Editor’s Pick of the Week: Unholy rows in Harrogate during Holy Week

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The unholy row over the future of Harrogate town centre ramped up during Holy Week.

The Stray Ferret received more than 100 pages of correspondence between the Department for Transport and North Yorkshire Council relating to the Station Gateway scheme, which will transform Station Parade and Station Square — if it goes ahead.

Its future could be settled in the high court next week and in the run-up we published a series of revelations, including that just 39% of the £12.6 million overall cost will be spent on construction, the council’s own business-cost ratio assessment deemed the scheme to be of low benefit and there is a high risk of costs spiralling further.

The anti-gateway business group Get Away described the findings as 'astonishing'.

Sharp words were also exchanged this week in the historic homophobia row surrounding Anthony Murphy, the Conservative candidate for the Duchy ward in the forthcoming Harrogate Town Council elections. 

Andrew Jones, the former Tory MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, said he was "struck by the irony" when replying to a point raised in a letter from Tom Gordon, the Liberal Democrat who replaced him, questioning the Conservatives' commitment to high standards by selecting My Murphy.

Holy Week got underway in Ripon with the traditional open-air service followed by a procession to the cathedral. The star of the show was once again Lily the Donkey who was even led around the cathedral.

My highlight was attending the English version of Bach’s St Matthew’s Passion at St Peter’s Church in Harrogate. It was a highly polished performance of the Easter favourite, featuring some fabulous professional singers and local choirs. A great accomplishment by John Longstaff, the church’s director of music and organist.

We published an interview with Harrogate-raised international soprano Eleonore Cockerham, who was one of the professional singers, in the run-up to the event.

Christmas might seem some way off at Easter but Harrogate received an early festive present this week when it was announced Tim Stedman will be back for his 25th pantomime season.  

Being of a similar age to Tim, I wonder how he manages to keep throwing himself around the stage, sometimes twice a day, for a couple of months at Christmas, but long may it continue.