Residents petition calls on council to reject Harrogate Tesco plans

Residents living close to the former gas works in New Park have started a petition calling on Harrogate Borough Council to reject Tesco’s application to build a supermarket.

If given the go-ahead, Tesco would build a 38,795 square feet store and a petrol filling station on the site near the New Park roundabout.

Electric Avenue residents have cited various concerns, including pollution, road safety fears and environmental damage,

They say the disused site has become a home to wildlife since Northern Gas Networks moved out more than 20 years ago.

Two days since resident Nicki Balmforth set up the petition, more than 140 people have signed it. In the petition description she said:

“We believe that this new application should be rejected in full due to the time that has passed the abundance of wildlife now thriving on this land, and the certain destruction of their habitats.

“The site is home to and/or feeding ground to the following wildlife, roe deer, badgers, foxes, newts, frogs and toads, squirrels, hedgehogs, owls and more.

“We do not need another supermarket in this area, in a five-mile radius from this site there are 14 food stores including Aldi, Asda, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, Co-op, and express shops. We do understand the need to support the new homes being built, but this is not the right location!”

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Electric Avenue residents are holding a meeting tomorrow night to discuss the plans.

Tesco has harboured ambitions for a new store in the town for almost 20 years. The retailer previously had plans approved in 2009.

The supermarket giant held an online consultation about the plans last year — 187 people responded. Of those, 62% said they supported proposals.

Opinion: The big lie

The news that we are all facing extraordinary rises in energy prices, together with the forthcoming reorganisation of local government are but two aspects of the great lie and con trick played on us by decades of politicians and career officers, that bigger is always better.

It is this grotesque fallacy that has led to local people losing control of the services that they originally created, financed and administered, in exchange for services controlled by strangers for whom the screwing of as much profit as possible from their reluctant customers, with as low a service as possible, seems their only purpose.

Let me provide some examples relating to Harrogate, with the reorganisation of local government being a particularly topical issue.

Local government

The liars say that Harrogate has too small a population to be a unitary authority. Of course they say this, as it is in their interests to promote the concept of big authorities, as salaries and payments are invariably higher when applied to responsibility for a larger population as against a smaller one. They will say that the merging of – say – six local authorities will mean one chief executive instead of six, one borough planner instead of six, one treasurer, instead of six, etc. etc. Whereas in truth, the savings come at the dire cost of local people becoming further removed from control over the services for which they are paying.

Harrogate too small to be a unitary authority. Rubbish! Today, the Harrogate district’s population is around 161,000, that of the town being little over 75,000. Yet when Harrogate town had a population of only 26,583, about two thirds smaller than the Harrogate town of today, it was able from the yield of its local rates, to build the Royal Baths, the Royal Hall, a gigantic series of reservoirs and an unequalled water distribution network, to run its own electricity works, to build and run its own schools and pay the staff salaries, to administer its own fire services, run its own public health facilities and many other things. All this was possible because Harrogate had the authority to levy its own council rates (and to keep the greater part of the income) and for Harrogate’s Council to spend the proceeds in ways permitted by Acts of Parliament.

Kursaal,at height of Edwardian season. Walker-Neesam archive

The Royal Hall, previously known as the Kursaal, at height of Edwardian season. Pic: Walker-Neesam archive

Yet today, thanks to the gradual erosion of local democracy, the present North Yorkshire County Council takes the vast majority of every pound paid in council tax by Harrogate residents, with much less going to Harrogate Borough Council. Is it any wonder that our democratically elected Harrogate borough councillors are hamstrung at every turn when they try to provide the services demanded by local residents? The secret of true local democracy has little to do with population sizes, and everything to do with financial control, which must include the power to set local taxation and the power to spend such taxation within the town that supplied it – such powers being determined by Parliamentary authority.

Naturally North Yorkshire’s councillors and career officers will seek to expand their spheres of influence, and to retain and enhance their existing stranglehold on Harrogate – it is absolutely in their interests to do so. But history shows that their ever increasing power to control our lives has been at the cost of local representation and accountability. The latest calamitous “reforms” of local government will further reduce the rights and powers of local people to control their own lives, with Harrogate becoming further prey to the financial leech which is bleeding the town to finance road repairs in Tadcaster, libraries in Skipton, schools in Easingwold, and social services in Selby.

Nevertheless, it remains my hope that one day – maybe in 50 or 100 years time – Harrogate will regain powers to control its own finances, and re-establish democratic control of its affairs by its citizenry.

Gas

When some Harrogate people decided the town should have access to a supply of gas, they obtained an enabling Act of Parliament in 1846, after which a gas works was built at Rattle Crag financed by local private shareholders.

After overcoming initial difficulties with the Improvement Commissioners, the gas company supplied the lighting of the public streets as well as gas for residential and commercial use. The profits produced went back into improving the gas plant and paying the salaries of those employed in the work, many of whom lived at New Park.

After several extensions of its area of supply, Harrogate’s gas company was nationalised by the Gas Act of 1948, which merged some 1,062 privately owned and municipal gas companies into 12 area gas boards.

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The York, Harrogate and District group of gas companies had already merged on 1 January 1944, comprising Harrogate, York, Malton and Easingwold, which were joined by the Yeadon, Guisley, and Otley companies on 1 October 1946. This arrangement, however, barely survived for two years, until the 1948 Gas Act changed everything.

With every enlargement, control of the manufacture, distribution and pricing of gas passed further away from the people who had created the company, and for whom its products were intended, to huge, impersonal and uncaring conglomerates.

This process has continued to this day, resulting in the crazy situation that Harrogate’s gas customers now have absolutely no control over the gas they use nor the rate at which it is priced. What would those Victorian founders have said on hearing that we are to some extent reliant on Russia for the continuance of our gas supplies?

Electricity

Electricty works 1897 opening ceremony Walker-Neesam archive

Electricity works opening ceremony in 1897. Pic: Walker-Neesam archive

In order to provide the people of Harrogate with an alternative to gas, Harrogate Corporation’s elected representatives built a Municipal Electricity Undertaking near to the site of the present Hydro, which opened in 1897.

The people’s democratically elected councillors regulated the supply and pricing of electricity with regard to the local situation, so that when in 1933, at the height of the terrible depression, many were experiencing economic hardship, the council reduced the unit cost of electricity from one penny to three-farthings.

When war came in 1939, Harrogate’s Electricity Undertaking was supplying 20,670 consumers, and selling 26,815,046 units of power, with a gross income of £178,857.

By the end of the year to March 1945, those figures had increased to 21,977 consumers, selling 39,254,676 units of power, with a gross income of £242,412 – an incredible achievement given the conditions of war time operation.

But in 1948, and by order of the government’s Electricity Act of 1947, Harrogate’s Electricity Undertaking was transferred to the enormous new British Electricity Board and thus removed from the town a valuable asset which had hitherto been controlled by local people.

Water

Turning on the reservoir water. Pic: Walker-Neesam archive

Just the same thing as described above applies to water. When a group of local people raised money to establish the Harrogate Water Company, following a Parliamentary Act of 1846, the townspeople supported the project, and the little company grew as the town grew.

In 1897, an Act of Parliament empowered Harrogate Corporation to buy out the private water company, which was then run purely for the benefit of the townspeople. Under the inspirational leadership of Alderman Charles Fortune, the corporation undertook a massive programme of reservoir and distribution construction, which ensured Harrogate had an adequate supply of water for the next 50 years.

Harrogate’s municipal water undertaking was one of the jewels in Harrogate’s crown until the 1945 Water Act, which paved the way for the creation of the huge Claro Water Board in 1958/9, which covered an area of 420 square miles, between one fifth and one sixth of the area of the West Riding of Yorkshire, with a population of 119,000. On such a scale, it was inevitable that the concern would no longer be run purely in the interests of the people of Harrogate, nor would its profits be returned to the local economy.

Malcolm Neesam, Harrogate-based historian

Harrogate headteacher ‘concerned’ by Cold Bath Road pollution data

Western Primary School installed a pollution sensor in June last year, amid concerns about heavy traffic on Harrogate’s Cold Bath Road.

Headteacher Tim Broad was worried about the sheer volume of traffic plus the fact he could tase diesel in his mouth when larger vehicles passed.

Six months on, The Stray Ferret has reviewed the data, which suggests levels of pollutants meet national objectives but exceed guidelines set by the World Health Organisation.

The sensor, which was installed within the school grounds, revealed concentrations of PM2.5, PM10 and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) all fell within the national objectives’ limits for short and long-term exposure.

However, a local pollution campaigner expressed concern that PM2.5 and NO2 levels exceeded WHO guidelines both short- and long-term.

PM2.5 particles are man-made particles suspended in the air, produced by woodburning stoves and transport, as well as industrial processes. When breathed in, these particles can get into the blood and lodge themselves in organs.

NO2 is a gas produced by combustion of fossil fuels. Eighty percent of roadside NO2 pollution is caused by road vehicles. Exposure to the gas can cause inflammation to the airways and exacerbate pre-existing heart and lung conditions.

‘No safe threshold for air pollution’

We showed our findings to Western headteacher Tim Broad, who said he was “concerned” by the exceedance of WHO guidelines, Mr Broad added:

“I intend to follow up with an investigation in school, with a view to passing on the findings to the appropriate people at Harrogate Borough Council and North Yorkshire County Council.”

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Local campaigner Brian McHugh claimed the national objectives were too weak, and children were at risk. He added:

“The concern with using numbers and limits sometimes can be that there is a belief formed that anything up to that level is ‘safe’. There is no safe threshold for air pollution.

“The harm of air pollution on humans is well documented. The increased harm to children, with developing lungs, cannot be overstated.”

Better monitoring needed

Western Primary School is believed to be the only school in the district with an air pollution sensor, and live measurements from the sensor are available to the public online here.

Mr McHugh called for better monitoring of pollution in and around schools. He said:

“It is incredibly useful that we are even able to have this data and analyse it. Huge thanks must go to Western Primary for having the foresight to install an air quality sensor and it is hoped that other schools in the Harrogate district follow their example, so we have accurate information on which to base policies and initiatives.”

In its 2021 Air Quality Annual Status Report, Harrogate Borough Council used 63 monitors throughout the district to measure NO2 levels but had no monitors for PM2.5 particles.

The council itself stated PM2.5 can have a significant impact on health, including “premature mortality, allergic reactions, and cardiovascular diseases”, but it relied on council data from Leeds and York to estimate levels of the pollutant in the district.

Hampsthwaite doctors’ surgery conversion finally approved

A plan to convert Hampsthwaite’s former doctors’ surgery into a house has been approved at the second attempt.

Dr Bannatyne and Partners, which was based at Winksey Cottage, High Street, in the village, closed in March last year.

The surgery was part of Church Avenue Medical Group and shut down after practitioners felt the cottage was no longer a viable place for a medical practice.

Mozaffar Nami, a developer, lodged plans to convert the building into a house. 

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Harrogate Borough Council initially rejected the proposal in November on the grounds that the applicant had not demonstrated that the site had been empty for more than three months.

Now the developer has had plans approved after resubmitting proposals for the former surgery.

Mr Mari said in documents submitted to the council that the building had been previously used as a house before becoming a surgery and could be “readily converted back” into a home.

 

Council urges residents to report ‘increased’ dog fouling in Harrogate

Harrogate Borough Council has urged residents to report dog fouling to its dog warden team.

It comes after an increase in reports of dog owners not picking up after their pets around Harlow Hill.

The council’s dog warden service said in a post on Facebook that the Otley Road area around Beckwith Road, Nursery Lane and the ginnel from the Shepherd’s Dog Pub to the allotments was “particularly bad”.

It urged people to report anyone seen using the same route regularly who does not pick up their dog’s mess, either by getting in touch on its website or by calling 01423 500600.

The statement said:

“Without this information it makes it harder to focus patrols and make a difference.”

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The council can issue fixed penalty notices of up to £80 for dog fouling. However, an FOI request submitted by the Stray Ferret last year revealed the council had issued no fines for dog fouling in the preceding 12 months.

It looks after more than 250 dog waste bins across the district.

Exclusive: Council invests £20m in cancer-causing tobacco companies

A North Yorkshire County Council-controlled pension fund invests over £20m in two of the world’s largest tobacco companies, despite the council being in charge of public health and running its own quit smoking service.

The revelations come as part of a series of investigations by the Stray Ferret into controversial investments made by the North Yorkshire Pension Fund, which is controlled by the council.

You can click on the links to read our previous reports on how NYCC’s pension fund invests in fossil fuel companies and arms companies.

The Stray Ferret obtained a full list of the companies the pension fund invests in through a freedom of information request.

The NHS estimates smoking kills more than 1,000 people every year in North Yorkshire but the council’s pension fund holds £12.4m worth of shares in British American Tobacco and £8.9m in Phillip Morris.

Matt Walker, an NHS manager from Knaresborough who is also a Liberal Democrat campaigner, told the Stray Ferret he has seen first-hand the damage smoking has had on people’s health, including his own grandparents.

He said:

“If I was lucky enough to have a private pension then I certainly wouldn’t want it invested in tobacco companies. I don’t smoke for a good reason; I saw the painful premature death of my grandparents who both died within days of each other from smoking-related diseases.

“As someone who has worked in health locally for nearly two decades, I know that in North Yorkshire smoking continues to be the biggest preventable cause of ill health and early death.”

‘Live its values’

NYCC has a document called the North Yorkshire Tobacco Control Strategy for 2015-2025.

It says the council has a “proven record of success” in the provision of stop smoking services, with rates falling, in part thanks to its quit smoking service called Living Well Smokefree. The service is available to anyone aged from 12 and offers one-to-one help to quit.

Cllr Caroline Dickinson and LivingWell Smokefree team members.

The report says the county still has work to do, particularly with young people and those with mental health issues. It says:

“The impact of tobacco is felt most by the poorest in the county, not just on the smokers but also on their children and their communities. We must protect the health of future generations by ensuring smoking prevalence continues to fall.”

NHS manager Matt Walker called on the council to “live its values” and divest from its holdings in tobacco companies.

He added:

“The council also has smoking policies to protect the health and wellbeing of its staff. It’s important that any organisation lives its values. North Yorkshire County Council fails at the final hurdle as its pension fund holds over £20million in tobacco companies.”

‘Not an issue’

Harrogate Borough Council Conservative councillor Jim Clark has sat on the Pension Fund’s committee of councillors since 2001.

He told the Stray Ferret that he “doesn’t think there is an issue” with the council pension fund profiting from tobacco companies whilst at the same time being in charge of public health.

Cllr Clark pointed to the way tobacco giants such as British American Tobacco have diversified in recent years.

The companies now sell, what they market as, healthier alternatives to cigarettes, such as vapes and oral nicotine products.

Philip Morris’ chief executive Jacek Olczak said he hopes half of the company’s revenue will come from these smoke-free products by 2025.

Cllr Clark said:

“We know there’s a health issue with tobacco but some of these companies have other activities. It’s very difficult to get a company that deals in one activity now.

“We must remember, if we have shares in these companies, we can help to inform the debate.”

Responsible investment policy

As we have reported this week, the pension fund investments are managed by a private company called Border To Coast.

Government guidelines say fund managers can take ethical, social or environmental concerns into account when it invests, providing the fund’s finances do not suffer.

However, North Yorkshire’s responsible investment policy, last updated in July 2021, states that it will not implement an “exclusionary policy” against companies for ethical or social reasons.

It says:

“Whilst the Fund recognises that there is the potential for investment in certain sectors to cause harm, it will not implement an exclusionary policy against investment in any particular sector or company purely based on social, ethical or environmental reasons”.

Divesting from tobacco

The Greater Manchester Pension Fund, currently the largest local authority fund in the UK, divested from tobacco stocks in 2014.

Deborah Arnott, chief executive of the health charity ASH (Action on Smoking and Health) told the Stray Ferret that North Yorkshire should follow suit.

Ms Arnott said:

“Local authority pension funds have a legal duty to get the best deal for their pensioners, but that doesn’t mean they have to invest in tobacco companies.

“Greater Manchester, the largest fund in the Local Government Pension Scheme disinvested from tobacco stocks years ago, on the basis that the tobacco sector is relatively small as a proportion of world equity markets and the Fund’s investment managers’ views were that such exclusion was unlikely to have a material adverse impact on returns.

“What’s true for Greater Manchester’s pension fund is equally true for North Yorkshire.”

Gary Fielding, treasurer of North Yorkshire Pension Fund for North Yorkshire County Council, said: 

“The pension fund needs to get the balance right on responsible investment and ensuring funds are available to pay pensions without further call on local taxpayers

“Rather than divesting from companies, the fund believes active engagement gives it, in collaboration with other pension funds, greater influence in effecting change within companies.”

Do you pay into the North Yorkshire Pension Fund and have an opinion on our investigation? Contact thomas@thestrayferret.co.uk 

Ripon aims to take control of its markets from Harrogate

Ripon City Council has launched a bid to take control of the city’s Thursday and Saturday markets.

The ancient markets have been operated by Harrogate Borough Council since local government reorganisation in 1974.

But with Harrogate Borough Council set to be abolished in 15 months, Ripon city councillors have decided to act.

Independent council leader Andrew Williams told the Stray Ferret:

“In recent years stall numbers have reduced and we firmly believe that the market needs an overhaul that will revitalise it.

“We are looking to work in partnerships with other like-minded market towns, such as Knaresborough, as we feel that we can build new working relationships with our neighbours, to deliver better services.”

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Ripon City Council has already called for other key assets, including the city’s town hall, Hugh Ripley Hall, Spa Gardens and Spa Park to return to local ownership from Harrogate Borough Council.

It says provisions in the Localism Act, designed to protect assets of community value (ACV), should be used to achieve this prior to the formation of the new North Yorkshire unitary authority next year.

Moves are already underway to retain community use at Spa Baths, after the city council successfully applied in September to have the historic building listed as an ACV.

Ripon pool opening delayed again

Harrogate Borough Council has delayed the opening of a new pool in Ripon — again.

The pool was due to be completed in May 2021 at a cost of £10.2 million but it is now eight months overdue and £4 million over-budget.

At the end of November, the council said workers had identified an issue with the lining of the pool and that it would open in January.

But an update by the council today revealed further delays and no opening date.

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It said:

“The pool manufacturer has been carrying out additional work to resolve this issue, at no cost to us, and are continuing to do so.

“We were hopeful the pool would open this month but due to the complexity of the work involved it is taking longer than first anticipated.

“We’d like to reassure you that this has nothing to do with ground conditions and relates to the overflow drainage channel and the membrane around the edge of the pool.

“Once this work has been completed – which we hope won’t be too much longer – we will need to carry out some final testing ahead of opening.

“We are as disappointed as you, but carrying out this remedial work and rigorous testing now will allow you all to enjoy the pool for many years to come.”

The council added that it hopes to have a further update “in the coming days”.

Taylor Wimpey submits plans for 390 homes in Ripon

Housebuilder Taylor Wimpey has submitted plans for 390 homes in Ripon.

Government housing agency Homes England commissioned the company to build the scheme off West Lane as part of an £89.5 million contract.

The proposal, which already has outline permission, would see a mixture of two, three and four-bedroom homes built on the site.

Most of the houses will be for market sale, but 156 properties will be designated as affordable housing.

Sarah Armstrong, land director for Taylor Wimpey North Yorkshire, said: 

“We’re delighted to have been selected as preferred developer to deliver this site in partnership with Homes England.

“We’ve taken a landscape-led design approach to develop a residential masterplan that will enhance the character and identity of the site.

“The development will include locally-equipped play facilities and attractive biodiverse landscape features, and we are providing significant areas of open space to allow new residents and visitors to enjoy a high-quality living environment with an attractive outlook.”

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Should planning permission be approved, Taylor Wimpey expects work to start in spring this year.

Homes England intervened to buy the site after Barrett Homes pulled out of the scheme in July 2020.

Marie Kiddell, head of planning and enabling north at Homes England said:

‘We intervened to buy West Lane in Ripon to unlock this stalled housing site. 

“We’ve since appointed Taylor Wimpey, as our preferred developer, to take on the mantle of providing quality new homes, including 40% affordable provision – that’s 156 affordable homes in an area where they are most needed.

“Submitting the reserved matters application marks another step forward in bringing these vital new homes one step closer to reality.”

Harrogate Borough Council will make a decision on the plan at a later date.

Councillors back calls for 5% increase in Harrogate district taxi fares

Councillors have backed calls for a 5% increase in taxi fares to help cover soaring fuel prices and a drop in earnings for drivers during the covid pandemic.

The rise request was made to Harrogate Borough Council whose cabinet member for housing and safer communities, Cllr Mike Chambers, will now make a final decision whether prices should go up.

If approved, the increase would make the Harrogate district the 14th most expensive council area in the UK for taxi fares, according to national trade newspaper Private Hire and Taxi Monthly.

However, local taxi drivers have argued the district’s position is not as high for journeys above two miles.

Speaking at a meeting of the council’s licensing committee on Wednesday, Cllr John Mann, a Conservative who represents Harrogate Pannal, said he appreciated that prices may be higher than some areas but taxi drivers needed support.

He said: 

“We seem to be in the middle of a cost of living crisis at the moment and we are all aware prices are going up rapidly.

“If you are a taxi driver all of this is not good because it eats into your profit. I do have sympathy with the trade.”

Cllr Sue Lumby, a Conservative who represents Harrogate Coppice Valley, added: 

“If the trade is not profitable, no one is going to do it.

“It may help the public to have the rise if it means we keep the taxi drivers.”

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The 5% rise would be on the running mile and waiting times of journeys, and there would also be an increase in starting prices from £3.40 to £3.60 if approved.

The request comes after warnings that as many as 50 taxi drivers in the Harrogate district quit during the previous lockdowns and many have now found new jobs with little desire to return to the trade.

Last year also saw record costs for both petrol and diesel in the UK, with diesel hitting prices of over £1.50 per litre for the first time in history.

Driver shortages

During a consultation held in September, drivers said the trade had been “badly affected” by rising costs, not just on fuel but also vehicle prices and parts.

One driver told the council:

“Needless to say we are trading in difficult circumstances due to increasing costs, driver shortages and backlogs at DVLA and other agencies which is hindering the testing of new drivers.

“Although fuel prices seem to be rising on a daily basis one has to accept this trend cannot continue indefinitely.”

The consultation was held with 500 taxi drivers, although only 30 responses were received.

Speaking at Wednesday’s meeting, Gareth Bentley, licensing manager at the council, said this was a “fairly normal” response rate for consultations held with the trade.

He added: 

“Clearly the trade is finding running vehicles considerably more expensive now.

“We do start from quite a high point in terms of our fares at the moment – and we have got to balance the needs of the travelling public with the trade’s ability to make a reasonable living.”