Lib Dems call for ‘secret devolution report’ to be published

Liberal Democrats have called on Harrogate Borough Council to release a “secret report” into the district’s devolution bid and council reorganisation.

The seven district councils commissioned KPMG to produce a report into council reorganisation in the county ahead of a submission to government.

Council leaders announced their preference for two authorities, split between east and west, in August, and showcased the proposal at online consultation events with businesses and residents.

Local Lib Dems said they have asked “several times” for the document – funded with taxpayers’ money – to be made public.

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Cllr Pat Marsh, Lib Dem leader of the opposition on the borough council, called on the authority to release the document.

She said:

“Liberal Democrats have called on Harrogate Borough Council to release its KPMG report several times now. If Conservatives aren’t going to consult with residents on the future of local services, the very least they can do is be transparent about how decisions are being made.

“Unfortunately this is typical of our Conservative-run council. It won’t speak to residents or their elected representatives about huge issues like this, and when it does it is telling them what is happening at the eleventh hour, rather allowing any input. It would appear that Richard Cooper would rather rule by decree than risk hearing a differing view.”

A spokesman on behalf of the district and borough council leaders said:

“The leaders of the seven district and borough councils in North Yorkshire commissioned KPMG to support the development of a business case for local government reorganisation should we be required to respond to government to submit a proposal.

“When completed the report will need to be agreed by elected members within all seven councils before it is submitted to government and full details will be published.”

It comes as the government had been due to publish its devolution white paper in the Autumn, which would have outlined its plans to devolve further powers to local areas and scrap district councils.

However, ministers have since appeared to have delayed publishing the plans until next year, according to the Financial Times.

Last week, Cllr Carl Les, leader of North Yorkshire County Council, wrote to Secretary of State, Robert Jenrick, urging the government for clarity on the white paper.

But, district leaders said there was “no worse time” to reorganise local government. The seven district council leaders, including Richard Cooper, wrote to Prime Minister Boris Johnson urging him to focus on fighting the covid-19 crisis.

Council prepares for 3,000-home Green Hammerton consultation

Harrogate Borough Council is preparing a public consultation on the location of 3,000 new homes to be built near the villages of Green Hammerton and Cattal.

Planning consultant Gillespies has produced a report for the council setting out three possible sites for the development, including a preferred option on land south of Cattal train station.

Along with the housing, the plans include two new primary schools, employment space and retail units.

HBC’s cabinet will meet on Wednesday to discuss the report and potentially approve a consultation that would begin later this year.

In February, developers Oakgate Group submitted plans to HBC for Maltkin Village, a scheme near to Cattal.

The three new settlement options to be discussed by the cabinet on Wednesday are below. The orange colour indicates where the new housing would be built, green indicates green spaces and purple indicates employment space. Blue shows where the “local centre” of the development would be.

Meanwhile, plans submitted in 2017 for 2,750 new homes at Flaxby which were due to be discussed by planners on Tuesday will now be heard at a later date. The developer, Flaxby Park Ltd, had not been informed of the committee date due to a “technical error”.

A council spokesperson said “as a gesture of goodwill” the authority would offer the developer more time to prepare. A new date is yet to be set.

Option One

This option focuses on the area north of the railway line between Cattal and Hammerton train stations and incorporates the village edges of Green Hammerton and Kirk Hammerton.

Option One – ‘Central Focus’

Option Two

This option focuses on the area north of the railway line around Cattal station, with the majority of the development located south of the A59.

Option Two – ‘North of Cattal Station Focus’

Option Three

This option focuses on the area around Cattal station expanding towards the south and southwest of the railway line. This is the current preferred option, according to the report to be discussed by the cabinet on Wednesday.

Option Three – ‘Cattal Station Focus’

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‘Clawback’

A report written in 2017 by Gary Fielding, corporate director for strategic resources at North Yorkshire County Council, revealed that the county council would make money on some land at Green Hammerton if it were developed.

The report states that in 2003, NYCC sold land at Green Hammerton to farmer Derek Pickles. When the council sold the land, there was a covenant attached that said if planning permission were granted within 30 years for any other use of the property, a “clawback” would apply. This would result in NYCC receiving 70% of the uplift in the land’s open market value.

The land owned by Derek Pickles is highlighted in purple.

According to the report published by Gillespies, the land owned by Mr Pickles, which is close to the village of Green Hammerton, would primarily fall into options one and two and not the preferred option around Cattal train station.

Harrogate Borough Council adopted its Local Plan in March 2020 and chose Green Hammerton as the broad location for a new settlement in the district.

However, the choice has been contested by Flaxby Park Ltd, which wants to create a new village on a former golf course to the east of Knaresborough.

As reported in the Stray Ferret yesterday, Harrogate Borough Council will head to the High Court in London later this month for a judicial review that will decide whether or not the decision to choose Green Hammerton over Flaxby for a new settlement was unlawful.

If found to be unlawful, the decision on where to place the new settlement may have to made again.

West Park Stray — 12 months of mud, repair and debate

This week marks one year since the end of the UCI World Championships and the serious damage to West Park Stray.

It has taken almost a year for it to turn green again. Harrogate Borough Council said as the repair works began that West Park Stray would “return to its former glory” – however the Stray Defence Association (SDA) has said it believes the work has not fully repaired the damage and said it remains “dangerous” with surface stones and ruts.

West Park Stray: A year at a glance

A year to forget on West Park Stray.

When restrictions were lifted for the UCI Championships to be held, the council was given a legal duty to return the Stray to how it was before the event.

The council said it would spend £130,000 on the restoration and outsourced the work to Lancashire-based contractors Glendale Services.

Yorkshire 2019, the organisers of the UCI World Cycling Championships, agreed to pay £35,500 to help restore the Stray.

‘No worse time’ for devolution, say council leaders

North Yorkshire’s seven district and borough council leaders, including Harrogate’s Richard Cooper, have written to the Prime Minister saying there “could not be a worse time” for local government reorganisation due to the worsening Covid situation.

Ministers told council leaders in the county in July to draw up plans for devolution ahead of a White Paper in autumn.

But speculation is mounting that the government might put its devolution plans on hold.

Hambleton council leader Cllr Mark Robson, writing on behalf of all of North Yorkshire’s district and borough council leaders, urged the government to press ahead with devolving powers to the county even if it does not reorganise local government,

Cllr Robson said:

“There is no doubt the Covid situation has worsened nationwide and this will inevitably put extra pressure and new demands on district and borough councils to further support our communities and businesses as we work through this crisis together.

“Let me be clear, this critical responsibility must come first, and we must not be distracted by an unnecessary, resource-intensive and ill-timed local government reorganisation.

“The letter we have sent makes this point in the strongest possible terms and we look forward to the government response with what we hope is a sensible and realistic way forward for North Yorkshire in these difficult times.”

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Last week, Cllr Carl Les, leader of North Yorkshire County Council, told the Stray Ferret he was still “hopeful” that a devolution deal could be put on the table.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said:

“We have set out a clear commitment to level up all areas of the country by empowering our regions through devolving money, resources and control away from Westminster.

“We are considering a range of options and will set out our detailed plans in the White Paper that will be published in due course.”

Harrogate council to hand back up to £530,000 in business grants

Harrogate Borough Council is set to hand back up to £530,000 in discretionary grants to government, despite some businesses not receiving support.

Some self-employed people in the district said they were rejected for grants because they do not have business premises, even though other authorities had extended support to those who were initially turned down.

Three people who have spoken to the Stray Ferret said they had not received any “meaningful support” during the pandemic. One described it as a “real kick in the teeth”.

Jennie Eyres, who is a self-employed teacher trainer based in Ripon, said she was booked up with work up until the end of the academic year. But that work disappeared after the pandemic started.

She said:

“There is a persistent worry to the point of sickness and headaches. It is always in the back of your mind about how are you going to pay for things.

“We had to think carefully about how we do that and where we get the money from.”

Fixed property costs

In a council report last week, the authority agreed a final increase in remaining grants to be handed out and estimated that “between £270,000 and £530,000 would be returned to government”. Funds are expected to be handed back after September 30.

Councils were given the power to offer discretionary grants of up to £10,000 designed to support businesses who had struggled during the pandemic.

The government set out criteria which allowed councils to determine which cases to support. The borough council offered funds to businesses with fixed property costs, meaning those who did not have a premises missed out, even if they had suffered a loss of income during the crisis.

But other authorities, including South Gloucestershire Council, extended the grants to those who run their business from home.

Mrs Eyres has appealed the council’s decision to reject her claim twice. Two others who spoke to the Stray Ferret were also rejected because their business were run from a residential premises.

Andrew Stanley, a retired army captain turned coach in Knaresborough, was also denied a grant because he does not have a fixed premises. He had a busy March before lockdown, but work has been difficult to come by since then.

He said:

“The work I do involves sitting in closed rooms and not everyone is comfortable with that. I’ve been living off credit cards and a bounce back loan from my banks.”

Meanwhile, Hannah Ruddy from Harrogate, who runs music classes for children, went as far as writing to the Arts Council after being left without support during the pandemic.

She described the rejection of a discretionary grant as a “real kick in the teeth for local businesses”.

Earlier this year, Hannah was backed by Harrogate and Knaresborough MP, Andrew Jones, who joined a cross-party group of MPs which aimed to stand up for people like Hannah who have been excluded from coronavirus government support schemes.

In response, Harrogate Borough Council said it followed national guidance when distributing its grants and its initial scheme handed out £48 million to over 4,000 businesses, while its further discretionary funding also followed national guidelines.

A spokesperson for the council said:

“Our scheme reflected the government guidance that stated it was primarily and predominantly aimed at micro and small businesses with relatively high ongoing fixed property-related costs, and has suffered a significant fall in income due to the covid-19 crisis.

“The government set national criteria and priority businesses for the grant funds but allowed local authorities to determine which cases to support within those criteria (available on our website).

“We needed to determine which businesses to support based on the amount of funding available and understandably there will be differences between local authorities.”

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Free digital business events begin in Harrogate district today

A week of free digital events for businesses across the Harrogate district gets under way today.

Harrogate Digital will cover digital connectivity, sustainability of data and how to grow a start-up during lockdown. It concludes with a round-table discussion about ways to grow the tech community in the Harrogate district.

The events form part of the wider Leeds Digital Festival, which began last week.

Harrogate Digital has previously run face-to-face events, but decided to move online to enable more people to attend and avoid coronavirus restrictions. All events are free and can be booked via the Harrogate Digital website.

The events have been organised by Harrogate Borough Council’s SME growth manager Alistair Forbes, along with Martin Whincup from Berwins, and tech entrepreneur and mentor Sanjay Parekh.

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The week will also see the launch of Co-Lab, a new incubator hub being run by Harrogate Borough Council from Springfield House. While use of the offices has been delayed by covid, support is being offered to new and growing businesses in the tech and digital sector.

Mr Forbes said there is already evidence that new businesses are being formed during lockdown and people are using their time creatively.

“We have had all sorts of different enquiries and ideas come forward from existing businesses I was already working with for new businesses or divisions.

“There are also people who have been made redundant from previous roles and want to start up a new tech-related business. That appears to be as strong as ever.

“Harrogate has been well-known as a place to start a business even if it’s based from home, but there has been a resurgence over the summer in terms of people with new ideas and starting businesses.”

Council considers plan to pedestrianise Montpellier Parade

Montpellier Parade in Harrogate could be closed to traffic and used instead for outdoor drinking and eating.

North Yorkshire County Council told the Stray Ferret it was considering a request by the Blues Bar to close the highway.

It is the latest twist in the saga in which Simon and Sharon Colgan, the owners of the Blues Bar, have been battling to maintain more outdoor space to compensate for a reduction in indoor capacity post-lockdown.

The bar’s indoor capacity reduced drastically from 80 to 25 when it reopened in July due to social distancing.

Harrogate Borough Council temporarily allowed the bar to have tables on the Stray to help business.

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But the borough council insisted the tables were removed on Monday to “prevent damage to the Stray and also reduce the risk of injury should it become wet and muddy”.

Now North Yorkshire County Council, which is responsible for highways, is offering a lifeline.

Melisa Burnham, the county council’s highways area manager, said:

“We have received a request from the owners of the Blues Bar to close Montpellier Parade.

“We have not made any commitment to close this road as further investigation and relevant consultation with the emergency services and adjoining businesses still needs to take place.

“If practically feasible, necessary temporary traffic regulation order requirements would mean that this could be a number of weeks before it could be delivered.”

Any closure at this stage would be temporary, but Ms Colgan said Montpellier Parade was hardly used by traffic and pedestrianising the street would benefit the town as a whole as well as the Blues Bar. She said:

“It would create more areas for outdoor eating and be a popular area for people in the town centre.”

Outdoor tables set to remain at The Empress

Harrogate Borough Council appears to have withdrawn its threat to remove tables and chairs outside The Empress.

More than 3,000 people in a week signed a petition by owners Simon and Sharon Colgan calling on the council to reverse its decision.

The Colgans say they now only needed to reduce the distance between the outside tables and chairs, while still adhering to two metre social distancing guidelines.

The couple have also been told to remove tables and chairs from outside The Blues Bar, which they also own but that situation remains under review.

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The council had given both pubs one week to remove all of their tables and chairs over fears they could damage the Stray.

Ms Colgan told the Stray Ferret the latest development was good news for her workforce and for customers:

“We would like to thank the customers who went out of their way to sign our petition from last Friday. It has been incredible. Even some of our old customers who now live in America took the time to help. It means that we can serve more customers and keep more people in work.”

The Stray Ferret approached Harrogate Borough Council for comment today but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

Update: A council spokesman said: “Following a positive meeting with the Empress public house, we have agreed to provide a temporary licence that allows them to use an area outside to maintain social distancing.”

Council to issue more wheelchair taxi licences to tackle shortfall

The number of hackney carriage licences in Harrogate looks set to increase for the first time in 30 years to improve taxi options for people with disabilities and those who require wheelchairs.

Harrogate Borough Council has licensed 148 hackney carriage cabs since around 1988 but only 11 have wheelchair access.

A council study in March found wheelchair users faced “increasing difficulty obtaining the services” of suitable taxis.

At a licensing committee meeting last night, the local authority pledged to take action.

Cllr John Mann, a member of the committee, said he felt the number of dedicated wheelchair vehicle licences needed to be increased.

He said:

“I think this is a very difficult issue and it is replicated across the district and in other big towns.

“I do think we need to increase the supply of wheelchair vehicles for wheelchair users. At the same time, we need to protect the sustainability of the local taxi trade.”

Because the council caps the number of hackney carriage licenses, the only way to obtain one is to buy an existing vehicle – which the council said can inflate the price by £10,000 or more.

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In a letter to the council’s licensing committee, Garry Sadler-Simpson, chairman of Mainline Taxi Association, said it could be difficult to recruit drivers for wheelchair accessible vehicles because the vehicles were less profitable.

The vehicles cost more to buy, he said, and generated at least a quarter less per mile than saloon cabs. He added:

“Add to this the length of time spent on each job making sure your passenger is comfortable and safe at both sides of each job and it can be another reason for drivers of these vehicles taking far less money than their standard car workmates. 

“It does not take too long for some to want to move on to other vehicles.”

However, Mr Sadler-Simpson added the issue needed to be resolved.

The council agreed to issue 12 more licences for wheelchair accessible hackney carriages to increase supply. It said it would review the impact of the new licences in 12 months time.

Although the council cannot force taxi firms to provide more journeys to wheelchair users, it said its measures would help to increase supply.

The committee also agreed that the maximum length of a hackney carriage with wheelchair access should be increased to 5.2 metres and that the council continue to publish contact details of firms which offer wheelchair accessible taxis.

A further report will come back to the committee with more detail on the proposal at a later date before a final decision is made at a full council meeting.

Six workers rescued from Ripon takeaway

Six workers have been rescued from a takeaway in Ripon after residents raised concerns about their living and working conditions.

Representatives from the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority, Harrogate Borough Council, the police, fire service and Immigration Enforcement, a division of the Home Office, swooped on the takeaway, which has not been named, on Wednesday last week.

The six people safeguarded during the visit have been placed in temporary accommodation.

Officers noted several possible indicators of labour abuse but could not find any signs of modern slavery offences, according to the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority,

The council and the fire service will now investigate a number of housing and fire safety issues at the property.

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The Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority works in partnership with other agencies to investigate labour exploitation.

Contact Crimestoppers anonymously if you suspect someone is being exploited for labour on 0800 555111.