A senior police officer has voiced concerns that the closure of Harrogate’s mental health assessment suite is putting an added strain on emergency services.

North Yorkshire Police chief inspector Alex Langley said people who are detained under the Mental Health Act have been taken as far as Scarborough or Darlington after the closure of the section 136 suite at Harrogate District Hospital’s Briary Wing in May 2020.

It has meant police officers have been out of action for several hours as they drive detainees around the county.

Speaking at a recent Harrogate Borough Council meeting, Chf Insp Langley described the scale of the mental health crisis and impact on officers as “phenomenal”. He said.

He added:

Read more:

• Harrogate families describe anguish of mental health problems and impact of Briary Unit closure


• How did we get here? The closure of Harrogate's Briary Unit is a story of political debate and debt

Impact on police times

Zoe Campbell, managing director of the trust’s North Yorkshire, York and Selby care group, said:

The lack of custody cells for all types of arrests was recently raised as a concern by county councillors who said they were worried over a wider impact on police response times.

Members of North Yorkshire’s Police, Fire and Crime Panel have asked commissioner Zoe Metcalfe to provide a report into the impact of officers in the north of the county having to take detainees to Harrogate and Scarborough following the closure of cells in Richmond and Northallerton.

Panel member Martin Walker, a former judge, told commissioner Metcalfe he had received various reports that police were “not arresting people that perhaps they should” because of the added travel time. He said: