In depth: Bleak future for Harrogate district rural schools?

Since the turn of the year, it has been announced that two primary schools in the Harrogate district will close.

Both schools — Kell Bank near Masham and Baldersby St James between Ripon and Thirsk — are in rural areas.

Kell Bank closed in summer and if Baldersby’s closure goes ahead as planned, it will be the first academy in North Yorkshire to shut.

Both decisions were attributed to low pupil numbers. But a closer look at the issue reveals a deeper problem in rural communities in our district.

Drop in pupil numbers

North Yorkshire is home to 356 state schools — of which 303 are primary, 43 are secondary and 10 are special schools.

Although most schools in the Harrogate district are in towns and cities, such as Ripon, Harrogate, Knaresborough, Boroughbridge, Pateley Bridge and Masham, some are in more remote parts.

Declining pupil numbers in these rural areas has led to questions about the ongoing viability of schools.

Kell Bank, which was run by North Yorkshire County Council, closed in August.

Pupil numbers at Kell Bank Primary School before its closure. Data: NYCC.

Pupil numbers at Kell Bank Primary School before its closure. Data: NYCC.

The school, which was celebrating 200 years of education at the time, had capacity to teach 50 pupils but just six on the register. Three year groups had no children in them.

The number of pupils had declined from 39 in 2014.

By comparison, nearby Masham Church of England School in Masham town centre had 121 pupils, some of which were out of its catchment area.

It’s a similar picture at Baldersby, which has only 22 pupils.

Hope Sentamu Learning Trust, the academy trust in charge, says numbers “show no prospect of improving for many years ahead” and the school should therefore close.

The figures for Baldersby St James since 2015. The 2021 number has since dropped to 22. Data: NYCC.

The figures for Baldersby St James since 2015. The 2021 number has since dropped to 22. Data: NYCC.

Pupil numbers at Baldersby have fluctuated and recovered to 46 in 2017 before declining again.

In both cases, the schools have been victims of changes to population demographics that have seen rural areas become less busy while more people live in towns and cities.

This raises difficult issues for families in rural areas thinking about where to educate their children.

‘A highly charged political issue’

A report by North Yorkshire County Council’s Rural Commission this year laid bare the problems facing rural schools.

According to the paper, eight schools have closed in the county over the past three years – most of which were in rural areas.

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The commission said the “continuing fall” in the rural population was the “fundamental challenge” facing small rural schools.

It said:

“While the number of elderly people living in the county continues to increase, the number of working-age families, with young children, continues to fall.

“This results in a significant surplus capacity in many of the small rural schools because there are simply not enough families with primary aged children living in rural communities.

“The cost of the rural housing market discourages young families from living in rural areas.”

The challenge in attracting younger families is compounded by the fact that parents are also thinking more carefully about where to send their children to school.

Department for Education guidance says a primary school aged child should be sent to a school no longer than 45 minutes away from home.

The rural commission report said parents were choosing not to send their children to a local school and instead opting for one further away “because it offers a better-quality education”.

It said:

“An expert on the subject noted that sometimes journey times are longer because children are going to schools other than their local one because of parental preference.”

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The sentiment was echoed by Jacqui Palmer, executive headteacher at Sharow Church of England Primary School.

She said:

“Over many years rural life has become different.

“In our village, there is no pub and the post office is only open on a morning.”

Ms Palmer added that it had become difficult for villages to attract younger families.

Impact on communities

The closure of rural schools runs deep in communities.

As noted by the rural commission, the decision to shut a village schools often prompts campaigns to save them.

This occurred in the Harrogate district when within days of the academy trust’s announcement, a group of parents and villagers set up the Save Baldersby St James Primary School campaign.

The group has set up a social media account to help the fight and called on Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi to reconsider the decision.

For the group, the closure would see an end to a school which has served the community since 1850.

Sally Muir, a spokesperson for Save Baldersby St James Primary School, said in a statement: 

“In an era where running costs are elevated above all other criteria, it is a shame that a school with both history and potential that has long served the community is now earmarked for closure.”

In response to the difficulties facing schools, the rural commission has called for the Department for Education to revise its national funding formula to support rural schools, in particular spare secondary schools.

It also believes that the formula needs to take into account “the quality of rural roads as well as distance”.

The commission has also backed a “rural stipend” for teachers salaries in order to encourage more teachers into rural schools, but also to bring more younger families into those areas.

But time will tell whether there is the will to act, or whether more cherished schools in remote parts of England’s largest county face uncertain futures.

199 more covid cases recorded today in Harrogate district

The Harrogate district has reported a further 199 cases today, Public Health England has confirmed.

Yesterday saw a record high since the start of the pandemic when 202 cases were reported.

The district’s seven-day covid rate continues to rise sharply and currently stands at 682 per 100,000.

The North Yorkshire average is 509 and the England rate stands at 406.

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No further covid deaths have been reported at Harrogate District Hospital, according to latest NHS England figures.

Harrogate District Hospital is currently treating 18 covid patients — the most since March this year when the hospital was recovering from its busiest coronavirus period

Council accused of ‘whitewash’ over investigation into ‘massaged’ planning report

Campaigners who spent 25 years fighting plans for a motorway service station have accused Harrogate Borough Council of a “whitewash” after it published its findings into an investigation.

The council launched the probe after it emerged a planning officer sent emails saying he “massaged” a key report on the A1(M) service station near Kirby Hill which was approved at appeal in April despite seven previous refusals since 1997.

A council statement previously said the investigation concluded “no irregularities” took place – and the findings have now been revealed in full to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The findings say the reference to “massaging” was “simply a poor choice of wording” and was in the context that the officer had amended the landscaping report to ensure it was “acceptable”.

However, the two planning officers involved in the emails were not interviewed as they had left the council and their previous messages were also deleted as “standard practice” to manage storage limits.

‘Deeply suspicious and disturbing’

Gareth Owens, chairman of campaign group Kirby Hill RAMS (Residents Against Motorway Services), said: 

“This so-called investigation and report amounts to a council whitewash of a deeply suspicious and disturbing episode in the planning department.

“This was not an independent investigation therefore – it was the planning department investigating itself.

“Little wonder, then, that the report concludes there were ‘no irregularities’.

“We now need a thorough, independent investigation of this matter and I call on the council to instigate one.”

The landscape report presented to councillors is significant because it said the impact of the service station on the area was “not substantive”.

This assessment was described by campaigners as a “complete U-turn” from a previous council report which warned the plans would cause “significant harm”.

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Despite a recommendation of approval from officers, members of the council’s planning committee still rejected the service station in November 2019.

However, campaigners believe the officer’s recommendation and “massaged” landscaping report still had a major impact on the outcome of the appeal which followed.

Mr Owens said:

“Members of the planning committee should remain very concerned about officers’ behaviour in this matter, particularly since the inspector at the public inquiry went along with the ‘massaged’ recommendation.”

Mr Ownes also raised questions over a verbal statement made by the planning officer to councillors.

The investigation findings state it was “unclear” whether the officer said “two landscape officers have judged the proposal and the proposal did not consider it caused significant harm” as this was not recorded in a transcript.

Gareth Owens, chair of the Kirby Hill RAMS, speaking against the application at Harrogate Borough Council’s planning committee in 2019. Picture: Kirby Hill RAMS

However, an audio recording of the meeting shared by Mr Owens reveals the officer did say those words.

Mr Owens said: 

“The evidence of this recording shows that the planning committee was misled.

“We feel that the investigator owes Kirby Hill RAMS an apology for trying to cover this up by stating as fact in their report that ‘the transcript has not accurately recorded the statement’ when they had not even listened to the recording.

“This concern could of course have been discussed with us during the investigation. It was not.”

‘Poor choice of wording’

The investigation was headed by Kathryn Daly, head of place shaping and economic growth at the council, who concluded:

“The use of the word ‘massaged’ in the email sent by the principal landscape officer to the planning officer is far from ideal, but my conclusion is that this was simply a poor choice of wording.

“For completeness, it would have been helpful to see whether there were additional emails between the two officers. However, corporate restrictions on Outlook storage mean that it is standard practice to delete historic emails.

“If this deletion is not done, the email account quickly goes above the storage limit and cannot be used.”

A council statement also previously said: 

“We can confirm that, following allegations that a report was ‘massaged’, an investigation was carried out.

“This investigation found no irregularities in the preparation of the officer report for the planning committee.

“As was stated at the time, officer recommendations are fair and impartial, and carefully considered against local and national planning policy, case law, consultation and anything else considered to be ‘material’ to the decision.”

Most daily covid infections ever in Harrogate district

The Harrogate district has reported another record high for daily covid cases.

A further 202 cases were confirmed today by Public Health England. The figure surpasses the previous high of 191 on October 11.

The district’s seven-day covid rate now stands at 637 per 100,000.

The North Yorkshire average is 504 and the England rate stands at 395.

Read more:

No further covid deaths have been reported at Harrogate District Hospital, according to latest NHS England figures.

Harrogate District Hospital is currently treating 18 covid patients — the most since March this year when the hospital was recovering from its busiest coronavirus period

Live: Harrogate district traffic and travel

Happy Thursday and good morning. It’s Connor with you for the final time this week on the traffic and travel desk to help with your commute.

There are a few road closures and temporary lights in place across the district, make sure you check our lists in case you need to leave a few minutes earlier.

Give me a call on 01423 276197 or get in touch on social media if you spot anything on the roads or are waiting for a delayed bus or train.

The morning blogs are brought to you by The HACS Group.

9am – Full Update 

That is all from me this week on the traffic and travel desk. I am heading over to the news desk now. Leah will be back with you tomorrow from 6.30am.

Roads

The roads are starting to become quite busy this morning as people drive through Harrogate and Knaresborough to get to work and school. Look out for these areas:

Road closures:

Temporary lights:

Trains

Buses

8.30am – Full Update 

Roads

The roads are starting to become quite busy this morning as people drive through Harrogate and Knaresborough to get to work and school. Look out for these areas:

Road closures:

Temporary lights:

Trains

Buses

8am – Full Update 

Roads

The roads are starting to become quite busy this morning as people drive through Harrogate and Knaresborough to get to work and school. Look out for these areas:

Road closures:

Temporary lights:

Trains

Buses

7.30am – Full Update 

Roads

The roads are looking quiet so far this morning, with no hotspots just yet. Spotted something? Give me a call.

Road closures:

Temporary lights:

Trains

Buses

7am – Full Update 

Roads

The roads are looking quiet so far this morning, with no hotspots just yet. Spotted something? Give me a call.

Road closures:

Temporary lights:

Trains

Buses

6.30am – Full Update 

Roads

The roads are looking quiet so far this morning, with no hotspots just yet. Spotted something? Give me a call.

Road closures:

Temporary lights:

Trains

Buses

10,000 Harrogate district children took part in Walk to School Day

Over 10,000 children across the Harrogate District did not travel to school by car on Friday for the second-ever Harrogate District Walk to School Day.

Instead of their usual drive to school, pupils were encouraged to walk, cycle, scoot or take public transport.

Zero Carbon Harrogate, the charity that coordinated the day, said 44 primary and secondary schools signed up to take their stand against the climate emergency.

This is a 42% increase in uptake since the first Walk to School Day in June this year.

Birstwith Church of England Primary School was the district’s ‘Zero Hero’ primary school winners with 91% of children taking part.

Harrogate High School won the secondary school prize, with 85% participation.

Find the full results table here: https://www.zerocarbonharrogate.org.uk/school-leaderboard.

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Jill Collins, headteacher of St. Robert’s Catholic Primary School said:

“The children and families in school are good walkers anyway, but when it comes to Walk to School Day they always make an extra effort walking, scooting, biking, even jogging in and the dog sometimes comes too.

“The children are so enthusiastic about helping the environment and know that we can all make a difference, even by taking simple steps such as walking to school.”

Fiona Jones, events manager for Zero Carbon Harrogate, added:

“This is the first Walk to School event exclusively for our district’s community and it has had a huge impact from being a co-ordinated effort – streets were noticeably quieter during the school run on Friday. The enthusiasm and positivity from schools, especially the children, has been fantastic.

“As regular half-termly events, these are not just about a single day in time, but about building positive transport habits that become a daily occurrence. These are the significant changes that will really make a difference.”

 

Harrogate town council: could it run Harrogate Convention Centre?

From the running of Harrogate Convention Centre to bin collections, the district’s public services will change in 18 months when devolution kicks in.

One of the major questions confronting Harrogate in 2023 will be what assets it wants to retain control of.

North Yorkshire County Council, which successfully bid for the new unitary council model, has promised “double devolution”.

That means a town council will be able to bid for assets — even though this may see council tax precepts hike up.

One of the Harrogate district’s biggest assets is its convention centre. Harrogate Borough Council has long sold it as an economic benefit to the town.

But it soon could become an economic vehicle which is no longer controlled locally.

HCC as an economic asset

In April 2023, a process known as “vesting day” will be held. This will see assets of all seven district councils moved to the control of North Yorkshire Council, the proposed name of the new unitary authority.

Among those which will be transferred is Harrogate Convention Centre.

The HCC has for a decade been sold as a £60 million benefit to the district – though this dropped to £35 million according to minutes from a council meeting held in December 2019.

An economic impact summary used to assess the value of the HCC in 2016/17.

With the HCC no longer in the district’s control, the question becomes what will its future be and what role will it play under the unitary council?

North Yorkshire Council officials will have to decide whether it is a strategic asset to them or not.

The new authority will have its own tourism and economic agenda, which the HCC may be included in.

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However, the council will also have to factor in assets in other districts, including Scarborough, Richmondshire and Craven, and have to decide whether to retain control of the HCC after 2023.

Harrogate Borough Council, which will no longer exist in 2023, has long felt that an arms length approach to running the centre is the best approach. It has put public money into the HCC and has since planned a £47 million renovation of the site.

In its annual report in 2019, the council said:

“We are responding to the challenges of the changing nature of the conference industry by redeveloping the Harrogate Convention Centre site.

“The facility contributes around £55 million a year to the local economy and has an important role to play in the district.”

However, the HCC is one of only two conference centres to be run by a local council. The other is Brighton Centre.

The unitary council may feel that the operating model of the HCC needs to change.

Town council control?

Given the scale of the asset and the uncertainty over how a unitary authority based elsewhere in the county will treat it, the question then becomes whether the HCC can be controlled locally?

Should the county council’s “double devolution” agenda come to fruition, a Harrogate authority could bid for control the HCC.

But, given that town councils elsewhere have had to significantly hike up their council tax precepts to pay for modest assets, it may be a tall order for an authority with fewer resources to handle.

Jonathan Webb, senior research fellow at the think tank IPPR North, told the Stray Ferret that any council-run public assets needed to benefit the wider area.

He was critical of the government’s “patchwork” devolution agenda, but added that some services are better run by larger authorities.

Mr Webb said:

“Different authorities will have different systems and I think part of the problem is that the public is not aware of how it works.

“The challenge of creating this new council is it is an extremely large area. The largest at the moment is Cornwall.”

Mr Webb added that the question for the unitary council is whether it can run services in Harrogate better or not.

“Does the unitary deliver anything better. Does it give them more resources or does it affect it?”

Harrogate district reports record 191 daily covid cases

The Harrogate district has reported another record high for daily covid cases as the infection rate continues to soar.

A further 191 cases were confirmed today by Public Health England. The figure surpasses the previous high of 177 on October 6.

The district’s seven-day covid rate now stands at 631 per 100,000 people after passing the 600 mark for the first time yesterday.

The North Yorkshire average is 463 and the England rate stands at 366.

Read more:

No further covid deaths have been reported at Harrogate District Hospital, according to latest NHS England figures.

A total of 129,455 people have received a first covid vaccine in the Harrogate district and 121,051 have had a second dose.

Harrogate district covid rate rises above 600

The Harrogate district seven-day covid rate has risen above 600 for the first time after another 141 infections were confirmed today by Public Health England.

The gap between infection rates in the district and the county and national averages continues to widen. The North Yorkshire rate is 456 and the England rate is 357.

The district with the next highest rate in the county is Craven, at 494.

Harrogate West and Pannal Ash has recorded the most cases within the district in the lasts even days, with 66.

Knaresborough Central has recorded the fewest, with 22.

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Harrogate district covid rate remains highest in North Yorkshire

The Harrogate district’s seven-day covid rate remains the highest in North Yorkshire at 573 infections per 100,000 people.

The next highest in the county is Craven, at 480. The countywide average is 444 and the rate for England it is 348.

Public Health England today reported a further 156 cases in the Harrogate district, which takes the total since the pandemic began to 17,644.

Elsewhere, 129,408 people have received a first covid vaccine in the Harrogate district and 120,863 have had a second dose.

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