All NHS staff working at Harrogate District Hospital will be able to park their cars for free during the coronavirus pandemic.

The government will cover the cost after a petition calling for the move reached over 400,000 signatures.

It also comes after some private firms decided to waive fees for NHS staff, who can pay up to £1,300 a year to park according to the GMB union.

Matt Hancock, the health secretary, said: “I will do everything I can to ensure our dedicated staff have whatever they need.

“So we will provide free car parking for our NHS staff who are going above and beyond every day in hospitals across England.”

Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust sent out a message to staff before the announcement to say that parking charges would be scrapped.

With a surge of volunteers signing up to help at hospitals, they will be able to use council parking bays for free.

They just need to display evidence of their role in their windscreen to avoid a ticket.

Ministers are also urging all businesses near hospitals to work with their local NHS Trusts to consider allowing NHS staff to use their car parks.

On Saturday, Harrogate Hospital  made an ‘urgent appeal’ for more volunteers as the Coronavirus pandemic worsens. A spokesperson from the Hospital has since posted  to say they have been ‘overwhelmed’ with the rapid response from the community. We have been speaking to some of those who have applied to volunteer.

North Yorkshire has recorded its biggest daily rise in confirmed coronavirus cases since records began.

The latest data from Public Health England has revealed that there are currently 45 COVID-19 cases.

It is a rise of 15 cases from the day before but that number could be far higher in reality.

At the moment, only patients in hospitals are being tested for coronavirus on a regular basis.

More regular testing could mean that those who have recovered from coronavirus and are now immune will be able to go back to work.

So far, one patient has died with coronavirus at Harrogate District Hospital with 463 deaths nationwide.

A young Harrogate farming family with underlying health conditions has urged walkers to stay off their land during the coronavirus pandemic.

Despite the lockdown, which was imposed on Monday, the farm in Haverah Park has seen an increase in people passing through.

Francesca Ryder, who farms sheep and suckler cattle with her husband Josh, are both in the high-risk category for COVID-19.

She fears that people will bring the virus to her home by touching gates, walls and other surfaces on their way through.

“People are treating it like it’s a bank holiday, not a health crisis.”

Francesca told the Stray Ferret: “When we politely ask people to avoid this footpath until the pandemic is over we often get abuse in return.

“We only want to protect our health, People don’t realise that their choice to walk here could kill us.

She fears for her family.

“A lot of people saying they’ll come through just to prove their rights. We know that legally we can’t obstruct the footpath.

“We’ve tried to get a temporary closure from the councils but they are so busy with the pandemic they haven’t given us a straight answer yet.

“We feel that it’s very important to protect ourselves and other farming families – there are five others on this footpath with equally vulnerable family members.”

What are the lockdown rules?

• People can only leave their home to exercise once a day, to commute to work when it is necessary or to shop for food or medicine
• North Yorkshire Police will soon have the power to fine people between £30 and £1,000 for breaching the rules

So far, there are 30 confirmed coronavirus cases in North Yorkshire with one death at Harrogate District Hospital.

Businesses in the Harrogate district will get a share of a new £40 million support package to help them stay afloat during the coronavirus pandemic.

Any business eligible for small business rate relief or rural relief will get a £10,000 grant while hospitality and leisure businesses with a rateable value between £15,000 and £51,000 will get a £25,000 grant.

Those hospitality and leisure businesses, regardless of rateable value, will not need to pay any business rates during the 2020/2021 financial year.

It comes as Harrogate Borough Council announces that its commercial tenants will be able to get three months rent free.

Councillor Richard Cooper, leader of Harrogate Borough Council, said: “We know businesses are struggling.

“Our business rates team are geared up to process tens of millions of pounds of government cash to support local businesses.

“As soon as it hits our bank account we will be getting it into the bank accounts of local businesses.

“We have also been lobbying government on behalf of freelancers and the self-employed who make up a significant part of our local workforce. We are expecting announcements on this over the coming days.

“But we want to go further. So we will be offering nearly all our commercial tenants three months’ rent-free.

“This includes some shops on our high streets, Harrogate Theatre and other offices and business premises around the district.”

More information on these initiatives will be available on the Harrogate Borough Council website.

A tough year lies ahead for charities in the Harrogate district after swathes of fundraising events were cancelled due to the coronavirus outbreak. 

From supporters taking part in the London Marathon to their own community activities, charities rely heavily on numerous events in their annual calendars. 

Now, with almost every event being cancelled because of the coronavirus crisis, many are left wondering how they will meet their costs. 

Stephen Tongue, director of fundraising at Henshaws, said:

“We have got all our usual costs and additional costs of getting back-up staffing and deep cleaning areas – that’s quite expensive.

“It’s a challenging time. We do have some money coming in, but there’s a huge question mark over so many events.”

The charity held an art auction in early March and, even then, attendance was only around half of what was expected. Meanwhile, several upcoming fundraisers have been cancelled, including Knaresborough Beer Festival in May. 

Stephen is hopeful two outdoor events – a golf day at Rudding Park and a Yorkshire Three Peaks walk – will be able to take place in June and July, depending on government advice at the time. Its corporate donations, however, may also dwindle over the coming weeks as SMEs in the Harrogate district – a key source of support to Henshaws – struggle to find spare cash. 

To make up the shortfall and meet the additional needs of its students during the crisis, Henshaws has launched a new fundraising appeal.

For Open Arms Malawi, which sends around £500,000 per year out to its projects in the African nation, the worries are just as severe. Founded by Harrogate couple Neville and Rosemarie Bevis in 2000, it still has strong links with the town and relies on local people to contribute to its work with orphaned children. 

Ashville College has been a long-term supporter of Open Arms Malawi, sending students to volunteer there last summer

Fundraising manager Claire Collins said: “We were having a really good year for fundraising and just starting to look at new and different activities. Everything has been cancelled – all the challenge events, runs, and activities in the schools which support us. 

“We have two corporate partners who do trips to Malawi to see how funds are helping and donate significant amounts to us. They still want to support us, but without the trips it’s very difficult: when people see the work, they become really big advocates for what we do.” 

The charity has two infant homes, 10 nursery schools and five family homes for older children, as well as an outreach programme supporting families in the community. As yet, there are no confirmed cases of coronavirus in Malawi but, with high numbers elsewhere in Africa, all the homes and schools are taking extra precautions with hand washing and cleaning procedures. 

“HIV is still a big problem in Malawi, along with malnutrition,” said Claire. “Coronavirus is a huge risk on top of that. They’re taking it very seriously.” 

Claire has set up a new page on the charity’s website to keep supporters informed about the situation in Malawi. They are hoping supporters will still feel able to contribute, despite the difficulties being faced by many families across the Harrogate district. 

A family from Harrogate have ‘made the decision’ to live apart for 12 weeks. Leah Coates is a care worker and her husband Mark is in the ‘extremely vulnerable’ group after having a Kidney transplant 20 years ago. Leah told The Stray Ferret that ‘it is a very upsetting time, especially for our three year old son, but as a carer I need to be there for my patients too.’

Pubs, restaurants and other hospitality venues will remain closed from today after the Government announced last night would be their last evening of trading for the foreseeable future.

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in North Yorkshire has risen by one to 14 – with one death at Harrogate District Hospital.

If you work in the tourism industry or run a hospitality business in the district, please get in touch to tell us how you’re coping with the changes.

4pm – Call for hospital volunteers

Volunteers are urgently needed to help at Harrogate District Hospital across all areas and departments.

Harrogate District NHS Foundation Trust has put a call out for new volunteers as some of its existing team are keeping away during the coronavirus outbreak.

The Trust says volunteers will mostly be working in administrative or manual handling roles, depending on their skills and abilities, supporting the work of staff in caring for patients, carers and visitors.

Anyone interested can email hdft.volunteering@nhs.net.

12pm – Bus timetables revised

The Harrogate Bus company has announced changes to its timetables in order to keep vital services running for essential journeys.

The late night services on the 36 bus between Leeds and Harrogate will not operate from today, long with those on the 1N route. The company will also operate a Saturday service from Monday to Saturday for the foreseeable future, while Sunday timetables will continue as usual.

📣 We’re making some changes to our bus times 📣

Our late night Saturday buses on #the36 & 1N will not run from Sat 21 March.

And from Monday 23 March we’ll be using Saturday times on most routes Mon-Sat.

The X6 will be running as normal.

More here 👉https://t.co/cb5cL0O6iS pic.twitter.com/dNMB3zWR3F

— The Harrogate Bus Company (@harrogatebus) March 20, 2020

CEO Alex Hornby praised his team and said: “We’ve been running all our buses as normal until now but as we see less people travelling and pressure on staffing increases, we have made the decision to change to Saturday times going forward. We trust everyone understands the reasons for this but note that we are maintaining the general span of the operating day and many frequencies are similar.”

11.45am – Antiques fair postponed

The Antiques and Collectors Fair due to be held at Ripley over Easter weekend has been postponed.

It adds to the long list of cancellations and postponements of events across the Harrogate district. Many organisers are hoping to find new dates later in the year, based on government guidance at the time.

11am – Instant payments to county council suppliers

Businesses which supply to North Yorkshire County Council will receive immediate payments as the authority works to mitigate the effects of coronavirus on the economy.

Small and medium suppliers will receive instant payment – subject to bank clearing times – instead of the current 30-day period. The Council is currently planning to have the new payment rules in place until the end of 2020, subject to a review in August.

County Council leader Coun Carl Les said: “We are clear how important our supply chains are to our service delivery, and we want to be there for the smaller businesses that supply us and are crucial to the economic vitality of our county and country.

“We will be doing our best to support them through this period, and in addition would urge them to seek the wider support available from central government.”

Two events at Harrogate Convention Centre have been called off because of coronavirus.

The Morrisons supplier conference on 24th March and the three-day IPIG medical conference in May have both been postponed because of the spread of the virus.

However, the AireCon gaming festival is taking place this weekend with 2,500 attendees and the Conservative Party Spring Forum is still currently scheduled for early April.

Kim Wilson, who chairs guesthouse group Accommodation Harrogate, said she believed the two postponed events were relatively small and did not bring significant contributions to the local economy. The Morrisons event would have been mostly day delegates, while those at the IPIG conference kept mostly to the venue itself. New dates have yet to be confirmed for either.

Discussing the growing impact of coronavirus, she said: “I think across town, and across the country generally, we need to hunker down a bit and do what we can to get through.

“There are big events cancelling elsewhere in the country but they are already rescheduling for September onwards. That would be a sensible thing for the Convention Centre to offer, to bring the event to Harrogate in a few months’ time.”

Retailers in the Harrogate district have welcomed the news of a break in their business rates to help them deal with the impact of coronavirus.

The announcement in this week’s Budget will see retail, leisure and hospitality firms with a rateable value below £51,000 receive the tax break in the coming financial year. 

It has been welcomed by business groups, with both Independent Harrogate (IH) and Harrogate District Chamber of Commerce (HDCC) saying it will be badly needed by businesses worrying about the impact of the pandemic.

Sandra Doherty of Harrogate District Chamber of Commerce

Chamber CEO Sandra Doherty said:

“This rates break could mean the difference between businesses surviving into next year and what could otherwise have been many more empty units around our towns. However, we shouldn’t be complacent – this is a short term measure and local businesses still need our support in the coming months and years.” 

William Woods of Independent Harrogate also raised concerns about the extent to which businesses would benefit. 

“It is just not fair the high street has to pay the lion’s share of tax when online businesses hardly pay anything. It’s only smaller businesses that benefit from rate relief for a year – what about good family businesses like Hoopers that will get no benefit?” 

He added that, in the current climate, Independent Harrogate would be renewing its calls to delay any planned increase in parking charges.