The leader of Conservative-run Harrogate Borough Council has attacked the local Liberal Democrats for using a firm in Dundee to print a leaflet urging people to ‘buy local’.

Richard Cooper criticised the move in a post on the Community News website run by Andrew Jones, the Conservative MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough. Cllr Cooper is employed by Mr Jones as his office manager,

It is a sign that the North Yorkshire Council election campaign is hotting up ahead of the vote on May 5.

Mr Cooper said it was “critical that we use local businesses where we can”.

According to the post, other local Liberal Democrat literature has been printed in York and Chesterfield.

Cllr Cooper said:

“It is critical that we use local businesses where we can and there are a lot of good local printers who would have wanted this business.

“It really is strange to call on others to ‘buy local’ when you are buying from York, Chesterfield and even Dundee!”.

Cllr Cooper, who has said he will not be seeking re-election next month, also said the leaflet’s ‘greener’ agenda was at odds with its creation.

Carbon footprint

He said:

“Even if they didn’t want to use local printers for some reason was it really necessary to go 60-odd miles north of Edinburgh? The carbon footprint of their literature is enormous.

“When you tell people you want to ‘buy local’ and ‘be greener’ you have to match your actions with words.”

The post said all election campaign leaflets published by Harrogate and Knaresborough Conservatives were printed in Harrogate and Mr Jones’ annual reports were printed in Knaresborough.

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Pat Marsh, leader of Harrogate and Knaresborough Liberal Democrats, told the Stray Ferret that the Conservatives “should really have bigger things to be worrying about than where we print our material”, such as spiralling energy bills, the fallout of war in Ukraine and “businesses feeling the bite of Brexit”.

Cllr Marsh added:

“This is a particularly strange attack from the Conservatives who, during the pandemic, took £10,000 of grants to pay for their office.

“We think these grants should have been used to support local businesses, not on political party campaigns. Since they print a lot of their material at their office many people will be questioning whether their taxpayers money is helping to fund Conservative election leaflets.”

She added that the Liberal Democrats’ process for using outside suppliers was to “try and get the best value for money”, which was “something Conservative-run Harrogate council could learn from”, adding:

“They spent £5,000 on a giant snow globe that was displayed in London for two days over Christmas and £700 on social media influencers. This is on top of the £13 million they wasted on a council office for a council their own government is abolishing.”

A new Changing Places toilet will be created in the Harrogate district after the council was awarded funding for the project.

Harrogate Borough Council has been given £40,000 to deliver the facility, which offers specially adapted facilities for people in wheelchairs and with very limited mobility.

The funding is part of a national £23.5m investment from the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. It will see the total number of Changing Places toilets across England increase from 1,300 to more than 1,800.

They are expected to be installed in public parks, tourist attractions, museums, art galleries, cathedrals, shopping centres, libraries and other public buildings.

Ministerial disability champion Eddie Hughes MP said:

“People with severe disabilities and their families or carers should not have to think about whether there are suitable toilet facilities when they go out shopping, plan a day out or travel.

“That is why it is great to hear that our funding will help provide over 500 new Changing Places toilets in England enabling them to go about day-to-day activities like the rest of the population with more dignity and freedom.“

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Changing Places toilets feature adaptations including hoists and changing benches. They also have enough space to move wheelchairs around all the furniture and for carers to support people using the room.

There are existing Changing Places facilities at Harrogate and Starbeck libraries, the Hydro, Morrison’s and the Yorkshire Event Centre in Harrogate. In Knaresborough, they have been installed at Gracious Street Methodist Church, Knaresborough Pool and Henshaws Arts and Craft Centre.

There are no city centre facilities in Ripon, but there is a Changing Places toilet at Lightwater Valley theme park.

The Stray Ferret asked Harrogate Borough Council where the new facility would be installed, but had not received a response at the time of publication.

It will be business as usual for a Ripon art gallery, if plans to extensively redevelop premises in a prime city location receive approval.

David Harrison owns and operates the gallery at 19 Kirkgate, where he also provides a bespoke framing service.

He told the Stray Ferret:

“I’ve had amicable and constructive discussions with the landlord and I am happy with what they are proposing.

“I’ve been here for seven years and their plans mean that I will be able to continue to trade from this location”

Mr Harrison, who was born and bred in Ripon, is well-known by the city’s arts community. Work by locally-based contemporary artists, such as Carol Ashworth, can be bought from his shop.

He said:

“I went to school in the city and my parents used to run the White Horse pub in North Street, so I know a lot of people in Ripon.”

David Harrison pictured in his gallery next to an original work by Carol Ashworth

Sterne Properties, which owns 19 Kirkgate, has submitted a planning application to Harrogate Borough Council for internal reconfiguration of the building, which currently comprises Mr Harrisons’ retail unit at street level and a two-bedroom flat above.

The Ripon-based property company is seeking permission to create a cottage incorporating two flats at the premises, which are close to the city’s iconic cathedral.

With changes to the internal layout of the building including the removal of a wall, the gallery will be able to retain its space.

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The building has had an arts connection for many years. Prior to Mr Harrison setting up his business, 19 Kirkgate, was home to Alan Matthews Watercolours and works of the artist could be seen and purchased from the premises.

Sterne’s track record

Sterne’s track record of property development has supported retail regeneration and the hospitality and leisure sectors in Ripon.

The company’s projects include the mixed-used redevelopment of the former NatWest bank building next to Ripon Town Hall, which brought the Claro Lounge to the city and saw the creation of apartments on the upper floors.

Other developments include Halls (formerly Wrens) on Fishergate, where Ripon’s only department store reopened last year.

The company was also responsible for the redevelopment of a former furniture store on North Street, which enabled Curzon to bring cinema back to the city for the first time in more than 30 years.

A new mosque will be created in central Harrogate after the sale of the former Home Guard club completed today.

Harrogate Islamic Association has collected the keys for its new Tower Street premises after raising the £500,000 needed to buy the now-dilapidated building.

However, the hard work is not over: the group will continue to raise funds throughout Ramadan, which started today, to fund the renovations needed to bring the property back into use.

Zahed Amanullah, a member of the association, told the Stray Ferret:

“We are just over the moon — we’re so excited.

“Other communities in Yorkshire are looking this way and are really impressed with what they have seen.

“It’s a great example of how to establish a community within a wider society that is really harmonious and supportive.”

Mr Amanullah said Friday prayers for members of the association had been celebratory, with many having moved to Harrogate a decade or more ago and been searching for a place for a mosque ever since.

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Harrogate Borough Council granted planning permission in March for changes to the building to create a place of worship.

HIA then began a crowdfunding campaign to raise £200,000, alongside loans, to complete the purchase and to carry out repairs. Mr Amanullah said the first priority was to repair the roof and ensure the building was water-tight before any further work was carried out.

Zahed Amanullah of Harrogate Islamic Association

Then, he hopes some space can be refurbished and opened later this year while the remainder of the building is renovated. He added:

“There are some real architectural surprises in there – we’re looking forward to having a good look around. We had just one or two walks through the building in total darkness so far!

“We’ve had people offering in-kind support. That alone is hugely helpful — we’ve got tradesmen and women offering their services.

“We’ll be using an architect, and we’ll be working with Harrogate Civic Society on our plans.

“We’re looking forward to welcoming people into the building. We will have some sort of public open house when it’s safe to do so.”

A dispute over the decision not to hold a by-election in the Harrogate district has reached the House of Lords.

Following the death of Conservative Cllr Normal Waller at the end of January, Harrogate Borough Council has announced a by-election will not be held in Marston Moor.

The ward includes the villages Tockwith, Cattal and Bilton-in-Ainsty.

The council said a routine election was due to take place within six months of Cllr Waller’s death, meaning a by-election would not be needed.

Norman Waller

However, that election has since been cancelled, as all existing HBC councillors have had their terms extended by a year while the new North Yorkshire Council is set up.

Confirming the decision, the council said:

“As a matter of law when a casual vacancy arises within six months of the date for the ‘ordinary election’, then the casual vacancy is to be filled at the next ‘ordinary election’. For this reason, a notice of vacancy stating the election for Marston Moor would be on May 5 was published.

“However, local government reorganisation and the Structural Changes Order has changed this by cancelling the Harrogate Borough Council ordinary elections on May 5 and extending all serving Harrogate Borough Council members’ term of office until April 1, 2023 at which point Harrogate Borough Council will be dissolved as part of unitary re-organisation.

“Having taken legal advice and consulted with the Association of Electoral Administrators we cannot see any way forward for the election to fill the vacancy at Marston Moor ward.”

However, the decision has been criticised by former councillor Arnold Warneken, who was intending to stand for the Green Party in the by-election.

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Mr Warneken highlighted the inconsistency with Wathvale ward, where a by-election is set to be held on May 5 following the retirement of Cllr Bernard Bateman. He said:

“I’m not at all happy with the situation that Harrogate council have allowed the residents of Marston Moor ward to end up with, which is that as a result of the death of my friend and colleague, former district councillor Norman Waller, we would all expect there to be a by-election but for reasons beyond me this is not the case, and we will be without an elected representative for the next 13 months.”

House of Lords

Now, the issue has been raised by Baroness Natalie Bennett of Manor Castle in the House of Lords.

Baroness Bennett, a former leader of the Green Party, submitted a question to the government on Wednesday about its correspondence with HBC about holding a by-election in Marston Moor after the planned local elections were cancelled. The government has two weeks to provide a response.

Harrogate Borough Council yesterday reiterated that its decision about Marston Moor was made before the planned elections for the district were cancelled. The decision to hold a by-election in Wathvale was made after this date.

The by-election for Wathvale takes place on Thursday, May 5. It is the same day that voters across North Yorkshire will go to the polls to elect their representatives for the new county-wide unitary authority.

Over the next year, work will take place to set up North Yorkshire Council ready to take over from the existing county council and seven district councils, including Harrogate, next spring.

Four renovated flats on Knaresborough High Street are to be sold off by Harrogate Borough Council for almost £900,000.

Members of the council’s cabinet agreed to the sale at a meeting last night after the Grade II listed properties were unoccupied for several years before being bought by the council in 2019.

A renovation project also including two retail units has recently been completed and the properties are now on the market.

Cllr Graham Swift, deputy leader of the council, said the authority would not make a profit from the £879,900 leasehold sale and that he hoped more vacant properties in Knaresborough town centre would now be brought back into use.

He told last night’s meeting:

“These are a series of properties that have been neglected by the private equity owners for many years.

“The whole area had been dragged down and many residents were aware of this and very disappointed by the state of the high street.

“It is a listed and very complicated building, and has a number of interesting construction aspects which has made it challenging.

“People can now really sense the improvement of the high street and I’m pretty optimistic that we will see other people who own properties in the area join the bandwagon.”

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The flats are individually valued between £189,950 and £295,000.

The council will retain control over the freehold of the flats, as well as the freehold of the two retail units that were part of the refurbishment.

Cllr Swift, who is also cabinet member for resources, enterprise and economic development, added: 

“We have done a lot of work in Knaresborough over the last few years including just up the road at Conyngham Hall with an investment in the tech centre which has been extremely positive.

“And I think we can even do work on Knaresborough House in the future which may be something to keep our eyes on.”

Two major projects to renovate Harrogate Hydro and build a new leisure centre in Knaresborough will get underway next month.

Harrogate Borough Council is behind the plans which will cost around £28 million and see the construction works carried out by Bristol-based firm Alliance Leisure.

The Hydro will get an £11.8 million investment, including a two-storey extension of the building, as well as a new entrance, cafe and reception area.

There will also be a new diving board structure, fitness suite and refurbished changing areas.

The venue will close on April 8 and the project will be phased to allow for the pool hall area to be brought back into use “as soon as possible in early 2023,” the council said.

It also said it anticipated all of the works will be completed by April 2023.

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Meanwhile, some grounds works are already underway at Fysche Field in Knaresborough where a new £17 million leisure centre complete with a six-lane pool, health spa and fitness studios will be built as a replacement for the existing Knaresborough Pool.

It will be built behind the existing pool which will remain open during the works before being demolished.

The council said the new leisure centre will take 65 weeks to build with completion in July 2023.

After this, the demolition works will take a further 15 weeks with completion in October 2023.

Proposals for the Knaresborough Leisure Centre.

These proposals were approved last month despite concerns over the environmental impact of demolishing a large building to replace it with another.

However, Jonathan Dunk, chief development officer at the council, described the 30-year-old Knaresborough Pool as “at the end of its working life” and said more swimming space was needed for the town’s growing population.

He previously said: 

“We need to renew rather than refurbish the existing facility because it is old and there is inadequate water space.

“We also want to upgrade to make the most of the energy performance of the new building.”

In Ripon, the opening of the city’s new multi-million pound swimming pool was finally celebrated on 2 March after months of costly delays.

The project was nine months overdue and £4 million over budget, and refurbishment works on the adjoining Ripon Leisure Centre are still underway after the discovery of an underground void prompted the need for an investigation.

The investigation by engineering firm Stantec was due to finish earlier this month and a report setting out what reinforcement works will be required will now follow.

Stantec previously suggested there had been a “significant deterioration” of the ground beneath the older half of the leisure centre and that strengthening works could include steelworks, thickened floors and grouting – the same method “successfully” used to stabilise the new pool.

Plans to convert a former Harrogate district primary school into a house have been approved.

Leeds Diocesan Board of Finance applied to Harrogate Borough Council to convert the former Bishop Thornton Church of England Primary School site off Colber Lane.

The school closed in 2019 after it outgrew the site and moved to the former Burnt Yates Church of England Primary School building. The school has since been renamed as Admiral Long CE Primary School.

The council has now given the go-ahead to the proposal.

According to plans submitted to the council, the Bishop Thornton building will be converted into a three-bedroom house with two parking spaces.

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The developer said in documents that the proposal will represent a “satisfactory replacement” for the former school building.

It said:

“Making use of empty buildings and placing great weight on using suitable sites within existing settlements is supported by national planning policy.”

The Harrogate district has been revealed as one of the worst prepared areas in the UK for the electric car revolution.

New research shows the district places fourth among the least ready regions, with just one charging point for every 134 electric or hybrid cars.

This comes as more and more motorists across the nation are making the switch to electric as the government’s ban on sales of petrol and diesel cars by 2030 is now less than a decade away.

Harrogate has seen rapid growth in the number of electric vehicles on its roads, with more than York or any other district in North Yorkshire.

However, the district’s charging infrastructure is lagging behind and there is now pressure on local authorities to speed up their offering in order to support efforts to tackle climate change.

Harrogate Borough Council – which has admitted the district’s charging point numbers are “some way behind” neighbouring areas such as York and Leeds – has set an aim to get 10,000 electric vehicles on the roads by 2023.

It said in a statement that it has installed charging points at several council-owned locations and that it plans to roll out 60 more within the next five years.

The borough council said: 

“It is encouraging to see that the Harrogate district has seen an increase in electric vehicle ownership.

“Our Ultra-Low Emission Vehicle strategy aims to respond to this local need and fulfil our vision to have the most ambitious and forward-thinking programme for electric vehicles of any borough council.

“Charging points have been installed at council sites across the district, including Phoenix Business Park in Ripon and Conyngham Hall in Knaresborough.

“Charging points will also be installed at Hornbeam Park train station car park in Harrogate, Victoria multi-storey car park in Harrogate, Chapel Street car park in Knaresborough, Southlands car park in Pateley Bridge and cathedral car park in Ripon in the coming months.”

Harrogate Borough Council is responsible for areas including off-street parking and planning, and said all new housing developments are equipped with charging points along with a dedicated electric circuit.

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On-street parking is the responsibility of North Yorkshire County Council which said it recognised the urgency of improving electric car infrastructure, but added it wanted “take the time needed to ensure we find the correct solutions to ensure everyone has convenient access”.

It said a charging point study is currently underway and will involve a public consultation to ask residents for their views.

Karl Battersby, corporate director for business and environmental services at the county council, said: 

“North Yorkshire is currently exploring many options and engaging with specialist companies to seek solutions to the challenges surrounding electric vehicle charging.

“Options being considered include rapid charging hubs and innovative measures to provide on-street charging.”

Mr Battersby added: 

“Harrogate has more registered electric vehicles than any other district in the county and also the most publicly available charge points, though some of those have restricted availability.

“Department for Transport data shows Harrogate and Ryedale are in the top 40% of UK council areas for total numbers of charging points.”

The research which shows Harrogate places fourth among the least ready regions is from insurance group esure. It found the district comes behind only Slough, Swindon and Stockport which is the worst prepared place with 448 electric and hybrid vehicles having to share each charger.

The figures also show it’s 3.5 times harder to find a charger in Harrogate than in York which has made better progress with one charging point for every 38 vehicles.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, London comes out on top as the best prepared area with only four cars per each charger.

Plans for a new 36-flat supported housing development in Harrogate have been given the go-ahead today.

Jackie Snape, chief executive of the Harrogate charity Disability Action Yorkshire, made an impassioned plea to councillors for the scheme to go ahead. She said disabled people wanted to be given more control of their lives.

Ms Snape told Harrogate Borough Council‘s planning meeting that the need for supported housing was growing ever greater as disabled people “want so much more than residential care”.

She was speaking in support of plans to replace the charity’s existing Claro Road care home with 36 flats, which will allow residents to live more independently.

Ms Snape said:

“Disability Action Yorkshire has provided residential care for disabled people in the Harrogate area for the past 60 years, and for at least the last six years we have been working towards stopping that part of our service.

“The reason for this is that the disabled people we work with are telling us very loudly that they don’t want residential care.

“I asked the young disabled people currently living in 34 Claro Road what they thought I should say to you today.

“They said ‘just tell them we are ready, we want choice and control over our own lives, we just want our own front doors, we want what everyone else has.’”

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Disability Action Yorkshire, which this year celebrates its 85th anniversary, is working with Highstone Housing Association to build three apartment blocks at the Claro Road site.

Residents ‘no longer want residential care’

Ms Snape said the need for this type of accommodation has been growing over the last decade, but became in even greater demand during the pandemic which “solidified the resolve” of Claro Road residents that they no longer want residential care.

She said:

“For the past two years they have been treated differently to the rest of society, at one point not being able to have visits from friends and family while the rest of the country went out to eat out.

“Nearly every day somebody said we wouldn’t be in this situation if we had a home of our own.”

The charity’s plans – which included a mix of one and two-bed flats – were approved with “open arms” by Harrogate Borough Council’s planning committee today.

Works will now start later this month to construct the first of the flats on the grounds of the current home and on a derelict playground which was sold off by the council last year.

The existing care home will be replaced with flats, as well as a base for support staff who will be on site 24-hours-a-day.

Speaking at today’s meeting, councillor Stuart Martin said:

“This is exactly the sort of development we should be building and it’s one of the easiest decisions I’ve taken on this planning committee.”