Outdoor dining forcing Harrogate wheelchair users on to roads

A disability charity in Harrogate has said the sudden increase in outdoor dining has caused safety concerns for wheelchair users and visually impaired people.

Hospitality businesses have taken advantage of new pavement licences this week.

Many have been busy but the extra tables and chairs on pavements has prompted Jackie Snape, chief executive of Disability Action Yorkshire, to urge venues to consider people with disabilities.

She said:

“We have heard some concerns already, not only from wheelchair users but also from people with other mobility issues and people with visual impairments.

“It can be difficult if there are tables and chairs on streets where they don’t expect them.”

Ms Snape said tables and chairs on narrow pavements with no segregated pedestrian area were the main problems. She said it encouraged people to spread out on their chairs and take up the whole pavement, adding:

“It forces passers-by to go on the road, which isn’t easy if you are a wheelchair user, especially if there isn’t a dropped kerb.”

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The new outdoor cafe culture has caused other problems, with one wheelchair user telling the charity they had been unable to get a coffee because an outdoors area wasn’t able to accommodate their wheelchair.

Jackie Snape, chief executive of Disability Action Yorkshire

Ms Snape said badly managed queues were also a concern because they forced wheelchair users into roads.

She said:

“It’s great to see everywhere so busy and nobody wants to see restrictions. I suspect most businesses just haven’t thought about these issues. Be kind. Be respectful. These problems could be easily solved.

“But if it becomes a massive issue something will have to be done and some controls put in place.”

 

 

Seven more covid cases in Harrogate district

Seven coronavirus cases have been reported today in the Harrogate district by Public Health England.

The figure is an increase on yesterday’s five cases and takes the district’s total since the start of the pandemic to 7,608.

The seven-day average rate of infection now stands at 19 per 100,000 people in the district.

The North Yorkshire seven-day average is 22 and the England average is 27.

No further covid deaths have been reported at Harrogate District Hospital. The total since the start of the pandemic remains at 179.

Read more:

In other covid news today, North Yorkshire Police Chief Inspector Charlotte Bloxham revealed at this morning’s North Yorkshire Local Resilience Forum press briefing that officers issued no fines for covid breaches in the Harrogate district in the past week.

Meanwhile, 25 pharmacies in the Harrogate district have signed up to become collection points for free rapid lateral flow tests and more are expected to come on stream in the coming days.

Collect coronavirus tests at 25 pharmacies in Harrogate district

Twenty-five pharmacies in the Harrogate district have signed up to become collection points for coronavirus tests and more are expected to come on stream in the coming days.

Rapid lateral flow tests are now freely available for people who do not have covid symptoms as part of government attempts to control the spread of the virus.

The NHS map showing collection points has 14 sites in Harrogate, five in Knaresborough, three in Ripon and one in Boroughbridge, Pateley Bridge and Masham respectively.

It is a major improvement since the initiative began on Friday when only a single pharmacy in Knaresborough was signed up to the scheme.

Such sites enable people to take rapid lateral flow tests twice a week. If someone tests positive they then need to take a more accurate PCR test.

Public health officials hope the pharmacies and a mobile testing unit will plug a potential gap in collection points, which could be left when the Dragon Road testing site in Harrogate closes on June 1.

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Health officials told a coronavirus press briefing today that they are still working with Harrogate Borough Council to find a replacement site for PCR testing.

As well as pharmacies and testing sites, people can also order tests to be sent to their homes, or get tests through work or school.

Dr Victoria Turner, a public health consultant, told today’s press briefing of North Yorkshire Local Resilience Forum:

“We are in the best position in terms of case numbers for about six months, we are not quite at the low levels of last summer yet.

“But with lockdown rules easing there is a chance that cases will start to rise. Test positivity has come down in recent weeks and there has been a significant increase in lateral flow testing.

“We have had lots of pharmacies sign up to the national testing programme but we are expecting even more to come online in the next few days.”

Richard Webb, director of health and adult services at North Yorkshire County Council, also said:

“Just on the point of lateral flow tests, I was in a pharmacy the other day and asked about the interest in testing.

“They told me that they have had the most interest from those who are over 50. It might be that younger people are going through other outlets but it is something to explore.”

Harrogate District Hospital currently has just five coronavirus patients but recently reported its first covid death in nearly two weeks.

The seven-day average rate of infection now stands at 16 per 100,000 people in the district. The North Yorkshire seven-day rate is 21 and the England average is 36.

Live: Harrogate district traffic and travel

Good morning and welcome back to the traffic and travel service. We have updates every 15 minutes as more people get onto the roads.

The live blogs, brought to you by The HACS Groups, aim to keep the Harrogate district moving.

A number of temporary traffic lights are in place across the district today, due to roadworks, so be aware of slight delays.

The Harrogate district spring 2021 Back to Bus launched this week with most services returning to their pre-lockdown schedules.

Make sure to keep in touch via social media or email us on contact@thestrayferret.co.uk.

9am – Full Update

Roads

That is all from me this morning. I hope you find this service helpful and I will be back from 6.30am tomorrow. The roads are busy this morning as schools return and lockdown eases. There will be particular problems around temporary traffic lights listed below.

Traffic hot spots:

Road Closures:

Temporary lights in place:

Trains

Buses

Back to bus time table

8.45am – Full Update

Roads

The roads are becoming busy this morning as schools return and lockdown eases. There will be particular problems later on around temporary traffic lights listed below.

Traffic hot spots:

Road Closures:

Temporary lights in place:

Trains

Buses

Back to bus time table

8.30am – Full Update

Roads

The roads are becoming busy this morning as schools return and lockdown eases. There will be particular problems later on around temporary traffic lights listed below.

Traffic hot spots:

Road Closures:

Temporary lights in place:

Trains

Buses

Back to bus time table

8.15am – Full Update

Roads

The roads are becoming busy this morning as schools return and lockdown eases. There will be particular problems later on around temporary traffic lights listed below.

Traffic hot spots:

Road Closures:

Temporary lights in place:

Trains

Buses

Back to bus time table

8am – Full Update

Roads

The roads are becoming busy this morning as schools return and lockdown eases. There will be particular problems later on around temporary traffic lights listed below.

Traffic hot spots:

Road Closures:

Temporary lights in place:

Trains

Buses

Back to bus time table

7.45am – Full Update

Roads

The roads are becoming busy this morning as schools return and lockdown eases. There will be particular problems later on around temporary traffic lights listed below. No traffic hotspots yet.

Road Closures:

Temporary lights in place:

Trains

Buses

Back to bus time table

7.30am – Full Update

Roads

The roads are becoming busy this morning as schools return and lockdown eases. There will be particular problems later on around temporary traffic lights listed below:

Road Closures:

Temporary lights in place:

Trains

Buses

Back to bus time table

7.15am – Full Update

Roads

The roads are becoming busy this morning as schools return and lockdown eases. There will be particular problems later on around temporary traffic lights listed below:

Road Closures:

Temporary lights in place:

Trains

Buses

Back to bus time table

7am – Full Update

Roads

The roads are looking clear so far this morning, no traffic hotspots yet.

Road Closures:

Temporary lights in place:

Trains

Buses

Back to bus time table

6.45am – Full Update

Roads

The roads are looking clear so far this morning, no traffic hotspots yet.

Road Closures:

Temporary lights in place:

Trains

Buses

Back to bus time table

6.30am – Full Update

Roads

The roads are looking clear so far this morning, no traffic hotspots yet.

Road Closures:

Temporary lights in place:

Trains

Buses

Back to bus time table

90,000 receive covid vaccine in Harrogate as first doses drop

More than 90,000 people in the Harrogate district have received a covid vaccine but the number of first doses dropped dramatically last week due to supply shortages.

According to NHS England figures, a total of 93,618 people in the district have had a first jab.

The number is an increase of 1,325 on last week, which is down on the previous weekly increase of 10,175.

Last month, NHS officials wrote to GPs across the country and warned there would be a “significant reduction in weekly supply” from March 29.

No first doses of vaccines are being offered to the under-50s at the Great Yorkshire Showground in Harrogate this month.

The total number of first vaccines in the district includes:

The data also shows North Yorkshire Clinical Commissioning Group has given 245,899 first doses and 38,899 second doses so far.

Read more:

Last week, Amanda Bloor, accountable officer for North Yorkshire CCG, said it would focus on as “maximum coverage as possible” for those who have not been vaccinated in the first nine priority groups.

Meanwhile, no covid deaths have been recorded at Harrogate District Hospital since March 29.

The death toll at the hospital remains at 178 since the start of the pandemic.

Just five cases of covid have been confirmed in the district in the last 24 hours, according to Public Health England.

It takes the total number of cases since March last year to 7,608.

The district’s seven-day covid rate has increased slightly to 12 infections per 100,000 people.

The North Yorkshire rate stands at 26 and the England average is 30.

Stockeld Park to create huge £3.5m play centre

One of Europe’s biggest indoor children’s play centres, with the capacity to host 2,000 visitors a day, is set to open at Stockeld Park next year.

Called the Playhive, it will cost £3.5 million to build and is expected to create about 50 jobs.

The Playhive, which will be set in the grounds of the 2,000-acre Stockeld Park estate, near Wetherby, will comprise of themed adventure zones set in a doughnut-shaped building with a 33-foot tower in the centre.

The outer ring of the Playhive will be the equivalent of travelling the length of a football pitch.

Children will be able to enjoy the wooden play pieces themed around four zones: space, aeronautical, subaquatic and jungle.

Peter and Susie Grant, who own and run Stockeld Park, took out a loan to build and design the Playhive.

Mr Grant said:

“The Playhive is a passion project. We didn’t want the usual soft play scene, but one that truly inspires imaginations.

“There will be some really spectacular features and we’ll be announcing these on the run up to the opening of the Play Hive.

“It has capacity for 2,000 visitors per day and is expected to bring significant additional revenues to the area, as well as supporting local suppliers.

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‘We need to come back fighting’

Mr Grant said covid had hugely reduced Stockeld’s capacity and the natural reaction would have been to reduce spending but lockdown reconfirmed their commitment to the project. He said:

“Now more than ever, our tourism sector needs to come back fighting, and after the isolation and anxieties of the last year, families desperately need to get away and have some fun. We need this good news story.”

The Grants started the tourism business at Stockeld Park in 2006 to attract visitors at Christmas.

The initiative grew into the Christmas Adventure and since then the Easter Adventure, Spring Adventure, Summer Adventure, Halloween Adventure and February Fun have been added to its offering.

In 2019, over 200,000 guests visited Stockeld Park.

Knaresborough’s Yorkshire Cancer Research shop reopening next week

Yorkshire Cancer Research is to reopen its shop in Knaresborough next week when covid restrictions ease.

The charity shop, on Market Place, will reopen on April 14 at 9am, two days after non-essential shops are allowed to trade again.

The shop helps the charity, which is based in Harrogate, raise funds for cancer research in Yorkshire. Its mission is for 2,000 more people to survive cancer every year in Yorkshire.

Covid measures, such as hand sanitisers, social distancing and PPE worn by staff and volunteers will operate.

The shop will start accepting donations once its reopened, by appointment only. The Harrogate donation centre is still closed for drop-offs.

Dr Kathryn Scott, chief executive at Yorkshire Cancer Research, said:

“Along with many other charities, we have experienced a significant loss of income during the coronavirus pandemic.

“To try to reduce this loss, we acted quickly to start selling donated goods online.

“We are thankful to all those who continued to support us by donating second-hand belongings and searching for bargains in our online marketplaces during lockdown.”

Read more:

The shop will be open Wednesday to Saturday between 9am and 4pm and Sunday from 10am to 4pm. It will be closed Monday and Tuesday.

Yorkshire Cancer Research’s other shops in Northallerton and Tadcaster will also re-open.

Harrogate district covid rate at lowest since August

The Harrogate district’s seven-day covid rate is at its lowest since August last year.

Currently, the average stands at 11 per 100,000 people.

It’s the lowest rate since August 30 when it also stood at 11, according to North Yorkshire County Council statistics.

Meanwhile, the North Yorkshire average is 31 and the England rate stands at 38.

Read more:

Just three covid cases were reported in the district, according to latest Public Health England figures.

It takes the total number of cases since last March to 7,595.

No further deaths from patients who tested positive for covid have been recorded at Harrogate District Hospital.

The death toll at the hospital since the start of the pandemic stands at 178.

The last recorded death at the district’s hospital was on March 29.

Stray Views: Harrogate’s army college brings discipline and opportunities

Stray Views is a weekly column giving you the chance to have your say on issues affecting the Harrogate district. It is an opinion column and does not reflect the views of the Stray Ferret. See below for details on how to contribute.

Harrogate’s Army Foundation College saves young people

I used to work at the Army Foundation College in Harrogate. People need educating on what takes place there. Some of these children don’t have great home lives, some want to make a career for themselves and do them and their families proud.
Education there is fab and does the world of good for the students that hated school and gives them a second chance. They leave there and go to phase two. Not one of them would go from there to a war zone!
I’m so glad people saw sense and kept it going as some of the junior soldiers may have gone down the wrong path without being able to join up. It creates a sense of achievement being able to join up at a young age, the proof is in the amount that join and stay in.
It’s a college with extra fitness and a little more discipline, what’s wrong with that?
Mrs Smith, Harrogate

Network Rail has questions to answer about tree felling

Your journalist reports that ‘some trees have been felled’ at Hornbeam Park. As a Harrogate resident living on Tewit Well Road, I want to report that all the trees have been felled. Tell it as it is, please.

We now have a situation where residents are having to prevent some of the young people of Harrogate putting themselves at risk and using this newly cleared area for their own purposes. When the line had mature trees, we may have the occasional leaf on the line, but we certainly didn’t have youngsters jumping over to sunbath, party etc.

I’m afraid Network Rail has a lot to answer for here. A poor ecological management decision has left local residents policing an area that was once a mature habitat for local wildlife.

Who was the ecologist who advised Network Rail? Are they not accountable for the habitat decimation that we have been left with? How can they say anything other than recovery will take years? Is Network Rail pleased with the result?’

Not impressed.

Charlie McCarthy
Local resident

Questions that need answering about Beech Grove

As a resident and local business owner of 11 years, I and many others strongly believe the Low Traffic Neighbourhood experiment on Beech Grove creates more congestion, longer car journey times and increased carbon emissions on surrounding roads.

Otley Road currently has major road works and the planned 20-week cycle lane construction will cause further disruption and congestion.

There are many unanswered questions for North Yorkshire County Council:

  1. What is the overall aim of this Low Traffic Neighbourhood?
  2. In the latest council meeting we were told that the cycling groups are being consulted to make these decisions. Why are the cycling groups being consulted and the residents and businesses, who pay taxes and rates, not consulted?
  3. How do you measure success or failure?
  4. What data are you collecting and where from?
  5. Which company are you using to analyse this?
  6. Did you count how many cyclists and motorists use the roads, before you closed them?
  7. Is information collected during the same months of the year, so you can directly compare activity in all seasons and weather?
  8. Is it the best time to do this during a lockdown?
  9. Why did NYCC approve all the housing developments, each with 2-3 cars, when 84% of people expressed that Harrogate was congested in the 2019 survey?
  10.  What’s the projection of people who will swap their cars for bikes and what is this based on?
  11. Far more people walk than cycle and yet the pavements are shocking, they are left for months after the Autumn leaves fall without being cleared and go untreated in ice and snow. How does this encourage people to walk?
  12. Where is the evidence that there is an appetite for more cycling?

I have spoken to many residents and businesses and cars are critical for the school run, appointments, visiting relatives, holidays, tourism but, most importantly, to access businesses.

Cars are the lifeblood of many businesses and thousands of jobs depend on them. Banning them cannot be the only solution.

Lucy Gardiner, Harrogate Residents Association

Why is government spending so much on roads?

Why does this article about cuts to rural roadworks contrast that with the funding provided for the Station Gateway and active travel schemes?
It looks to me like it’s deliberately giving the impression that the former is being sacrificed in order to pay for the latter, which is completely untrue. The two things have nothing to do with each other.
I suggest it would be altogether more relevant to point out the government is spending over £27 billion on new roads, which will increase car use, development, destruction of the countryside and pollution (to which electric cars are at best a partial solution) while allowing our existing road network to fall into an ever worse state of disrepair.
Malcolm Margolis
Rossett, Harrogate

Got an opinion on the Harrogate district? Email us at letters@thestrayferret.co.uk. Please include your name and approximate location details. Limit your letters to 350 words. We reserve the right to edit letters.

Just two cases of covid reported in Harrogate district

Just two cases of covid have been reported in the Harrogate district, according to latest Public Health England figures.

It takes the total number of cases since last March to 7,583.

Meanwhile, the district’s seven-day covid rate has fallen to 21 per 100,000 people.

Read more: 

The North Yorkshire average is 39 and the England rate is 49.

No further deaths from patients who tested positive for covid have been reported at Harrogate District Hospital.