Aldborough and Boroughbridge Show cancelled for second yearAldborough and Boroughbridge Agricultural Show has become the latest major event in the Harrogate district to fall victim to covid this year.
This year’s show, which would have been the 107th, was due to take place on July 25 at Newby Hall.
The event includes animal judging as well as craft tents and stallholders selling food and drink.
This is the second year the show has been cancelled due to covid.
The show committee announced the decision on Facebook. It said:
“It is with an exceptionally heavy heart that the committee have decided to cancel the show this year.
“This has not been a decision that has been taken lightly and all considerations and options have been considered.
“We are still discussing the possibility of a virtual event or perhaps something later in the year, however at this time I can confirm that our full show will not be going ahead on July 25.
“We will confirm next year’s date shortly and we really do hope that that show will be our best one yet.”
The event follows the likes of Ripley Show and Masham Steam Engine and Fair Organ Rally in being cancelled for a second year running.
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Tanker catches fire on A1 (M) near BoroughbridgeFour crews from North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service were called to the A1 (M) near Boroughbridge this morning after a tanker caught fire.
Crews from Harrogate, Knaresborough, Boroughbridge and Tadcaster rushed to the incident at 01.32am this morning.
The brakes and tyres of the tanker, which was carrying sugar, had set on fire. The crews were able to detach the trailer from the cab, which luckily didn’t set alight.
A section of the A1 (M) near junction 47 and 48 was closed for 90 minutes.
In its incident summary, the fire service said:
“Crews used two breathing apparatus sets and two hose reel jets.”
Highways England said it was called at the same time to patrol the traffic.
All lanes were reopened by 2.57am. The last of the fire crews left the scene at 2.45am.
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Boroughbridge company completes multi-million pound expansionOne of the Harrogate district’s biggest employers has completed a multi-million pound expansion.
Reed Boardall, which stores and delivers frozen food to UK supermarkets, employs 800 staff at its Boroughbridge site and operates a fleet of 196 vehicles 24 hours a day.
It delivers 12,000 pallets of frozen food daily.
The company has finished a 110,000 square foot expansion to one of its cold storage units at its 55-acre site in Boroughbridge, which will help it meet increased customer demand.
Prior to the pandemic, the company put plans in place to increase its storage capacity to 168,000 pallets. It started the 12-month project in March 2020 along with Leeds-based building contractors Marshall.
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Marcus Boardall, chief executive of the company, said:
“Despite intense pressure on the supply chain in 2020, we were able to undertake and complete the extension project on schedule.
“From the turmoil of the pandemic to uncertainties around Brexit, we and our customers have faced some real challenges over the last year, and this latest investment makes us well-placed to continue to swiftly and efficiently respond to our customers’ changing logistics requirements.”
Andrew Baldwin, managing director of Reed Boardall cold storage division, said:
“Our customers’ ongoing organic growth has resulted in increased storage and distribution needs and we are happy to invest in the infrastructure which will enable us to continue to look after their best interests and to grow alongside them.”
Northern Aldborough Festival returns with stellar line-upNorthern Aldborough Festival is making its comeback this year with acts such as Lesley Garrett and the Rev Richard Coles set to draw crowds.
It was cancelled in 2020 but this year organisers are promising a spectacular line-up.
The usual 10-day festival has been reduced to six days and is thought to be one of the first larger events in the district being held after almost all restrictions are lifted. It will begin on June 21 – the day of the government’s anticipated full reopening of society.
Headline performances include an appearance by soprano Lesley Garrett, an evening with the former Communard turned cleric Rev Coles and a performance from the Russian virtuoso violinist Viktoria Mullova, with her son, rising jazz star Misha Mullov-Abbado.
The festival will end with its traditional Last Night outdoor pop concert, which will be 80s themed, at Aldborough Manor on Saturday June 27.
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Robert Ogden, festival director, said:
“We have an incredible line-up of artists, including some of the music industry’s biggest names alongside up-and-coming talent from around the region.
“While the quality of the musical offering will be ensured, so will the welfare and comfort of the audience, and therefore numbers will be limited and other measures taken to allow for safe, social distancing. With that in mind we are inviting people to book their places early.”
Since setting up in 1994 the festival has offered a platform for up-and-coming artists. Young talent will have an opportunity to perform on June 23 in a Young Artist’s Showcase.
Some covid restrictions are still expected to be in place, such as a reduced crowd capacity and social distancing measures.
Pateley Bridge census support could save you £1,000People who have had difficulty filling in the census form need not panic. Help is at hand to save those struggling a potential £1,000 fine.
The census support centre run by Nidderdale Plus in Pateley Bridge can provide assistance to anybody living in the Harrogate district.
It is based in the Nidderdale Plus community hub in Station Square, King Street and will be open daily between 10am and 4pm for the rest of this week and on Saturday and bank holiday Monday from 10am until 1pm.
The Census 2021 forms were posted to millions of households in England, Northern Ireland and Wales.
Helen Flynn, executive director of Nidderdale Plus, told the Stray Ferret:
“The census support centre, with its specially-trained advisors Sandra Walker and Heather Blundell, has been very busy since census day on March 21.
“We are proud to be the fourth highest performing census support centre in the north-east, North Yorkshire and Cumbria region so we have been punching above our weight, as we have been helping people.
“Completing and submitting the census form is a legal requirement and failure to do it could result in a fine of £1,000.”
People can walk in to the hub to get help with filling in their form.
Alternatively, they can call 01423 714953 for help and advice over the phone.
Filling in the form, which takes about 10 minutes, can be done on paper, smartphone, tablet or computer.
For those unfamiliar with technology, assistance can be provided with filling out the form online and submitting it.
The census helps local and national government to obtain a snapshot of the entire population at one point in time.
This helps in future planning for services such as healthcare, education and transport.
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Census facts and figures
This year marks the 22nd census.
The first census was held in Great Britain in March 1801.
It recorded the combined population of England, Wales and Scotland at 10.9 million, living in 1.8 million houses.
It has been held every 10 years, except for 1941, when it did not take place because of World War II.
By the 2011 Census, the UK population – which also includes Northern Ireland – had grown to 63 million, of which 32 million were female and 31 million were male.
Community rallies to raise £7,000 for Minskip fire victimsTwo fundraising pages have been set up to help families whose homes were damaged by a major fire in the Harrogate district in the early hours of Sunday morning.
The blaze began in a semi-detached house in Minskip and caused 100% fire damage to the first floor and smoke damage throughout.
The neighbouring property is also reported to have extensive smoke and fire damage.
People are rallying round to support the two families, so far raising almost £7,000 to go towards new furniture and appliances.
Two gofundme pages have been set up. The first was set up on Sunday by a friend of the owner of the house where the fire started, and has already raised £6,633.
The second was set up yesterday for the neighbour who has had to throw away a lot of belongings.
Both families are currently living elsewhere but are in need of donations to replace lost items.
Numerous posts have been made on local Facebook groups to encourage donations and people have offered bedding, children’s clothing and some furniture.
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North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service sent three crews to the address on Roecliffe Drive just after 1am Sunday morning.
It believed the fire was caused by a candle in one of the bedrooms, but this has yet to be confirmed.
Nobody was injured but the fire left the home in which it started uninhabitable.
A spokeswoman for the fire service told the Stray Ferret it was fortunate nobody was hurt.
Minskip is about a mile from Boroughbridge.
Early morning blaze ruins house in Harrogate districtAn unsupervised candle is believed to have caused a fire that badly damaged a house in Minskip in the early hours of this morning.
Firefighters from Boroughbridge, Knaresborough and Harrogate using and aerial ladder platform and breathing apparatus rushed to the scene just after 1am.
Nobody was injured but the fire, which started in a bedroom, left the home in Roecliffe Drive uninhabitable.
The first floor suffered 100% fire damage and there is smoke damage throughout the building.
North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service’s incident report said:
“Crews used six breathing apparatus sets, two hose reel jets, door enforcer, 9 metre ladder, thermal imaging camera and small tools.
“They also gained access to a neighbouring property to check for fire spread.”
A spokeswoman for North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service told the Stray Ferret the adjoining semi-detached was not damaged and it was fortunate nobody was hurt.
Minskip is about a mile from Boroughbridge.
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Drop in vacant shops boosts hope for high streetsThe deputy leader of Harrogate Borough Council has said he is “extremely optimistic” about high streets recovering from the covid crisis as he revealed positive economic data boosted by the reopening.
Cllr Graham Swift, who is also cabinet member for resources, enterprise and economic development, said the percentage of vacant shops across the district had fallen to 6.8% in March – a “significant improvement” from 8.6% around this time last year.
He added data on people’s movements showed the number of visitors to rural areas had returned to pre-pandemic levels, although Harrogate, Knaresborough and Ripon had not yet reached this point.
Cllr Graham Swift, Harrogate Borough Council
Speaking at a meeting on Wednesday, Cllr Swift said:
“I’m extremely optimistic. The rural areas are already seeing traffic flow of people movements, as measured by Google, back to pre-pandemic levels.
“The three major conurbations are not back to pre-pandemic levels yet but the fact is retail is looking extremely positive and I’m very hopeful we will see a strong bounce back in the economy.”
Shops classed as vacant are those not paying business rates to the council.
Cllr Swift said the strongest performing areas for this currently are Boroughbridge, which has just one vacant shop, and Pateley Bridge, which has a vacancy rate of 2.5%.
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His comments followed a question from Boroughbridge councillor Robert Windass, who said members of the public were “curious” over the current state of high streets during the pandemic.
Cllr Swift responded:
“We are now seeing considerable extension of the opening up and unlocking of the country. Last week we saw the opening up of non-essential retail on April 12.
“I went into Harrogate on that morning and was overwhelmed by the innovation and creativity that is going on, particularly around the bar and hospitality sector who have used limited spaces to create exciting opportunities to open up.
“I was very, very impressed by the sector but most important to this question is what is going to be happening in the near future.”
He added:
“There has been a lot of talk over the last few months about Harrogate as a district and how its towns and city have responded to retail sector closures.
“A lot of people count the stores to see which ones are open or closed. In a case where we are in lockdown, it’s obvious that people will see things closed and think they have withdrawn from the site.
“But in actual fact, what we record are the business rate activities of these retail sectors and I’m extremely heartened by the fact that as of March 2021 our retail sector has improved.”
The latest unemployment figures for the district show a slight increase with 3,625 people claiming out-of-work benefits in February, according to the Office for National Statistics.
This equates to 3.8% of the population aged 16 to 64 and is up from 3,460 in January.
Meanwhile, the number of people in the district who were furloughed from their jobs was 12,300 in February, according to the latest HM Revenue & Customs figures.
This was an increase from 9,100 in December, before the third national lockdown began.
First glimpse at ‘exciting’ plans for Boroughbridge community centrePlans for a new community centre in Boroughbridge have been unveiled as the town looks to serve its growing population.
Boroughbridge Town Council is behind the proposals for near the car park on Back Lane. It has asked residents to fill in a survey before May 14 to determine demand.
Such a project has been debated for many years. The council has said that it is now starting to become more of a reality.
While there is no timescale or cost just yet, the council hopes that government will help to fund it.
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The plans include a small sports hall, community event room, kitchen, public toilets, a new home for the council and tourist information point.
Boroughbridge Town Council has promised to build it in an eco-friendly, energy efficient way and also to not lose car parking spaces.
Cllr Peter Phillips, who has been working on the plans for the past year, told the Stray Ferret:
“Boroughbridge is a rapidly expanding community due to the accelerated home building programme in our area.
“Our population is expected to almost double over the next few years and we have no central community facility to cater for this.
“We need to ensure that these proposals are indeed what our community wishes to have.
“There are some fears and concerns which are fully understandable, but overall the feedback so far looking at around 80% in favour.”
A1 service station decision ‘flies in the face of localism’, say campaignersCampaigners in Kirby Hill have said a government decision to approve a motorway service station on the A1 “flies in the face of localism”.
Gareth Owens, chair of Kirby Hill Residents Against Motorway Services, said the approval by planning inspector David Rose reversed 25 years worth of rejection by central government.
The proposal was submitted by Dublin-based company Applegreen and went to its latest public inquiry in February, which lasted for two weeks.
Mr Rose gave approval to the plan yesterday, which will see the service station built on the A1 northbound between junctions 48 and 49.
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In a saga that has spanned a quarter of a century, the application has been before multiple council planning committees, faced four public inquiries and been turned down twice by the Secretary of State and the High Court.
Now, the plan has been given the go ahead after Mr Rose decided the benefits of the proposal outweighed the harm.
Gareth Owens, chair of the Kirby Hill RAMS, speaking against the application at Harrogate Borough Council’s planning committee in 2019. Picture: Kirby Hill RAMS
Mr Owens described the decision as “disappointing” and added it had undone all the hard work by residents who have opposed the proposal over the years.
He said:
“We are disappointed as a community.
“It flies in the face of localism that a man from central government can turn up and change the decision.
“The community has gone through a lot of effort to demonstrate that it is not an appropriate site for a motorway service station.”
In a decision notice yesterday, Mr Rose said after considering the evidence that the benefits of a service station would outweigh the harm.
He said:
“In summary, considerable weight attaches to the less than substantial harm relative to the identified designated heritage assets.
“Loss of best and most versatile agricultural land is also a further negative factor of moderate weight.
“However, individually, and cumulatively, the wider public benefit in meeting the demonstrable need for a motorway service area, for the safety and welfare of motorists, would outweigh that harm.”
The Kirby Hill RAMS group held a meeting last night to decide its response to the inspector’s decision.
Speaking to the Stray Ferret this month, Mr Owens said the group was prepared to continue to oppose the plan whatever the outcome of the appeal.