Editor’s Pick of the Week: Temperatures rise at Knaresborough business meeting

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The mere words ‘Knaresborough BID’ are enough to turn some traders in the town puce with rage.

So Harrogate Business Improvement District chief executive Matthew Chapman must have felt like he’d stepped into a bearpit when he gave a presentation about BIDs to about 40 Knaresborough businesses last weekend.

The former rugby league player gave an assured performance — but whether it will quell the doubters and pave the way for harmony in the town remains to be seen. A steering group is being formed to decide whether a BID, or other ideas, are the best way to improve the town.

The temperature also went up in Ripon this week when a generator alongside the Big Sky Wheel caught fire.

Smoke briefly billowed upwards but fortunately the incident was brought under control quickly, nobody was hurt and the attraction reopened the following day.

Things heated up in the Harrogate Town Council election campaign when the Stray Ferret revealed Anthony Murphy, the Conservative candidate for the Duchy ward, made a series of historic homophobic comments.

Mr Murphy has not commented on the posts but the local party has defended its decision to select him. Harrogate and Knaresborough Liberal Democrat MP Tom Gordon called for Mr Murphy to be sacked.

Harrogate goes to the polls on May 1 to elect its first ever town councillors. With only two independents standing in 19 wards, the election has become highly politicised and — with national polls close — difficult to predict.

While Mr Gordon has been commenting for the Lib Dems, the Tories have been rolling out Andrew Jones — remember him?

Mr Jones, who was Harrogate and Knaresborough MP for 14 years until last year’s general election, has been endorsing Conservative town council candidates on the local party’s social media pages. It’s starting to feel like a Jones vs Gordon rematch.

Finally, something likely to achieve cross-party consensus. The site that hosted the Old Bell for many years is back as a boozer, and it's being run by independent local company Harrogate Brewery Co. Let's all raise a glass to its success.