This opinion column is written by Marilyn Stowe. Marilyn built the largest family law firm in the UK, which she ran from Harrogate. She sold her firm in 2017 to private equity left the law and is now a writer and speaker.

Have you ever travelled by helicopter? Chances are you haven’t, me neither. For world leaders staying in Cornwall it was de rigueur even if HM Queen preferred the train home to Windsor in the middle of the night. Good for her. But then she can and I don’t begrudge her choice of travel.

For a number of high rollers, big spenders into the bargain, travel by helicopter is their preference and good on them too. If they can afford it and spend big bucks wherever they land, why not?

I can’t say this area seems to be plagued by helicopters, and nor is it likely in the future. But a potential refusal by Harrogate Borough Council of a helipad to Grantley Hall in Ripon, recently caught my eye.

We are almost out of the pandemic and we have to start to count the cost. The decimation of our hospitality and entertainment industry with shopping hit hardest across our towns and cities should now be at the forefront of our minds. The final bill to our economy which our young who will be paying for the rest of the their lives is too high to compute.

I would have thought any local council with gumption would be up for the challenge to their own town and surrounding areas to help everyone who now needs it. In reality this means bringing in the spenders, focusing on their needs and strongly competing for a share of what many were able to save during the last 18 months especially amongst the super rich, whose wealth increased.

In our area, it includes supporting those who have invested their own untold wealth developing a magnificent world class hotel at Grantley Hall, creating jobs and infrastructure for the area, during their own time of need.

Yet in Harrogate and its borough, the council seems to be on a war path against any method of travel except on foot, bicycle and bus. It's shown a dogged determination to close roads around the Stray to encourage walking from school, even if it means hazardously backing up traffic along adjoining roads. And kept ghastly wooden crates in situ to reduce parking in James Street although the shops are fully open. It wants to do away with parking spaces along busy streets, causing mass inconvenience for swathes of shoppers. And it plans to remove entire lanes of traffic and generally make congestion in Harrogate worse. And it was also recommending to refuse Grantley Hall the right to a helipad. Why? It seemed so incredibly petty.

I've read the arguments about preservation of peace and tranquillity of the area, the importance of the natural beauty in the area –. the same arguments that pertain to competing luxury hotel properties situate within every one of the most important beauty spots across the country, and yet those hotels all have their helipads. I suspect none have turned into mini airports, rather they are a convenience for the rare numbers of the super rich when they are deciding where to spend their money in an increasingly competitive market.

The hotel has subsequently withdrawn its application. I don't know why it did this but the council wasn't going to make it easy for them.  Couldn’t it have acknowledged what Grantley Hall has brought to the area and offered a helping hand to maintain its competitive edge? Of course it could have. It could have suggested a compromise- to try it for 12months and see how it works..

What a shame it is that the ultimate fate of so many is in the hands of an implacable few.

If anything symbolises how utterly hamstrung in dogma the council has become, isn’t it their persistence with those wooden crates?

 

Read More: 

• Helicopter landing pad at Grantley Hall set for second refusal


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