The Harrogate district is still the place in North Yorkshire with the highest number of cannabis farms, data from North Yorkshire Police has revealed.
A Freedom of Information (FOI) request showed that between 2016 and 2021, nine major farms with more than 25 plants were discovered in the Harrogate district.
That was almost double the amount found in the Selby district, which was the next highest with five.
This marked a continuation of a trend highlighted two years when an FOI request from the Stray Ferret found that the Harrogate district also had the highest number of cannabis farms then.
Between 2017 and 2020, officers made 22 arrests of people involved with cannabis farms in North Yorkshire.
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Countywide issue
In total over the five-year period between 2016 and 2021, Police recorded 25 crimes relating to cannabis farms across North Yorkshire.
Only two crimes were recorded in 2016/17 and there were three each in 2018/19 and 2019/20.
However, there were nine in 2017/18 and eight in 2020/21.
On average, 323 plants were seized from farms. The largest number recorded was 2,797.
Since the available data ended in 2021, North Yorkshire Police has continued to deal with the issue of large-scale cannabis production in the Harrogate area.
Earlier this year, seven people were jailed for a combined 22 years after Police discovered £450,000-worth of cannabis spread across farms at three properties.
In February, two men were stopped on the A1(M) with 14 kilos of cannabis in their car. They were jailed for two years.
North Yorkshire Police was approached for comment about the latest statistics and why the Harrogate district is so popular with cannabis growers but did not respond.
Is Harrogate council leader using misleading statistics to justify £47m spend?Harrogate Borough Council leader Richard Cooper has been accused of using a misleading statistic to support a £47 million redevelopment of the town’s convention centre.
Cllr Cooper has claimed 88% of conference delegates to the centre return to the area for leisure. However, the Stray Ferret has not been able to find the statistic he refers to -— only one that says, when asked, delegates said they were likely to return.
The statistics matter because the soon-to-be-abolished council wants to fast-track the start of what would be one of the biggest public spending commitments in its 48-year history.
It says Harrogate Convention Centre needs the investment to continue attracting visitors — and to boost the economic impact on the entire Harrogate district.
What is Cllr Cooper claiming?
Cllr Cooper, the Conservative council leader and chair of the convention centre board, told a council meeting this month:
“The purpose and vision of the convention centre is to deliver high quality conferences, exhibitions and events that bring maximum economic impact and prosperity to the district.
“It is important to emphasise that this is for the district and this is not a noose around the district’s neck.
“And I can demonstrate that by saying almost nine out of 10 people — 88% — an astonishing statistic — who come to Harrogate Convention Centre for business return to the district for leisure. This is streets ahead of other venues.”
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Kirk Hammerton resident Alex Smith has submitted a freedom of information request asking where this information was from. Neither he nor the Stray Ferret has been able to find it.
Mr Smith told the Stray Ferret he was not a member of any political party but was interested in transparency and standards.
The Visit Britain Statistics
His FoI suggests Cllr Cooper may have been referring to 2018 research by Visit Britain on how much delegates to business events spend.
This research said 88% of delegates to Harrogate Convention Centre, from a sample of 98, said they were ‘likely or very likely’ to return to the area. Of those, 62% said they were ‘very likely’ to return.
But it does not say how many actually do and neither Mr Smith nor the Stray Ferret is aware of any research that does so.
Mr Smith’s FoI request says:
“Residents are used to Cllr Cooper’s robust approach to political point-scoring.
“But, as chairman of the Harrogate Convention Centre, he is obliged to give out accurate information; and as a councillor, he is bound by a code of conduct not to mislead the Mayor and council.
“He is not free to invent ‘astonishing’ statistics to suit his argument.”
The FoI then asks for Cllr Cooper’s source, adding:
“If there is no other source than the one I’ve quoted I’d be grateful if you could inform me when and how Cllr Cooper will correct his wilful misinformation.”
The Stray Ferret asked Cllr Cooper last week where the statistic he quoted was from but has not received a response.
Previous claim
In July 2020, Cllr Cooper told a council meeting that 75% of Harrogate Convention Centre delegates returned. He said:
“75% of 150,000 is 112,500 visitors that come to our district because of the convention centre who we would never see here otherwise.”
Again, it is not clear where this information is from — or why the figure appears to have grown to 88%.
Harrogate Borough Council will be abolished next year as part of a shake-up of local government that will see a new North Yorkshire Council formed.
Cllr Cooper has said he does not intend to seek re-election in May’s local elections for the new council.
North Yorkshire Police pledges to improve dire freedom of information response
North Yorkshire Police has pledged to improve its freedom of information performance after the amount of responses handled on time fell as low as 9%.
The Information Commissioner’s Office included the county’s force in a list of police forces whose FOI responses was deemed under-performing.
Now the force has referred itself to the ICO over its timeliness of responses, its backlog of requests and its low performance.
Organisations are required to respond to requests promptly and within 20 working days. North Yorkshire Police has a target of meeting this 95% of the time but its performance in recent years has fallen woefully short.
It fell as low as 9% in April 2020 and the highest it has reached is 59% in August the same year.
The ICO said in a report dated October 2020:
“Although significant progress has been made to improve NYP’s performance, the Commissioner’s analysis of the performance statistics has led her to issue this practice recommendation to ensure that the trend of improvement continues and NYP achieves satisfactory levels of timeliness.”
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A total of 365 FOI requests were outstanding in April 2020. Of that figure, 309 requests were overdue and 193 were over six months old.
North Yorkshire Police revealed last week it had created an action plan to tackle the problem.
It said the reason for its lack of response was “mainly caused by increased volumes of FOIA requests, subject access requests and Family Court Order request”.
North Yorkshire Police’s FOI response performance as submitted to the Information Commissioner. Table: ICO.
The police action plan has set a target to respond to 85% of requests within 20 working days by September 2022.
The plan recognised its compliance rates had not been met. It said that this was down to “reduced staff resources” and “continued demand for disclosure”.
Dog thefts more than double in Harrogate districtThe number of dog thefts in the Harrogate district more than doubled in 2020 compared with 2019, according to police statistics.
The figures were released after a member of the public made a Freedom of Information request to North Yorkshire Police.
They show there were eight thefts in 2020 compared with three in 2019. The three previous years saw just seven thefts in total.
Although the numbers are small, the 2020 figure represents a significant increase.
The Harrogate district also had the highest number of thefts in North Yorkshire in 2020, with Scarborough and Ryedale the closest with five.
The figures also revealed only two thefts ended in a person being charged. Most reports didn’t lead to court action either because no suspect was identified or there were evidential difficulties.
A table showing the number of crimes where a dog has been recorded as stolen. Photograph: North Yorkshire Police
Border Collies and Pugs were the most commonly stolen breeds in North Yorkshire, with 10 and eight thefts recorded respectively between 2016 and 2021.
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The police recently appointed its first officers dedicated to dealing specifically with pet theft.
Amongst other duties, the officers will conduct reassurance visits, in which they accompany pet theft victims on walks to help them feel more confident when walking their dogs.
Tesco Express in Harrogate gets lowest mark in council covid checksA Tesco Express in Harrogate received the lowest mark of all supermarkets in the district when unannounced covid checks were carried out.
More than 230 supermarkets and shops were assessed in a joint operation between North Yorkshire County Council and Harrogate Borough Council.
Trading standards and environmental health officers checked whether they had made their premises covid-secure and followed regulations.
Premises were graded using a traffic light system, with green lights given to the most compliant and red lights to businesses where a number of issues were flagged up.
All supermarkets received either green or amber lights, with the exception of Tesco Express on Knaresborough Road.
The inspector who visited that store on February 8 noted “poor and infrequent cleaning”, “lack of cleaning products for the in-store Costa Coffee” and “cashier not wearing mask but was advised she was exempt”. Another comment said:
“Felt I was being given lip service.”
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A spokeswoman for Harrogate Borough Council said:
“With regards to the Tesco on Knaresborough Road; a follow up visit was undertaken, the site had followed up on the issues raised and it was found to be compliant and following government guidance.
“No further action was necessary and we were satisfied with the measures that had been put in place.”
A Tesco spokesman said:
“We are following government guidance in stores to ensure that all our colleagues are wearing face coverings, unless they cannot do so for medical or safety reasons.”
Information released after FoI request
North Yorkshire County Council issued a press release in February about the visit but initially refused to reveal details of individual inspections.
However, after a request made under the Freedom of Information Act by the Stray Ferret it did release its findings.
The Stray Ferret’s investigation focused solely on supermarkets.
Louise Wallace, North Yorkshire’s director of public health, said in the press release:
“Many supermarkets and other essential retailers have made huge efforts during the whole of lockdown to make their shops covid-secure.
“Across the whole county we have found breaches by only a handful of retailers.
“North Yorkshire’s shoppers can have real confidence that the vast majority of retail premises are covid-safe in our county, that they carry out proper cleaning procedures and that regulations about the wearing of face masks, hand sanitising and keeping a social distance are properly applied and patrolled.”
Checks were carried out in December and January.