North Yorkshire housing companies estimate end of year profits

Two North Yorkshire Council housing companies are estimating to report a profit by the end of this financial year.

Brierley Homes and Bracewell Homes are expected to post improved performance after completing further sales, according to a council financial report.

Both companies were taken over by North Yorkshire Council in April 2023.

Bracewell, which is a former Harrogate Borough Council firm, is forecasting a profit return of £1.52 million by the end of 2023/24.

A report said the company had seen sales of shared ownership properties and the “receipt of rental income on the proportion retained within the company”.

However, it added that Bracewell was still awaiting the completion of purchasing a further two sites.

It said:

“The main challenge for the Company relates to receiving accurate information from developers.

“Bracewell is due to complete on house purchases at two sites this financial year however neither developer has managed to achieve their initial forecast completion dates.”

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Meanwhile, Brierley Homes, which was set up by the former North Yorkshire County Council, is forecasting a profit of £959,000 by the end of the year.

The figure is based on the company completing sales at sites in Marton cum Grafton, Pateley Bridge and Great Ouseburn.

Meanwhile, the firm is expected to start work on another housing site in Kirby Malzeard this year.

It comes as the council reported a “positive outlook” for the company in March amid an increase in sales.

North Yorkshire chief fire officer defends charging for false alarm call outs

North Yorkshire’s chief fire officer has defended a policy to charge businesses which repeatedly trigger false alarm call-outs.

Jonathan Dyson told a meeting of North Yorkshire and York’s police, fire and crime panel the ultimate goal of charging for false call-outs was to protect the cash-strapped service’s resources for incidents where people’s lives were at risk.

The meeting heard automatic fire alarms were the predominant call-out for North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service and the brigade’s policies had always included the option to charge, but it had made that policy clearer recently in its Risk and Resource Model 2022-2025 as it was “starting to see repeat offenders”.

In the 12 months to March 2022, the service was called to nearly 7,600 incidents, of which nearly half were false alarms.

A study of Home Office data in 2021 found only 2% of confirmed incidents from automatic fire alarms were a result of an actual fire.

It found some 90% of false alarms were due to “false apparatus”, with two per cent being deemed as malicious.

Automatic fire alarms send a signal directly to fire services to respond to, but due to the volume of false call-outs some fire and rescue services now also require a confirmed fire before responding.

The meeting heard businesses in North Yorkshire and York whose fire alarms triggered four false call-out a year would be liable for a charge under the service’s policy.

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North Yorkshire councillor Rich Maw questioned whether the policy was “more of a headline rather than actually something that will deter”.

The meeting heard the policy was designed to protect the service’s appliances and firefighters, to ensure time for training, and “to respond to true life incidents”.

Mr Dyson said the service went to great lengths to ensure it was supporting businesses, and only when it was “absolutely required” would the service start charging for false call-outs.

He added while charging had been proven to be effective in energising managers in places such as universities to tackle people who triggered alarms irresponsibly, he did not anticipate the North Yorkshire service having to resort to charging on a consistent or regular basis.

However, Mr Dyson said: 

“The problem being of course, to some companies it is cheaper to pay any charge that we incur on them than making the responsible persons do their job or the changes that are required.”

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.”