Boroughbridge news from the Boroughbridge district - Page 82 of 186

Leeds Bradford completes inaugural TUI flight to Dubrovnik

Leeds Bradford Airport has completed its inaugural TUI flight to Dubrovnik in Croatia.

The first flight of the the new summer route departed yesterday at 1.55pm and will be followed by weekly flights operated by the airline.

In addition to Dubrovnik, TUI will increase the number of flights from Leeds Bradford to Turkish destinations Antalya and Dalaman. From May 24, twice weekly flights will depart to both destinations.

Leeds Bradford has 80 destinations on its 2023/24 schedule.

Nicola McMullen, aviation director at Leeds Bradford Airport, said:

“We’re thrilled to launch Dubrovnik and offer more holiday destinations than ever before at LBA.

“These routes are proven to be popular amongst customers for good reason and we’re pleased that we’re able to meet demand from across the region with increased capacity.”

Van driver taken to hospital after major crash at Allerton Park

A van driver was taken to hospital after a serious collision with a lorry on the A1(M) at Allerton Park last night.

The crash happened at junction 47 just before 6pm and led to three-mile tailbacks and lengthy delays.

Firefighters from Knaresborough, Harrogate, Ripon and Tadcaster were summoned to help.

According to North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service’s incident log, “a van had impacted the trailer of a HGV and the driver was trapped by the dashboard”.

It added:

“On arrival, crews used cutting equipment, spreaders, rams and a turfer to free the male driver of the van.

“The driver was transported to hospital by road ambulance with a suspected broken femur.”

North Yorkshire Police has not released any information about the incident.

Crime commissioner Zoe Metcalfe under pressure following critical report

North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Zoe Metcalfe is facing pressure to step down following further criticism that the police are failing to protect vulnerable children.

Ms Metcalfe’s role includes scrutinising the performance of North Yorkshire Police.

But leading North Yorkshire councillors have voiced dismay over the lack of progress Ms Metcalfe has brought about in the force over the last year.

It comes after His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services highlighted continuing concerns over child protection.

A HMICFRS report this week found evidence-gathering delays and a lack of knowledge about online abuse inquiries were reducing North Yorkshire Police’s ability to safeguard children.

Following a re-inspection of the force in December, the watchdog revealed police officers had not forensically examined digital devices connected to a suspected child rape six months after they were submitted.

In response, the commissioner, who is tasked with holding the force to account, said both her and her team had been “regularly assured that all concerns would be tackled head on and improvements made at a significant pace”,only to find “12 months later, the force is not in the position I expected them to be in”.

She said:

“Not enough has been done and there is simply no excuse – North Yorkshire Police have let the public and the most vulnerable in our society down.

“I know that it is my responsibility to increase the accountability of and pressure on the chief constable, to demand answers and not accept anything other than immediate and significant improvement.”

Within hours of the report being published Ms Metcalfe struck a determined tone as she held a public online meeting with senior officers, including chief constable Lisa Winward, where she questioned them over the progress made over 10 recommendations.

The meeting heard the force fully accepted the criticisms and was investing in officers’ training and in control room staff, the recruitment of specialist child protection workers, and cutting the time it takes to examine digital devices to less than 72 hours.

The force said it had spent £400,000 on reducing its digital forensics backlog and £1.17m on hiring specialist child protection staff, and was establishing dedicated safeguarding teams in each of the three regions it covers.

Call to resign

Once the elections for City of York Council are concluded the North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime panel, which exists to hold the commissioner to account, will reconvene and consider holding an extraordinary meeting to question the commissioner.

The panel pushed Mrs Metcalfe’s predecessor, Philip Allott, to step down and heavily criticised the county’s first commissioner, Julia Mulligan, over her treatment of staff.

Ms Metcalfe has confirmed she is seeking to be the Conservative candidate for mayor of North Yorkshire and York, elections for which are due to take place in May next year. She has claimed to be “uniquely qualified” for the role.

Leader of the opposition on North Yorkshire Council, Cllr Bryn Griffiths said the Liberal Democrat group would be calling for Ms Metcalfe to resign at the next meeting of the authority.

North Yorkshire Council’s Labour group leader, Cllr Steve Shaw Wright said the commissioner had been in charge for “nothing but a series of calamitous reports”.

He said:

“She is doing very little. Police at the coal face are actually doing a brilliant job across North Yorkshire, but the ones who lead them need to get on with the job they are supposed to be doing.

“They have been short-staffed for a while, but that lays at the door of the Tory commissioner, who should have been banging doors down for a lot longer than this.

“‘Call me Zoe’ wants to be the Conservative candidate for the mayor of North Yorkshire and York, but I think she’s blown it.”

The North Yorkshire Council Independent group leader said the latest criticism showed there was no legitimate reason by commissioners should exist.

Cllr Stuart Parsons said increasing “scrutiny” by calling for the police to provide evidence of progress would only take more police officers off their day-to-day jobs. He said:

“What is the point of a police, fire and crime commissioner if she can’t ensure the force is doing what it is meant to?

“Instead of believing everything she has been fed she should have been investigating what was really going on and then calling them to account.”

Sharp rise in overseas nurses recruited at Harrogate hospital

The number of nurses recruited from overseas to work at Harrogate District Hospital has jumped from fewer than five in 2017 to 31 last year, figures show.

Harrogate & District NHS Foundation Trust, like many health trusts across the country, has increasingly relied on overseas workers to plug the gap left by UK-based nurses leaving the profession.

Recruitment within the NHS has been highlighted recently by the striking nurses’ union the Royal College of Nursing. It has said low pay and working conditions are leading to a “mass exodus” of young nurses from hospitals.

A report published by the royal college in February found that between 2018 and 2022, nearly 43,000 people aged 21 to 50 left the Nursing and Midwifery Council register.

Figures on overseas nurses at Harrogate hospital. Data: Local Democracy Reporting Service.

A freedom of information request submitted by the Local Democracy Reporting Service found that 31 nurses were recruited from overseas last year, which is almost three times higher than the figure for 2021.

The figures also show 10 doctors were recruited last year from abroad.

Since 2017, the trust has recruited nurses from India, Nigeria, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and the USA but a trust spokesperson said the number makes up a small number of its total workforce.

The social care sector has also looked to employ more overseas workers to help ease a well-documented staffing crisis, with North Yorkshire Council recently bringing in over 30 care professionals from South Africa and Zimbabwe.

A Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust spokesperson said:

“Recruitment from outside of the UK is an important part of the workforce supply strategy of NHS organisations, including HDFT. Recruiting internationally enhances our workforce with different skills, experience, expertise and perspectives.

“Whilst the majority of our workforce are employed from within the UK, we have an active programme of recruiting nursing, midwifery and allied health professionals from overseas, which complements our national recruitment activity as well as supporting the development of a multicultural workforce more representative of the people we serve.

“To ensure ethical recruitment, we do this work in collaboration with other NHS organisations. For instance, we are in partnership with the Kerala Government in India for nursing and allied health professional recruitment via the West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership.

“Staff members who have been recruited from overseas have stayed in Harrogate to continue their careers in the NHS and are a valued part of our workforce, and we will continue to recruit internationally in the future.

“Whilst overseas recruitment has grown over the last few years in a number of areas, it still remains a small part of our recruitment activity.

“We value every member of our workforce and the important role they play in providing a health care service that we can all be proud of.”

North Yorkshire electric vehicle charging network ‘not fit for purpose’

The leader of the opposition on North Yorkshire Council has wished the authority “good luck” in establishing a comprehensive network of electric vehicle charging points after hearing the local electricity grid was “not fit for purpose”.

A meeting of the council’s executive was told the authority was so concerned about it impeding the establishment of the required 3,000 publicly available EV charging points by 2030 that the council was investigating using solar and hydro-electric solutions to provide power in some places.

Setting out a strategy to rapidly expand EV charging points, Cllr Keane Duncan, the authority’s executive member for highways and transportation, said the council was determined rural areas should not “fall behind”.

However, he said the rural nature of North Yorkshire and electricity grid constraints meant the county faced a relatively greater challenge in preparing for the switch to electric vehicles than elsewhere.

Cllr Keane Duncan

In addition, the relatively high proportion of properties in the county with no off-street parking – some 21% – would mean a greater demand for publicly available EV charging points than elsewhere.

The meeting heard while the council was developing on-street charging proposals it was focused on creating the publicly available EV charging points at “hub locations” where it would be convenient for residents and visitors to use them, rather than “tucked away in the corner of a car park”.

Executive members were told with £3.4m of funding already secured to expand EV charging points, the council had obtained more money than any other local authority in the country for the programme.

The council is also optimistic about landing a further £5.1m of capital and £500,000 of revenue funding to deliver on its EV charging network aspirations, but the meeting was told the lack of power grid capacity would be a key factor in the council’s ability to create an EV charging network.

Paul Haslam, a Conservative who represents Bilton and Nidd Gorge, warned the meeting the lack of availability on the power grid could “make a mess of our strategy if we’re not careful”.

The council’s climate change boss Cllr Greg White added:

“It’s great that we are going to have all these charging points, but are we going to have an electrical supply to these charging points to make them work because the local electricity distribution network at the moment doesn’t seem like it’s going to be fit for purpose.”

Wishing the council “good luck” in overcoming the challenges, Cllr Bryn Griffiths, the Liberal Democrat group leader, said the authority had reached “a drop in the ocean of where we need to be” in securing EV charging infrastructure, before receiving reassurances that the authority would consider changing planning policies to increase charging opportunities.

electric vehicle chargepoints (1)

The authority’s chief executive, Richard Flinton, told the meeting how he and leaders of North Yorkshire businesses had held talks with Northern Powergrid officials and the National Infrastructure Commission last week to tell them the lack of grid connectivity was damaging businesses.

He said the council had been regularly lobbying the electricity infrastructure firm to develop capacity on the grid.

Mr Flinton added:

“We are startlingly aware that when we move into post-2030 the requirement that cars are going to be non-fossil fuel that there could be an impact on North Yorkshire, and even the transition period before we move entirely to electric fuel vehicles could be problematic for North Yorkshire if we don’t get this right.

“We are in the hands of others, but we are working very hard to make those other parties understand that we in North Yorkshire are very concerned about this and require their engagement on our issues.”

Northern Powergrid is yet to respond to requests for comment.

North Yorkshire Police ‘still needs to improve’ on child safeguarding, say inspectors

Inspectors have said North Yorkshire Police “still needs to improve” following a highly critical report into how it safeguards children.

An inspection report by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services, published today, found the force had made some improvements since its previous report in March.

However, inspectors added progress still needed to be made to “provide consistently better outcomes for children”.

Today’s report comes after the watchdog published a highly critical inspection of the force where it found child protection investigations were poor and that the force did not prioritise safeguarding and child protection highly enough.

In a follow-up visit in December, which is the subject of today’s report, inspectors praised North Yorkshire Police for making progress in areas such as identifying children’s vulnerability and making good safeguarding referrals.

However, they added that supervision of investigations were not always effective and there were “excessive delays” in obtaining digital forensic evidence for officers.

The report, which was published today, said:

“North Yorkshire Police still needs to improve some areas of its work to provide consistently better outcomes for children. There has been some progress, particularly in the way the force has trained its workforce to identify children’s vulnerability and make good safeguarding referrals.

“Staff in the force control room have also made improvements so they are better at identifying risk and providing the right level of response to help vulnerable children.

“Despite progress against some of our recommendations, the force has yet to make all the progress necessary to complete its action plan.

“The force is developing performance monitoring and its governance systems, so it is clear leaders fully understand what still needs to be done.”

‘Police have let the public down’

In response to the report, Zoe Metcalfe, North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, said:

“North Yorkshire Police have had a year to progress their action plan following the first HMICFRS report on child protection. My team and I were regularly assured that all concerns would be tackled head on and improvements made at a significant pace but instead, 12 months later, the force is not in the position I expected them to be in. Not enough has been done and there is simply no excuse – North Yorkshire Police have let the public and the most vulnerable in our society down.

“As commissioner and a mother of two children, one of whom is vulnerable and has complex needs I share the frustration, deep disappointment and upset many people will be feeling. I know that it is my responsibility to increase the accountability of and pressure on the chief constable, to demand answers and not accept anything other than immediate and significant improvement.

“Whilst a debrief provided by the inspectorate in preparation for this report revealed North Yorkshire Police still had areas to progress, this progress has been much slower than anticipated – as a result, I am making arrangements for an additional layer of scrutiny – I expect evidence in relation to any assurances I am given.”

Weekly food waste collections in Harrogate district to be delayed over costs

An introduction of a weekly food waste collection scheme across North Yorkshire looks set to be delayed amid concern over costs.

North Yorkshire Council is set to lobby government over a planned food waste collection scheme after it estimated the scheme will cost a further £6.4 million a year.

The changes, which have been proposed by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, would see councils across the UK provide a free food waste collection service by 2025.

The council already has an existing residual waste contract with AWRP SPV Ltd, which runs until 2043, and has therefore been granted an extension to bring in the changes beyond the government’s 2025 target.

However, senior councillors have raised questions over how the scheme would be paid for.

Cllr Greg White, executive councillor for environment at the council, said:

“We have pledged to try and be carbon net zero by 2030 and to do our bit to help the whole county reach the ambitious goal of being carbon negative by 2040.

“The change to a weekly food collection would give us a unique opportunity to accelerate this process.

“We want to introduce these changes long before 2043, but at the moment there is too much uncertainty around how the new collections will be paid for. At a time when the council is facing a deficit of £30 million alone in its first year, we cannot commit to that level of spending without guarantees from the Government that our costs will be covered.

“Should we get that commitment, then we will look to bring the weekly food waste collections in earlier and start engaging with residents about the changes.”

The change to weekly collections could cost the council up to an extra £6.4 million annually.

Cllr Carl Les, leader of the authority, has written to Theresa Coffey, Secretary of State for the Environment, to clarify how the project would be funded.

North Yorkshire Council’s executive will consider a recommendation to implement a separately collected food waste service from February 2043, despite the delay meaning the carbon equivalent of an extra 18 million kilometres of diesel car emissions every year.

The council said collecting food waste separately would reduce its carbon dioxide equivalent output by between 2,800 tonnes to 3,300 tonnes each year compared to the current arrangements where food waste is recovered from residual waste at Allerton Waste Recovery Park.

Authority officials have also pledged that the council will reduce its carbon footprint to net zero by 2030.

Police appeal after dog kills lamb in Harrogate district field

A lamb has died and two ewes were attacked following a sheep worrying incident in a field on the edge of the Harrogate district.

North Yorkshire Police said the incident happened in Rainton, five miles from Ripon, on Wednesday (April 26) at around 11.20am.

A large German Shepherd was seen in a field attacking sheep. The dog was chased away but not before two ewes and a lamb had been attacked. The lamb died from its injuries.

Officers today appealed to the public for more information about the incident.

A police statement added:

“Officers are requesting the public’s assistance to help establish the full circumstances surrounding the incident. In particular, they are appealing for information from anyone that might have been in the area at the time and witnessed the incident, or can assist in identifying the owner of the dog.

“Anyone who has information that could assist is asked to email david.mackay@northyorkshire.police.uk or call North Yorkshire Police on 101, select option 2, and ask to speak to David Mackay.

“If you wish to remain anonymous, you can pass information to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Please quote the North Yorkshire Police reference number 12230074349.”

Business Breakfast: Harrogate consultants donate to local mental health charity

It’s time to join the Stray Ferret Business Club. Our next networking event is after-work drinks at Manahatta, on May 25th at 5:30.

Don’t miss out on this chance to network with businesses from across the Harrogate district. Get your tickets by clicking or tapping here.

A Harrogate building consultants has made a donation to a local mental health charity.

DSSR Building Consultants, which is based at Windsor House, made the £600 donation to Mind in Harrogate.

Representative from the consultancy firm presented the cheque to the charity this past week.

A spokesperson for DSSR Building Consultants said:

“DSSR Building Consultants are dedicated to promoting, improving and supporting the mental health of our staff. In conjunction with this commitment to our colleagues, we are delighted to be able to help and support our local charities and community.

“Even though 1 in 4 people have mental health problems, most of us don’t get the help we need. Mind in Harrogate District offers a number of support services to anyone struggling with their mental health.”

Plant nursery launches step challenge

A Harrogate district plant nursery has launched a 15 million steps challenge in aid of charity.

Johnsons of Whixley launched the campaign as part of Move More Month in April to raise vital funds for horticultural mental health charity, Perennial.

Staff at Johnsons of Whixley taking part in the April step challenge.

Perennial supports people in the horticultural industry, including those who work at Johnsons, with health and wellbeing advice, housing and financial support and debt advice.

Speaking of the challenge, Eleanor Richardson, marketing and office manager and qualified mental health first aider at Johnsons of Whixley, said:

“At Johnsons, we believe that taking care of our employees’ mental health is just as important as their physical health, so that’s why this challenge is such an important one for us.

“Not only will we be supporting Perennial, which has helped a number of our team members in the past, but we will be getting together as a team and building bonds across departments, getting some exercise and supporting one another towards a shared goal.”

‘Few teething issues’ with North Yorkshire Council launch, say political leaders

Few teething issues have emerged during first month of the new North Yorkshire Council, the leaders of its political groups have agreed.

Councillors said residents facing confusion over who to contact and delays of about 30 minutes when trying to phone the council’s call centre had been the most major cause of concern since the county council and seven district authorities fused operations on April 1.

Ahead of North Yorkshire Council’s launch its chief executive Richard Flinton warned while the authority’s basic infrastructure had been created ahead “snagging issues” were expected when the new council launched due to the scale of the merger and “eight different ways of working”.

When asked whether he was pleased with how the transfer had gone so far, the Conserative-run council’s leader, Cllr Carl Les said:

“Yes. It has gone surprisingly well, but with the amount of effort put in by Richard Flinton and his team I shouldn’t be surprised.”

He added:

“We always said if you are going to chose a time to do local government reorganisation you wouldn’t necessarily be coming out of a pandemic with a war going on in Ukraine and various other things happening.

“You wouldn’t chose to launch on April 1, when council tax bills are going out for a new authority and people renew their garden waste collection waste collections with the new authority, but still have phone numbers for the old authorities.”

Speaking ahead of a meeting behind closed doors with Mr Flinton and the other political group leaders to discuss the council’s first month, Cllr Les said the unitary’s contact centre had become deluged, resulting in lengthy answering delays and potentially some residents hanging up.

He said:

“The contact centres have been busy and have not been as to strength as we thought they might be. We are taking steps to increase recruitment and increase training.”

The leaders of the council’s other political groups agreed no other major issues had emerged during the authority’s first month.

North Yorkshire Council civic centre Knapping Mount

North Yorkshire Council civic centre at Knapping Mount.

Labour group leader Cllr Steve Shaw Wright said while the unitary authority appeared to be “generally working”, its call centre had been “an absolute abomination”.

He added:

“Selby Town Council just can’t do anything because people have been forever ringing them up because North Yorkshire’s call centre doesn’t work.”

Green group leader Cllr Kevin Foster said:

“This has been a massive undertaking and on the whole things have gone very well. There’s still lots of work to do, but if you’d asked me if I’d have accepted this when the changeover went in I would have grabbed it with both hands.”

Liberal Democrat group leader Cllr Bryn Griffiths said residents struggling to find phone numbers to contact the unitary, which was “trying to force people to use the internet a lot”, and delays in answering, had represented “a mixed start” for the unitary.

He added:

“With a big organisation of about 10,000 employees there are bound to be a few hiccups.”

Independent group leader Cllr Stuart Parsons added:

“Things could have gone better, but it also could have gone a lot worse.”

He said the centralised call centre had not appeared to work as well as “phoning the old numbers for district council call centres”.

Cllr Parsons said:

“It’s been mainly hiccups, nothing major appears to have gone wrong, which is very comforting. It’s just a question of trying to iron out the hiccups and ensuring services improve considerably.”

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Call to resign

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‘Police have let the public down’

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Plant nursery launches step challenge

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