harrogate borough council Archives - Page 14 of 159

Harrogate’s Dragon Road car park to shut for two weeks for £140,000 resurfacing

Dragon Road car park in Harrogate is set to be closed for two weeks as part of resurfacing work.

The car park will shut from Monday, March 13, until Monday, March 27.

Harrogate Borough Council has earmarked the site for resurfacing work at a cost of £140,000.

The authority said the car park needed to be resurfaced as it had become worn.

The site is currently open to drivers on a pay and display basis from Monday to Sunday between 8am and midnight.

However, it is closed on exhibition days at Harrogate Convention Centre.

The car park had been earmarked as a potential site to create affordable flats or extra care housing.

However, senior borough councillors decided to pause the plans in November in order for the site to continue to support parking at Harrogate Convention Centre.

Cllr Tim Myatt, cabinet member for planning at the council, proposed the authority should ensure that “adequate parking for Harrogate Convention Centre associated vehicles take primacy over site redevelopment”.

He added that the council should “pause consideration of this site until it is clear that the Harrogate Convention Centre redevelopment will be able to accommodate exhibition traffic on site”.

Police set to increase use of stop and search in Harrogate district

A senior police officer has said he expects to see an increase in the use of stop and search in the Harrogate district.

Police have the power to stop and search people if they have ‘reasonable grounds’ to suspect they’re carrying illegal drugs, a weapon or stolen property or something that could be used to commit a crime.

In special circumstances, people can be stopped and searched without these ‘reasonable grounds’.

Civil liberties groups have raised concerns the technique is open to abuse, especially at legitimate protests.

At Harrogate Borough Council‘s overview and scrutiny commission this week, Cllr John Mann, a Conservative who represents Pannal asked Rich Ogden, chief inspector at North Yorkshire Police if the force used stop and search to discourage people carrying knives.

Ch Insp Ogden said stop and search “is a really effective operational tool”, adding.

“Where there is an opportunity to search somebody, whether it be under the misuse of drugs act, or for prohibited articles, such as knives, that can be used for criminal damage then we should absolutely encourage that.

“So I expect in this area to see an increase in stop and search but I want to make sure it’s obviously done ethically and appropriately because it is controversial in terms of areas of society who will challenge the police and rightly so — we are accountable for everything we do and that’s why we have to make sure everything is recorded.”

Ch Insp Ogden said local police team meetings regularly reviewed whether the technique was used appropriately and correctly.

He said:

“It’s got to be done properly and it’s always got to be recorded and the member of the public that is subject to that stop and search is always entitled to a copy of their search record.”

Councillor calls for housebuilding in Harrogate to be paused

A councillor has called for a pause in housebuilding in Harrogate while work on a new local plan for the whole of North Yorkshire is drawn up.

In December, members of North Yorkshire County Council’s executive approved the creation of a new local plan, which must be finalised within five years of North Yorkshire Council being formed on April 1.

It will identify land that can be developed and will replace the seven local plans that are currently used by the soon-to-be-abolished district and borough councils.

This includes Harrogate Borough Council’s Harrogate district Local Plan 2014-35, which was adopted in 2020 and says over 13,000 homes can be built between 2014-2035. The council has said the document will guide planning decisions until the new local plan is created.

Harrogate’s local plan has led to large new housing developments being built in almost every corner of the district. Last month, approval was given to 162 more homes on Kingsley Drive in Harrogate and 1,300 homes at Clotherholme in Ripon.

But councillors have heard repeated concerns about whether the district’s roads, schools and GP practices can cope with the increase in housing.

The thorny issue came up at a full meeting of North Yorkshire County Council on Friday.

Statistics released in the government’s last Housing Delivery Test revealed 1,641 homes — 266% above target — were built in the district between 2018 and 2021.

This led Liberal Democrat councillor for the High Harrogate and Kingsley division, Chris Aldred, to ask North Yorkshire County Council’s Conservative executive member for planning for growth, Simon Myers, if the new council would consider pausing new applications in areas where these government targets are being met.

He said:

“There are areas within the county where we’re well ahead of scheduled housing delivery targets. In Harrogate we are 200% over-target according to the government’s own statistics.

“While we’re developing a new local plan for the county, could you consider in areas where we are well ahead of delivery, we actually pause the application process so we don’t get any houses in areas where we might not have done when we’ve got the new local plan.”

The new council will create six new planning committees to oversee decisions across parliamentary constituency areas, such as Harrogate and Knaresborough and Skipton and Ripon.

They will be set up with councillors from across the political spectrum voting on whether significant planning applications go ahead.

‘Misleading’ figure

After the meeting, Cllr Myers told the Local Democracy Reporting Service the 200% figure was misleading. He said:

“Essentially, Harrogate has only just caught up with its own housing targets. It isn’t 200% over. The development is all in accordance with the local plan and to halt development would put Harrogate at risk of the plan being seen as out of date and open the possibility of speculative development. And of course with development we hope to deliver affordable housing which is sorely needed in every part of the county.

“The figure of 200% ‘over delivery’ was published in the government’s housing delivery test calculation pre-adoption of the Harrogate local plan. This was based on delivery against the standard methodology figure that does reflect an accurate picture of need. If you look at delivery against the actual plan-target, the figure is lower.

“In summary, the 200% figure is misleading and the higher-than-plan-target delivery rates should not be cause for alarm as they reflect positive progress on addressing a significant shortfall and reflect a planned trajectory.”

Rollout of 100 electric charging points in Harrogate district begins

Rugby legend Martin Offiah visited Harrogate today for an event to mark the rollout of 100 electric vehicle charging points.

Mr Offiah, who once raced down the wing at Wembley for England, touched down at the slightly humbler surroundings of Park View car park on East Parade in his role as a brand ambassador for Connected Kerb, a company that provides the infrastructure for electric vehicle charging points.

Harrogate Borough Council signed a contract with Connected Kerb for the installation of charging points in Harrogate, Ripon, Knaresborough, Boroughbridge, Pateley Bridge and Masham.

Mr Offiah joined Harrogate district mayor, councillor Victoria Oldham, as she cut a ribbon to signify Park View car park’s six electric charging bays were now ready for use.

Charging bays are also active in Harrogate at West Park multi-storey car park and the council’s civic centre and also at Chapel Street car park in Knaresborough and Market Place in Masham.

The charging points in Park View car park.

All the other bays, listed below, should be live by April. They are available to anyone who downloads the Connected Kerb app and has a Type 2 EV charging cable.

Mr Offiah, who has a statue outside Wembley Stadium and has been a Connected Kerb ambassador since 2018, said his message to people in the district was to “look for reasons to get an electric vehicle rather than reasons not to get one”.

The project has been funded by the council with additional support from the Office for Zero Emissions Vehicles.

The deployment is part of the council’s efforts to increase the proportion of cleaner ultra-low emission vehicles in the district.

Councillor Phil Ireland, the council’s cabinet member for carbon reduction and sustainability, who was at today’s launch, said:

“The Harrogate district has seen a rapid uptake in the purchase of electric vehicles, and if we are to achieve our ambition of net zero by 2038 it is important we support those residents to charge electric cars, while also encouraging more cycling and walking.

“These new charging points will support the uptake in electric vehicles for both our residents and our visitor economy, across the district.”

Chris Pateman-Jones, chief executive of Connected Kerb, said:

“Providing long-lasting, affordable and accessible charging points in northern towns and cities is essential to ensuring that nobody is left behind in the electric vehicle transition.

“By supporting EV drivers in Harrogate who have no access to off-street parking, we can make charging their vehicle more convenient while boosting local air quality and meeting climate goals.”

Where are the new charging points?

Harrogate

Victoria multi-storey car park – 12 Bays

Hornbeam Park – 12 Bays

Odeon – 12 Bays

West Park – 8 Bays

Park View – 6 Bays

Dragon Road – 10 Bays

Knaresborough

Conyngham Hall – 12 Bays

Chapel Street – 10 Bays

Leisure Centre (new) – 5 Bays

Ripon (new)

Cathedral Car Park – 6 Bays

Blossomgate Car Park – 4 Bays

Ripon (existing)

Leisure Centre – 5 Bays

Phoenix Business Park – 4 Bays

Boroughbridge (Phase 2)

Back Lane Car Park – Up to 6 bays

Pateley Bridge

Southlands Car Park – 4 Bays

Masham

Market Place – 4 Bays

Police reassure Harrogate councillors over knife crime concerns

North Yorkshire Police has sought to reassure people that Harrogate does not have a worse problem with knife crime than other places.

Councillors questioned police about the issue last night after 17-year-old Seb Mitchell lost his life on Claro Road following an incident on February 19.

Rich Ogden, chief inspector at the force, told Harrogate Borough Council‘s overview and scrutiny commission the county was one of the safest in England. However, he added that the force continued to work with young people to educate them not to carry knives.

The meeting heard 98 knives have been dropped off at an amnesty bin in Dragon Road car park at Asda in Harrogate since it was installed in January.

When asked by Cllr Chris Aldred, chair of the committee, whether Harrogate had a problem with knife crime, Ch Insp Ogden said:

“We are living in one of the safest counties in England and we must not forget that.

“Any incident involving a knife can end in tragedy.”

He added:

“I don’t see that Harrogate has a problem more than anywhere else.

“But it would be wrong of me to say that knives are prevalent on the streets. We’ve got to encourage people not to use knives and carry knives at any point. Particularly those who take knives out for their own protection.”

Ch Insp Ogden added that a large amount of the knives that have been dropped off in the amnesty bin were household kitchen knives and that the facility helped the public to dispose of them safely.

Superintendent Teresa Lam told the committee:

“Even though we are considered the safest force area, we continually liaise with our counterparts across the country including London so that we are continually understanding what the trends and patterns are.”

A 16-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was initially charged with attempted murder on February 20. He is due to appear in court on March 14. Ch Insp Ogden told the meeting it was now a murder investigation.

Group estimates 1,000 Ripon children are in need of swimming lessons

A group that unsuccessfully lobbied Harrogate Borough Council in a bid to have a learner pool built in Ripon estimates that up to 1,000 of the city’s children have yet to be taught how to swim.

In 2018, before planning permission was granted for construction of the Jack Laugher Leisure and Wellness Centre, Ripon Pool Action Group (RPAG) called for a learner pool to be included in the multi-million pound development at Dallamires Lane.

Though that call was rejected, the group continues to highlight the need for families in Ripon to have public facilities available that are close at hand and affordable.

At the February meeting of Ripon City Council, RPAG secretary Tim Tribe and Andrea McAuslan presented the case for a learner pool to be included in any future plans that the new unitary authority North Yorkshire Council, may have for the development of leisure facilities in the city.

Mr Tribe said:

“We recognise that there are currently serious pressures on public finances. We are not asking for a learner pool to be built now, but we want to ensure that the new unitary authority is properly briefed on this situation.

“Ripon is the only place of its size in North Yorkshire with no learner pool. Thirsk, Tadcaster, Northallerton, Stokesley and Skipton all have separate pools and we ask how far do you think our children should travel to learn such an important life skill, when we live in an area surrounded by water?”

Mr Tribe added:

“We carried out a survey using Survey Monkey and this showed that there are circa 1,000 children in Ripon in need of swimming lessons.”

Because of the lack of a public learner pool in Ripon, Andrea and Ian McAuslan have been taking their five-year-old twins to Thirsk.

Ms McAuslan said:

“We have been making the 22-mile round trip and are fortunate that we can afford to do this, but many other families are not so lucky.

“Seeing how our children reacted when they realised that they could go in the little pool at Thirsk was a real eye opener. It has been great to see their confidence grow as they learn to swim while they play in the shallow water.”

Ms McAuslan, who is also chair of the junior section of the Ripon-based NYP TriStars, triathlon club, added:

“Quite apart from the need to teach children to swim in a city that has three rivers, a canal and other areas of water, it is a skill that is fundamental to opening up other avenues for them.”

Pateley Bridge Cemetery set for expansion

Harrogate Borough Council looks set to buy land near Pateley Bridge Cemetery to increase burial space for the next 300 years.

Graham Swift, cabinet member for resources at the authority, will be asked next week to approve spending £32,500 to purchase 2.5 acres of land in the town.

James Bean, estates surveyor at the council, said in a report that the cemetery is expected to reach capacity for burials in the next two years.

He added that land next to the current cemetery, which is owned by Pateley Bridge Town Council, would be suitable to expand the site.

Mr Bean said:

“The cemetery at Pateley Bridge is soon to reach capacity and a solution for its longer term use needs to be established.

“Colleagues in the bereavement services team have identified an area of land next to the cemetery for possible expansion which would provide burial space for over 300 years.”

The land earmarked for purchase next to Pateley Bridge Cemetery.

Mr Bean added that the site would require planning consent following the purchase in order for the cemetery to expand.

A decision to acquire the land will be made at a cabinet member for resources meeting on March 7, 2023.

Rudding Park unveils golf and country club renovation plan

Rudding Park Hotel and Spa in Harrogate has unveiled plans to renovate its golf and country club and restore its walled garden.

The hotel has drawn up the plans with planning consultants, Carter Jonas, as part of a refurbishment of its estate.

They include proposals to replace the current golf club, upgrade its family hub and the creation of outdoor tennis courts and a pavilion.

It would also see the county’s first five-star country club created.

The plans also seek to restore the estate’s walled garden.

Masterplan of the renovations as proposed by Rudding Park.

Designs for the renovation were unveiled at a consultation event at Rudding Park on Friday (February 23).

Sarah Cox, partner at Carter Jonas, said:

“We are keen to show that you have owners here who are keen to invest in the site.”

She added that the move to restore the site would also see 10,000 trees planted and three wetland areas created.

The consultants estimate that the proposals could generate an economic benefit of £14 million a year to Harrogate and create 75 new jobs.

In its proposals, Rudding Park said:

“Over the last 50 years, Rudding Park has become the standard bearer for quality hospitality in Harrogate, and positions Harrogate as a UK wide and international tourist destination.

“To build on that legacy the business must evolve.”

An outline planning application will be submitted to Harrogate Borough Council later this month.

You can find out more information on the plans at Rudding Park here.

Plans approved for 1,300 homes at Ripon Barracks

Councillors have approved plans to build 1,300 homes at Ripon’s army barracks, subject to conditions.

Harrogate Borough Council’s planning committee met this afternoon to consider an application from government housing agency Homes England, which has been developing the plans for several years alongside the Ministry of Defence.

Councillors were split over the scheme’s impact on roads in the city as well as whether historical military buildings on the site, which were used during both world wars, would be protected.

Votes were tied at six for and six against supporting the officer’s recommendation to defer the plans to officers to approve, subject to conditions.

This meant the committee’s chair, the Conservative councillor for Harrogate St Georges, Rebecca Burnett, cast the deciding vote to see the plans passed.

Clotherholme

The military is set to vacate the site in 2026 but phased work will now begin.

The housing scheme is called Clotherholme and also includes a new primary school, sports pitches, retail, food and drink units, and a 60-bed care home.

The site is home to the Royal Engineers and consists of Deverell Barracks to the east, Claro Barracks to the west and Laver Banks to the south.

Homes England says 3,000 people will live there to increase the population of Ripon by a fifth, although this does not take into account the loss of military personnel who have lived in the community for decades.

It’s expected that all the homes would be built by 2035 and 30% will be classed as affordable.

No new road

Campaigners have long raised fears about the impact on local roads and there have been calls to include a relief road via Galphay Road, but this was rejected.

Access to the site would be from Clotherholme Road and Kirkby Road.

Homes England undertook traffic studies that predicted queues and delays at existing junctions if the homes were built, so changes to the Low Skellgate, Coltsgate Hill and Clock Tower junctions have been proposed as part of 28 alterations to the existing road network.

A new roundabout would also be created at the junction of Kirkby Road and Chatham Road.

‘Hell to drive through’

Liberal Democrat county councillor Barbara Brodigan spoke on behalf of Ripon Spa Residents’ Action Group against the plans.

Cllr Brodigan said she was not against the site being developed but objected to the number of homes proposed. She said a relief road should be built to accommodate any increase in traffic. She said:

“The city was founded 600 years ago and the layout of its streets and centre has hardly changed. It’s pretty to look at, but hell to drive through.

“The layout of the city’s streets was not designed for cars but for horses and carts and people on foot.”

A computer generated image of how Chatham Road and Napier Street in Ripon would look under the plans

Ripon Independent councillor for Ure Bank, Sid Hawke, said there was a question mark over the traffic surveys undertaken by the developer. He said:

“Have you been up Clotherholme Road at peak times? It’s absolute mayhem, you’re talking about putting 1,300 houses up there. Thats 2,000 cars on that road.”

David Rowlinson, speaking on behalf of the applicant, said highways and transport had been a “key issue” that Homes England and the MoD had worked through whilst developing the scheme. He said:

“We’re not new to this site, we’ve been working on it for five years. We’ve looked at this very thoroughly and worked with North Yorkshire County Council’s highways department to get their on-the-ground views.

“We feel we’ve robustly assessed the impacts and come up with the best solution possible for Ripon.

“North Yorkshire County Council has confirmed there is no defensible reason to refuse the application on highways and transport grounds.”

Military history

The barracks were originally built as a convalescent camp for troops during the First World War.

Thousands were housed there, including the wartime poet Wilfred Owen, who wrote some of his famous works there.

Jane Furse, on behalf of the Ripon Military Heritage Trust, asked councillors to defer the plans until a strategy had been produced that protected from demolition two training bridges and a hut, which has been called one of the best-surviving Second World War-era prefab structures.

However, the bridges and the hut are not protected under planning laws.

Ms Furse gave a history of the military’s involvement at the site spanning two world wars and the Cold War.

She added:

“We request robust, enforceable conditions are imposed to protect our internationally significant heritage.”

Historic England raised “strong concerns” over the demolition of the hut but it has been decided that it can’t be retained because of asbestos, which HBC officer Andy Hough called “extremely regrettable”.

Homes England said it is committed to working with Ripon Military Heritage Group on studies to resolve what happens to the buildings.

Mr Rowlinson said:

“We give a commitment that until issues are resolved and a strategy is developed, structures will not be destroyed.

“We’re happy to do that, we need to work through the process with the group.”

‘Evidence-based decision’

The Conservative councillor for Ripon Spa and cabinet member for housing, Mike Chambers, who is also a former serviceman, said he supported “the majority” of the scheme but there are “clear issues” with the traffic assessment, so he would not be supporting the proposal.

Cllr Chambers claimed the changes to the Low Skellgate junction, banning right turns, “will only seek to exacerbate the situation”.

Conservative council leader Richard Cooper, who was on the planning committee today as a substitute, said rejecting the plans on transport grounds would risk a costly appeal.

In 2022, HBC had to pay £25,000 in costs after the authority was taken to appeal over its rejection of the Leon drive thru on Wetherby Road. Cllr Cooper said:

“You go and sit before an appeal and say to them ‘I drove down that road once and it was busy’, they’ll laugh at you.

“They did it with the Leon application, they laughed at us because there was no evidence to back up a refusal on traffic grounds and we lost the cost of the appeal because of that.”

Cllr Cooper added:

“If we aren’t a planning committee that bases our deliberations upon evidence, then we arent fit to be a planning committee at all. All our decisions should be evidence-based.”

The applicant has agreed to pay £4,694,875 to North Yorkshire County Council to go towards local primary and secondary schools.

It will also pay £907,267 to the NHS to support healthcare facilities.

Kirkby Malzeard road reopens after three-year closure

A road linking Kirkby Malzeard and Masham has reopened three years after a collapsed section of wall caused its closure.

The reopening follows repair, reconstruction and reinforcement works costing almost £500,000 at the parish church of St Andrew in Kirkby Malzeard.

After heavy overnight rain in February 2020, part of the stone retaining wall for the churchyard fell onto Church Street, making it impassable.

The road, which runs past St Andrew’s and is part of a route from the village to Masham, remained closed up until last Thursday.

Reconstructed church wall at Kirkby Malzeard

The reconstructed section of wall

Harrogate Borough Council initially earmarked £250,000 to fund the project, which was given planning approval in February 2022.

However, the final bill for the work was almost double that amount at £491,670 after council officials said the cost reflected the “volatile nature of the construction market at the moment”.

The increased cost is being funded from the council’s investment reserves.

A report to the council urgency committee in May said:

“The work was not able to be contracted until the planning process was concluded and permissions put in place.”

The repair works which followed came after residents and parish councillors frustrated by the delays, urged the council to end the “farce” of the church wall.

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‘Misleading’ figure

Where are the new charging points?

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Clotherholme

No new road

‘Hell to drive through’

Military history

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‘Evidence-based decision’

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