A plan to convert a former Royal Air Force club in Harrogate into flats has been approved.

The club on East Parade occupied the building between 1966 and 2022 and served to support ex-RAF servicemen and servicewomen throughout the Harrogate district.

Its members were part of the RAF Association, a registered charity that provides welfare support to the family of RAF members nationally.

Now, Harrogate Borough Council has approved a proposal by Mr Aaron Dean to convert the club into four flats following its closure last year.

The club closed after over 50 years in June 2022 due to a dwindling membership locally.

A statement from the club chairman last summer said the club was no longer viable and when sold, the proceeds would be given to the RAF Association.

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A closing party was held at the club where people made donations to obtain some of its remaining military memorabilia.

Despite closing the club, the Harrogate district branch of RAFA is continuing with its charitable endeavours and remaining members will still attend annual events such as the Battle of Britain commemorative parade at Stonefall Cemetery and Remembrance Sunday parades.

Harrogate Town has lodged plans to install a new terrace and merchandise kiosk at its Wetherby Road ground.

The club has tabled the proposal, which would see a new 100-person terrace built near to the north stand turnstiles, to Harrogate Borough Council.

Meanwhile, a kiosk is also planned in order to serve fans refreshments and Harrogate Town merchandise.

The club said the new terrace is required because the English Football League will no longer accept perimeter standing at stadiums.

In planning documents, it said:

“The proposed terrace will accommodate spectators which use the existing perimeter standing areas and will therefore not increase the overall ground capacity.

“The small kiosk building will be used for the club shop selling on site merchandising on match days, as well as a replacement (non-alcoholic) drinks servery to replace a kiosk within the AON Terrace that was recently converted to WC’s.”

The location for the terrace and kiosk at the Envirovent Stadium.

The council will make a decision on the plan at a later date.

The club recently saw its proposal to upgrade its Envirovent Stadium approved.

It will see almost 1,000 seats installed to bring the ground up to EFL standards.

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To the south of the ground, the Myrings terrace will see 264 seats installed and the 1919 bar will be demolished and replaced with a new standing terrace.

A total of 603 seats were installed in the Black Sheep Brewery stand a few weeks ago.

The changes will not increase the overall capacity of 5,071 but will see the number of fans that can be seated rise from 1,193 to 2,060.

Last weekend’s planned installation of the £300,000 temporary gym in the car park at the Jack Laugher Leisure and Wellness Centre in Ripon did not go ahead.

As reported in the Stray Ferret, the installation was scheduled to take place between March 25 and 26, with the leisure centre and adjacent children’s playground shut during the operation.

However, a spokesperson for Harrogate Borough Council said this morning:

“Unfortunately, due to the predicted high winds, the installation was postponed until this weekend.”

The spokesperson added the leisure centre and playground is now due to close at 6pm on Saturday (April 1) until Monday morning (April 3) to ensure the gym can be put in place.

Its Installation will enable the closure of the existing gym on the upper floor of the 28-year-old leisure centre next to the new swimming pool that opened last March, paving the way for ground stabilisation works costing £3.5million to be carried out under the building.

A week ago the council, which runs the site through its leisure company Brimhams Active, said the temporary facility would open next month:

In its statement, the council added:

“The gym will include the high-quality, state-of-the-art Technogym equipment currently available in the existing leisure and wellness centre, as well as expert advice and guidance from the Brimhams Active team.

“Customers will still be able to use the changing and shower facilities in the new pool area – as well as the sauna and steam suite – as they will remain open as normal.

“Group exercise classes will also continue to be provided at Hugh Ripley Hall.”

Villagers in Staveley demonstrated last weekend against a planned scheme for 73 homes near a nature reserve.

Thomas Alexander Homes, which is based in Leeds, has tabled the proposal to Harrogate Borough Council for land off Minskip Road near to Staveley Nature Reserve.

The plan would see a mixture of one, two, three, four and five-bedroom houses built in the village, which is between Knaresborough and Boroughbridge. The developer has also earmarked 40% of the homes as affordable.

However, residents armed with placards took to the village green on Saturday to protest against the plan which they say would be “utter madness”.

Graham Bowland, from Staveley Residents Action Group, said residents had also written to the council to object to the scheme.

He said:

“As of today there are 130 resident objection letters with Harrogate Borough Council – either processed or being processed.

“We bombarded them with actual letters given the lack of opportunity to use the planning portal over the past couple of weeks.”

The portal, which allows people to comment on planning applications, was down for over a week until last week.

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Residents previously raised objections at a village hall meeting this month.

The developer said in its plans the site represented a “logical extension” to the village.

It said:

“The proposal forms a logical extension to Staveley, the local authority concurred with this assessment by allocating the site for residential development to the scale of approximately 72 dwellings.”

With Harrogate Borough Council in its final days, the Local Democracy Reporting Service looked at five major moments that defined it.

From controversy over the Harrogate conference centre to the move from Crescent Gardens to the Civic Centre — the council has played a major role in the look, feel and development of the district for the last 49 years.

As well as searching the archives of the Harrogate Advertiser we spoke to some of the people who were involved at the time to give a picture of how these five events unfolded.

1992: The future of shopping comes to Harrogate

Speak to a Harrogate resident over the age of around 40 it’s likely they will talk with fondness about the town’s former indoor market that was demolished in 1991.

For some, shopping has never quite been the same since the council approved the demolition so it could be replaced with the £50m Victoria Shopping Centre.

The old market was well-loved and included butchers, fishmongers, florists, needlecraft shops, second-hand book and record shops and much more.

But the late 20th century was the era of the shopping mall and there were hopes in Harrogate that a more modern facility would revitalise the town centre and attract major national brands. The market traders would be invited to take the space downstairs as part of the project.

Funding came from National Provident Institution and it was developed in partnership between Harrogate Borough Council and Speyhawk Retail plc.

The plans included a council-owned 800-space multi-storey car park on the other side of the train tracks with a bridge to connect shoppers.

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But the scheme was developed during the recession of the early 1990s that hit the town hard.

Harrogate’s bus station had been boarded up due to financial difficulties and the letters pages of the Harrogate Advertiser was full of fears about the town becoming a wasteland of empty shops and buildings.

During construction, market traders were moved to a temporary market on Station Parade while they eagerly awaited their new home to open.

Excitement was building and in early 1992 the Harrogate Chamber of Trade and Commerce suggested good times were finally around the corner. It called on the Harrogate public to be more positive.

The business group had a punchy statement published in the Advertiser. It said:

“We’ve had enough! We’re sick and tired of the Harrogate and district moaners. All they do is complain, complain, complain and never look for the encouraging signs all around us.”

The Victoria Shopping Centre was designed by architects Cullearn & Phillips and was inspired by Palladio’s Basilica in Vicenza.

But its most controversial aspect were the sculptures depicting customers and staff on the balustrade around the roof line.

Harrogate historian Malcolm Neesam desribed the statues as “quite hateful” resident Simon Townson told a reporter they were “grotesque and not for Harrogate” and the Harrogate Civic Society led calls to see them removed.

However they are still there to this day after the developer insisted they were a fundamental part of the design.

In the summer of 1992, Speyhawk revealed that 40% of the units had been filled by brands including Tie Rack, Levi’s and the Body Shop.

The underground market hall was opened on October 20 by then-mayor of Harrogate Barbara Hillier, with the rest of the shopping centre opening on November 9.

There was a wave of optimism from shoppers who described the town’s new venue as the future of shopping.

There were 54 units for market traders on the ground floor and they were quickly occupied. Butcher Brian Noon told the Advertiser in 1992:

“I think its brilliant! The developers have thrown a lot of money at it to make sure the building is tip-top.”

Harrogate Wools owner Bill Lee was similarly optimistic about the building’s future. He said:

“It will bring people back to Harrogate because they definitely have not been coming. I haven’t heard one complaint.”

The Victoria Shopping Centre was built in the years just before internet shopping took hold, which was perhaps not to have been foreseen.

Enthusiasm slowly ebbed away during the 1990s and 2000s as the market traders on the ground floor left one-by-one.

Today, the Victoria Shopping Centre still features big high-street names like WHSmith, TK Maxx and HMV. The town’s post office also moved there in 2019.

It’s now owned but not run by Harrogate Borough Council. The Local Democracy Reporting Service revealed last year its value has fallen by more than 80% in 10 years.

Harrogate Borough Council said it could receive a boost in shoppers if another controversial scheme, the Station Gateway, goes ahead.

But that will be a decision for North Yorkshire Council.

2008: A dilapidated Royal Hall brought back to former glory

The Royal Hall’s halcyon days saw it host the likes of the Beatles as well as the music, arts and comedy stars of the time.

But by the turn of the twentieth century, Harrogate’s grandest council-owned building had fallen into rack and ruin. In 2002 it closed to the public after part of its famous ceiling collapsed.

It’s downfall was in part, due to the town’s conference centre being such a drain on the council’s resources, according to the book Kursal – a History of Harrogate’s Royal Hall.

Royal Hall by Jim Counter

It was in such a poor state of repair that the unthinkable was being broached by councillors — after almost 100 years the Royal Hall could be condemned and demolished.

Refurbishment was originally estimated to cost £8.56m with the council likely to having to stump up £2m from its own coffers. The remaining amount would come from a Heritage Lottery Fund grant.

However, there were fears the risky project could potentially bankrupt the authority.

Its emotional importance to the town was not only felt by residents in the town but by performers too.

David Hirst, who led the world famous brass band the Brighouse and Rastrick Band, made his plea from the stage of the Royal Hall in 2000.

He urged the audience, reduced in capacity because the theatre’s upper circle has been closed due to the crumbling concrete, to “get those letters in” to the council and back restoration. He said:

“This building is part of the Harrogate heritage, part of the tone of Harrogate.”

The Royal Hall Restoration Trust was formed in 2001 after then-leader of the council, Cllr Geoff Webber, suggested to the chairman of Harrogate Civic Society, Lilian Mina, that the council would welcome the support of an independent organisation whose prime role would be raising money for the refurbishment.

Then followed tea dances, school concerts, charity balls and other events, which raised £2.7m for the restoration — far more than the £1m it originally expected.

Lilian Mina died in 2008 and Geoff Webber died in 2021 but his son Matthew Webber, who is currently a Liberal Democrat Harrogate councillor, paid tribute to those who spearheaded the campaign to save the Royal Hall.

It was officially re-opened by patron of the trust Prince Charles in 2008 after six years of works.

Cllr Webber said:

“I am very proud of the work done by my late father as council leader at the time in conjunction with the Lilian Mina and the Royal Hall Preservation Trust that led to the Royal Hall being returned to its continued use today.”

2017: Goodbye to Crescent Gardens and a new home

Like the conference centre throughout the 1980s, it was Harrogate Borough Council’s move away from Crescent Gardens that dominated council-business during the mid-2010s.

Crescent Gardens had been used by HBC since 1974 and before that was used by the predecessor council in Harrogate ever since it opened on Halloween 1931.

But by the 21st century, the neo-classical building was showing its age and had become expensive to maintain for the council.

In 2010, the Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government came to power and councils were ordered to find savings under its programme of austerity.

The civic centre at Knapping Mount.

For the council, Crescent Gardens was an obvious place to look.

The council put forward several proposals, which included refurbishing Crescent Gardens, but it ultimately decided to build new offices on land it already owned at Knapping Mount off King’s Road.

At the time, it said the build would cost £8m although the move, as well as the selling off of other offices, would save around £1m in year due to reduced costs involved with maintaining the older buildings.

Tantalisingly for the council, there were hopes it could sell Crescent Gardens to a luxury developer. 

Then-council leader Don Mackenzie was quoted saying it could generate an investment of up to £30m into the district’s economy.

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Another former Conservative council leader, Anthony Alton, told a meeting the move was probably the biggest decision the council has taken since 1974. He added:

“We are in a continuing economic downturn which means that we have to make every penny count.”

The move to the Civic Centre was always contentious.

The Liberal Democrats argued that £2.5m should be spent on a refurbishment of Crescent Gardens and the Knapping Mount site should be sold for affordable housing.

They also criticised its circular design, saying it would increase costs.

By 2015, rumblings of another local government reorganisation in North Yorkshire were beginning to gather pace and questions were being asked about what would happen to the Civic Centre if there was no longer a council in Harrogate.

Vicky Carr is a former reporter at the Harrogate Advertiser and current deputy editor at the Stray Ferret. 

She remembers the subject coming up at a heated Harrogate Chamber of Trade and Commerce meeting that year. 

She said:

“Someone wondered whether it made sense to be spending millions on a new headquarters for a local authority which, under government policy, was likely to be abolished within a decade.

“HBC offered reassurances that, should devolution go ahead, a shiny new civic centre would make Harrogate an ideal place for a new unitary authority to have its headquarters.

“Fast forward eight years and, while North Yorkshire Council will use the civic centre for some staff and services, it is keeping its headquarters firmly rooted in Northallerton.”

In 2020, the Stray Ferret published an investigation that estimated the land at Knapping Mount was worth £4.5m to the council, taking the project’s overall cost to £17m. However, the council has always disputed this.

Apart from during the covid lockdowns, council staff have been using the Civic Centre since December 2017.

Crescent Gardens on the other hand is still empty, almost five years’ since Harrogate Borough Council moved out.

The council originally announced it would sell it to property developer Adam Thorpe who had plans for a £75m redevelopment including luxury apartments, an art gallery, underground car park, swimming pool and restaurant.

But two years later, Mr Thorpe’s company ATP Ltd fell into administration with debts of almost £11m, including £24,394 owed to the council.

Crescent Gardens then went back up for sale and was eventually bought for £4m by Impala Estates in 2020.

The Harrogate-based developer was granted planning permission last year for a major refurbishment of the building that will see two-storey extension, rooftop restaurant, gym and new office space.

Pateley Bridge’s annual parking permits will go on sale on April 1 at the reduced price of £10.

The permit, which is available to residents and non-residents, enables free parking for two hours at the town’s council-run Southlands and Nidd Walk car parks.

The permit cost £12 last year and also included parking at Nidderdale Showground.

But that arrangement ended in December when NIdderdale Agricultural Society, which owns the showground, ended a 21-year lease agreement with Harrogate Borough Council to operate the car park and appointed a private company instead.

The issue caused bad feeling as people who had bought the annual permit in good faith were shocked to discover before it had expired that they were liable for charges at the showground.

The 2023/24 permits, which cover two vehicles, will go on sale at Nidderdale Plus on Station Square on April 1.

Pateley town councillor Mike Holt said the permit was tremendous value, adding:

“The council was bitterly disappointed with the parking situation which occurred at the showground and has been in negotiation with Harrogate Borough Council.

“We are pleased to announce that through these negotiations, the parking permits will still be valid at Southlands and Nidd Walk for £10.”

Cllr Holt said the council received an allocation of 600 permits each year and usually sold 300 to 400 on the day they went on sale and the majority of the rest afterwards.

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Fears that priceless elements of Ripon’s rich military heritage could be flattened to make way for the 1,300-home Clotherholme scheme have been allayed.

Jane Furse, a trustee of the Ripon Military Heritage Trust, which has plans to create heritage trails on the development site, told the Stray Ferret:

“We were concerned that some extremely rare huts on the Deverell  Barracks part of the site, and other historically important structures, would be demolished, but I’m relieved to say that this will not be the case.

“These huts are among the few surviving of their kind in the UK and help to tell the story of the vital national and international role that Ripon’s Royal Engineers played in just about every aspect of World War II and subsequent conflicts.

“This included training British and allied troops in the erection and use of Bailey Bridges in theatres of war such as Sicily and France and bomb disposal, that saved the lives of civilians and military personnel around the world.”

Minutes of Harrogate Borough Council’s February 23 planning meeting at which Homes England was seeking outline approval to progress development of the huge Clotherholme scheme, confirm that the huts and other structures will have protection.

Under the provisions of a Section 106 agreement the developer is required to put in place a strategy to ‘secure military heritage within the site.’

Jane Furse of Ripon Military Heritage Trust pictured at the barracks site

The planning meeting minutes also say:

“Prior to the commencement of works to each phase of development, a record (including photographs, drawings and summary of historic analysis) shall be made of a representative selection of buildings with military heritage on site and shall be submitted to and approved in writing by the local planning authority. Copies of this record shall be placed on the North Yorkshire Historic Environment Record.”

Ms Furse, an architectural historian and former inspector of historic buildings with English Heritage (now Historic England) pointed out:

“Inclusion within the S 106 agreement means that the significance of military heritage assets at the site has been formally recognised and that is very welcome news.

“It means that we can go forward, in liaison with Homes England and other parties, to progress plans for military heritage trails at Clotherholme that alongside other heritage attractions, will add to the city’s development as a tourist destination.”

Bomb disposal and the American connection

The wooden huts at Deverell Barracks are of heritage importance, because they are identical to ones that were located at the nearby Harper Barracks which became the home of the Royal Engineers’ School of Bomb Disposal in 1941.

Setting up of the national school in Ripon, soon saw Royal Engineers based in the city providing vital training and passing on know-how to the Americans, in the wake of Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbour, the USA naval base.

Ms Furse said:

“The Royal Engineers sought out examples of every known enemy bomb and developed countermeasures to defuse them. The School developed a rigorous training programme in bomb identification and disposal methodology.

“The Americans, although aware of the threat of unexploded bombs, had no proper procedures for safe disposal and the aftermath of the bombing of Pearl Harbour on December 7 1941, meant that for the first time, they were faced with unexploded bombs scattered throughout their bases and the harbour.

“On December 9, the British Military Attache’s office in Washington received a request for a joint personnel exchange – an early example of the ‘special relationship’ between ourselves and the USA.

“A group of eight hand-picked American soldiers headed by Major Thomas J Kane, travelled to Ripon to train with the Engineers, arriving on February 1 1942.

“After six weeks of attending lectures and demonstrations, all of the U.S. Army ordnancemen passed the course and were made honorary Royal Engineers – they were even given official RE patches and allowed to wear them on the sleeves of their American uniforms.”

The expertise gained from the Royal Engineers in Ripon subsequently saw Major Kane set up the USA’s first Bomb Disposal School in Maryland.

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With Harrogate Borough Council in its final days, the Local Democracy Reporting Service looked at five major moments that defined it.

From controversy over the Harrogate conference centre to the move from Crescent Gardens to the Civic Centre — the council has played a major role in the look, feel and development of the district for the last 49 years.

As well as searching the archives of the Harrogate Advertiser, we spoke to some of the people who were involved at the time to give a picture of how these five events unfolded.

1974: Dawn of a new council

Harrogate Borough Council was new and shiny once.

Its creation followed years of wrangling over boundaries. At one point, it looked like Harrogate and Knaresborough was even going to be incorporated into a Leeds council.

But the new two-tier system was launched at midnight on April 12, 1974 and it saw North Yorkshire County Council and Harrogate Borough Council share responsibilities in the newly-created Harrogate district.

Old rural councils as well as the councils for Harrogate, Ripon and Knaresborough were brought together to form Harrogate Borough Council and it put the town of Harrogate at the heart of decision-making in the district.

On April 6, 1974, the Harrogate Advertiser described “the great changeover”:

“At midnight on Sunday, local government old-style ended and the new style has given Harrogate and a huge surrounding area of 515 square miles a new district council, by which the council of the borough of Harrogate came into full operation and responsibility.”

When the council launched, it owned 7,000 council houses, almost double what it owns today, and it served a population of 135,000 residents.

Conservative councillor for Burton Leonard, Graham Bott, became the first mayor of the borough at a ceremony at the Royal Hall that month.

Cllr Bott described becoming mayor as one of the proudest moments of his life.

He said he hoped Harrogate Borough Council would abide by the motto of the Three Musketeers — “one for all and all for one.”

Crescent Gardens.

Sixty councillors were elected to serve on the first council and they were paid £10 to attend meetings that lasted over 4 hours, which dropped to £5 for shorter ones.

The council’s first chief executive was Neville Knox. He said the council’s size meant it would still be in touch with residents.

Mr Knox said:

“We are still small enough not to have lost contact with the rate payers. We have experienced officers in the branch who know the people of their areas.”

But even in the council’s formative days, questions were being asked about how the council in Harrogate would look upon the rest of the district.

A Harrogate Advertiser columnist from Ripon asked, “Is big brother Harrogate going to grab all the goodies for itself?”

It said: 

“One fear is that the natural and historic assets of Harrogate’s neighbours will be used not so much to their own advantage but primarily as additional bait to enhance the attraction of the main centre and Harrogate as a tourist, trade fair and conference centre.”

This received a firm rebuttal from Tony Bryant, the council’s director of conference and resort services, whose comments draw parallels with what is being said by officials at North Yorkshire Council 49 years later.

Mr Bryant said: 

“We shall no longer be a collection of small authorities trying with limited resources to sell itself, but a large body in which finance will be combined for the common good.”

There was much work to be done and the Harrogate Advertiser wrote in an editorial that the council “cannot afford the luxury of taking time to settle in” as there were huge traffic problems, car parks and the construction of new roads that had to be dealt with.

But a squabble over ceremonial robes dominated the council’s first meeting.

Councillors who had served on the old Ripon and Harrogate councils had the right to continue to wear their ceremonial robes at meetings on the new council.

However, Knaresborough councillor W Macintyre wanted to restrict this to just the mayor and deputy mayor as he said wearing robes would be “anachronistic” in the context of the newly formed council. His proposal failed by 18 votes to 29.

Although Liberal councillor for Granby, John Marshall, said that just because members in Ripon and Harrogate wore robes it did not mean they liked the custom.

He said he found the practice “acutely embarrasing”.

1982: the conference centre opens under a cloud

The story of Harrogate Borough Council will be forever bound to the town’s conference centre.

The venture was undoubtably the council’s boldest move but it’s fair to say that controversy has dogged what is now the Harrogate Convention Centre ever since the council decided to build it in the 1970s.

Harrogate was already known as a conference destination but the council hoped a new state-of-the-art facility in the centre of town would attract business and leisure visitors to the district for decades to come.

Harrogate Borough Council part-funded the investment through selling land it owned off Skipton Road to housebuilders. This would eventually lead to the building of much-needed new homes for Harrogate and the creation of the sprawling Jennyfields estate.

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However, in 1979 when construction on the conference centre was underway, the UK was in the grip of a deep recession and Margaret Thatcher’s newly elected Conservative government raised the interest rate to 17%, in a bid to bring down inflation that was running at 13%.

Tim Flanagan was chief reporter at the Harrogate Advertiser during the 1970s and 1980s. He remembers the conference centre was rarely off the front pages during that time.

Mr Flanagan said costs for the conference centre spiralled from an initial £8m to £34m, which shocked the Harrogate public and led to a hike in council tax.

He said:

“Against the backdrop of recession, inflation and high interest rates, the council’s finances were stretched to the limit.

“This led it to it to make the decision to levy a supplementary rate to balance the books – a move that proved highly unpopular with ratepayers across the district.”

Harrogate Borough Council was bailed out by a £16m loan from the government to pay off the conference centre. It reduced what residents would have been asked to pay in council tax by 25%.

If the 40-year terms of the loan were followed, it means the council only finished paying back the government for the bailout last year.

Resident John Wynne would write to the Advertiser in 1982 that the conference centre saga had sullied his once-romantic view of Harrogate.

“I’m afraid the fiasco over the conference centre and sucessive high rate increases to pay for the thing have completely killed all the feelings I had for this town.”

Problems at the conference centre would mount throughout the 1980s as the hotel group originally chosen to be part of the development pulled out and it took until 1985 for what is now the Crown Plaza to be occupied.

The conference centre had become such a drain on resources that the council struggled to maintain prized assets such as the Sun Pavilion and Harrogate Theatre as they fell into disprepair.

Binmen were even asked to reduce their hours to save costs.

Eurovision 1982 held in Harrogate.

However, despite the controversies, what is now known as the Harrogate Convention Centre has been a cornerstone of the town’s economy for the last 40 years.

It will also always have its place in UK pop culture history after it hosted the Eurovision song contest in the venue’s first year.

The contest was eventually won by German singer Nicole and saw Harrogate showcased to hundreds of millions across the world.

Although a furious letter in the Harrogate Advertiser by resident JR Myers criticised the council for not selling tickets to the Harrogate public. He said instead, it gave them away to dignitaries and officials.

Mr Myers said this “reflects the cavalier way in which the ratepayers are treated” by the council.

Although in the same letter he also described the song contest as a “nauseating and mindless spectacle”, casting doubt on his claim that he really wanted a ticket in the first place.

We will feature the second part of this article on the Stray Ferret tomorrow

Conservative councillor Nick Brown has told the Stray Ferret he was left deeply disappointed by the dispute over making him an Honorary Alderman of the Borough of Harrogate.

This week many Conservative councillors voted in favour of giving him the civic title, going against a motion put forward by Harrogate Borough Council‘s Conservative leader Richard Cooper.

The title is being bestowed on councillors who have given over 15 years of good service to the authority, which is being abolished next week after 49 years.

Cllr Brown said:

“I am honoured that most of my Conservative colleagues voted for me to become an honorary alderman despite the attempts of the council leader to block my nomination.”

Cllr Cooper’s motion proposed blocking any councillor from becoming an honorary alderman or alderwoman if they refused to take actions recommended by the council’s standards panel.

The row over Cllr Brown’s Alderman status centred on the outcome of a standards investigation into comments he made about Cllr Cooper.

Following the investigation, Cllr Brown issued an apology to the council leader, which he shared with all Conservative councillors.

But his apology was not accepted by Cllr Cooper, who said advice from the council’s Independent Person deemed the apology “not acceptable”.

Cllr Brown said:

“Although I made an apology, in the final decision by the external, independent, deputy monitoring officer appointed by the council, there was no necessity for an apology, or for it to be agreed by the council’s Independent Person.

“Many Conservative members of the public supported me and feel the whole issue created unnecessary division in the party locally on what should have been a harmonious final council meeting.

“I hope Cllr Cooper reflects on this.”

Cllr Brown said he now wished to put the matter behind him and focus on his new role as the councillor for Wathvale and Bishop Monkton on the new North Yorkshire Council.

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