Council plans 7% Harrogate social housing rent increase

North Yorkshire Council looks set to increase rents on social housing in Harrogate by 7% from April.

The authority is set to inherit 3,893 social houses when Harrogate Borough Council is abolished in under three months’ time.

Senior councillors agreed to recommend the rent increase at a meeting yesterday.

It will see the average weekly rent in Harrogate increase from £85.22 to £91.18.

Cllr Simon Myers, executive councillor for housing on the council, told councillors that the increase was difficult to propose.

He said:

“I, with a very heavy heart, have to recommend to you all that we increase our rents by the maximum allowed by government this year, which is capped at 7%.”

The number of social homes which North Yorkshire Council will inherit.

The number of social homes which North Yorkshire Council will inherit.

Cllr Myers added that the authority needed the income to balance the books of its housing revenue account.

He added that the council also had an ambition to improve its social housing stock in the future.

Cllr Myers said:

“We have a commitment to our tenants and we understand the pressures on them and all residents of North Yorkshire.

“But we have a commitment that is very long term to provide social, fair and decent housing to our residents as a stockholding authority.”

£2 million deficit

The council will inherit a mixture of houses, flats, hostels and shared ownership properties.

According to a council report, the combination of the Harrogate, Richmondshire and Selby housing stock is set to leave the authority with an in-year deficit of £2 million.

As a result, the council has agreed to increase rents by the maximum allowed by government from April 1.

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The proposal also includes a 2% increase on shared ownership property rents, which is in line with the lease agreements at those homes.

In his report, Gary Fielding, corporate director for strategic resources at the council, pointed out that that a third of the rent paid by social housing tenants is covered by housing benefit.

He said:

“The vast majority of HRA income comes from the rent that is charged to tenants. It should be noted that approximately one third of this income is paid for via housing benefit, rather than directly by tenants. 

“In addition, some tenants will be in receipt of Universal Credit, which will include an element designed to cover rental payments, but this cannot be quantified.”

The recommendation to increase social housing rent by 7% will go to the authority’s full council for a final decision.

North Yorkshire Council has reserves to ride out inflation, says senior official

North Yorkshire Council will have enough reserves to ride out another national event such as soaring inflation, a senior council official has said.

Gary Fielding, corporate director for strategic resources at the authority, said the council has planned for a “one-off use” of its reserves to cover a £30 million shortfall for the upcoming financial year.

The council is facing pressures from inflation, rising cost of utilities and taking on structural deficits from other district councils.

Around £18 million from the districts will be taken on by North Yorkshire Council, plus a further £12 million for an in-year shortfall.

As part of the budget plans, the county council will dip into its reserves to cover the financial blackhole.

Despite the use of reserves, Mr Fielding said he felt the council would still be in a good position to withstand another national event, such as a pandemic or soaring inflation rates.

He said:

“I think we are well placed to ride out the issues in the coming years.

“I would describe these times as unprecedented and that is after two years of covid.”

Part of the council’s shortfall is down to energy costs and pay awards.

Energy bills for North Yorkshire’s current eight councils stood at about £6 million in 2021/22, rising to £15.5 million for the current financial year.

They are predicted to rise to £31 million for the forthcoming financial year from April 1.

Meanwhile, inflationary pressures, including pay awards, previously accounted for an increase of about £19 million a year across the eight North Yorkshire councils.

However, the dramatic rise in inflation to more than 10% a year has seen £66 million having to be allocated to next year’s proposed budget to cope with the increase.

Mr Fielding pointed out that other councils were serving section 114 notices – a measure taken in dire financial circumstances.

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Thurrock Council, Slough Borough Council and Croydon Council have all issued such notices, which effectively declare the authority as bankrupt and ban any further spending.

However, Mr Fielding said he felt confident the council was not in that position.

He told senior councillors this morning:

“I am confident that we are not that organisation and will not be that organisation.”

‘Heavy heart’ over council tax hike

Senior councillors this morning recommended a 4.99% increase in council tax for the entirety of North Yorkshire.

The proposal, which would see a band D rate of £1,759.96 for the year, will go to councillors at the authority’s full council meeting for a final decision.

Cllr Gareth Dadd, deputy leader of the county council, said it was “with a heavy heart” that the authority had to propose an increase.

He said:

“As we sit here today I can see no alternative to that 4.99% increase.

“Every one per cent that we take off that equates to a loss of funding of £4.1 million year on year.”

The council is proposing the sum in order to meet costs for providing public services across the county.

It has also decided that council tax rates will be harmonised for the next two years – meaning taxpayers will pay the same sum across the county.

Harrogate council faces £1.2m overspend on energy bills

Harrogate Borough Council has estimated its energy bills are set to cost £1.2 million above budget by the end of the financial year.

In a quarter three financial report due before councillors next week, Gillian Morland, service finance manager, said the authority has an estimated overall overspend of £1.4 million.

The overspend is largely due to soaring utility costs and a higher than expected staff pay award. It budgeted for a 2.5% pay increase but the actual increase was 6.7%.

In her quarter two update in October, Ms Morland forecast the council faced a “sizeable overspend” by the end of the financial year.

She told councillors:

“As things stand we are looking at a sizeable overspend this year.

“We are hoping overspend will come down but we do have sufficient funds to cover it.”

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But the economic situation remains difficult, mainly due to rising energy bills.

In quarter three, an overspend of £170,000 is predicted in housing and property, an increase of £121,000 from quarter two. The report explains:

“There is now a forecast overspend on homelessness of £112,000. This is primarily down to an overspend on B&B accommodation.

“There is a forecast £51,000 overspend on street lighting primarily due to energy costs and street nameplates.”

Parks and environmental services is forecasting an overspend of £739,000, largely due to temporary staff costs.

Harrogate Convention Centre is forecasting a net overspend of £264,000 — the reasons are exempt from the public and media.

But a £166,000 underspend is expected in legal and governance and underspends are also forecast in ICT and organisational development and Improvement.

Support from government

The report comes after senior county councillors warned that soaring energy costs meant local authorities needed support from government.

Cllr Simon Myers, executive councillor for growth, culture, leisure, sport and housing at North Yorkshire County Council, told a meeting in September:

“You can imagine that the extra costs in heating schools, leisure facilities and other council buildings are going to be enormous.

“And it is unlikely that there will be any ability to recoup that cost from residents. Indeed, it would be wrong to, given the economic circumstances that our residents are facing.

“We are going to need help from central government if we are not going to cut back on essential services.”

Harrogate council paying £25,000 a month on hotels and B&Bs for homeless

Harrogate Borough Council is spending £25,000 a month on temporary hotels and bed and breakfasts for homeless people, a freedom of information request has revealed.

The council, which has a statutory duty to prevent homelessness, is paying individual hotels up to £126 a night because its hostels are full.

The figures highlight how acute and costly the issue of homelessness is in the Harrogate district.

The Stray Ferret submitted a freedom of information request after a well-placed source revealed some of the town’s best-known hotels were being paid to put up homeless people.

The council confirmed at the time it used hotels “as a last resort” but declined to reveal costs.

Following the FoI request it has now released details of the monthly amounts paid to each of the hotel and B&B accounts used to provide temporary accommodation for homeless people in the six months from April to September last year.

The names of the individual establishments have not been released to protect the identity of vulnerable people but the sums for each one range from £30 to £126 a night.

Two hotels each received more than £10,000 from the council in August and one received more than £13,000 in July. Payments are subsidised through housing benefits.

‘No one should ever sleep on the streets’

The Stray Ferret asked the council about the sums and the amount of accommodation it had for homeless people in the district.

A council spokesperson said:

“We believe no one should ever be sleeping on the streets, and should an individual or a family become homeless we have a statutory responsibility to prevent this and several options available.

“This includes working with families, landlords or mortgage providers to help people stay in their homes, provide financial support to cover arrears or identify alternative private rental accommodation.

“Additional to this, when all other options have been exhausted, is our temporary accommodation – including hostels in Harrogate, Ripon and Knaresborough – to ensure residents have somewhere safe to stay and not end up sleeping on the streets.

“If we have no availability in our hostels, or they are not suitable for the individual or family, then we may need to place them in a B&B or a hotel temporarily.

“We use a variety, depending on availability and any specific needs that may be required. For example, to support a family and/or individual with additional needs that may require an accessible room. As such, this will naturally cost more than accommodation for a single adult who requires no additional support.

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The spokesperson added:

“The cost of using B&Bs or hotels will understandably vary throughout the year but on average in the last 12 months, it has cost around £25,000 per month and is subsidised through housing benefits.

“During this time, a dedicated housing options officer works with each household, alongside partner organisations, to ensure the correct support is provided. This includes health and well-being support, budget advice and independent living skills.

“This is a short-term arrangement until either a vacancy within our hostel accommodation becomes available or a more permanent housing solution is found.

“We are committed to providing decent and quality homes for everyone in the Harrogate district. To achieve this, we have a number of plans in place; such as requiring developers to provide a specific amount of affordable housing (40 per cent or 30 per cent depending on location), building our own stock through our housing company Bracewell Homes, as well as encouraging private landlords to return empty properties back into use.

“Tackling homelessness is something that all local authorities face but we are determined to meet these challenges and ensure no one ends up sleeping on the streets.”

Knaresborough councillor says male-dominated executive not tackling road safety concerns

North Yorkshire County Council’s leadership has defended itself amid claims that its largely older male membership has not experienced the impacts of motorists speeding through market towns and villages.

Knaresborough councillor Hannah Gostlow and Selby member Melanie Ann Davis told a meeting of the authority’s transport scrutiny committee action to tackle road safety in built-up areas was being limited due to the executive having different experiences to those of women, people with pushchairs and young people.

The council’s 10-member executive features two women and the majority of its members are aged above 50.

The meeting examining road safety and the introduction of 20mph zones in built-up areas also heard claims North Yorkshire Police were routinely failing to tackle motorcyclists as well as refusing to enforce 20mph zones.

The meeting heard while road incidents in the county had seen 36 people killed in 2020 and 37 the year before, motorcyclists had accounted for seven of the deaths in 2020 and 11 in 2019, which represented a far higher proportion than the volume of motorbikes on North Yorkshire’s roads.

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Councillors heard the council had been examining the decision to make Wales one of the first countries in the world to introduce legislation to have a 20mph speed limit on roads where cars mix with pedestrians and cyclists.

Cllr Gostlow told the committee the majority of people supporting the Welsh move had been women and those with young families and that North Yorkshire’s executive lacked the experience of walking on narrow paths beside busy roads.

She said the executive needed to listen to grass roots views rather than “deal down from the top”, adding: 

“I am worried that the executive do not represent the people who are going to benefit.”

Cllr Davis agreed, saying the “car was king because it represents economic power” and that the views of women and young people were being overlooked.

After the meeting, the authority’s leader, Cllr Carl Les said he did his best to balance the executive in terms of gender, between retired people and those in work and in terms of geographical coverage.

He said: 

“I think we are all road users and represent those people in our communities and I wouldn’t say it has any adverse effect on our decisions.”

Mobile cameras ‘effective’

A North Yorkshire Police spokesperson said its mobile safety cameras were effective when used on any vehicle, including motorbikes.

The force said it had publicised a significant amount of prosecutions involving motorcyclists, including riders who have been recorded exceeding 120mph and riders who have been prosecuted for various dangerous driving offences.

The spokesperson added: 

“Independent research by Newcastle University has found that North Yorkshire Police’s mobile safety cameras have reduced casualties by 20 per cent in the areas they’ve been deployed to.

“The force decides where to deploy cameras based on lots of different factors around risk and safety. These include data about previous collisions, demand from communities and even the weather.

“We never consider locations based on the revenue they could generate. This is a common misconception, but finances are made publicly available every year. The figures clearly show that some years the service costs slightly more to run than it generates, and other years vice versa.

“Residents frequently raise concerns about speeding in their communities specifically request mobile safety cameras, which we’ve deployed on a wide range of roads including village high streets, outside schools, suburban routes, main roads and rural roads.”

Harrogate district festival launches £7,000 search for classical singers

A leading Harrogate district arts festival has launched a nationwide search to find and reward talented young classical singers.

The Northern Aldborough Festival’s New Voices Singing Competition offers a prize fund of £7,000.

The winners will also receive performance opportunities at leading UK music festivals, including Leeds Lieder, Newbury Spring Festival, Ryedale Festival and Music@Malling, as well as the Northern Aldborough Festival itself.

The judging panel includes Dame Felicity Lott, one of Britain’s leading sopranos,

Robert Ogden, the festival’s artistic director, said:

“Hundreds of young singers graduate every year with dreams and aspirations to become professionals, but the majority have to seek temporary work while they build their careers.

“A competition success can be a turning point for a young artist. Our festival has, from its inception, strived to support and nurture young talent.”

The winner will receive The Seastock Trust Prize of £5,000, with a second prize of £1,500 from The Yorkshire Music Future Fund, and a third, audience prize of £500.

St Andrew's Church Aldborough

St Andrew’s Church in Aldborough hosts many of the festival events.

The competition is open to solo singers and ensembles of up to eight performers, and celebrates classical vocalism in all its forms. It is open to vocalists aged 21-32 years-old. Deadline for entries is Friday 14 April, 2023.

Mr Ogden, who is also an opera singer, said:

“At a time when the arts sector — particularly opera — has faced funding cuts, we feel a competition to help launch singing careers is of its time. What’s more, there are very few significant open vocal competitions north of London.”

The judging panel also includes the artistic director of The Early Opera Company, Christian Curnyn, director of Leeds Lieder, Joseph Middleton, and artistic director of the Northern Aldborough Festival, Robert Ogden. The panel is chaired by Sir Andrew Lawson-Tancred, chairman of the Northern Aldborough Festival.

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The semi-final and grand-final will be performed live to audiences at the end of this year’s Northern Aldborough Festival, which is hosted in the North Yorkshire village from Thursday 15 to Saturday 24 June 2023.

It will be the 29th festival and highlights include trumpet star and winner of BBC Young Musician of the Year, 26-year-old Matilda Lloyd and the youngest winner of the Leeds International Piano Competition for 40 years, Sunwook Kim.

 

Eight North Yorkshire Council officers set for £100,000 salaries

Eight senior managers at North Yorkshire Council are set to receive a salary of more than £100,000 a year.

The authority will replace Harrogate Borough Council and North Yorkshire County Council in April.

As part of the move, a new management has been appointed to oversee the authority.

A report due before the council tomorrow (January 24) will also recommend a pay structure for the management and council as a whole.

Among them includes Richard Flinton, the new chief executive, who will receive a salary of £198,935.

Meanwhile, Stuart Carlton, Richard Webb, Gary Fielding and Karl Battersby — all of whom are directors under the county council — will receive £150,044.

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An unnamed director of community development is due to receive a salary of £139,125.

Elsewhere Rachel Joyce and Trudy Forster are due to be paid £111,500 and Barry Khan, currently assistant chief executive for legal and democratic services at the county council, will receive £120,000.

The Stray Ferret asked the county council how it had arrived at the salaries, but had not receive a response by the time of publication.

A report due before senior councillors on Tuesday said:

“The grading structure has been amended this year following a review of all eight councils structures to consider the differences and the changing nature of the council resulting from local government reorganisation.

“Whilst North Yorkshire County Council is the continuing authority, changes in pay terms and conditions have been made as a result of this review, to address the changing nature of the council and also the market pressures causing ongoing staff attraction and retention difficulties.”

Cllr Carl Les, leader of the county council, said:

“The pay which we offer is designed to attract and retain the most talented staff that we can, as we want the best people on board to drive forward the vision of the new North Yorkshire Council for the benefit of everybody who lives and works in the county.

“The new pay structure also highlights some significant savings on roles for chief executives and chief officers of £3.7 million compared to the costs across the previous eight councils.

“We are one of the largest local authorities in the country, managing large and complex operations. 

“In establishing the grades for the new management structure, senior managers’ salaries were analysed against other comparable authorities with the use of independent data.

“We are proud of the ability of our senior managers, and we believe it’s important to be open and transparent about our pay structure.” 

Stray Views: Who deserves a pay rise? Councillors? Nurses?

Stray Views is a weekly column giving you the chance to have your say on issues affecting the Harrogate district. It is an opinion column and does not reflect the views of the Stray Ferret. Send your views to letters@thestrayferret.co.uk.

Nurses pay

18 January 2023  -today I have just come out of Harrogate District Hospital after a stay of 6 days.

Every single member of staff deserve better treatment from Government by receiving wages for the hard work, long hours, caring and patience they have for all patients.

The additional hours the majority of members of staff work deserve to be paid in the correct manner and not by someone fiddling figures because of the departments budget.

Additional time off to cover any overtime does not put food on the table or pay the bills.

Margaret Beckingham, Harrogate

Councillor’s pay

What sort of message does a pay hike of 50% for councillors send to public sector workers who are struggling to live on their present wages and being told that 10% is too much to ask for?

Many councillors still have jobs or businesses. Those who don’t are by and large comfortably retired.

As most of the premises and staff of Harrogate Council are apparently being kept on after North Yorkshire take over, where are the savings we were promised coming from?

Diane Stokes, Harrogate

Station Gateway consultation

You have now reported on two Station Gateway consultations. Who are these people who have been consulted? Apparently 2,044 people this time, and about half that number last time, chosen (how?) from over 150,000 residents of Harrogate District.

I am one of those never invited to give an opinion. Had I been asked I would have strongly supported the proposal which would give a much more welcoming appearance to those arriving by train or bus, and would enhance the east end of James Street.

Incidentally, why is no “Welcome to Harrogate” sign together with relevant information displayed in either the train or bus station?

Emeritus Professor Tony Wren, MA, DSc, DEng, Harrogate

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Government help needed to achieve carbon cutting targets, admits council

Senior North Yorkshire councillors have admitted many of the authority’s climate change goals will only be achieved if the government funds them.

Approving a public consultation over its long-awaited carbon-cutting masterplan, several executive members of North Yorkshire County Council emphasised the authority would steer clear of over-promising what it could achieve given funding and powers at its disposal.

Cllr Greg White, the authority’s climate change executive member, said six months after declaring a climate emergency the authority had formed a plan about how it would get its own emissions to net zero.

He said in addition, the North Yorkshire and York Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) had developed its own plan or roadmap for the area, featuring what he described as the “extremely ambitious” target of net zero carbon emissions by 2034 and becoming carbon negative by 2040.

He told executive members they were being asked to endorse, rather than adopt the LEP’s plan, whilst “recognising many of the actions and ambitions are actually the responsibilities of others and not in control of this council” and approve a draft carbon cutting plan for the new unitary authority.

When questioned by Liberal Democrat Cllr Steve Mason over whether the authority would pursue area-wide ambitions, Cllr White replied the authority would be reliant on residents, traders and the government for the latter.

He said the authority was set to endorse the LEP’s roadmap, but would stop short of adopting it as it could not fulfil many of the targets.

Cllr White said: 

“What we are today doing is widening what we do as a council beyond a focus on what we actually do ourselves, in terms of our vans and our buildings, to how we can help across the whole of the council and help with things like homelessness.

“However, we have to be constantly aware we can only do what we can do within the funding that we have available and the powers we have available to us. We want to take a leadership role and that is the most you can hope for.”

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Cllr Mason said the carbon-cutting plans had already taken several years to be drawn up. He added: 

“We are now three years down the line and are still talking about endorsing the plan. To be honest, we need to be taking action.”

Executive member for transport, Cllr Keane Duncan, appeared to question whether some ambitions in the LEP’s plan, such as reducing private car use by 48% and a 900% increase in cycling miles by 2030, were realistic.

He said: 

“It’s very easy for us to agree to a pledge that sounds nice on paper, but when you look at the deliverability of what’s going to be involved in making that happen in reality it becomes much more difficult.”

Cllr Duncan added the public would thank the authority for setting realistic goals.

In order to get the reductions in levels of car use, said Cllr White, there would need to be a huge injection of funds from central government.

He concluded: 

“All we can do is help people move in the right direction.”

Cllr Gareth Dadd revealed following the launch of the unitary authority “an accelerated programme of property rationalisation” would be brought forward to tackle climate change.

He said: 

“Everybody agrees with climate change until it affects them. It’s like housebuilding. Everybody agrees we need more homes until they’re next door to them.”

Explained: North Yorkshire Council’s plan for council tax

North Yorkshire Council looks set to propose a council tax hike as part of its first budget.

The authority, which will take over Harrogate Borough Council and North Yorkshire County Council, is set to recommend a bill of £1,759.96.

However, the total bill will also include precepts for fire and police services which will be decided next month.

Here is all you need to know about your council tax this coming year.

What will my council tax be?

For 2023/24, taxpayers will no longer pay council tax to Harrogate Borough Council and North Yorkshire County Council.

Instead, tax will be paid solely to the new North Yorkshire Council.

As part of its first budget, authority officials are proposing a band D rate of £1,759.96 for the year – an increase on last year by 4.99%.

That does not include the precepts for fire, police and parish councils which will be decided separately by those organisations.

Why has the council chosen to increase council tax?

The council is proposing the sum in order to meet costs for providing public services across the county.

It has also decided that council tax rates will be harmonised for the next two years – meaning taxpayers will pay the same sum across the county.

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The council has calculated that council tax for the average band D property in Harrogate would normally be valued at £1,783.35.

But, the harmonised average for the county – which includes a 4.99% hike – will be set at £1,759.96.

The council also says it has to make income in order to tackle a £30 million blackhole caused by inflation and spiralling costs.

What has the council said about the proposal?

Despite an increase in funding from the government, the new authority is set to start the next financial year from April with a predicted shortfall of more than £30 million in its budget.

The council is set to receive an additional £22 million from government as part of the announcement.

However, soaring inflation and the impact of the covid pandemic is still set to leave a blackhole in the authority’s finances.

A council press release said the shortfall would be met “by the one-off use of reserves as well as some savings”.

Senior councillors will meet to discuss the council’s first budget, including council tax, on January 24.

Conservative Cllr Carl Les, who will assume the leadership of North Yorkshire Council from April, said: 

“We are facing the greatest ever financial challenges in North Yorkshire, which means we have a huge task in ensuring that services can be delivered effectively and efficiently for the public.

“However, without the opportunities presented with the launch of the new council, the situation would be a great deal worse, and it is vital that we take full advantage of these opportunities.

“We have the chance to make millions of pounds in savings by reorganising the way services are delivered, meaning that we get the most out of every pound of taxpayers’ money in North Yorkshire.”