Harrogate District Hospital has recorded another death from a patient who tested positive for coronavirus.

The hospital reported the death on Sunday, according to NHS England figures. It takes the covid-related death toll at the hospital to 206.

Today’s figures from the UK Health Security Agency show that another 282 infections have been recorded in the Harrogate district.

Meanwhile, government figures show that the district’s seven-day covid average is 1,074 per 100,000 people, down on yesterday’s figure of 1,087.

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It remains above both the county average, which is 984, and the England rate which is 966.

The data also shows that 106,105 booster or third jabs have been given in the Harrogate district, as of today.

The number of people receiving out-of-work benefits in the Harrogate district has continued to fall.

Latest monthly figures by the Office for National Statistics show 2,145 people were claiming the benefits on December 9, falling by 80 from November’s figure of 2,225.

The figure, however, remains considerably above pre-pandemic levels. In January 2020, 1,410 people claimed the benefits, which includes Universal Credit.

Universal Credit can also be claimed by people who are in work but on low incomes.

The furlough scheme ended on September 30 and supported around 28,600 jobs in the Harrogate district for 18 months.

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Meanwhile, this month Harrogate College announced it will be offering free haircuts and manicures to jobseekers.

The college, at Hornbeam Park, is providing the treatments to anyone who has secured a job interview.

Haircuts can be booked now between 3pm and 7pm on Wednesdays. Manicures will be available on Thursdays, starting on January 27, from 10am.

Students will provide the services at the college’s professional standard training salons.

Danny Wild, principal of Harrogate College, said he hoped the initiative would boost the participants’ job prospects.

The Harrogate district’s covid rate has continued to fall after another 219 cases have been reported.

Latest government figures show that the district’s seven-day covid average has dropped to 1,087 per 100,000 people, down on yesterday’s figure of 1,136.

However, it is above the county average, which is 997, and the England rate of 984.

It comes as Louise Wallace, director of public health for North Yorkshire, said today that she was “cautiously optimistic” that the worst of the Omicron wave was over.

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No further deaths from patients who tested positive for covid have been reported at Harrogate District Hospital, according to NHS England.

According to government figures, 106,007 booster or third jabs have been given in the Harrogate district, as of today.

The director of public health for North Yorkshire says she is “cautiously optimistic” that the county has seen the worst of the Omicron wave as covid infections continue to fall.

Louise Wallace told a meeting of North Yorkshire’s Outbreak Management Advisory Board today that the latest figures showed a “much better picture” with a 43% drop in the county’s weekly infection rate which now stands at 1,048 cases per 100,000 people.

Latest figures for the Harrogate District show that the rate has fallen to 1,136 per 100,000 people.

However, Ms Wallace said infections were still higher than previous months and that this was putting pressure on care homes, hospitals and schools.

She said: 

“We are now seeing a decline in some of the numbers and I’m really hopeful that they are heading in the right direction.

“I’m cautiously optimistic that we are turning the tide, but we still do have 854 daily cases.

“And of course we have had changes to testing arrangements over the last few weeks which may be having an impact on some of the data.”

Latest figures show there have been seven covid-related deaths in North Yorkshire in the last week – fewer than this time last year when the county was averaging five deaths each day.

NHS staff told today’s meeting that despite this improving picture, many patients were still being hospitalised with the virus.

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They also expressed concerns that fewer people are now testing for covid and that this was “skewering” the true rates of infections and estimates on how many more patients could need hospital treatment.

This comes as the self-isolation period for people who test positive has been cut to five full days in England.

From today, people will be able to leave isolation after negative lateral flow tests on days five and six in a move to ease pressure on staffing shortages across the private and public sectors.

This was announced last week by the government which is reportedly seeing “encouraging” signs that the Plan B restrictions in England could be removed after a review on January 26.

The current restrictions include guidance to work from home, the widespread use of face coverings and NHS Covid passes for some events.

Meanwhile, teenagers aged 16 and 17 can now book their booster vaccines online from today. The top-up jabs are also being made available to clinically vulnerable 12 to 15 year olds.

An extra 350 children in Harrogate district secondary schools have become eligible for free school meals since the coronavirus pandemic began, figures reveal.

A total of 1,143 children were eligible in October 2021, compared with 796 in January 2020.

This means almost 1 in 10 children in the district are now eligible for free school meals. The national average is around 2 in 10.

The Stray Ferret obtained the figures from a freedom of information request to North Yorkshire County Council, the education authority for the district.

To qualify for free school meals a parent must apply to the council with evidence that they are receiving a benefit, such as child tax credit, income support or universal credit.

The issue of free school meals was highlighted following a campaign by Manchester United and England footballer Marcus Rashford.

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Speaking at last week’s Harrogate and Knaresborough Area Constituency Committee, Helen Ingle, health improvement manager at NYCC, said the council was trying to encourage parents of key stage 1 age children to take up free school meals.

If a child is in reception, year one or year two they are automatically entitled to a free school meal.

Ms Ingle also said schools in the district had reported an increase in obesity since the pandemic began.

She said:

“[Covid] has had a massive impact on levels of overweight and obesity, we’re doing a lot of work around that. Schools are very concerned about healthy eating levels in schools and have noticed a change in children’s weight and eatings habits since covid.”

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. Send your views to letters@thestrayferret.co.uk.

New Tesco would be ‘horrendous’ for nearby residents

Proud to be Harrogate, not London

I note that a new fitness studio wants it to bring ‘a London feel’ to Harrogate and recall that the restaurants associated with The Everyman Cinema was also intended to be ‘London-centric’, whatever that means.

Can someone enlighten me regarding this strange desire to be like London when Harrogate, and indeed Yorkshire as a whole, has so much distinctive to offer? It seems to me that this desire to be like London is a strange business proposition. Of course I wish all the local businesses concerned well, despite my feelings about their PR.

Tim Hurren, Harrogate

Speed limits should be reduced

I read your article about North Yorkshire County Council refusing a blanket introduction of a 20mph speed limit in built-up areas.

The council’s executive member for access, Cllr Don Mackenzie, said the county’s roads were becoming safer and safer, and 20mph zones should only be created on a case-by-case basis.

I have tried for years to get the speed limits reduced. I believe Councillor Mackenzie does not listen to anyone — where does he get his information from on safer roads? Cars around Harrogate are now more powerful and speeding is paramount throughout the town and on country roads. When is someone going to challenge this man and when will he listen?

Mike Fisher, Cornwall Road, Harrogate

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83-year-old Harrogate legend John Shackleton has a twinkle in his eye when he considers one last trip delivering ambulances to Eastern Europe, something he’s done through his charity Aid to Eastern Europe for over 30 years.

“My daughters say ‘come on, think of everyone else’, but I’ve been kicking my heels for the last two-and-a-half years due to covid. I’m getting older and the years are going by quickly.

“I have enough money to go to Amsterdam to buy an ambulance and I’ll be in Georgia within a week or two, but do I take the chance? It’s a big decision. I really want to do it.”

If you’re not familiar with John’s work, he’s been delivering ambulances to hospices and hospitals in Eastern Europe since 1990. He started after seeing upsetting TV images of orphans in Romania following the death of dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu.

He’s since delivered 38 ambulances to an exhaustive list of countries, including Albania, Kazakstan, Armenia, Slovenia and Bulgaria.

To raise money to buy the vehicles, John chops down trees, cuts lawns, mends bicycles — anything to raise the £12,000 to £15,000 it costs to purchase an ambulance — which he usually buys from auction in Amsterdam.

John chopping down trees to raise money for an ambulance. Credit – The Ambulance Man (Facebook).

He said:

“I fly into Amsterdam but they sometimes take the stretcher out and make you pay extra. Invariably, when we tell them its a charity we get around that!

“We then bring it to Harrogate, fill it with medical supplies and find two co-drivers. We sleep in it, drive day and night, and deliver it right into the sticks, miles away from civilisation.

“We leave the ambulance, hitch hike to the nearest international airport, come back to Harrogate and do it all over again.”

Harrowing scenes

John is moved to tears when he describes the harrowing scenes of human suffering that he’s witnessed, but is comforted by the knowledge that he has helped people less fortunate than us in Harrogate.

Many of the countries he’s visited have been riddled with poverty after the fall of the Soviet Union.

In Ukraine. Credit – The Ambulance Man (Facebook).

He said:

“When I think back to some of the places I’ve been to it is very hard. I don’t dwell on it but sub-consciously it’s there.

“In the early days, we’d get to know the kids, there’s always one you’d get to know more who might smile a lot or give you a cuddle. You’d ask where he is, and they’d say, ‘oh, he died last night, he’s buried over there’.

“It was a building site and they’d take them out the back and bury them like a dog. They had nothing. You wouldn’t be human if it didn’t affect you.”

Show no fear

John has endured the trials and tribulations of the road and has clocked up tens of thousands of miles. He’s faced bribes, bandits and gunfire.

In Turkey, he said he expected to have to pay a bribe but the police wanted him to cough up the value of his ambulance, so he refused.

He and his co-drivers were thrown in an underground jail cell with a bucket for a toilet.

“They locked us up for 36 hours. I’d already given Turkey two ambulances after they had an earthquake! I was really annoyed they had the audacity to lock us up.”

John said his team was beginning to panic.

“You must show no fear. I got to the boss man, nose to nose, screaming at him, he eventually freed us. That was a little bit scary.”

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The right stuff

Driving through Russia, John was warned of bandits and not to stop during the night. He came across a roadblock with lights flashing so he had to think quickly.

“I thought, I won’t stop here. So I put the foot down and the blues and twos on.

“They jumped out of our way and fired at us. But they must have been firing in the air. A man that can’t hit an ambulance is not worth holding a gun!”

John in Poland. Credit – the Ambulance Man (Facebook).

John has had UK police officers, and his grandkids, as part of his crew, although not every co-driver that has signed up has joined with the right stuff.

He added:

“I advertised for a driver once on eBay. I said the highest bidder can come along. A professor from Cambridge University paid £700.

“But all he wanted do to when we drove through France was go to the vineyards and taste the wines. He got really ansty with me, I said ‘why did you volunteer? We’re humanitarian, this is not a holiday!'”

Helping others

When the Stray Ferret visited John at his house in Harrogate, he had his head under the bonnet putting a new engine in his kit car, which he first built over 50 years ago. He said by spring he’ll have it going again.

John has been a bomb disposable expert, mountaineer, greengrocer, a housing fixer upper and he ran an art studio. His rich life experience has given him a practical and positive outlook.

“I’ll have a go at most things. The Egyptians built the pyramids, if a man can do that, most of us can do anything if we put our minds to it. 

“Some people are hesitant when opportunities arrive. I invariably say give it a go, if you have the right mentality, you will succeed.”

Most of all, John is known for putting other people before himself, and as the Stray Ferret left his home, he told us he’s pencilled in September as a possible date to deliver his 39th ambulance to those who desperately need one in Eastern Europe.

To donate and help John buy a new ambulance, email johnshackleton@aidtoeasterneurope.co.uk

Harrogate district residents should brace themselves for another increase in their council tax bills this year.

As local authorities begin to unveil their budget plans, a hike in rates is one of the measures they will take.

Council tax bills are made by adding up the precepts charged by North Yorkshire County Council, Harrogate Borough Council, North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner and parish councils.

Harrogate Borough Council has already announced a proposed £5 increase and North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner has suggested bills could go up as far as £10 for the police force.

A closer look at the detail gives a glimpse into why those authorities are hiking rates.

How much will my bill go up by?

So far, the only authority which has shown its full hand on council tax is Harrogate Borough Council.

Senior councillors at Harrogate council have backed a £5 increase – which would amount to £255.92 for a band D property.

A final decision on the increase will be made in February.

North Yorkshire County Council and North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner have yet to confirm their proposals — but have suggested what the rate could be.

North Yorkshire’s police commissioner gave a North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Panel a presentation on Thursday which outlined a budget based on a £10 increase.

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This would see the police precept on council tax bills increase to £281.06 and give the force an additional £3 million in income.

However, the fire service will only be able to hike its share by 1.99%. This would see the rate charged for fire services rise to £1.46 per week.

North Yorkshire County Council, which makes up the majority of residents’ council tax bills, has yet to suggest an increase.

But it does have the power to hike its share by as much as 4.5%.

Should senior county councillors support such an increase, this would see its share rise from £1,411 for a band D property to £1,474.

Why is my bill going up?

Nearly two years of covid and more than a decade of government cuts has had a drastic affect on local authority finances.

Coronavirus has left both North Yorkshire County Council and Harrogate Borough Council with financial blackholes to fill.

Last month, Cllr Carl Les, leader of the county council, warned that the authority will have to find £19 million in savings this coming year.

Cllr Carl Les, leader of North Yorkshire County Council. Picture: North Yorkshire County Council.

A government settlement of £26 million will not be enough for the authority to balance its books in 2022/23.

However, Cllr Les did acknowledge that the council tax system needed to be reformed.

He said:

“We continue to feel that residents in North Yorkshire pay too much council tax, particularly in comparison to London, and urge the government to press on with funding reform to create a fairer solution for rural counties.”

Similarly, Paul Foster, head of finance at Harrogate Borough Council, told senior councillors that its finances were not expected to reach pre-pandemic levels until at least 2023/24.

He said the council was predicting a reduction in income for the next financial year of £150,000.

Mr Foster also said government grant allocations had been reduced by £8.2 million since 2010 and that the council would have to dip into its reserves to fund some major projects.

Michael Porter, director of finance at North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner’s office, setting out the bleak financial picture for the fire service earlier this week.

Fire service hit hardest

But perhaps the authority feeling the affects of both covid and cuts most acutely is North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue.

On Thursday, the Stray Ferret reported that the service has had its capital grant abolished by the government, which means it could have to borrow up to £31 million to fund upkeep of stations and fire kit for crews.

In addition to this, the service is currently running a deficit of £1 million and cannot increase its share of council tax by more than 1.99%.

North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, Zoe Metcalfe, described the precept cap set by government as “very unfair” and pledged to continue lobbying ministers for fairer funding.

To illustrate just how bleak the financial situation is, Martin Walker, a former judge and co-opted member of North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Panel, said he was “horrified” by it.

He told Michael Porter, director of finance at the commissioner’s office, on Thursday:

“I have to say that I’m horrified, if that’s not too strong a word, about where the fire service is going to be.

“It’s in desperate need of capital injection and renewing stations, renewing fire engines and renewing all sorts of infrastructure.

“You’re talking about borrowing and having to borrow £30 million. I hesitate to say this, but god help us. 

“The fire service is fighting so hard to provide the service that the public need and yet you’re telling us as a panel that it’s going to get worse, then it will get worse and after that it will get worse.”

What happens now?

Council officials, including the county council and commissioner’s office, will set out their plans for council tax this month.

After that, councillors will vote on the proposals.

All of the public bodies which set council tax rates will confirm their budgets in February.

From there, residents across the Harrogate district will receive their bill for the next financial year in April. The only certainty is that they will go up again.

The Harrogate district’s seven-day covid rate has fallen again today.

It now stands at 1,211 infections per 100,000 people, compared with 1,286 yesterday and 1,487 two days ago.

However, it remains above the North Yorkshire and England averages, which stand at 1,120 and 1,132 respectively.

Today’s figures, from the UK Health Security Agency, show that the district recorded a further 244 infections.

The latest figure for the number of covid patients being treated at Harrogate District Hospital is 27. The number is an increase from 23 on last week.

No further deaths from patients who tested positive for covid have been reported at Harrogate District Hospital, according to NHS England.

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Harrogate Borough Council has approved plans for a new clubhouse for Sicklinghall Cricket Club after an arson attack destroyed its previous building.

The club has been using temporary shipping containers since the fire in 2016 while fundraising for a replacement clubhouse.

It lodged proposals in November for a new facility with home and away changing rooms, kitchen, storage facility, toilet and scorer’s box. The club said it could be used for other community or sports events.

The club, which is situated between Wetherby and Kirkby Overblow, has played in the village since 1925 and is currently in the top tier of the Leeds and Wetherby Cricket League.

The club is within walking distance of Sicklinghall and the application will provide sports facilities for local children.

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