harrogate borough council Archives - Page 20 of 159

Harrogate councillors block fellow Conservative from civic title as standards row continues

Six Conservative councillors have denied a councillor from the same party the chance to receive a prestigious civic title.

Harrogate Borough Council has the power to bestow the title of honorary alderman or honorary alderwomen to past members who have given over 15 years of good service.

The impending abolition of the council on March 31 to make way for the new North Yorkshire unitary council means a host of councillors can be considered.

The list includes Nick Brown, Conservative councillor for Bishop Monkton and Newby, who has been a borough councillor for 15 years but had been the subject of a standards investigation following comments he made.

During a meeting last month, Conservative council leader Richard Cooper proposed a successful motion to change the council’s constitution and effectively ban councillors from becoming an honorary alderman or alderwoman if they have fallen foul of the council’s code of conduct but have then refused to take any of the recommended actions such as apologise to members.

The authority’s general purposes committee met yesterday evening and voted on which councillors would be recommended for the title.

Before voting on Cllr Brown, head of legal and governance Jennifer Norton read out a statement on his behalf that said the councillor believed he had no outstanding course of action to take following his investigation.

Ms Norton said:

“The decision notice identifies two actions, the first one being to draw the process to a close as it’s not been possible to reach a satisfactory conclusion or an apology — and the second one is to recommend to Cllr Brown that he reflects on the concerns raised and considers whether the points he was trying to make in a submission were well served by his style of presentation or use of injudicious language.

“Cllr Brown advises me that he’s reflected on the concerns raised and has also informed me that on September 24, 2021, he sent an email to all his colleagues with an informal apology. In this way he feels there are no outstanding courses of action for him to take when you assess that against the decision notice.”

However, six Conservative councillors on the committee — Richard Cooper, Tim Myatt, Rebecca Burnett, Matt Scott, Ed Darling and Sam Gibbs — all voted against recommending Cllr Brown for the honorary alderman title.

Ripon independent, Pauline McHardy, Liberal Democrat, Philip Broadbank and Cllr Brown himself voted in favour.

Longest serving female also excluded

By six votes to three, the committee also voted against recommending Liberal Democrat member for Hookstone, Pat Marsh, who is the longest-serving female councillor on the authority with 33 years’ service.

Cllr Marsh was found to have breached the council’s code of conduct after she made comments to a resident, that were secretly recorded, about council leader Richard Cooper, council officers and Cllr Cooper’s employer, Conservative MP for Harrogate & Knaresborough Andrew Jones.

A standards panel at HBC asked Cllr Marsh to make a public apology but she refused, citing her right to free speech and accusing the panel of not being politically balanced, having two Conservatives and one independent councillor.

By five votes to four, councillors voted against former Ripon councillor and current county councillor Andrew Williams from becoming an honorary alderman despite his 20 years of service.

The full list of councillors put forward for the title and how long they have served is below:

Philip Broadbank, Liberal Democrat councillor for Starbeck (44 years)
Nigel Simms, Conservative councillor for Masham and Kirkby Malzeard (24 years)
Margaret Atkinson, former Conservative councillor for Fountains and Ripley (23 years)
Jim Clark, former Conservative councillor for Harlow (22 years)
Trevor Chapman, Liberal Democrat councillor for Bilton Grange (19 years)
Michael Harrison, Conservative councillor for Killinghall and Hampsthwaite (19 years)
Sid Hawke, Ripon Independents councillor for Ripon Ure Bank (18 years)
Stuart Martin, Conservative councillor for Ripon Moorside (18 years)
Christine Willoughby, Liberal Democrats councillor for Knaresborough Eastfield (17 years)
Matthew Webber, Liberal Democrat councillor for New Park (16 years)
Robert Windass, Conservative councillor for Boroughbridge (15 years)

Long-awaited refurbishment of Ripon council flats approved

Harrogate Borough Council’s planning committee has given planning permission to refurbish 12 “eyesore” council flats in Ripon that date from the 1960s.

The project will include rendering of the brickwork, new stainless steel walkways and balconies, a communal garden and six car parking spaces at Allhallowgate.

The council approved spending £600,000 to improve the properties in December and the decision was ratified by the planning committee this week.

Plans to refurbish the homes date back seven years but have been delayed due to sinkhole concerns in the area.

In 2015, planning permission was granted to demolish a block of flats at 4-14a Allhallowgate and replace them with nine townhouses. The plan also included a major refurbishment of an existing block of flats.

The flats were demolished but the rest of the scheme was halted in 2019 after an engineering firm found ground instability “could be foreseen” on or near the site. They warned that measures to reduce the risk of the townhouses collapsing were not cost-effective.

Ripon sits above a layer of gypsum, which is a water-soluble rock that leads to the formation of large underground caves that can collapse.

The council pledged to continue with the refurbishment of the existing flats that weren’t demolished. However, its plans were paused again during covid as they were used as temporary accommodation for homeless people.

In May, the council was quoted £1.1m for the project by a contractor — almost double its budget of £650,000. It has since removed plans to build an extension to the building to reduce costs.

‘Somewhat of an eyesore’

Conservative cabinet member for housing and safer communities, Mike Chambers, who is also councillor for Ripon Spa, said he was happy the project was finally moving forward.

Cllr Chambers told a meeting in December after the funding was approved:

“This is a project that for a number of years has hit the buffers for various reasons. It is now appropriate we start moving it forward again. It is somewhat of an eyesore so I’m delighted we’re moving forward.

“It will improve the streetscene and a number of residents are concerned about the state of the block following the demolition. It’s high time we moved on.”

Council approves Northern Energy plan to move from Hampsthwaite

Harrogate Borough Council has approved plans for Northern Energy to relocate to Marton-cum-Grafton.

The company is currently based In Hampsthwaite and has had its headquarters in the village for more than half a century.

However, officials at Northern Energy tabled a proposal to the council in February 2021 to move to Limebar Lane, one kilometre from the village of Marton-cum-Grafton and next to the A168.

The plans include 10,000 square feet of office space, a vehicle depot, LPG and oil storage tanks and a new car park.

In documents submitted to the council, the company said it had outgrown its current site.

“Such is the success of the business, the company have now outgrown their current premises on the edge of Hampsthwaite.

“Indeed, the location of the facility, some distance from the local highway network, and the absence of oil and fuel storage capacity on site is now beginning to hinder the business.”

The proposed Northern Energy site off the A168 as submitted to Harrogate Borough Council in planning documents.

The firm, which has an annual turnover of £27 million, supplies more than 50 million litres of oil and liquid petroleum gas across the UK each year.

However, the proposals were met with strong objections from local parish councils.

Both authorities said the development is inappropriate and would have “unacceptable consequences”, such as loss of agricultural land, increase in traffic and the proximity of the site to local residents.

Arkendale, Coneythorpe and Clareton Parish Council wrote to the council to object in “the strongest terms”.

It said:

“The other consequence is of course that valuable agricultural land will be lost.

“Such land is increasingly being lost to development and for us to be as sustainable as a nation we need to preserve our agricultural capacity rather than rely on importing foodstuffs from abroad.”

Meanwhile, Marton-cum-Grafton added in its response that the development was “not of exceptional quality” and “does not enhance its immediate setting nor is it sensitive to the defining characteristics of the local area”.

Councillor ‘absolutely amazed’ Maltkiln landowner able to pull out

A councillor whose division could be transformed by thousands of new homes says he is “absolutely amazed” that a landowner was able to pull out of the Maltkiln scheme at the 11th hour.

Last week, Harrogate Borough Council revealed a landowner had decided against selling a parcel of land that would have formed part of a 3,000 to 4,000-home settlement called Maltkiln.

The potential town, which includes two primary schools, would be built off the A59 towards York near the villages of Cattal, Green Hammerton and Kirk Hammerton.

The news came as a blow to Wetherby-based Caddick Group, which has been developing plans for several years.

The developer called the decision by the landowner “regrettable” but said it was confident the scheme would continue.

The broad location for Maltkiln is allocated for development in the council’s Harrogate district Local Plan 2014-35, which maps out where housebuilding can take place.

Planning permission for Maltkiln is yet to be granted but a development plan document has been painstakingly prepared by the council over the last two years and was close to being submitted to the government for approval.

The council has said work on the development plan has now been “paused”.

Cllr Arnold Warneken, Green Party councillor for Ouseburn division on North Yorkshire County Council, described the situation as “a bit of a mess”.

Cllr Warneken told the Local Democracy Reporting Service:

“How did Harrogate Borough Council and the developer not tie-up people to legal agreements for the sale of land? I’m absolutely amazed they didn’t tie-up all these options.

“They are back to the drawing board and I wouldn’t want to be paying for this. The development plan document goes back on hold and will need to be redrafted. It almost starts again.”

Cllr Warneken said he understood the parcel of land formed a significant part of the overall masterplan.

He described an initial celebratory mood in the affected villages after the council released its statement, with residents hoping it could throw the whole project into doubt.

Now the dust has settled, he fears it could mean the developer will have to reduce its ambitions for the scheme in order to make it financially viable.

He said:

“The viability will have to be adjusted and could mean a change in the nature of properties. There might be higher density, bigger properties, and they could build one primary school instead of two. I wanted this to be an ecologically exemplar development but I’m concerned they will chip away at that.”

Responding, a spokesperson for Caddick Group said:

“It is usual for landowners to want differing terms when entering into agreements to sell their land and all such agreements are only for a specific period. In this particular case, the family concerned were previously willing to sell but wished to limit their legal agreement to a shorter period of time than the other landowners and subsequently decided not to extend or renew their agreement.

“Our proposals include innovative approaches to reducing both energy and vehicle use which will still apply to an updated new settlement boundary, which will also now incorporate a significant element of renewable energy generation.

“We are now in the early stages of reviewing our draft masterplan for Maltkiln in consultation with Harrogate Borough Council and North Yorkshire County Council, both of which will need to decide how best to advance the new settlement from this point on.

“Once we know how the councils wish to approach the change in land area, and we have explored how our proposals could be best aligned with their intended process, we will engage with the community and key stakeholders once again.”

Bilton electric charging points halted due to cost and vandalism concerns

Councillors have scrapped plans to install electrical vehicle charging points in Bilton due to concerns about vandalism and cost.

In October last year, Harrogate Borough Council approved its own planning application to demolish 10 garages at Woodfield Close to make way for two homes providing temporary accommodation for homeless people.

The scheme included five off-street public parking spaces with EV charging infrastructure.

But the council’s planning committee yesterday voted to amend its application by removing electric charging points from the plan and replacing them with solar panels on the roofs of the new houses.

Officials at the authority raised concern that the infrastructure would have a “lack of anticipated use” and, as a result, would be at a “higher chance of vandalism”.

Tom O’Donovan, economy and transport officer at the council, said in planning documents to councillors:

“All of our information shows that the area is the least likely to buy an EV any time soon and even if they did there are houses with off-street parking so they wouldn’t use the charging points; though there are some without.

“It would be very unlikely for a visitor to Harrogate to go seeking them out as we’re currently installing charging points in all of our car parks.

“My concern is that they won’t be used and there is a higher chance of vandalism potentially increasing costs for a facility we never actually planned to provide.”

Mr O’Donovan said the points would cost £3,080 over five years to run and maintain and the installation costs “will depend on the costs from Northern Powergrid”.

Arthama Lakhanpall, planning officer at the council, said the justification given by the council officer demonstrated that the infrastructure would be “more of a liability than an asset to the council” and solar panels would be “more suitable in terms of delivery and energy monitoring”.

Questions over green credentials

However, some councillors on the planning committee yesterday questioned the move.

Cllr Victoria Oldham, a Conservative who represents Washburn, asked whether it would make sense to keep the charging points for staff helping homeless people at the accommodation.

She said:

“If there are likely to be any staff in the vicinity assisting the rough sleepers there, surely they ought to have the potential of having electric charging points for their vehicles?”

Cllr Robert Windass, a Conservative who represents Boroughbridge, said electric vehicle charging points had been fitted in Back Lane car park in Boroughbridge and had never been vandalised.

He said:

“It’s right at the side of the toilet block. The toilet block gets vandalised on a fairly regular basis.

“The electric vehicle charging points have never been touched. So, they are just assuming that there will be vandalism.”

Pat Marsh, a Liberal Democrat who represents Harrogate Hookstone, said removing the charging points raised questions about the council’s commitment to tackling the climate crisis.

Councillors approved the application by nine votes to two, with one abstention.

Ripley bothy to be converted to support outdoor activities

A 200-year-old building on the Ripley estate is set to be converted to support outdoor pursuits.

The bothy, adjacent to the east pavilion in the walled garden, will be fitted out with changing rooms, storage and toilets if a planning application is approved.

The proposals are to provide better facilities for Live For Today, an outdoor activities business based in the grounds of Ripley Castle.

Last year, the bothy had structural work done to improve its condition, including a new roof and repointing with lime mortar.

Sir Thomas Ingilby of Ripley Castle told the Stray Ferret:

“Live For Today need extra storage, so part of it is for that. We have got plans for toilets and locker rooms shared by Life For Today visitors to the gardens and garden staff.

“We’re hoping to do more work with community groups coming into the gardens. We’re really keen to get it done – we have spent a lot of money doing up the bothy and it will be nice to see if back in use.”

Now a listed building, the bothy is originally believed to have been the home of a gardener on the Ripley estate.

Live For Today runs activities including paddle boarding, axe throwing, body zorbing, kayaking, bushcraft and escape rooms at the Ripley estate.

It currently uses the east pavilion for storage, which the application said was causing damage to the fabric of the building because of poor ventilation. Moving storage to the bothy would allow the pavilion to be used by the public.

Life For Today’s current facilities include portable toilets and makeshift changing rooms in the woods, which the application described as “inadequate and unsatisfactory”. The application said the newly-converted bothy would be an asset both to the business and to the estate.

To view or comment on the application, visit the planning section of Harrogate Borough Council’s website and use reference 22/04111/LB.

Council plans 7% Harrogate social housing rent increase

North Yorkshire Council looks set to increase rents on social housing in Harrogate by 7% from April.

The authority is set to inherit 3,893 social houses when Harrogate Borough Council is abolished in under three months’ time.

Senior councillors agreed to recommend the rent increase at a meeting yesterday.

It will see the average weekly rent in Harrogate increase from £85.22 to £91.18.

Cllr Simon Myers, executive councillor for housing on the council, told councillors that the increase was difficult to propose.

He said:

“I, with a very heavy heart, have to recommend to you all that we increase our rents by the maximum allowed by government this year, which is capped at 7%.”

The number of social homes which North Yorkshire Council will inherit.

Cllr Myers added that the authority needed the income to balance the books of its housing revenue account.

He added that the council also had an ambition to improve its social housing stock in the future.

Cllr Myers said:

“We have a commitment to our tenants and we understand the pressures on them and all residents of North Yorkshire.

“But we have a commitment that is very long term to provide social, fair and decent housing to our residents as a stockholding authority.”

£2 million deficit

The council will inherit a mixture of houses, flats, hostels and shared ownership properties.

According to a council report, the combination of the Harrogate, Richmondshire and Selby housing stock is set to leave the authority with an in-year deficit of £2 million.

As a result, the council has agreed to increase rents by the maximum allowed by government from April 1.

The proposal also includes a 2% increase on shared ownership property rents, which is in line with the lease agreements at those homes.

In his report, Gary Fielding, corporate director for strategic resources at the council, pointed out that that a third of the rent paid by social housing tenants is covered by housing benefit.

He said:

“The vast majority of HRA income comes from the rent that is charged to tenants. It should be noted that approximately one third of this income is paid for via housing benefit, rather than directly by tenants.

“In addition, some tenants will be in receipt of Universal Credit, which will include an element designed to cover rental payments, but this cannot be quantified.”

The recommendation to increase social housing rent by 7% will go to the authority’s full council for a final decision.

Harrogate councillors approve sixth Kingsley housing scheme

Harrogate Borough Council‘s planning committee has approved a sixth housing development in the Kingsley area after a heated debate today.

The committee was split 6-6 on whether to accept 30 new homes at Kingsley Farm. It meant Rebecca Burnett, the chair of the committee, had the casting vote in favour.

It means more than 600 properties will be built in the Kingsley ward, where residents have already expressed exasperation at the scale of development and lack of supporting infrastructure.

Most of today’s debate centred on access to the site even though council case officer Kate Broadbank said the meeting should focus on the general principle of development. Access, she said, would be debated at the later reserved matters application for ironing out the details.

Ms Broadbank said there would be access roads to the development from Kingsley Road and Hawthorn Place. Creating the access road on Kingsley Road would, she said, require the removal of a stone wall and a ‘small number of trees’, which she said would be replaced.

Cllr Chris Aldred speaking today

Cllr Chris Aldred, a Liberal Democrat who represents the area on North Yorkshire County Council, said the new access road on Kingsley Road would go through an orchard and mean there would be five junctions in the space of 150 yards.

He called for the decision to be deferred, adding:

“There’s no planning necessity for this site now. We have enough houses in Harrogate already. We can work on this slowly but surely.”

A local resident, Matt Hodgson, told the committee “access remains crucial at this stage when discussing the suitability of the site”.

‘We have listened’

Speaking on behalf of the applicant Quarters Kingsley Ltd, David Williams said it was a small local developer working alongside the landowner, who has owned the site for 100 years.

Mr Williams said it was a former chicken farm that had become an “overgrown wasteland” that had “no purpose”

David Williams speaking at the meeting

He said the applicants had already agreed to reduce the number of home from 49 to 30, adding:

“We have listened. We are doing everything we can to make a positive contribution to the area.”

Doctors and dentists

Pat Marsh, the Liberal Democrat councillor for Harrogate Hookstone asked if there would be any increased provision for doctors and dentists in the area.

Ms Broadbank said ‘there will be a contribution’ through the section 106 agreement which developers sign to pay for infrastructure associated with their schemes but where it was allocated would be a matter for the NHS.

All six councillors in favour of the scheme were Conservatives. Three Liberal Democrats, two Conservatives and one Independent opposed the recommendation to approve the principle of development on the land.

After the scheme was approved, Cllr Burnett berated Cllr Marsh for saying ‘shameful’.

“Can we have less bickering from the committee? I don’t think we need to hear ‘shameful’ shouted out when we have taken a democratic vote from all members of the committee.

“When things don’t go your way I don’t feel it’s acceptable for you to do that.”

Union escalates dispute over transfer of Harrogate council staff

Union members at Harrogate Borough Council have escalated their opposition to plans to transfer them to a new employer from April.

Five members of staff, working in the information and internal audit services department, were told they would be transferring to shared services group Veritau rather than the new North Yorkshire Council from April.

Now, Unison said it has involved its regional Yorkshire and Humberside office in the dispute after both HBC and NYCC refused to take responsibility for the decision.

Harrogate branch secretary Dave Houlgate said:

“Following the lodging of our dispute last week, which will be heard on Thursday, the borough council has come back to us to say that it was not their decision but that of North Yorkshire County Council using its transition/implementation powers.

“We have asked for some more detail around this but the upshot is that no one seems to want to take any responsibility for the decision.

“That cannot be right. This is incredibly stressful for staff who all along have had an expectation they would transfer to North Yorkshire Council.

“This late change is unfair and is unacceptable.”

The new chief executive of North Yorkshire Council has already said decisions about where staff will transfer to will be made by HBC.

Mr Houlgate said HBC had previously given reassurance to staff that they would not be transferring to Veritau, a shared service group owned by local authorities across Yorkshire and the north east.

He added:

“We can reveal that in August last year, following concerns raised by Unison, the staff were reassured by the borough council that they would be transferring to North Yorkshire Council on April 1, 2023. It remains our belief that the decision is ultimately with the borough council and that the council should stand by what it has previously told its staff.

“Understandably we are pursuing this with both councils, seeking clarity around decision-making, accountability, oversight and where the duty to engage with staff and Unison actually rests.”

Mr Houlgate said Unison would take the dispute to HBC’s human resources committee and had already tabled a question for its overview and scrutiny commission, which is set to meet on February 6 to discuss local government reorganisation.

Unison said it is unable to raise the issue at a full council meeting because HBC is not holding one until March, which will be too late.

The Stray Ferret has contacted Harrogate Borough Council for a response.

The authority previously said audit services for the new authority will be provided by Veritau and that staff had been kept informed throughout the process.

It said staff will transfer on their existing terms and conditions, and will be offered the option of moving to Veritau’s terms.

Harrogate council faces £1.2m overspend on energy bills

Harrogate Borough Council has estimated its energy bills are set to cost £1.2 million above budget by the end of the financial year.

In a quarter three financial report due before councillors next week, Gillian Morland, service finance manager, said the authority has an estimated overall overspend of £1.4 million.

The overspend is largely due to soaring utility costs and a higher than expected staff pay award. It budgeted for a 2.5% pay increase but the actual increase was 6.7%.

In her quarter two update in October, Ms Morland forecast the council faced a “sizeable overspend” by the end of the financial year.

She told councillors:

“As things stand we are looking at a sizeable overspend this year.

“We are hoping overspend will come down but we do have sufficient funds to cover it.”

But the economic situation remains difficult, mainly due to rising energy bills.

In quarter three, an overspend of £170,000 is predicted in housing and property, an increase of £121,000 from quarter two. The report explains:

“There is now a forecast overspend on homelessness of £112,000. This is primarily down to an overspend on B&B accommodation.

“There is a forecast £51,000 overspend on street lighting primarily due to energy costs and street nameplates.”

Parks and environmental services is forecasting an overspend of £739,000, largely due to temporary staff costs.

Harrogate Convention Centre is forecasting a net overspend of £264,000 — the reasons are exempt from the public and media.

But a £166,000 underspend is expected in legal and governance and underspends are also forecast in ICT and organisational development and Improvement.

Support from government

The report comes after senior county councillors warned that soaring energy costs meant local authorities needed support from government.

Cllr Simon Myers, executive councillor for growth, culture, leisure, sport and housing at North Yorkshire County Council, told a meeting in September:

“You can imagine that the extra costs in heating schools, leisure facilities and other council buildings are going to be enormous.

“And it is unlikely that there will be any ability to recoup that cost from residents. Indeed, it would be wrong to, given the economic circumstances that our residents are facing.

“We are going to need help from central government if we are not going to cut back on essential services.”

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Longest serving female also excluded

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‘Somewhat of an eyesore’

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Questions over green credentials

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£2 million deficit

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‘We have listened’

Doctors and dentists

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Support from government