It’s one year since the launch of North Yorkshire Council reshaped local government in the Harrogate district.

The authority replaced the now defunct Harrogate Borough Council with the promise of making savings.

The changes in governance were far reaching, from taxi licensing to planning decisions.

The Stray Ferret has looked at the areas which have changed under North Yorkshire Council’s regime since April 1, 2023.

Taxi licensing

Probably the most controversial area to be have been overhauled by the new council is the licensing of taxi cabs.

Under the authority’s harmonisation agenda, the zone which taxis could operate in was widened to county-wide.

Previously, cabbies could only trade within the Harrogate district.

However, the council overhauled its licensing policy so that taxis can now operate anywhere in North Yorkshire.

In theory, the move would allow drivers to pick up business across the county.

Richard Fieldman, who runs his taxi in Ripon.

But some drivers did not see it that way.

Richard Fieldman, who operated his taxi cab in Ripon for 28 years, said the move would see quieter areas deprived of taxis during the busier times.

Planning decisions

One notable change under the new council is the overhaul of planning decisions.

Following its inception, the council created local area constituency committees which are made up of councillors from a particular area.

These committees also took on planning powers, but only for applications under 500 homes.

Any development which is above 500 homes or is a major employment site proposal goes before the council’s strategic planning committee, which meets in Northallerton.

In September 2023, a controversial plan to build a motorway service station off the A1(M) near Boroughbridge was referred to the council’s main committee instead of Harrogate and Knaresborough area committee.

Tourism

Much like most areas which effect Harrogate, tourism is also being slowly absorbed into the new council.

The district’s tourism body Destination Harrogate was set up by Harrogate Borough Council and transferred to North Yorkshire Council on April 1 last year. So far, all employees have kept their jobs and are still working from Harrogate.

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However, the organisation has fallen under a county-wide review as the new authority looks to move towards a different structure.

North Yorkshire Council is now joining with City of York Council to create a new Local Visitor Economy Partnership for York and North Yorkshire.

Double devolution

One of the cornerstones of the Conservative leadership of North Yorkshire Council’s campaign for a single-authority was the pledge to let local people take control of local assets.

The promise came in the shape of the council’s double devolution agenda.

It would see town and parish councils given powers over local assets such as markets, car parks and public toilets.

The authority revealed in October that Knaresborough Town Council and Ripon City Council were chosen to advance bids to take control over some of their assets.

Knaresborough Town Council’s application to manage the town’s markets, storage facility and associated assets such as road closure signs is being progressed to a full business case.

Meanwhile, the council has considered a project team to work with Ripon City Council on its bid as it was deemed “particularly ambitious”.

It included management of Ripon Town Hall, Market Place and Car Park, public toilets within the city and the Wakeman’s House listed building.

Council tax harmonisation

As part of its harmonisation plans, the council also sought to level out council tax across North Yorkshire.

This saw the rate which people pay in the Harrogate district equalled with that in Ryedale, Richmondshire, Scarborough, Hambleton and Craven.

At the time, Harrogate’s council tax was the highest in North Yorkshire at £1,723.27 for the year. 

A decision was taken to bring council tax levels up to Harrogate’s rate in order to raise £11.3 million.

Councillors had considered bringing down rates in line with the lowest amount at the time, which was Hambleton – however, council officials warned this would see annual funding raised by bills fall by £21 million.

This story is sponsored by Truth Legal.

A Harrogate law firm is celebrating supporting those most in need of legal advice for 10 years.

Truth Legal, which is based on Victoria Avenue, was founded by Andrew Gray back in 2012.

It was set up to help provide access to justice for those who may find the law difficult to navigate and has prided itself on having a “honest and ethical” ethos.

Since then, Truth Legal has gone onto support people for personal injury, clinical negligence, employment, small businesses and immigration cases and even expanded its client base into Leeds with a new office.

Georgina Parkin, the Managing Director at the firm, said the purpose of the company continues to be helping those people who find the law hard to access. She said:

She said:

“Truth Legal was set up in 2012 with the ethos of providing ethical and affordable access to justice. Access to justice has been reduced over the last 12 years with reductions in legal aid and increased court fees.”

“There has been a lot of changes to various areas of the law over the years, such as legal aid and employment tribunals.”

Georgina, who started out as a trainee back in 2013 before rapidly rising to director, is set to oversee the next milestone in the company’s history.

Truth Legal at their 10 year anniversary celebration.

Along with Louis MacWilliam and Navya Shekhar, Georgina will take on majority control of the firm. Catherine Reynolds will continue in her role as a Director of the firm. Andrew will continue to provide support as a consultant.

Going forward, Truth Legal wants to undertake another ambitious recruitment drive and look at setting up another office.

It also intends to take on more social justice cases and expanding its immigration, employment and clinical negligence teams.

For Georgina, the mission of the firm will remain the same – providing access to justice for those who need it most.

For more information on Truth Legal and how to get in touch for legal advice, visit their website here or call 01423 788358.

The Stray Ferret is publishing two articles this weekend looking back at Harrogate’s links with the Falklands War.

Today, we speak to Harrogate woman Christina Nelson who was only 22 when her husband Stephen Heyes was killed aboard the HMS Ardent aged 21.

HMS Ardent was sunk by Argentine bombs 40 years ago this month, on May 22, 1982.

Twenty-two British sailors died.

Ms Nelson told the Stray Ferret she finds every anniversary difficult. The couple had only been married for one year before his death.

“It doesn’t seem possible that I’m here at 62 and he never made it.

“He’s not growing old and grey and wrinkly. 

“He said that to me before he left, ‘you’ll go old, grey and wrinkly but I’ll never grow older than 21’.

“He knew he wasn’t coming home.”

Meeting

Stephen, who was from Wigan, was 16 when he joined the Navy in 1976.

His first ship was HMS Cleopatra, a frigate that had been adopted by Harrogate since the 1940s. It was even given the freedom of Harrogate in 1979 and sailors aboard the ship would sometimes march through the town.

Ms Nelson, who went to Harrogate High School, worked for the Ministry of Defence on St George’s Road.

She attended an MOD dance at the Royal Hall where she met Stephen, who was there with some fellow sailors from the Cleopatra.

Ms Nelson said:

“Me and my girlfriends went out, we had no idea we’d bump into a group of sailors – there’s no ground water in Harrogate!”

Stephen knew he’d met the girl for him as, two weeks later, he hitchhiked to Harrogate from where he was stationed on the south coast and proposed.

Their wedding was two years later at Christ Church on March 28, 1981, which Ms Nelson remembers as “all done on a budget but we didn’t lack on anything”.

Stephen was a huge Roxy Music fan and their first dance was the song ‘Dance Away’.

Navy career

After getting married, the couple together lived in Devonport, Plymouth.

Stephen was a seaman in electronic warfare and “absolutely loved it” in the Navy, said Ms Nelson.

But unusually for a sailor, he couldn’t swim.

She said:

“He was terrified of water. When they told me it sunk, I said they won’t find him as he can’t swim.”

The stricken HMS Ardent. Credit: HMS Ardent Association

HMS Ardent was attacked by at least three waves of Argentine aircraft on May 21. It sank into the Atlantic Ocean the next day.

But at the time there were only rumours that a ship had been hit.

Ms Nelson was working part-time at a Ladbrokes bookies and her boss told her to go home after the rumours spread.

She spent an agonising night on the phone with military officials, hoping to receive an update on Stephen. She was eventually told that his ship, HMS Ardent, was not in that area where the attacks happened.

But that all changed when a customer came into the shop and said: “Bloody hell, you wouldn’t have thought they’d sink the Ardent.”

Ms Nelson said she knew then that Stephen had been killed.

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Good memories

Stephen was an animal lover and had adopted a stray cat called Charlie, who would still wait for him to come home long after he died.

Ms Nelson said it was a sign that he was still with them in some way.

She said:

“Every day at 4pm, Charlie would meet Stephen after work to have his tummy tickled. After he died he still did the same thing.”

Christina now lives in Alicante, Spain. She spent last weekend’s anniversary with one of Stephen’s old friends from the Navy, who had cycled over from Benidorm.

She said it still doesn’t seem real that four decades have passed by since her husband’s death.

“I’m sat here looking at pictures on the wall — how the hell can it be 40 years?”

Stephen and Christina’s wedding day in Harrogate

Christina said she likes to remember Stephen as a big-hearted family man.

She added:

“He was just somebody with a smile that could light up the room – when he smiled you knew he was there. He didn’t have a nasty bone in his body, he was a gentle soul.”

Stephen Heyes was one of 255 British military personnel that died in the war. Three islanders and 649 Argentine soldiers also died.

Tomorrow, we speak to Harrogate Falklands veteran Neil Harper about his experiences during the conflict. We also speak to journalist Tim Flanagan who reported on the war for the Harrogate Advertiser.

Jespers of Harrogate reopened this morning following a shop refurbishment.

The pen and stationery store celebrated its 120th anniversary this year. The front of the shop has been remodelled, with the famous pen range relocated to the back of the store.

Shop manager Lynn Cummings said she was “amazed” by the transformation:

“We’re 120 years old this year, so we thought it was time to give the store a makeover and update what we have here. It has completely transformed the front of the shop.”

The luxury pen range has been given a new home at the back of the shop

The refurbishment of the Oxford Street shop comes two years after the business was taken on by new owners. The Jesper family retired and sold the company in 2019.

Ms Cummings added:

“Our new directors are very keen to keep the ethos that the Jesper family started and created, but also build on that with new products and lines.

“We’ve still got the lines we had, including an extensive range of writing implements from Montegrappa, Waterman, Parker, every brand that you can think of.

“We’ve also developed a whole new area to promote our personal care products. We deal with the likes of Bentley Organics, Watkins soap, Floris, and Edwin Jagger.”

In addition to stationery and personal care products, Jespers also has an art department and a variety of children’s creativity kits and jigsaws.

The personal care range.

When the store closed on June 25, the refurbishment was planned to take three weeks. That time was extended as it became clear more work was needed. But Ms Cummings is excited to be back open to the public.

“As these things go, older buildings spring up surprises and we were closed a bit longer than we wanted.

“We’re very much looking forward to reopening here at Jespers, and seeing our loyal customers and inviting new customers into the store.”

An historic building is gearing up to mark a significant anniversary, despite having been closed for most of the last year.

The Washburn Heritage Centre, which sits close to Swinsty Reservoir, was extended in 2011 to create exhibition and meeting space as well as a tea room.

The 10th anniversary of its opening falls this month, but covid restrictions mean celebrations have been put on hold. However, its members are making plans for a month of events in June to ensure the occasion is not missed.

The centre has proved increasingly popular since it opened, attracting visitors from West Yorkshire and Lancashire, as well as more locally. Walkers appreciate the opportunity to refuel with some of the cakes made by volunteers, while the exhibitions about the rich local history have also proved a draw to visitors.

However, the last year has seen the tea rooms open for just a few weeks for take-away food and drinks. Volunteer Sarah Stead said:

“We have lost a lot of money and members, but we’re still keeping things going. A lot of the members are elderly and that puts them off coming and volunteering, but we hope they will come back in future.

“There’s still a lot going on online, and we have some great plans for the anniversary. We’re hoping we’ll be able to have an exhibition about the last 10 years, and a variety of talks from people involved from the beginning, like the architect and the people who started it all going.”

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While plans are yet to be finalised and will depend on any covid restrictions still in place, the volunteers are doing their utmost to keep people interested even while they can’t visit.

A series of online talks and events is planned, beginning with a look at a project to increase local populations of the spotted flycatcher, which is under threat in the UK.

The centre’s website also has an online archive of local photos and is posting regularly on its social media accounts. News about the anniversary plans and future events will be announced when covid restrictions are eased.