Harrogate Borough Council has confirmed its leisure and housing companies will be transferred to the new North Yorkshire Council, but questions remain over what will happen thereafter.
Brimhams Active and Bracewell Homes were launched in the last three years with the backing of just under £11 million from taxpayers.
The borough council said in a statement this week that “there are no plans to change how they’re currently run, albeit they will transfer” when the authority is abolished next April.
This comes as council officers from across North Yorkshire are working together on county-wide plans for how all services will work when they come under the control of the new North Yorkshire Council.
Currently, housing and leisure services across the seven districts are run in different ways through arm’s-length companies, management firms, charity trusts and by the local councils themselves.
Councillor Carl Les, leader of North Yorkshire County Council, said the correct decision-making process would be followed for the future of services and that he would not be drawn on whether it would be better to scrap the current set-ups.
He said:
“Leisure and housing are two of our work streams going forward for the next 10 months and it would be wrong to try and prejudge what recommendations are going to be made for the new council to adopt.
“These are two important issues and we recognise that Harrogate has companies doing these pieces of work.
“But this has to be fed into our ongoing work which will then give recommendations to the executive and wider council.”
Brimhams Active launched last August when it took over control of leisure centres and swimming pools in Harrogate, Starbeck, Ripon, Knaresborough and Pateley Bridge.
‘New vision’
Harrogate Borough Council hailed the move as a “new vision for the future” of services and said it would save around £400,000 a year through business rates relief and VAT benefits.
Councillor Pat Marsh, leader of the council’s opposition Liberal Democrat group and Brimhams Active board member, said the company has so far been a success despite challenges with covid closures and staffing shortages:
“Several local authorities have stopped even providing leisure services, it is not a compulsory service.
“Setting up Brimhams Active has meant the council continues to offer and develop the service for the benefit of our residents.”
However, Cllr Marsh was less praiseworthy of Bracewell Homes which launched in 2019 with the aims of turning the council a profit and delivering much-needed affordable homes.
She said:
“I had hoped that Bracewell Homes would deliver social housing, but that has not happened. It was never the kind of housing company that I was arguing for.”
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Confirming both companies will be transferred to the new council, a Harrogate Borough Council spokesperson said:
Harrogate drug dealer sentenced to four years in prison“We are working collectively with the county council and neighbouring district councils to ensure a smooth transition to the new authority on 1 April.
“Part of this work involves looking at local authority controlled companies such as Brimhams Active and Bracewell Homes.
“Decisions on what they might look like in the future will be made by North Yorkshire Council.”
A Harrogate man has been sentenced to four years in prison after police officers stopped him during a drug deal on Knaresborough Road.
Ben Michael Hargreaves, of Dragon Avenue, was sentenced at York Crown Court yesterday for possession with intent to supply Class A drugs and being concerned in the supply of Class B drugs.
The 42-year-old’s sentencing comes after an 18-month investigation by North Yorkshire Police’s Harrogate Operation Expedite Team.
On September 9, 2020, officers spotted a man leaving a vehicle on Knaresborough Road in Harrogate and suspected he had purchased drugs from the driver.
The man was found to be in possession of cocaine. Officers then stopped the vehicle and detained the driver, Hargreaves.
Officers found a quantity of cocaine in the car and following a roadside drug wipe, Hargreaves tested positive for cannabis. He was arrested for driving under the influence of drugs and supplying drugs.
At his home address police found more cocaine and digital microscales. His phone was also examined which revealed a large amount of drugs related content and showed him organising the importation of drugs from the United States, as well as discussions about evading customs and border control.
The drugs seized from Hargreaves were valued at around £1,500 if sold at street level. As well as the four-year sentence he was disqualified from driving for five years.
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Detective Sergeant Peachman, from the North Yorkshire Police Harrogate Operation Expedite Team, said:
Order repeat medication for Christmas by tomorrow, Harrogate district told“Hargreaves has received a significant custodial sentence at York Crown Court and this sentence reflects the severity of his offending and the extent of it.
“He was found to be supplying a Class A drug on the streets of Harrogate and the impact of this offence should not be underestimated. The knock-on effects of increased criminality to fund drug addictions creates misery for those trapped in the cycle of addiction and those people who live in their communities. Hargreaves was financially profiting from that misery and exploiting the addictions of his customers for his own greed.”
Harrogate district residents are being urged to order repeat medication for Christmas by tomorrow to avoid running out.
NHS North Yorkshire Clinical Commissioning Group issued the advice today, saying pharmacy processing times take longer in the run-up to Christmas.
Each year GPs and pharmacies are overwhelmed with patients requesting Christmas medication at the last minute.
Ian Dean, chief executive officer of Community Pharmacy North Yorkshire, which represents NHS pharmacy contractors in the North Yorkshire, said:
“Please only order the items that you need and please do not stockpile medicines.
“Excess supplies of medicines at home can be dangerous and is also wasteful. Once dispensed, medicines cannot be re-used and have to be destroyed.”
The CCG said the quickest way to order a prescription is via the NHS app or GP online services.
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People have also been urged not to stockpile. The CCG said all supply chains were adequately stocked with enough medication for everyone.
The CCG is also encouraging people to stock up on over-the-counter medicines such as paracetamol, ibuprofen, and anti-diarrhoea tablets over the festive season.
Most GP surgeries are closed on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day.