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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The Harrogate district’s covid rate has continued to fall but the number of patents in hospital who have tested positive for coronavirus has increased.

Latest government figures show that the district’s seven-day covid average has dropped to 1,286 per 100,000 people, down on yesterday’s figure of 1,487.

It remains below both the county average, which is 1,243, and the England rate of 1,274.

However, latest figure show that the number of covid patients being treated at Harrogate District Hospital stands at 27 as of January 11.

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.

According to government figures, 105,580 booster or third jabs have been given in the Harrogate district, as of today.

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The landlord of Charlie’s Place on Otley Road has described the new cycle path, which has sections shared with pedestrians, as a “disaster waiting to happen”.

Work has continued since November to build the first phase of the new cycle route between Harlow Moor Road and Cold Bath Road. It’s part of a package of sustainable transport measures in the west of Harrogate.

Over half of the route will be shared with pedestrians, with only a line of paint to separate them from cyclists, including the section directly outside Charlie’s Place, which has been owned and run by Charlie Tinker for 18 years.

Mr Tinker fears a speeding cyclist coming down the hill will strike a pub patron, who might be standing outside smoking or waiting for a taxi.

He said:

“Cyclists will be coming down the hill at speed, it’s a disaster waiting to happen.

“It wont be long and by the time we get to summer there will be an accident.”

Contractors have been resurfacing the path again this week, which Mr Tinker said has been an “absolute bloody nightmare” with grit, gravel and cones left outside his pub.

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Mr Tinker said the works, which were expected to have been finished before Christmas, have had a negative impact on trade and are putting customers off visiting.

He said he has complained to North Yorkshire County Council about the disruption but has been ignored.

Mr Tinker added:

“The council haven’t had the gall to come out and see us and to not reply absolutely stinks.”

Melisa Burnham, North Yorkshire County Council highways area manager, said:

“Phase 1 of the Otley Road cycleway is ongoing. While safety audits have been undertaken as part of the design process, the scheme will be subject to a final safety audit and review upon completion.

“The project team is working with the contractors on implementing appropriate signage and lining.

“We apologise for any inconvenience the recent resurfacing has caused. All businesses and residents should have been informed in advance by the contractors.”

North Yorkshire’s highways chief has said he is hopeful that a £60 million project to realign Kex Gill will go ahead without a public inquiry.

A diversion is planned west of Blubberhouses on the A59 at Kex Gill, which has been blighted by a history of landslides and a recent “instability issue” that cost the council £1.4 million.

Following the publication of compulsory purchase orders, the council was faced with two objections which, if unresolved, could have led to a public inquiry.

However, Cllr Don Mackenzie, executive member for access at the county council, told the Stray Ferret the authority had now resolved one of the complaints.

He said:

“I’m very confident it will avoid an inquiry.”

Cllr Mackenzie previously told the Stray Ferret that he did not see the objections as a “severe risk” to the project.

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He added that once construction started on the project, work could take up to 18 months to complete.

However, a start date for the scheme has yet to be confirmed.

Barrie Mason, assistant director of highways and transportation at North Yorkshire County Council, said the authority intended to progress the scheme “as soon as possible”.

He said:

“We remain committed to progressing the essential realignment of the A59 at Kex Gill as quickly as possible.

“The route is a vital east-west link within North Yorkshire, as well as into West Yorkshire, Lancashire and Humber ports, so we are pressing ahead with this scheme to provide a safe, reliable route for residents, businesses and visitors.

“However, there are statutory processes that must be completed before we can move to the next stage of the project. We are currently progressing through these processes. Subject to their satisfactory completion, we will move forward with the scheme as soon as possible.”

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

The hospital reported the death on Tuesday, according to NHS England figures. It takes the covid-related death toll at the hospital to 205.

Today’s figures from the UK Health Security Agency show that another 326 infections have been recorded in the Harrogate district.

Meanwhile, government figures show that the district’s seven-day covid average is 1,487 per 100,000 people, down on yesterday’s figure of 1,527.

It remains below both the county average, which is 1,475, and the England rate is also 1,475.

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The data also shows that 105,412 booster or third jabs have been given in the Harrogate district, as of today.

Today, health bosses in North Yorkshire have sought to address fears from people who are hesitant to get the vaccine, in particular pregnant women.

‘Super-volunteer’ George Simpson – who has given over 1,500 hours of his time to the Knaresborough vaccination centre programme since it began in March 2021. Homecare Pharmacy vaccinator Janice John (in pink vest). Chain Lane Community Hub director Sue Vasey.

Dr Cath Dixon, executive chair and clinical lead of the Yorkshire Health Network a Federation of the 17 GP practices in the Harrogate district, said:

“Getting a covid vaccine is one of the most important things a pregnant woman can do this year to keep herself and her baby as safe from this virus as possible.

“There is now extensive evidence to show that the vaccines are safe and that the risks posed by covid to mum and baby are far greater. If any mums-to-be are having doubts about vaccination, I would urge them to talk to their midwife or doctor.”

Meanwhile, Knaresborough covid vaccination centre, based at Chain Lane Community Hub, administered its 125,000th jab today.

Officials at the centre reported that 40,000 of its vaccines which were given in November and December alone.