Four Harrogate district parish councils join campaign for 20mph limit

A prominent environmental campaigner from Harrogate is urging more parish councils to support an initiative to reduce some speeds limits from 30mph to 20mph.

Malcolm Margolis has been lobbying parish councils since September to join the 20’s Plenty for Us movement.

The movement consists of 500 local groups campaigning for 20mph to be normal on residential streets and in town and village centres

So far, four parish councils in the Harrogate district have signed up for the initiative. They include Bishop Thornton, Shaw Mills and Warsill, Tockwith with Wilstrop, Goldborough and Flaxby and Haverah Park with Beckwithshaw which have pledged support to 20’s Plenty.

Malcolm Margolis

Mr Margolis said he does not believe every 30 mph limit should be reduced to 20mph but that the move would be welcome on roads where people live, work and go to school. He told the Stray Ferret:

“I am definitely hoping to get more parish councils signed up. There are a few councils which will be debating the matter at their next meetings.

“We are confident there is huge, overwhelming support across North Yorkshire. Not only would it save lives but it would also reduce air pollution.

“I do not understand the reasons North Yorkshire County Council has given as to why it could not do this. It would not cost very much and would be policed as much as 30mph roads.

“Unfortunately all that is stopping the movement is a few people, mainly politicians.”

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However, North Yorkshire County Council, which is the highways authority, said it has consulted with North Yorkshire Police and other interested parties and does not believe speed reductions would be appropriate.

Karl Battersby, corporate director of business and environmental services, said:

“We are committed to making the network as safe and accessible as possible for all road users and will continue to talk to communities to consider options to allay road safety concerns.

“A revised 20mph speed limit policy is currently going through its approval process following a review by a task group set up by the Transport, Economy and Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

“This review, which reported its conclusions this year, heard from traffic engineers, road safety and public health officers, North Yorkshire Police and the 20’s Plenty campaign group.

“The task group resolved that it is not appropriate to apply a countywide default 20mph speed limit.”

Mr Battersby added that speed is not a major cause of collisions in North Yorkshire and that it would require significant investment, as well as future maintenance costs.

Family moves to Rudding Park to escape minus one degree home

A Beckwithshaw family has booked into Rudding Park hotel to escape its freezing home after two days without power.

Sylvia Skipper’s home was among thousands in the district to lose electricity when Storm Arwen struck late on Friday.

Power has returned to most but about 800 properties in the Harrogate district are still affected, according to a live map by Northern Powergrid, the company responsible for the electricity distribution network across the North East, Yorkshire and northern Lincolnshire.

Ms Skipper, who lives on Shaw Lane, said her family had been without power since 9.20pm on Friday. There has been no hot water or heating, despite the freezing conditions, and they have been unable to cook. She said:

“Our house yesterday afternoon was minus one degrees.

“We couldn’t take any more and are now staying at Rudding Park. We have no idea whether power will be restored today.

“This is inhumane. We have lost faith as we have been forgotten about.”

Northern Powergrid’s live map shows 660 homes are without power in the Summerbridge and Bishop Thornton area, along with 60 in Spofforth, 30 in North Stainley, 20 in Pannal, 20 in High Birstwith, 20 in Kirkby Malzeard, fewer than 10 in Knaresborough, fewer than 10 in Greenhow Hill.

Ms Skipper said:

“The communication from Northern Powergrid has been dreadful.

“Until this afternoon we didn’t even have a phone signal on top of this so we had to venture in the car so that we could communicate with Northern Powergrid.

“I have seen their Twitter updates about providing hot drinks and support to numerous areas in the North East yet there has been absolutely nothing for us or our neighbours.”

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Steve Crisp, whose home between Beckwithshaw and Leathley is also without power, said:

“I keep trying to access Northern Powergrid but the website is unreliable and this morning when I rang and confirmed I would like to wait to speak to someone the system just cut me off.

“Patience and Dunkirk spirit being stretched!”

He and his wife were luckier than some because they had a log burner, which provided heat and a means to cook beans on toast.

‘One of worst storms for 20 years’

Northern Powergrid’s latest update at 11pm last night said it had restored power to around 208,000 of the 240,000 customers. About 100 engineers from other power companies had been drafted in to help. It added:

“The scale of damage in some locations is so extensive that in some cases, large sections of overhead lines will need to be rebuilt in order to restore supplies.

“Where it can, Northern Powergrid is deploying temporary fixes that get customers back on supply whilst its teams coordinate the necessary permanent repairs to get the region’s power network back to full strength.

Rod Gardner, Northern Powergrid’s major incident manager, added:

“The impact from Storm Arwen has been one of the worst we’ve experienced in the last 20 years.”

New state-of-the-art cosmetic surgery hidden in Harrogate village

Forget nipping to the village shop for a pint of milk, you can now pop for a facelift at a new cosmetic surgery clinic near Bishop Thornton.

Nestled in the rolling hills of the Harrogate countryside, Kliniken, Swedish for “the clinic”, is aimed at moving away from a clinical hospital environment.

Instead it wants patients to feel like they have just checked into a luxury hotel, rather than a cold, sterile hospital environment.

I was intrigued when I heard about this new rural clinic, which boasts its own state-of-the-art operating theatre.

Firstly, due to its quirky location in the middle of nowhere, miles away – literally – from the typical urban setting, such as Leeds, Manchester or London’s  famous plastic surgery hub, Harley Street.

And secondly, when I heard two of the owners had sold their old house to fund the venture, as well as remortgaging their current home. In the current climate, this takes guts.

Hotel lobby

Consultant plastic surgeon Mallappa Kolar, who runs the practice with his wife, Karuna Kolar, and business partner Dr Senthil Kumar, said:

“The reception area has been designed with the thought process that we wanted it to feel professional and welcoming.

“We have tried to keep things discreet, so there is only ever two sets of patients who can be here at any one time. It is meant to feel more like a hotel lobby.

“When you walk in, the ladies greet you as a patient and you get a drinks menu to choose from.”

One of the receptionists who welcomes patients to Kliniken.

I’ve driven past Oakwood Park Business Centre, on Fountains Road, many times, but I had no idea here was a whole  business community there out in the sticks. With amazing views stretching for miles around, it really did feel calm and serene.

Different feel

When I walked in, it definitely had a different feel to the usual clinical environment you often get in a hospital or GP surgery. I was expecting someone to hand me a key and show me to my room.

Talking of rooms, it’s actually quite a big place, a bit like a tardis. It features two consultation rooms designed around patient comfort which boast flat screen TVs, reclining seats and shiny black desks to match the shiny black Apple Macs.

It is essentially as far removed from a typical cluttered GP’s room as it gets.

One of the consultation rooms at Kliniken.

There is also a therapy room, with colourful art on the walls, where you can pop in for some botox, fillers or laser treatments.

Mr Kolar said:

“This is designed to feel more like an experience. It is meant to feel comfortable, not cramped. If there is someone with you, they can sit down and have a drink.”

Split into two parts, the other area of the building is known as “the surgery hub”, which features two private recovery rooms.

Mr Kolar said:

“Patients will be greeted on the day of surgery by their own nurse, they will have their own patient care coordinator, their own surgeon and their own anesthetist. Those people are available throughout the entire patient journey.

“They will also get the receptionist’s number and the surgeon’s number.”

Hi-tech operating theatre

But perhaps most impressive is the high-tech operating theatre, which boasts fancy intelligent lighting and the best surgical equipment you can buy, according to Mr Kolar.

You would never expect to find a full working operating theatre just down the road from Fountains Abbey.

The operating theatre at Kliniken.

Mr Kolar, who is believed to be the only full-time plastic surgeon based in Harrogate, said:

“I didn’t want it to be in the city centre. You should see it in the winter when there is snow, it is literally picture postcard Yorkshire.

“We want it to be the equivalent to Harley Street, but here.”

” I have two brothers who both live in London and for them it’s inconceivable to see something like this.

“We have a son and I want him to appreciate the countryside and the clean air and the rehab and things like that. I feel if I want that for my family, I want that for my patients.”

The clinic has been six years in the planning and the trio have thrown everything they have into it.

Investment

Mr and Mrs Kolar sold their student house and have remortgaged their current property to fund the business venture. Mr Kolar also decided not to go for an NHS consultant job so he could concentrate fully on the clinic.

Dr Kumar, who met Mr Kolar three years ago when he was a registrar completing his training, has also invested heavily.

He flew back to England just a day after his wife gave birth in India as he had an important meeting with the Care Quality Commission.

Mr Kolar said:

It’s unusual to do what I’ve done, finish training and leave and set up a private practice. There are not many people who do that. A lot of people weren’t happy that I was doing that and a lot of people doubted us.

“You get so emotionally invested into this, you don’t have any spare time.  It sounds cheesy, but because you’re putting so much into this everything else is paled into insignificance.

“At the end of the day patients are trusting us with their body and it is a privilege.”

However, the determined trio are confident their goal of “redefining the healthcare experience” in natural surroundings will make the clinic a success.

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Innovation

Innovative treatments at the clinic include a “one-stop shop” for procedures such as hand surgery. This can be done in a day, rather than the patient having to keep coming back for consultations and the surgery itself.

Fat grafting is also available, which involves using a very thin needle to harvest cells from an area of your body. These cells are then injected into the area being enhanced.

Mr Kolar, who has done both an MD and PhD in fat stem cells in Sweden, said:

“There is probably only a handful of places in the country that would do it. So it’s using it for simple things like acne scars, volume rejuvenations, so a natural alternative to fillers. For example it can be used on the décolletage area for women. As we get older the creasing starts to increase, so we can rejuvenate that using fat. It can be used for all these different things.”

Together with their team of surgeons, they are now ready to go “full steam ahead” after being hit by a string of delays due to the pandemic.

Dr Kumar said:

I look at it as an opportunity to basically redefine the healthcare experience. I think we have pretty much nailed it on the head in this particular place.”

The view from Kliniken, which is based at Oakwood Park Business Centre, near Bishop Thornton.

Bishop Thornton company chosen for NHS contract

A Bishop Thornton firm has been accredited to work on NHS hospitals across the north of England.

Robinsons Facilities Services, which specialises in commercial heating, ventilation, air conditioning, plumbing and electrical repairs and maintenance, won a competitive tender to join the NHS North of England Commercial Procurement Collaborative (NOE CPC) framework.

It will now supply, repair and service plumbing and heating systems across hospitals including Harrogate, Doncaster, Newcastle and more. It follows the firm’s successful tender last summer to carry out repairs on heating, ventilation and air conditioning on premises owned and managed by Harrogate Borough Council.

Later in 2019, it was also chosen to carry out maintenance for the University of York. Robinsons Facilities Services director Katie Challis, pictured above, said:

“We actually tendered for this specific framework back in December, but the coronavirus pandemic delayed the review process, hence us only finding out now.

“To demonstrate our suitably we had to highlight our experience, skills, quality of work, social value and price. Being accepted on the NOE CPC is a massive boost for the businesses and builds on last year’s successes with Harrogate Borough Council and the University of York.”

Since launching seven years ago, Robinsons has expanded to cover routine and emergency maintenance and repairs to hundreds of commercial and public sites across Yorkshire, with a team of 17 staff.

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