve Howley, Fire Brigades Union North Yorkshire brigade secretary, has said the service would be left struggling to buy basics.

Ms Metcalfe described the decision to cut the capital grant as “very unfair” at the time it was announced and this week told us she was “working hard for additional funding” to ensure the service didn’t end up in the position outlined by the union.

Zoe Metcalfe

Delays answering 101 and 999 calls

Ms Metcalfe, who was born in Ripon, went to school in Harrogate and now lives in Aldborough, also said she was working to reduce delays in answering 101 and 999 calls in the police control room.

Home Office figures last month showed that North Yorkshire police took on average 30 seconds to answer 999 calls — the third worst performance in the country. The calls should be answered within 10 seconds.

“Over the last couple of years there has been a huge increase in the volume of calls, especially 999 and they come first.”

The commissioner’s office has pledged £140,000 to address the issue. When will people noticed a difference?

The force control room should currently employ 146 full-time equivalent employees across communications and dispatch when it is fully staffed.

Read more:

• Fire Brigades Union ‘seriously concerned’ over cuts to Harrogate service
• Harrogate firefighter brands plans to rely on one fire engine ‘farcical’

There are currently 141. With the commissioner’s additional investment, there will be a revised target of 161.

Ms Metcalfe said a third of calls to police involved mental health issues and it was important to understand the data better and work with other organisations to tackle the issues.

She said her background as a Conservative councillor on Harrogate Borough Council and North Yorkshire County Council meant she was familiar with many of the agencies involved in mental health.

Asked whether she, as a senior Conservative politician, shared Harrogate and Knaresborough Conservative MP Andrew Jones’ lack of confidence in Prime Minister Boris Johnson, she said:

“I will leave that to MPs in the parliamentary party.”

You can find out more about the proposed changes and take part in the consultation here.

Harry Gration was loved  by many people in the Harrogate district and across Yorkshire. He touched many lives – last year he worked with us at the Stray Ferret in a competition to find Harry’s Heroes.

In the course of a few weeks he met the finalists and made podcasts with them – talking to them about what inspired them to work for others.  It was what Harry liked doing best — meeting people from all walks of life.

Tamsin O’Brien the director of the Stray Ferret worked with Harry at the BBC when he was presenting Look North.  Today she said:

“Harry was a one-off. He was fun and simply got on with everyone. A naturally gifted communicator.

“I worked with Harry in my previous career at the BBC and it was joy to work again with him last year on Harry’s Heroes. It’s hard to take in the news that he’s no longer with us.

“I speak on behalf of all of us at the Stray Ferret by sending Helen and his family all our love and thoughts at this time. There was only one Harry Gration.”

Susie Little from Covid Co-operation Harrogate, who was one of the nominated heroes, posted a picture on Facebook of herself with Harry and this message :

Susie Little with Harry last year for Harry’s Heroes

Harry Gration lived in York but was a regular visitor to the district.

He was a season ticket holder at Harrogate Town which posted this message:

Recently Harry spoke at a Harrogate Brigantes fundraising event. Today a statement was issued from the club’s Les Ellington:

“We are shocked and saddened to hear of the passing of Harry Gration MBE, who was guest speaker and auctioneer at our charity dinner only on 17 June, helping us to raise over £5000 for our Ukraine appeal.

Our thoughts are with his family, friends and former colleagues at the BBC. Rest in peace Harry and thank you from all of us.”

Do you have memories of meeting Harry Gration? Do send them to us and we will publish them in the coming few days. contact@thestrayferret.co.uk

At 27-years-old, Keane Duncan has been made responsible for one of the largest road networks in the country and an array of multi-million pound highways projects.

It’s been a baptism of fire for the young politician, who has gone from the debates of student politics to the senior councillor in charge of highways in a short space of time.

His new role includes the £10.9 million Station Gateway project, a £60 million scheme to realign the A59 at Kex Gill and the newly incorporated highways company, NYHighways, which will oversee thousands of miles of road.

For Cllr Duncan, the position is an opportunity but he’s also aware of that the role comes with intense scrutiny – particularly in Harrogate.

Youngest county councillor

A resident of the village of Norton and a councillor for seven years, Cllr Duncan began his political career while studying at the University of York.

He got involved with the local Thirsk and Malton Conservatives and asked to stand for council.

“I hadn’t really been politically active until that point.”

He was elected to North Yorkshire County Council and then later to his local district council in Ryedale.

For two years, he was leader of Ryedale District Council – one of the six districts which will be abolished next year to make way for North Yorkshire Council.

However, he stepped down in February 2021 over what he described as a “cruel and unnecessary” council tax hike.

He said:

“It’s a very challenging political landscape over in Ryedale. 

“There was no overall control for any party and that represents difficulties in sometimes getting decisions through and doing what we need to do for local people.”

Ahead of the abolition of the county council and districts, Cllr Duncan was a key figure in the debate over what should replace them.

He backed an east/west model for North Yorkshire, while current council leader, Cllr Carl Les, was a proponent of the single unitary model.

Cllr Duncan said:

“I was very much in favour of what was called the east/west proposal.

“I believed passionately in that proposal at the time. I believe passionately in unitary local government, so I wanted to deliver that.”

New highways chief

Fast forward to May this year and Cllr Duncan has been appointed the the executive and will now have a key role in the county’s highways department going into the new council.

While he is now both the youngest member of the council and the executive, Cllr Duncan said he had no expectation of being given the brief.

Read more:

• Another consultation to take place on £10.9m Harrogate Station Gateway
• Under-fire infrastructure plans for west Harrogate will cost taxpayers £25,000

He said he had “no hopes or expectations” of being given a senior position until he was asked by Cllr Les.

He said:

“I was focused on getting myself here on these seats in the council chamber. The leader asked me to join his executive and I was very happy to accept.”

Cllr Duncan added:

“My portfolio area is probably the most public facing. It is the area where we get the most public comments and complaints.”

Multi-million pound Harrogate schemes

One of Cllr Duncan’s pledges since becoming the highways chief is to visit each area of the county.

Earlier this week he visited Ripon and planned to do the same with Harrogate in the near future.

The Harrogate Station Gateway scheme.

The role in the district will prove to be challenging for Cllr Duncan, who will oversee schemes such as the Otley Road cycle route, Beech Grove low traffic neighbourhood and the Kex Gill realignment.

Perhaps the most high profile locally will be the £10.9 million Station Gateway scheme, which is earmarked for a further round of consultation later this year.

When asked for his view on the scheme, which has proved controversial in Harrogate, Cllr Duncan said:

“I’m personally supportive of that scheme and we are wanting to progress it.

“We are going out to a third round of public consultation to ensure that everyone can have their say and their opinions.

“For me, my test on the ground is what do the local councillors think and feel? They are the representatives of their local community.”

Cllr Duncan said he felt that that “on the whole” the council was trying to get the balance right on the various schemes across the district.

However, he added that he was aware of concerns over some of the schemes such as the gateway project.

His new role will also be to field complaints and criticism from the public, but Cllr Duncan said he is determined to do his job well.

“It is a difficult portfolio to manage, but I’m determined to do that by hopefully ensuring that we’re listening to people on the ground.”

People are being urged to take measures to avoid covid after the rate of infection tripled in the Harrogate district this month.

The covid rate had been decreasing across North Yorkshire since the end of March. But the trend has reversed in recent weeks due to a more transmissible variant of Omicron.

At the end of May, the district’s rate of infection was 55 people per 100,000. It is now 172.

Dr Victoria Turner, public health consultant at North Yorkshire County Council, said:

“Cases of covid are once again rising across the UK, including in North Yorkshire.

“The latest increase is being driven by the BA.4 and BA.5 sub-variants of Omicron, which has also caused high rates in other countries across the world.

“There is evidence that BA.4 and BA.5 are more transmissible than previous variants, and there is limited protection from infection with previous variants against BA.4 and BA.5.”

Dr Turner said getting vaccinated, meeting outdoors or in well-ventilated areas indoors, wearing face coverings in enclosed spaces, and good hand and respiratory hygiene would reduce the risk of transmission.

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• Harrogate council charge police over £110,000 for CCTV since 2016

She also advised people with covid symptoms to try to stay at home for five days following the day of their positive result.

Free covid testing is no longer available for most people, but tests can be bought from pharmacies. Dr Turner said:

“It is still best to try to avoid covid infection wherever possible, or minimise the number of times you have it.

“Even if you do not develop severe symptoms from the initial infection you are still at risk of developing long covid, which can be debilitating.

“You are also at increased risk from cardiovascular problems such as heart attacks and strokes in the days and weeks following covid infection.”

Sue Peckitt, NHS North Yorkshire Clinical Commissioning Group chief nurse and director of nursing and quality, added:

“There are still a significant number of people in our hospitals who have covid and it’s a stark reminder that coronavirus hasn’t gone away. This virus is still causing some people to become very unwell.”

Harrogate fire station has urged people to ensure they have working smoke alarms after attending a fire this morning.

Fire ripped through the roof of a bungalow but fortunately nobody was hurt because the alarm sounded.

The incident took place at 2am in York and the aerial ladder from Harrogate was required to help firefighters from York and Huntington tackle the flames.

An investigation is underway.

Harrogate fire station said the blaze, at a time when most people are sleeping, served as a warning to everyone to check their smoke alarms.

It said in a Facebook post:

“In the early hours of today, we were at a house fire. Luckily the occupants had working smoke alarms and got out safely.

“Please make sure yours work if you have them and if not you can contact you local fire station to see about getting some fitted.”

Smoke alarms are free. You can book for them to be installed here.

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It’s Greased Lightning! Young actors from Boroughbridge are taking to the stage tonight to put on Grease the musical.

The youth group of The Hightimers, an amateur theatre company, are putting on the musical two years later than originally planned.

The show was casted in 2020 but due to the pandemic it had to be delayed. After a few cast stages and new members, the kids can finally take to the stage.

The ‘Pink Ladies’

The first show is this evening at 7.30pm in the Coronation Hall. It will be performed at the same time on Friday and Saturday evening as well as a 1.30pm Saturday matinee show.

Director, Marlo Lomas, said:

“The kids have worked so hard and so have the crew to ensure that we put on a cracking show for the audience. So, for all you Greasers Pink Ladies out there let’s go back in time together and support these kids. You will not be disappointed.”

Tickets can be bought online, here, Boroughbridge Post Office, cafe Chez Nous and Ripon’s Realitea.

Read more:

• First Ripon Theatre Festival launches today
• Sculpture trail opens at Newby Hall

The “T-Birds” 

A BMW was destroyed by fire on the A1 near Boroughbridge last night.

Firefighters from Harrogate, Knaresborough and Boroughbridge were called to the blaze at 9.16pm last night.

They used two hose reels and two breathing apparatus to douse the flames.

It is not believed anyone was injured but in a tweet last night North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service said:

“Vehicle totally destroyed. Two hose reels and two breathing apparatus used. Believed to be due to an electrical fault.”

Plumes of smoke rising above the carriageway. Photograph: @NorthYorksFire, Twitter

It was one of two car fires in the district last night.

A crew from Boroughbridge was called when a Skoda Fabia caught fire in Minskip shortly before 8pm.

The cause is again believed to be a faulty engine.

The Skoda engine suffered fire, heat and smoke damage.

Read more:

• Fire warning to farmers after dung heap spontaneously combusts
• Harrogate firefighter brands plans to rely on one fire engine ‘farcical’

North Yorkshire County Council leaders have pledged they will not be “printing money” to boost its workforce’s wages despite facing its highest staff turnover on record and struggling to recruit staff .

A meeting of the council, which employs some 15,000 people, heard that many staff had left for higher salaries, resulting in a turnover rate of nearly 16 per cent.

The Tory-led authority’s executive heard the county’s significantly lower unemployment level than the region was exacerbating the recruitment issue, and despite launching innovative recruitment campaigns finding staff remained “a significant challenge”.

Liberal Democrat group leader Cllr Bryn Griffiths said that because local government pay had been “significantly suppressed” over austerity and recent pay rises had been outstripped by the private sector. it was not surprising the council had an issue with filling job vacancies.

Read more:

• Another consultation to take place on £10.9m Harrogate Station Gateway
• Under-fire infrastructure plans for west Harrogate will cost taxpayers £25,000
• Decision looms on future of Beech Grove low traffic neighbourhood

Cllr Gareth Dadd, the authority’s finance boss, replied the council had to find a way to respond to workforce competition,

He added while the council had set aside £375,000 in bonuses to boost social care recruitment, “it’s no good just printing money”.

Gareth Dadd

He said it was important the council highlighted the benefits of working in the public sector, adding: 

“Sooner or later local government generally has got to recognise that perhaps its policies and offer isn’t in many cases what it was 40 years ago, we are competing with the private sector.”

Condemning the RMT union’s railway strike as “absolutely disgraceful”, Cllr Dadd said the cost of living crisis was not just confined to transport workers.

He revealed a cost of living crisis action plan would be considered by the authority’s executive next month, coupled with a revised list of priorities, such as council tax reductions, benefits and revenues.

Cllr Dadd said: 

“From that I am confident we will see our priority will be helping those that are really struggling. It is only a small part, but nonetheless it flags up the commitment.”

People in crisis

The meeting heard the council’s Local Assistance Fund, designed to help people in crisis, would be used as part of the initiative, and while the fund had spent almost £200,000 more than its £675,000 budget last year, it would not be capped.

Stronger communities executive member Cllr David Chance said: 

“If there is a need we will consider it.”

He said the council was working in numerous ways to help with the crisis.

Alongside the council injecting funds into the Citizens Advice network, school holidays programmes and a domestic property improvement scheme to reduce fuel bills, and as petrol prices continue to soar trading standards officers were visiting numerous “more remote petrol stations to ensure the equipment they use it accurate”.

He said the authority’s Income Maximisation Service, which works to ensure residents receive the best benefits they can from government, has gained about £45 million in additional funds for the county’s residents.

North Yorkshire County Council has reported a £327,000 loss for its Brierley Group of companies for the last financial year.

The council set up the group in 2017 to bring together council-owned companies and save money.

But the group, which includes housebuilding firm Brierley Homes, NY Highways and Yorwaste, reported the loss for the 2021/22 financial year against a budgeted profit of £324,000.

The group lost £639,000 in the previous financial year and the latest figures have raised questions about the council’s ability to run businesses.

According to a council report, authority officials put the loss down to the “impact of covid and the current and emerging market conditions”.

It remained confident that the Brierley Group would turn around the financial situation and post a profit in 2022/23.

Read more:

• Council accused of ‘trophy investment’ for £9m purchase of Harrogate’s Royal Baths
• Harrogate’s Royal Baths: the council’s under-performing ‘trophy investment’
• Council predicts loss-making Brierley Group will return to profit

The council said the overall loss was “driven principally” by two of the companies, Brierley Homes and NYHIghways, posting losses for the year.

However, it added that Brierley Homes’ loss was in line with budget as three of its sites “were in a construction phase during the year” and expected sales were to be realised next year.

The sites include Woodfield Square in Bilton, Millwright Park in Pateley Bridge and Yew Tree Farm in Marton-Cum-Grafton.

NYHighways’ loss was attributed to it being its first year of operation and “higher mobilisation and integration costs”, the report said.

The council report said:

“The expectation is a return to a positive profit after tax position through FY22/23.”

“Brierley Homes will see the sales completion of a number of sites; Woodfield Square, Millwright Park and Yew Tree Farm and NY Highways are now in a stronger position to refine and streamline the business, with other companies in the portfolio like First North Law, Align, NYnet and Veritau building on the successes of FY21/22 with high levels of customer retention and satisfaction as well as additional capacity and expertise into their teams.”

‘Sad state of affairs’

Stuart Parsons

Cllr Stuart Parsons, leader of the Independent group on North Yorkshire County Council, described the loss as a “sad state of affairs”.

He added it would mean less money for vital services.

Cllr Parsons said:

“It’s a sad state of affairs. The company was created by North Yorkshire County Council to generate profits which would be used to support services like adult social care. 

“Expecting North Yorkshire County Council to guarantee this loss means that even less money is available for front-line services.

“North Yorkshire County Council obviously does not have the capacity, nor the ability, to run commercial companies.”

Cllr Gareth Dadd, the council’s executive member for finance, assets and resources, said:

“The Brierley Group includes several companies providing services for us and financially most performed well last year, with some outstripping expectations.

“While we are disappointed the group recorded an overall loss, we recognise the unique set of circumstances  which contributed to the position and are also reflected across the whole of the economy last year. However it should also not be forgotten that the profit or loss a Brierley group company makes is only part of the picture.

“All companies generate a value for North Yorkshire County Council as shareholder and last year the value of this was £5.6m through interest payments to the council alongside contributions towards council service costs.”

“We are confident in the outlook for the future as the group emerges from the challenges of covid and that it will return to a financial surplus in the current year.”

North Yorkshire County Council’s finance boss has said the new unitary local authority is facing a possible black hole of close to £50 million a year.

Cllr Gareth Dadd, executive member for finance at the county council, said the situation was largely due to deficits it will inherit from district councils and high inflation.

Cllr Dadd said it was far too early for the authority, which will come into existence on April 1 next year, to be considering service cutbacks.

Due to the range of uncertainties facing the authority including the ongoing impact of covid, he likened setting the council’s budgets to “trying to juggle two bowls of jelly”.

He was speaking at a meeting of the Conservative-led authority’s executive where a move to top up a fund to cover the costs of local government reorganisation to £38 million was approved.

Although he did not estimate the total structural deficits that the seven second tier authorities, including Harrogate Borough Council, would have accumulated by the time the new council is launched in April, he said it was believed it would be “substantial”.

Read more:

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However, it has been estimated the combined ongoing deficits of the district and borough councils could be in the region of £10 million.

In addition, ahead of the recent increasing inflation rate the county authority had been prepared to cover a deficit of up to £20 million.

With inflationary pressures, which include the council’s gas and electricity bill rising by some £3m, it is believed the total deficit could nearly reach £50 million.

Cllr Dadd told today’s meeting: 

“That is a frightening figure, but nonetheless, I think we are right to raise that at this stage.”

‘Higher uncertainty and risk’

An officer’s report to the meeting said: 

“As further savings are required the schemes to achieve these will become more challenging and inevitably contain a higher level of uncertainty and risk. Therefore, it is imperative that delivery of each saving is closely monitored.

“As well as direct costs, higher inflation will feed into increased charges from suppliers and put pressure on wage levels for our own workforce and the wider supply chain. 

“Effective budgetary control will remain critically important in the coming year but this alone is unlikely to be able to stave off unanticipated price increases in delivering the range of council services. 

“This is, of course, at the same time as undertaking key work in transitioning to the new unitary council.”

Cllr Dadd said while the authority had been successful in cutting costs during austerity, it would never be complacent about sound financial management.

The meeting heard the county council’s business case for local government reorganisation had provided for a £252 million saving over a five-year period after £38 million in costs were taken off.

Cllr Dadd said he would be astounded if all of the £38 million was needed for the reorganisation.