Stray Views: Stranded in Leeds thanks to shambolic trains

Stray Views is a weekly column giving you the chance to have your say on issues affecting the Harrogate district. It is an opinion column and does not reflect the views of the Stray Ferret. Send your views to letters@thestrayferret.co.uk.

For my 72nd birthday, my son purchased tickets for us to attend a T20 game at Headingley on June 22.

Having consulted the timetable we found we had two options for our homeward journey to Knaresborough: the 21.34 train from Burley Park to Knaresborough or the 22.44 train from Burley Park to Harrogate.

For some strange reason only known to Northern, the 22.44 service terminates at Harrogate. Why?

To resolve this issue we decided for our outward journey we would drive to Hornbeam Park Station, park up and then get the train to Burley Park Station.

During the Yorkshire Vikings innings (they batted second), luckily my son checked on his phone and found that both of the trains we could have got home had been cancelled.

Stranded in Leeds. Car at Hornbeam Station. Possible £40/£50 taxi back to Hornbeam.

A solution was an earlier train home that hadn’t been cancelled at 20.34, which would mean missing the last hour of the game. The problem was the train departed in 10 minutes.

At 72 years of age, running to catch a train is not much fun but we made it.

How many people attending this event got stranded in Leeds by Northern Rail? I can see why they have had their franchise taken over by the government.

Did any other readers get caught out by this pathetic excuse of a train company?

They completely ruined our day out and we missed a very exciting end to the game.

Robbie Payne, Knaresborough

Boy racers at Conyngham Hall 

Malcolm Wood’s letter on the A59 Badger Hill race track caught my attention. It isn’t the only race track which is a noise nuisance.

There is a big problem in Conyngham Hall car park in Knaresborough. Each evening it becomes a mecca for anyone with a souped-up engine/exhaust. They start at one end of the car park, rev up, backfire, then race to the other end where handbrake circles, skidding and revving are performed.

This happens well up to and sometimes beyond 11pm. It’s not a recent thing, it’s been happening for at least three years, together with drug usage, drinking parties and fire lighting. The police have been informed and a crime number issued, but do we see any action from them or the council — what do you think?

Jean Butterfield, Knaresborough

Bond End also a race track

I am in absolute agreement with Malcolm Wood’s letter of June 16 about speeding in Knaresborough at Badger Hill. It is a problem on Bond End too.

Noisy, modified  cars and motorbikes use Bond End as a slingshot before breaking the speed limit on the dual carriageway of Harrogate Road, from Mother Shipton’s towards the golf club. This has been ongoing since spring.

The beginning of this area has a lot of pedestrians. Alas, a police presence, acting as enforcement and deterrence, is absent.

Dr. David Oldman, Knaresborough 

And so is York Place…

I can concur with Malcolm Woods regarding boy racers. I live on Iles Lane, I walk my dogs every night and I can say that boy racers race in town up York Place through the High Street nearly every night between 9.30pm and 10.30pm. No police visible

Maggie Boyd , Knaresborough

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Full marks for promptness to local politician

I have no political allegiance or affiliation, but when I raised an issue concerning his ward, Matt Walker responded almost immediately. This was even though his contact page on the council website said he was on holiday at the time. Full marks, and good luck, sir!

Colin Harrison, Knaresborough

Station Gateway: we expect better from councillors

A couple of issues in particular discussed by councillors at the area constituency committee meeting on June 8 should be raised.

1 THE PETITION

A Conservative member attending this meeting queried the petition’s veracity, saying its signatories included people from as far away as South Africa.  According to people who are more computer literate than I am, it is reportedly an anomaly where the IP address of people’s computers shows up on the petition rather than their postal address.  So I have been told, it occurs when a virtual private network is used to provide additional security and privacy rather than that afforded by the normal internet connection.

For example, two people I know who certainly live in Harrogate had their addresses displayed on the petition as Sunderland.  It therefore seems to confirm that the councillor who announced in a sarcastic manner at the North Yorkshire Council executive meeting that he had rigorously checked the petition and that it proved nothing as at least 20% of the signatories lived outside the Harrogate area was quite wrong.

Surely there must be some way in which these misleading discrepancies, fabrications and exaggerations can be taken into account as they were extremely misleading. I find it hard to comprehend the technology wizards at the council have not come across this anomaly before.

2 INTERPRETATION OF THE PETITION

Another Conservative member attending the meeting pointed out even 500 local signatures, the threshold needed to have the petition debated by the committee, were not representative of all views from local residents.  Just over two years ago quite extensive coverage was given in the local media of the survey results following public consultation on the gateway project including the pedestrianisation of James Street.

A report commissioned by North Yorkshire County Council claimed the gateway project still had more supporters than detractors.   I understand the overall population of Harrogate at the time was in the region of 75,000 residents, from which there were some 1,101 respondents to the online survey.   This equates approximately to 1.5% of Harrogate town’s total population – some 45% of the 1,101 participants voted in favour of this proposal or in real terms somewhere in the region of 0.75% of Harrogate’s population.

So, if you adopt this councillor’s theory, it is less representative of all the views from local residents even though at the time Cllr Phil Ireland from the then Harrogate Borough Council claimed “we have EVERYBODY’S feedback and ideas to feed into the next phase of detailed design work”.  And yet, they dare to trash the recent petition which reached over 2,000 signatures and continues to increase.

We do not expect this standard of behaviour form councillors who were elected to represent us the residents of Harrogate and a public apology on both issues would be appropriate.

The simple fact that the signatories to the petition may not be representative of all views from local residents rests firmly in the lap of the council. It is quite disturbing to find out even now how many local residents and businesses still have not heard of or do not know what the station gateway involves.  Whilst I appreciate it will always be a problem to ensure everyone is aware, I believe the council and the highways team in particular has a history of poor consultation, ignoring the democratic process; not listening and dismissive of public comment, and hiding behind a meaningless excess of words in press releases.  If only they had involved us much earlier in the democratic process more of us would have shared in ownership of a gateway project.

Barry Adams, Harrogate 

Do you have an opinion on the Harrogate district? Email us at letters@thestrayferret.co.uk. Please include your name and approximate location details. Limit your letters to 350 words. We reserve the right to edit letters.

Stray Views: Time to get tough on noisy cars in Harrogate district

Stray Views is a weekly column giving you the chance to have your say on issues affecting the Harrogate district. It is an opinion column and does not reflect the views of the Stray Ferret. Send your views to letters@thestrayferret.co.uk.

Noisy motorists should get hefty fines 

I was interested to read that Harrogate police are allegedly clamping down on noisy vehicles and anti-social behaviour of drivers in Harrogate town centre.

I’d like to know where the police are, particularly in the evening after Halfords has closed, on Knaresborough Road?

The reckless and inconsiderate driving of high powered vehicles in the area is truly awful.

Noise from so called ‘sporty’ exhausts, speeding, doughnutting on Halfords car park, intimidating other road users etc. Police presence is noticeable by its absence.

Whilst I’m dead set against what sometimes appears to be victimisation of the motorist, something should be done to get these idiots either off the road or given hefty penalties for the problems they’re inflicting on motorists and residents in this area.

Lesley Tudor, Harrogate

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Malcolm Neesam’s support for Valley Gardens

Malcolm Neesam, whom I came to know over the last few decades, willingly shared his vast historical knowledge, research, photographs of yesteryear and documents with us all.

His enthusiasm and interest for Harrogate’s history was immeasurable.
However, we have many books and publications to remember him by, including his last publication Wells and Swells, published in April.

During my time as Chairman of Valley Gardens and afterwards Malcolm’s support was incalculable. In 2016 Malcolm opened the restored Old Magnesia Well Pump Room in the Valley Gardens.

He also attended our other restorations, the Japanese Garden, King Edward VII Memorial Gate and events in the Valley Gardens.

For A Souvenir Guide to Valley Gardens, Malcolm wrote the introduction and again proof read the contents and found some photographs for the publication, for Anne Smith and I.

Thank you Malcolm.

Jane Blayney, Harrogate

Do you have an opinion on the Harrogate district? Email us at letters@thestrayferret.co.uk. Please include your name and approximate location details. Limit your letters to 350 words. We reserve the right to edit letters.

 

Motorist clocked speeding at 84mph in Pannal

A motorist was clocked driving 84mph through a leafy street in Pannal, the parish council has revealed.

A machine operated by Pannal & Burn Bridge Parish Council records the speed of vehicles on Church Lane and it registered the car racing down the 30mph zone last year.

Since then it has regularly found cars and vans dangerously breaking the speed limit. In May 2022 alone, 277 vehicles were recorded travelling faster than 50mph.

Speeding problem

The parish council has three Speed Indicator Devices (SIDs) within the parish.

The machines flash the current speed to the motorist and run 24/7, with the data then relayed back to North Yorkshire Police.

The council’s chair, Cllr Howard West, said they have begun to publish the data because “many people had no idea” of the speeding problem in Pannal.

Mr West said:

“With more housing being built on the western arc, it will only become worse.

“More white vans for home deliveries under time pressure and more irresponsible drivers were some of the reasons we chose to employ Speed Indicator Devices (SIDs).”

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In March 2022, the top three speeds were 76mph, 71mph and 69mph.

Mr West wants to make people aware that Church Lane, Yew Tree Lane and Burn Bridge Road are 30mph zones and through Main Street in the village itself it is 20mph.

He added:

“We’ll keep highlighting those ridiculously high speeds, sometimes around school pick-up times, in the hope that common sense will prevail and people will travel at no more than 30mph or in some cases 20mph in our parish. “

Call for police action against Harrogate Asda car park ‘boy racers’

A Harrogate resident has called for police action against ‘boy racers’ who regularly descend on the town’s Asda car park.

The resident, who lives on Mayfield Grove within earshot of the car park, told the Stray Ferret he would organise a demonstration if nothing was done.

He said people on streets near the store were tired of the noise and had safety concerns about vehicles speeding.

According to the resident, who asked not to be named, about four to six cars belonging mainly to young men congregate nightly in the car park and rev their engines and pop their exhausts.

The resident said they had raised the matter with Philip Allott, the police commissioner for North Yorkshire, and a police community support officer had agreed to visit the supermarket this week to discuss the matter,

They said they would now wait to see what ensued before deciding whether to mobilise support for a demonstration.

“Every night for years these idiots gather in the rear part of Asda car park where they rev their engines then race out of the car park and round Harrogate.

“I have video and pics that I gave to Philip Allott of a Mercedes that is there most nights and which nearly wiped out a couple of customers.

“If the police don’t do anything about it, we are going to arrange a demo at Asda.”

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A spokesman for North Yorkshire Police said:

“We are aware of anti-social-behaviour problems around the Mayfield Grove area of Harrogate, in particular issues with speeding vehicles.

“We will be actively deploying specialist resource to the area which will include roads policing officers who will be robustly dealing with any offences.

“Officers will also be linking in other local organisations and utilising local CCTV to help us build intelligence.”

The spokesman said these measures were in addition to North Yorkshire Police’s ongoing Operation Crome initiative to tackle anti-social and illegal driving.

An Asda spokesman said:

‘’We thank the vast majority who use our car parks responsibly and we will work with the authorities to ensure that the spaces around our stores remain safe for our customers.’’