Editor’s Pick of the Week: Parking spin, floral heaven and tea and buns with naturists

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When North Yorkshire Council’s spin doctors send press releases about council reports that have just been published, it’s usually a sign that some difficult messages need massaging.

So it proved this week when we received a release saying, ‘motorists are set to benefit from a consistent, fair, and forward-looking approach to parking’.

The word ‘benefit’ turned out to be doing some particularly heavy lifting in that sentence. The new ‘parking principles’ report revealed disc parking could be abolished, tariffs increased and restrictions place on Blue Badges.

Disability Action Yorkshire didn’t appear convinced of the benefits and neither did Councillor Michael Schofield, who talked about Harrogate being used as a ‘cash cow’ for the Northallerton-based local authority.

Still, press officers know many media organisations will copy and paste the PR spiel rather than read the report.

There was little to hide at British Naturism’s naked walk last weekend at the Himalayan Garden and Sculpture Park between Ripon and Masham. Even a long career in journalism doesn’t prepare you for having to address some 50 undressed naturists about why you would like to join them for a stroll but would prefer to remain clothed.

I shouldn’t have worried as they couldn’t have been more welcoming and forthcoming about their lifestyle — they even told me the golden rule.

Harrogate’s floral beauty takes some beating in summer, but it could hardly have looked better on Monday. The parks and gardens were perfectly manicured and barely a discarded cigarette butt could be seen. I should have known something was brewing on my way to work when I got stuck behind a council road sweeper, a species as rare as main roads without roadworks these days.

It turned out the Britain in Bloom judges were in town to assess Harrogate’s bid to reclaim the national title in the small city / city category.

A jolly lunch for the judges and those involved in Harrogate’s bid took place at the new West Park Centre, whose Harrogate Story exhibition is well worth a visit. 

After four hot hours of taking notes on their clipboards, the judges looked in need of refreshment. Were any Fat Rascals or local gin deployed to influence their decision? Perish the thought.