Call for North Yorkshire police commissioner to delay chief constable appointment

A watchdog has urged North Yorkshire’s police commissioner to delay the appointment of a new chief constable for up to 15 months, partly to ensure the top police officer sees eye-to-eye with an incoming elected mayor.

All but four members of North Yorkshire and York’s police, fire and crime panel voted to recommend to commissioner Zoe Metcalfe that she postpones finding a successor to chief constable Lisa Winward, who announced last month she would retire in March next year.

A meeting of the panel at City of York Council heard Ms Winward’s retirement had come at a particularly inopportune time as she would be leaving the key role just weeks before a mayor, who would set policing priorities, was expected to be elected to an incoming combined authority.

Panel members heard while the commissioner had decided to launch the recruitment process, with a likely appointment date in April, if the process was launched after the expected mayoral election in May, a new chief constable may not be appointed until 2025.

Ms Metcalfe told the meeting she had been independently advised to launch the recruitment as soon as practically possible by a string of national bodies and top officials, including the chiefs of the police inspectorate and the college of policing as well as Unison.

She said: 

“I am not satisfied that deferring the decision to the incoming mayor, which would incur inevitable delay, for many months, and even extending until 2025, is the right decision for the public, delivery of service and North Yorkshire Police.”

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Following concerns that uncertainty over who the incoming mayor would be could deter some candidates from applying to be chief constable, she added the role of leading the force was an “immensely exciting prospect” for any police leader.

She underlined that if the process was delayed until after the election the deputy chief constable would be asked to step up for “a very prolonged period of time”.

She said her experience of working with chief constables was that they were “very professional people” who would go out of their way to make a working relationship with the new mayor and deliver the mayor’s priorities.

Panel member Martin Walker, a former judge, backed the commissioner’s decision, saying one of the main criteria for a chief constable was to be “independent and strong”.

He said: 

“If two people at the top of the most difficult, important and complex jobs can’t get on, and it has to depend on personalities, I think that’s wrong and frankly it wouldn’t be fit to do the job.

“In my own experience, throughout my career, I have had to work with people I don’t like, and I’m sure some didn’t like me, but it’s necessary to do that in life, and in my view you have to get on with it.”

However, several panel members said the relationship between the mayor and chief constable was vital and they wanted to see the priorities of the incoming mayor part of the process for the selection of a new chief constable.

The meeting the commissioner repeatedly pressed to pause the recruitment process until after a mayor is elected.

Cllr Lindsay Burr, who represents Malton, said it would be an incorrect decision for the public to appoint a chief constable when the force’s strategic direction had not been set by the incoming mayor.

Huby councillor and former police officer Malcolm Taylor said while moving ahead with recruiting a chief constable might be a good decision in the short-term, the appointment was a long-term role.

North Yorkshire double devolution ‘will not help vast majority of area’

A flagship scheme to hand extra powers to parishes following the creation of North Yorkshire Council will not benefit the vast majority of the area, it has been claimed.

Opposition groups on the Conservative-run council have expressed disappointment after it emerged just 11 town councils and one parish council had submitted bids to manage more services in their area as part of what the authority has titled “double devolution”.

The offer to hand powers to parish authorities was initially made in former North Yorkshire County Council’s submission to government for the establishment of a unitary council amid concerns that decision-making for local services would become too far removed.

An officer’s report to a meeting of the council’s executive on Tuesday emphasises how the council has pledged to place local communities at its heart while covering England’s largest county, and double devolution would be “a key platform to achieving this aim”.

However, the report states double devolution applications would need to have a solid business case and be cost neutral to the unitary council.

It states of the 12 expressions of interest submitted by town and parish councils, three did not meet the council’s criteria, including the only one from a parish council.

Knaresborough Town Council could be given powers over its market.

Knaresborough Town Council could be given powers over the town’s market.

The report states Little Ouseburn Parish Council applied to manage grass cutting outside some cottages, but the parish “did not evidence legal competence”. 

Stokesley Town Council’s bid to manage off-street parking was rejected as North Yorkshire Council stood to lose income.

Double devolution bids which are set to be approved include Filey being given the power to manage its public benches, Northallerton and Thirsk and Knaresborough town councils their markets, Richmond Town Council being handed the management of Friary Gardens and Malton Town Council its public toilets.

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Elsewhere, Skipton and Whitby town councils look set to be told their bids to manage services such as toilets and parks need “amendments”, while separate project teams will be established to work with Ripon and Selby town councils to shape their bids due to their “ambition and complexity of the expressions of interest”.

Ahead of the meeting, the authority’s executive member for corporate services, Cllr David Chance, said the authority was looking to “progress cautiously, learning from the experience and developing best practice”.

He said: 

“These proposed pilots are just the start of the process, and the hope is that more will be introduced throughout North Yorkshire in the future.”

However, the authority’s Labour group leader Cllr Steve Shaw Wright said for the vast majority of North Yorkshire double devolution was “just lip service” and “managing a couple of flower beds does not require a fantastic business case”.

Cllr Wright said: 

“It was a nice soundbite, but outside some of the larger towns there’s not a lot to double devolve down.

“The issue across the whole of North Yorkshire is that there is only a handful of sizeable councils that could take on and run services. The vast majority of other parishes either haven’t got the capacity to do it, are reluctant to put the precept up to fund it or there isn’t actually anything there to run.

“It was not a particularly well thought through proposal looking at the parishes and towns we have in North Yorkshire. Most parishes are very small.”

When asked if he believed double devolution was proving a success in North Yorkshire, Liberal Democrat group leader Cllr Bryn Grifths said: 

“Not at this stage, it has not taken off at all. I’m very disappointed.

“I’m not sure how much engagement the towns and parishes have had or if they understood what was involved. Having said that it is up to North Yorkshire Council to equip towns and parishes to make it happen.

“I feel Stokesley put a good case forward and North Yorkshire Council’s response has been a bit of a slap in the face.”

Knaresborough and Ripon picked to advance double devolution bids

Knaresborough Town Council and Ripon City Council have been picked to advance double devolution bids, which will see them take control of some local assets.

North Yorkshire Council invited town and parish councils to submit expressions of interest to run local services in November last year.

It was part of the Conservative-controlled council’s double devolution agenda which pledges to let local people take control of local assets.

In total, 12 expressions of interest were submitted to the council. Of these, three were from the Harrogate district.

The authority has now confirmed it will move forward bids from Knaresborough and Ripon, but Little Ouseburn’s proposal was rejected.

David Chance, executive councillor for corporate services at the council, said:

“Town and parish councils are integral to our county’s vibrant communities, alongside community groups, and we recognise their understanding of the needs, opportunities and strengths within their communities.

“That’s why we are looking at this pilot scheme, working initially with selected town and parish councils, enabling us to progress cautiously, learning from the experience and developing best practice.

“These proposed pilots are just the start of the process, and the hope is that more will be introduced throughout North Yorkshire in the future.”

Ripon City Council bid to control the market place.

Ripon City Council bid to control assets including the market place.

Knaresborough Town Council’s application to manage the town’s markets, storage facility and associated assets such as road closure signs will be progressed to a full business case.

Meanwhile, the council will consider a project team to work with Ripon City Council on its bid as it was deemed “particularly ambitious”.

It included management of Ripon Town Hall, Market Place and Car Park, public toilets within the city and the Wakeman’s House listed building.

However, the council rejected to take a bid from Little Ouseburn Parish Council further. It included management of the grass cutting of the green area outside Broomfield Cottages.

Senior councillors will consider recommendations at an executive meeting on October 17.

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Campaigners threaten judicial review to halt motorway services near Ripon

Campaigners in Kirby Hill have given North Yorkshire Council notice of a legal challenge against a decision to approve a motorway service station near the village.

Kirby Hill Residents Against Motorway Services have told the authority they intend to press ahead with a judicial review over a move to grant permission for the service station between junctions 48 and 49 of the A1(M) northbound, near Boroughbridge and Ripon.

Councillors on the authority’s planning committee granted approval for the scheme on September 12, which would see a Welcome Break built at the site, as well a filling station and 364 car parking spaces created.

The proposal already had outline permission after the government’s Planning Inspectorate approved the plan on appeal in April 2021.

Applegreen, which is based in Dublin, applied for amendments to the proposal, including an extension to the length of the slip roads and increasing the permissible height of the eastern dumbbell roundabout by up to 1.25 metres.

However, Gareth Owens, chair of the Kirby Hill RAMS, said the move amounted to “significant change” to the scheme and confirmed the campaign group would challenge the approval.

He said:

“The leader of the new council, Cllr Carl Les, told parishes that he wants to work with them and ensure their voice is represented in North Yorkshire Council decisions.

“These laudable principles form the basis of the parish charter that he signed in July 2023. Two months later, planning officers and the strategic planning committee have ridden roughshod over the needs, rights and wishes of the local community.

“This is totally unacceptable. We have written to the council initiating the pre-action protocol for judicial review and giving them 14 days to reconsider this decision and respond, in light of the serious legal issues that we have identified.”

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Mr Owens said the group would challenge the decision on four grounds: unlawful decision, irrational decision, procedural impropriety and unfair decision.

The Stray Ferret approached North Yorkshire Council for comment, but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

The move comes after the government approved plans for the service station following a series of public inquiries and planning battles.

In a saga which has spanned a quarter of a century, Applegreen’s 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.

The inquiry, which was held by planning inspector David Rose and streamed onto YouTube, lasted two weeks and included multiple testimonies from residents, campaigners and developer Applegreen.

In a decision notice, Mr Rose said after considering the evidence that the benefits of a service station would outweigh the harm.

23 Harrogate district community groups awarded £55,000

Twenty three community organisations have shared £55,000 in the latest round of grants awarded by The Local Fund for the Harrogate District.

The successful applicants are small organisations that can use the funding to make a big difference on a range of initiatives, including helping older people participate in activities and addressing loneliness.

They include fortnightly lunch club Lifeline Harrogate,  Knaresborough Museum Association, Jennyruth Workshops in Ripon and Boroughbridge and District Community Care.

The Local Fund was created in 2017 to fund local voluntary organisations.

It is supported by North Yorkshire Council, Harrogate and District Community Action and Two Ridings Community Foundation. It also receives at least 10p from every ticket sold by the Local Lotto.

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Celia McKeon, chief executive of Two Ridings Community Foundation, said the grants would “make a huge impact on the wellbeing of local people all over the district”. She added:

“This round of funding has been really interesting and far reaching, distributing grants to address rural isolation alongside activities and support in the local towns.”

Ms McKeon urged local people and businesses who wanted their charitable giving to benefit the communities they live in to invest in the fund.

Here are details of the successful applicants.

 

Council to bid for £1.7m emergency funding for hospital discharges

North Yorkshire Council looks set to bid for up to £1.7 million worth of funding to help ease pressure on hospital emergency departments.

The Department of Health and Social Care has invited local authorities to apply for grants to help with discharges in social care, which in turn will support accident and emergency units.

Ministers have allocated North Yorkshire as one of the authority areas which has the “greatest health and care challenges”.

The government has given the council an indicative funding amount of £1.1 million, but has encouraged it to apply for up to £1.7 million.

A report by Abigail Barron, assistant director for prevention and service development at the council, has proposed a number of measures as part of the council’s bid.

Among them include employing additional agency social workers to speed up discharge allocations, establishing winter grants for the voluntary sector to help with prevention and developing additional support for unpaid carers.

Ms Barron said the measures would help to “avoid hospital admissions and expedite discharge and flow”.

She added:

“The schemes will also assist North Yorkshire Council’s strategic objective of both supporting hospital discharge and reducing reliance on short stay residential beds.”

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The move comes after Harrogate District Hospital managers raised concern that patients were staying in hospital longer than they should because of a lack of private care services.

Last year, Jonathan Coulter, chief executive at Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust, said the issue had a knock on effect on emergency departments and was the “biggest issue” that the trust faced.

In September 2022, the trust also outlined plans to launch its own home care service in a bid to free up hospital beds.

At the time, the move was met with some concern by councillors who said it could “distort the market”.

North Yorkshire fire service to charge businesses for false alarm calls

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service will charge businesses so it can “recoup the costs” of sending fire engines out to false alarms.

Between April 2021 and March 2022, the service attended 7,594 incidents across the county but nearly half of those turned out to be false alarms.

The service pledged to tackle the problem in its Risk and Resource Model 2022-2025 as it said the incidents take crews away from potentially life threatening situations.

The Conservative North Yorkshire Police, Fire & Crime Commissioner, Zoe Metcalfe, held an online public meeting around business fire safety and protection when the issue of false alarms came up.

Pete Gregory, head of protection and risk at the service, said the charge might help to stop repeat offenders. He said: 

“If it’s a consistent problem there is an option to charge and recoup costs of going out unnecessarily to some of these sites.

“We are aware of these problematic premises. It’s not necessarily last resort but it’s an option to use when the message is not getting through to individuals.”

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A spokesman for the Police, Fire & Crime Commissioner said the service is “still calculating exactly what the cost will be” but it hopes to publish the figure before the end of this month.

Other fire services that have set a charge include London Fire Brigade which charges £290 after 10 false alarm call-outs.

In North Yorkshire, a charge might be made after a fourth call out within a 12-month period.

The spokesman added:

“A charge will only be considered once engagement from our business fire safety teams with a premises, has not resulted in a reduction of incidents attended. 

“Thankfully, our engagement with premises has been highly successful, so as yet, the option to charge for repeated false alarm attendance has not yet been required.

“We will always undertake proactive work with business owners to help minimise the impact on both the business and ourselves prior to charging, or, taking other measures such as enforcement action, should that be appropriate.”

Police commissioner Zoe Metcalfe rejects appointing interim chief constable

North Yorkshire’s police commissioner rejected plans to appoint an interim chief constable in favour of starting a recruitment process despite being advised it could coincide with a mayoral election.

Lisa Winward, who is currently chief constable at North Yorkshire Police, will retire on March 31, 2024.

Conservative commissioner Zoe Metcalfe will appoint a permanent successor despite the commissioner’s office being abolished when a Mayor of York and North Yorkshire is elected in May 2024.

The mayor is set to take on police commissioner powers, which include the ability to appoint a chief constable.

In a report from Simon Dennis, chief executive at the commissioner’s office, he advised Ms Metcalfe that there was a risk that a recruitment timeline could slip into the pre-election period before the mayoral election.

But Ms Metcalfe announced that the recruitment process should start imminently as it was in the “public interest” to do so.

She said:

“I am keen to commence the recruitment process to ensure an appointment is made to take over the reins from chief constable Winward. This will ensure that North Yorkshire Police has inspirational, visionary and stable leadership at the helm providing strategic and operational leadership and resilience at a vital time for North Yorkshire Police”

“Whilst the decision is mine, I have not reached it without full and frank input from those who are qualified to advise me. In consultation with key national and local stakeholders, I am satisfied that it is in the public interest to launch the recruitment process.”

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In a report, the commissioner was offered alternative options, which included appointing the deputy chief constable to the position until after the mayoral election or to appoint an interim chief constable.

The report said the option of appointing the deputy chief constable to the role should be given “serious consideration” as it would avoid “any measure of constitutional and/or political controversy”.

But it added that the commissioner “is known to be uneasy about a decision which would consequentially give rise to acting arrangements in the roles of chief constable, deputy chief constable and one assistant chief constable role”.

Ms Metcalfe turned down the alternative options in favour of starting a recruitment process.

A ‘short-sighted, ill-informed’ decision

Keith Tordoff

Keith Tordoff

Keith Tordoff, independent candidate for Mayor of York and North Yorkshire, said the move to start the search for a chief constable was “wrong”.

He said:

“The decision by Zoe Metcalfe is short-sighted, ill-informed, and not in the best interest of the people of North Yorkshire, or the police force itself.

“This is the wrong decision as Lisa Winward retires at the end of March, and a new mayor is elected just a month later in May.

“The mayor takes over as the police, fire, and crime commissioner, and needs to be part of the process of electing the successor that they will be working closely with.”

Andrew Jones MP ‘disappointed’ after HS2 northern leg cancelled

Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Andrew Jones has said he is “disappointed” after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak scrapped plans for the northern leg of HS2.

In a speech before the Conservative Party conference this afternoon, Mr Sunak announced the high speed rail link between Birmingham and Manchester would be cancelled. Only the new London Euston to Birmingham line will be built.

The Prime Minister said the move would save £36 billion, which he pledged to spend on other transport projects.

Mr Jones, who has long been a vocal supporter of the HS2 project and is co-chair of the Transport Across The North All Party Parliament Group, said the scheme would cost billions of pounds more than expected, but regretted the decision to scrap it.

He said:

“I am disappointed by the news today that the northern leg of HS2 from Birmingham to Manchester is to be effectively scrapped. The idea of HS2 was to build capacity into our north-south rail links.  Building that capacity is the right thing to do and HS2 would achieve that.

“HS2 Limited was set up to manage the project and it has become clear that it has lost control of its costs. It is right that the company will be held accountable for this.

“HS2 is now looking to over-run by tens of billions of pounds. From an original budget of around £30bn it seems likely when the latest updates are released that the cost will be over £100bn.

“In context, that over-run is approaching half of what we spend on the NHS every year.

“I can see, therefore, why a decision had to be made. It is though a decision I regret.”

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The MP and former rail minister told a Transport for the North conference in September 2021 it was vital that the HS2 scheme was delivered in full for the north.

At the time, he said the high speed rail link would help to put “more connectivity and capacity into our system”.

In a statement to the Stray Ferret today, Mr Jones said it remained his position that he would have preferred the Manchester leg of the project to have been delivered.

However, he added that the “ballooning cost” of HS2 was holding back other transport infrastructure in the north of England.

Mr Jones said:

“The ballooning costs of HS2 are holding back other investment in transport infrastructure in the north. The Prime Minister has promised that the cash that would have been invested in the Manchester leg of HS2 will be repurposed to other northern projects – ones which can be achieved more quickly and have a more immediate impact on people’s lives and businesses.

“So I am disappointed that we have ended up in this place. I would have preferred the remainder of the HS2 to Manchester to be completed. That has always been my position and it remains my position now.

“But we are where we are because HS2 Limited has demonstrated poor financial control. We cannot turn the clock back. In politics you need to look forward even when circumstances change in a way you wish they had not. The Prime Minister listed some but I look forward to hearing about more northern projects, and in more detail, that are to become the focus of the investment that would have been dedicated to HS2.”

Meanwhile, Lord McLoughlin, chair of Transport for the North, said the move to cancel the northern leg of HS2 was “naturally disappointing”.

He said:

“It’s undeniable that this will be seen by many as a missed opportunity for the region, and the country as a whole. Only last week, northern business and political leaders came together at our TfN Board to speak with ‘one voice’ to reaffirm our position that HS2 and NPR in full are vital to truly transform the North.

“The announcement of investment in the region is obviously welcome. And we will look to work with government to fully understand the implications for the north of the proposals set out today in the Prime Minister’s speech, and consult with our board on the best way forward in light of this new change of policy.

“There are still quite a few areas that require further clarification from the Department for Transport, which we will be seeking from them.”

MPs Watch: Climate change, NHS dentists and Harrogate Station Gateway saga

Every month the Stray Ferret tries to find out what our local MPs have been up to in their constituencies and in the House of Commons.

In September, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced a major shift in the government’s climate policies, including delaying the ban on the sale of diesel and petrol cars.

Meanwhile, in Harrogate, the saga over the Station Gateway project continued with council officials announcing the authority would explore alternative options for the scheme.

We asked Ripon MP Julian Smith and Selby and Ainsty MP Keir Mather if they would like to highlight anything in particular, but did not receive a response.

Here is what we know after analysing their online presence.

Andrew Jones, Harrogate and Knaresborough MP.

In Harrogate and Knaresborough, here is what we found on Mr Jones:

When we contacted Mr Jones for comment, his office sent a list of his engagements for September.

They included holding constituency surgeries, supporting Nidd Action Group’s Action Day at the Lido Leisure Park in Knaresborough and holding a roundtable with Harrogate-based cyclists to discuss local cycling infrastructure. 

Others included meeting with representatives of the Women’s Institute to support their Clean Rivers campaign, meeting the Jewish Leadership Council, Food and Drink Federation and Macmillan Cancer Support and visiting the site of the local mental health crisis line to learn more about how calls are handled by TEWV NHS Foundation Trust. 

Julian Smith, MP for Ripon and Skipton.

Julian Smith, MP for Ripon and Skipton.

In Ripon, here is what we found on Mr Smith:

Keir Mather, Selby and Ainsty MP.

Keir Mather, Selby and Ainsty MP.

In Selby and Ainsty, which includes rural south Harrogate, here is what we found on Mr Mather:

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