Tributes paid to ‘larger than life’ former Ripon and Harrogate mayor

Tributes have been paid to former Ripon councillor and mayor Bernard Bateman, who died last week.

Mr Bateman represented Ripon North for the Conservatives on North Yorkshire County Council until 2017 after first being elected in 1999 as a Liberal Democrat.

He stood for the Liberal Democrats in Skipton and Ripon in the 2001 general election, coming second to the Conservative David Curry.

He was also the Conservative member for Wathvale ward on Harrogate Borough Council until last year and is a former mayor of both Harrogate and Ripon.

Councillors observed a minute’s silence at a meeting in Harrogate yesterday evening.

Mr Bateman served as chairman of the county council in 2013/14 and was granted honorary alderman status.

Director of Wolseley Hughes

Before entering local politics in North Yorkshire, Mr Bateman had a career in business and was a director of Wolseley Hughes Plc in Ripon.

He also helped create the World Plumbing Council, which has worked with the World Health Organisation to install safe water supplies and drainage systems in some of the world’s poorest countries.

Mr Bateman was awarded an MBE in 1989 for services to industry.

Cllr Mike Chambers, Harrogate Borough Council’s executive member for housing, said:

“It is with deepest sadness to hear of the passing of my friend and former colleague Bernard Bateman MBE.

“I have known Bernard for many years, serving together as both Harrogate borough and county councillors.

“Bernard was such as wonderful, larger-than-life, character and his passing is so very, very sad.

“On behalf of the borough council, and my colleagues, I would like to extend our most sincere condolences to Bernard’s wife, Linda, and family at this time.”

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Conservative councillor Sam Green won the Wathvale seat on Harrogate Borough Council in a by-election last year after Mr Bateman stepped down.

Cllr Bernard Bateman and Sam Green

Mr Bateman with Cllr Sam Green. Pic credit: Cllr Sam Green

Cllr Green paid tribute to his “friend and political mentor.”

“Bernard wasn’t your typical politician, he was a genuine and sincere man and a people’s person who would go out of his way to help anyone.

“He immediately looked out for me and took me under his wing when I first became involved with the Skipton & Ripon Conservatives association some years ago.

“Looking back now, I can see he consciously but subtly did so much to encourage and help me grow as a person and to support my political ambitions, introducing me to so many people during his mayoral year and even asking me to do a reading at his mayoral concert in front of hundreds of people – something I had never done before and undoubtedly furthered my confidence with public speaking.

“I have so many fond memories of my time with Bernard, not least our trip to Wrexham in the mayoral car to support Harrogate Town away. I was then ultimately honoured to have been elected to Bernard’s Wathvale seat following his resignation and would not be where I am today without his help and friendship.”

Dispute over Harrogate council by-election raised in House of Lords

A dispute over the decision not to hold a by-election in the Harrogate district has reached the House of Lords.

Following the death of Conservative Cllr Normal Waller at the end of January, Harrogate Borough Council has announced a by-election will not be held in Marston Moor.

The ward includes the villages Tockwith, Cattal and Bilton-in-Ainsty.

The council said a routine election was due to take place within six months of Cllr Waller’s death, meaning a by-election would not be needed.

Norman Waller

However, that election has since been cancelled, as all existing HBC councillors have had their terms extended by a year while the new North Yorkshire Council is set up.

Confirming the decision, the council said:

“As a matter of law when a casual vacancy arises within six months of the date for the ‘ordinary election’, then the casual vacancy is to be filled at the next ‘ordinary election’. For this reason, a notice of vacancy stating the election for Marston Moor would be on May 5 was published.

“However, local government reorganisation and the Structural Changes Order has changed this by cancelling the Harrogate Borough Council ordinary elections on May 5 and extending all serving Harrogate Borough Council members’ term of office until April 1, 2023 at which point Harrogate Borough Council will be dissolved as part of unitary re-organisation.

“Having taken legal advice and consulted with the Association of Electoral Administrators we cannot see any way forward for the election to fill the vacancy at Marston Moor ward.”

However, the decision has been criticised by former councillor Arnold Warneken, who was intending to stand for the Green Party in the by-election.

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Mr Warneken highlighted the inconsistency with Wathvale ward, where a by-election is set to be held on May 5 following the retirement of Cllr Bernard Bateman. He said:

“I’m not at all happy with the situation that Harrogate council have allowed the residents of Marston Moor ward to end up with, which is that as a result of the death of my friend and colleague, former district councillor Norman Waller, we would all expect there to be a by-election but for reasons beyond me this is not the case, and we will be without an elected representative for the next 13 months.”

House of Lords

Now, the issue has been raised by Baroness Natalie Bennett of Manor Castle in the House of Lords.

Baroness Bennett, a former leader of the Green Party, submitted a question to the government on Wednesday about its correspondence with HBC about holding a by-election in Marston Moor after the planned local elections were cancelled. The government has two weeks to provide a response.

Harrogate Borough Council yesterday reiterated that its decision about Marston Moor was made before the planned elections for the district were cancelled. The decision to hold a by-election in Wathvale was made after this date.

The by-election for Wathvale takes place on Thursday, May 5. It is the same day that voters across North Yorkshire will go to the polls to elect their representatives for the new county-wide unitary authority.

Over the next year, work will take place to set up North Yorkshire Council ready to take over from the existing county council and seven district councils, including Harrogate, next spring.