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01
Sept
North Yorkshire Council snubs Harrogate’s bid to recognise Rachel Daly
North Yorkshire Council has rejected a bid to give civic recognition to Harrogate footballer Rachel Daly.
Former Rossett School pupil Daly was a member of England’s Euro 2022 winning team and played in the 2023 World Cup final. She finished 10th in the 2023 Ballon d’Or, meaning she was one of the world’s 10 best players, and was awarded an MBE this year.
But the Aston Villa striker’s achievements have never been recognised by North Yorkshire Council.
In November 2023, members of the council’s Harrogate and Knaresborough area constituency committee voted in favour of developing “a civic honours-type scheme for the council and that Rachel Daly's achievements are recognised through the new scheme".
It came after a petition by Killinghall Nomads Junior Football Club — Daly’s former team — supported by the Stray Ferret attracted more than the 500 signatures required to make it eligible for debate by the area constituency committee.
Meeting a fan on her return to Killinghall Nomads in 2023.
The Liberal Democrat-controlled area constituency committee, however, is merely an advisory body to the Conservative-run council, which had to ratify the move.
After England won this year’s Euro 2025 tournament, the Stray Ferret asked council leader Carl Les and Cllr Simon Myers, the executive member for culture, arts and housing, for an update.
Neither replied, so we asked Cllr Peter Lacey, who was among those that voted in favour of setting up a civic honours scheme if he knew what had happened.
Cllr Lacey, a Liberal Democrat who represents Coppice Valley and Duchy, contacted a council officer who replied: “This was considered as part of a wider civic recognition scheme that was being discussed at the same time (not just sports, but street and building naming etc), but this wasn’t progressed”.
This decision was not communicated to the area constituency committee.
Cllr Lacey told the Stray Ferret:
As current chair of the area committee I’m disappointed that we did not receive any feedback on our request, perhaps an indication of the distance that seems to have emerged between local areas and the centralising tendencies of the current administration.
Rachel Daly playing for England. Photo: Rachel Daly on Instagram
Freedom of Harrogate?
The move appears to end any prospect of the council conferring civic recognition on arguably Harrogate’s greatest ever sportsperson.
Daly has retired from international duty but still plays in the Women's Super League for Villa.
However, the new Lib Dem-controlled Harrogate Town Council is in the process of setting up a Freedom of the Town award.
The first recipient is expected to be recognised in October.
Their identity has not been revealed but the scheme’s creation paves the way for local councillors, rather than those based in Northallerton, to confer civic recognition on people from Harrogate.
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