Candidates speak on hot issues at muggy Harrogate hustings

More than 150 people packed into a muggy Wesley Chapel in Harrogate on Tuesday evening for the chance to hear candidates’ views at the Stray Ferret general election hustings.

Six of the seven candidates standing for the Harrogate and Knaresborough constituency were on stage to field questions. Just one independent, Stephen Metcalfe, launched his campaign too late to be included.

The hustings started at 6pm when Stray Ferret editor John Plummer, who chaired the event, introduced the candidates, and each one then had one minute to make their pitch and appeal for the public’s vote. This was followed by questions submitted by readers, a refreshment break, and then more questions from the floor.

Harrogate Convention Centre

Asked if Harrogate Convention Centre should be sold off, as some have suggested due to the £2.7m subsidy it receives annually from taxpayers, nearly all the candidates said no, recognising its importance to the local economy.

Paul Haslam said that taking Harrogate Convention Centre away from Harrogate would be "like taking the sea away from Scarborough".

River Nidd

The candidates were asked if they would let their children swim in the River Nidd. The question was prompted by the much-publicised state of the river water, which has been found to have high levels of harmful e.coli bacteria, making some swimmers ill.

Shan Oakes said she had swum in the Nidd in the past, but wouldn’t now, and called for more regulation, not less.

Tom Gordon said that Ofwat, the water industry regulator, should be “ripped up”, but Conrad Whitcroft called for new powers for Ofwat. He also said that water company bosses should not be given bonuses while rivers were still polluted. He said:

John Swales said he would not allow his children to swim in the Nidd, and said that national assets should be publicly owned, not owned by foreign investors, as Yorkshire Water is.

Andrew Jones said he had swum in the Nidd, but did not specify when, and also pointed to his campaign to get bathing water status for the Nidd at Knaresborough, which he said was a “hugely important development”, prompting disbelieving noises from the audience.

Paul Haslam said that straightening waterways had helped to cause flooding:

Male candidates

John Plummer then pointed out that 20 of the 21 candidates in the three constituencies within the former Harrogate district are male, and asked:

Shan Oakes said that people had been fine to her and that she had had “no hassle”, but conceded that may be "because I’m not an MP.”

Andrew Jones said that politics was currently “at a poisonous place”, and the general tone put many female would-be candidates off running. He said:

But an impassioned Conrad Whitcroft hit back:

Housing

Housing is a major issue at this election, against a backdrop of unattainably high house prices for many and an estimated national shortfall of 4.3 million homes.

The candidates were asked where specifically they thought houses should be built in Harrogate and Knaresborough.

Only one candidate, Jonathan Swales, identified a preferred site with any certainty. He said a new town should be built where the A59 meets the A1 – in other words, at the Flaxby site where a developer’s plans for 2,750 homes were rejected in 2020 in favour of a rival scheme at Green Hammerton.

The other candidates declined to name locations, but several, including Tom Gordon, Andrew Jones and Paul Haslam, stressed the need to build on brownfield sites rather than in the greenbelt.

Shan Oakes highlighted the fact that VAT is not applicable to newbuild properties, but is levied on renovation – a situation she said was “crazy”.

Conrad Whitcroft said that new homes should be built “all over the place”, as he was “sick to death” of paying high rents, which “chip away” at his ability to save for a deposit. He said he wanted to turn Generation Rent into Generation Buy.

Harrogate Borough Council

Asked if the abolition of Harrogate Borough Council had made things better in Harrogate and Knaresborough, Shan Oakes and Jonathan Swales – perhaps predictably – gave opposite answers.

Ms Oakes said the abolition had made things better, as “we no longer have the ‘middleman’ of Harrogate Borough Council” between the county and local councils.

Mr Swales said it has made things worse, “because we don’t have control of things which directly affect our lives”.

Tom Gordon said it had left the constituency with “the worst of both worlds”, and Andrew Jones said whatever the question was, “the correct answer cannot be ‘more councillors’”.

Healthcare

Healthcare is another hot topic at this election, as many people have difficulty signing on with an NHS dentist or getting a routine GP appointment.

Shan Oakes called for more emphasis on preventative medicine and screening, and Conrad Whitcroft referred to the “dental desert”, calling for increased funding paid for by the increased tax take following the abolition of the non-dom status.

Jonathan Swales advocated a voucher system so that people could access treatment in the private sector, helping to clear the backlogs in the NHS.

Andrew Jones pointed out that the government had just launched the first ever NHS workforce plan, but Tom Gordon said it shouldn’t have taken 14 years to come up with a strategy for staffing the NHS properly.

He added that the government was full of praise for NHS workers during the pandemic, but instead of giving them a pay rise, gave them a clap instead.

Harrogate Station Gateway

As the Stray Ferret reported last week, North Yorkshire Council is to bid for £500,000 to pay for traffic improvements which it says would reduce the 'economic disbenefits’ caused by congestion.

The extra funding would take the cost of the scheme to £12.7 million.

The controversial Station Gateway scheme has divided opinion in Harrogate like few other local issues, but asked whether the new mayor should award it the extra money, the candidates were almost unanimous. “No”, said Andrew Jones, Jonathan Swales, Tom Gordon and Shan Oakes, who said she had never agreed with the scheme in the first place. Conrad Whitcroft said he was “broadly supportive” of the Gateway plans and called for more joined-up thinking.

Only Paul Haslam dissented, saying: “Yes, if it makes a difference.”

From the floor

Questions from the floor covered topics as diverse as illegal immigrants, trans rights, proportional representation, rejoining the EU and cybersecurity.

A university student who gave their name simply as Dan asked why, as a young person faced with high rents, climate promises being dropped from manifestoes and the right to protest being infringed upon, they should be inspired to do anything other than spoil their ballot. 

Andrew Jones and Jonathan Swales said that voting mattered because people had given their lives to win the right and keep it. 

It was Tom Gordon who pointed out that the question concerned spoiling the ballot rather than refusing to vote, and he said he'd far rather people spoil their ballot in protest than opt out of the democratic process altogether. He also said that one solution to political disenchantment would be proportional representation. 

That was a point echoed by Paul Haslam, who added:

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