The Harrogate school providing children with additional support

In September, the Harrogate district will have a new secondary school — but it won’t be anything like the current ones.

Strive for Education‘s roll will have just 33 students who struggle in mainstream schools and require additional support. Many will have been referred for two or three days a week by other schools in the district.

Strive was set up three years ago by former Harrogate Grammar School assistant headteacher Andy Brown and his wife Sonja, who felt students requiring additional support were under-served locally.

Education inspector Ofsted paved the way for it to transition from an alternative education provider to an independent school, and potentially expand its provision, when inspectors published a report this year concluding it “is likely to meet all the independent school standards”.

Ofsted recognition means Strive will be able to provide a full-time curriculum from September and be eligible to take on students who receive education, health and care plans from local authorities full-time.

Based on North Park Road in Harrogate and with a workshop in Starbeck, Strive classes have no more than six pupils to ensure students get enough support.

The hairdressing area

There is a hairdressing studio and a calm room with bean bags where students can relax, as well as a kitchen and a pool table.

Mr Brown says:

“I identified a huge gap that wasn’t being met locally. A lot of kids were travelling out of the area for this kind of provision.

“Put kids in the right environment with the right support and they feel safe. The big difference is they know we care. Of course all schools care – but it’s different level here.”

Students, who stay for between 12 weeks and two years, have special educational needs, including social, emotional and mental health issues. Autism and ADHD are common.

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Mr Brown admits it can be difficult to pitch the teaching given the wide range of needs and abilities. But he adds:

“If anyone asks me what the greatest challenge has been it’s not the kids — it’s getting the right staff in. They have to be able to relate and provide the right education.”

If the school expands, its main Harrogate site on a residential street might not be able to cope and the Browns are keeping an eye out for a new school – although they have ruled out Woodfield Community Primary School in Bilton, which closed last year. But change isn’t imminent. Mr Brown says:

“The plan is that next year we will be open as an independent school and see how it goes for the first year and take stock.”

strive for Education

Andy Brown

For now though, the timetable and staffing are in place for September.

Mr Brown says his education background and his wife’s business and HR experience makes them a “perfect combination”.

But such specialist education isn’t cheap. Annual fees for full-time places start at £27,000 and vary depending on the needs of the young person, the extra support they require, and any additional professional services needed such as speech and language therapists and educational psychologists.

Strive’s educational offer also depends on whether young people are placed as part of alternative provision or full-time on-roll places.

The school will be holding a drop-in open day on April 28 at which people can meet staff and look round.

4,000 people attend sold out Springtime Live in Harrogate

A total of 4,000 people attended Springtime Live at the Great Yorkshire Showground in Harrogate today.

The event, which showcases food, farming and the countryside,  featured pigs, goats and sheep brought by local farmers including Ian’s Mobile Farm and the Yorkshire Lamb Orphanage.

Peppa Pig and Peter Rabbit also entertained the youngsters while Diggerland was at the event for the first time.

Ripon Farm Services donated mini tractors which youngsters could ride around in an indoor circuit.

There were also cookery workshops and a climbing wall as well as alpacas, reptiles, Ferretworld’s Roadshow, Rare Breeds Survival Trust and forest crafts.

Springtime Live is organised by the Yorkshire Agricultural Society, a farming charity that also organises the Great Yorkshire Show.

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Harrogate hospital £9m spend on agency staff ‘necessary’, says trust

Hospital bosses in Harrogate have said a £9 million spend on agency staff this year was “necessary”.

Earlier this week, the Stray Ferret reported that the hospital had spent £4.1 million more than its target spend for agencies this year.

Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust set a target to spend no more than £473,000 each month on agencies — the equivalent of a maximum of £5.7 million over the year.

The figure covers staffing in areas such as nursing, dental and clinical support staff.

In response to the spend, a spokesperson for the trust said:

“When we experience workforce challenges in our clinical and non-clinical services we will use our bank of nursing staff or the services of relevant recruitment agencies to support staff gaps where necessary. This is an issue faced by all NHS foundation trusts across the country.

“The workforce challenges can be for a variety of reasons, such as when we have vacancies due to colleagues leaving the Trust or being promoted, or staff illness.

“It is important that we maintain a safe level of staff to care for our patients, and this can fluctuate due to circumstance – for instance, over the winter months we generally see a rise in patients with respiratory infections, such as the flu or covid-19, and an increase in the number of patients who cannot be discharged. This will lead to the trust opening more beds to meet demand, which in turn requires additional medical and nursing staff to care for those patients. In such instances, we may need to call on agencies, which can be expensive, but enables our services to continue.

“Whilst the current spend on agency staff across our services is higher than we expected, this has been necessary to ensure we can continue to provide the safest and best possible levels of health care service for our community.”

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It comes as Alex Sobel, Labour MP for Leeds North West and the party’s shadow environment minister, described Harrogate hospital’s reliance on agencies as “a disgrace”.

He told the House of Commons in February that a constituent called Marjorie Dunn spent just over seven weeks at the hospital last year.

Mr Sobel said:

“In that time she saw NHS nurses leave the service and she was treated predominantly by agency staff — mistreated, I have to say, by agency staff. It is a disgrace.

“When she was eventually moved to a recovery hub run by Leeds City Council she got excellent treatment there.

“She had broken her pelvis and been told she would never walk again, but it was the council physiotherapist who got her up and walking again. Is it not right that we should be supporting local authorities such as Labour-run Leeds to get such facilities as well as the NHS?”

Commissioner rules out Harrogate fire engine rethink despite faulty data

North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Zoë Metcalfe has ruled out reconsidering plans to reduce the number of nighttime fire engines based in Harrogate.

Ms Metcalfe’s three-year fire service blueprint last year decided the number of overnight appliances at the Skipton Road fire station would be cut from two to one.

One of the main concerns during consultation was this could lead to life-threatening delays at Starbeck level crossing if a second fire engine were required in an emergency.

Ms Metcalfe allayed fears by telling councillors firefighters knew the train times and could ring ahead to Network Rail if they needed to cross urgently.

But her office admitted last month this information, which it said had been “relayed in good faith by the commissioner”, was incorrect, which heightened concerns.

Ms Metcalfe, a Conservative, responded by saying concerns about Starbeck level crossing had been “the subject of limited media coverage”.

She added there was “misunderstanding on the part of the media and therefore also local stakeholders and the public” about the significance of Starbeck level crossing in her Risk and Resource Model 2022 to 2025, which outlines how fire service resources should be deployed.

She added:

“I want to reiterate that the Risk and Resource Model proposals were subject of a detailed modelling and consultation process undertaken in support of the review of North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service provision.

“The nature of the misunderstanding does not warrant a reconsideration of the resource proposals and statutory planning process that is now complete.”

But Ms Metcalfe added:

“Nonetheless, I recognise that local concerns about this misunderstanding should be addressed and I propose to offer a meeting with myself and North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, should any local councillor wish to avail themselves of that opportunity.”

‘Gates down for five minutes’

Cllr Pat Marsh, a Liberal Democrat on North Yorkshire Council who raised concerns about Starbeck level crossing with Ms Metcalfe last year, said the issue “cannot be batted away” and called for a meeting at the level crossing. She added:

“I have major concerns when the gates are down for a long period of time and ambulances and fire engines are waiting it can make the difference between life and death as it did in my family.

“The gates are down on some occasions for at least five minutes. If you are having a heart attack or your house is on fire every minute is precious.”

Cllr Paul Haslam, a Conservative on North Yorkshire Council, said he was willing to meet Ms Metcalfe in the hope of putting pressure on Network Rail. He said:

“We have been working round this issue for a long time.”

Harrogate police officer given suspended sentence for sex assault

A Harrogate police officer has been given a six-month suspended jail sentence for sexually assaulting a woman at a property in North Yorkshire. 

Joseph McCabe, 27, was found guilty of one count of sexual assault following a trial in February and today appeared for sentence at York Magistrates’ Court.

The court heard that McCabe had only been married six weeks when the incident occurred in 2021.

Prosecutor Richard Blackburn said that McCabe had picked the victim up and placed her on a bed as a “prelude to something else”.

The victim, who was not in a relationship with the policeman, “froze in fear” after the strapping officer “stroked” her on the arm and badgered her for sex.

Mr Blackburn said that when the victim rejected McCabe’s advances, he grabbed or “yanked” her hair and dragged her off the bed, before demanding she had sex with him.

He said that McCabe, a devout Roman Catholic who had drunk about seven pints that night, placed his hand on the woman’s inner thigh and on her back and then lifted her onto a bed, before lying next to her and staring at her. 

Mr Blackburn said:

“He took hold of her arm and began to stroke it.”

When the woman asked him what he was doing, McCabe, a police constable who likes to work out at the gym, made no reply.

Mr Blackburn said the woman was scared and made it clear she didn’t want to have sex.

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About 30 minutes later, McCabe started shouting, “Get into…bed now”, but she again spurned his advances. 

McCabe, who had been in his policing job since early 2020, later apologised for his behaviour, telling the woman he had “reverted back to being my teenage self” and had made an “ill-judged, romantic” advance. 

The woman, who can’t be named for legal reasons, later reported the incident to police.

McCabe, of Kingsley Park Road, Harrogate, denied that his behaviour was sexual despite “stupidly” trying to kiss the woman.

He was suspended by North Yorkshire Police pending the outcome of the trial and his policing career now lies in tatters following the guilty verdict.

The victim said McCabe picked her up and placed her on a bed and that “nothing was said, which I found quite creepy”.

She added:

“He laid on the bed next to me and then he took hold of my hand and (his hand) went up my arm in a stroking motion.”

She said McCabe was moving his hand towards an intimate part of her body, but no contact was made.

She pointed to the Crucifix that McCabe was wearing and said:

“Aren’t you meant to be religious? What are you doing?”

She then “felt my (hair) bun get pulled and I was ragged to the floor”.

She said she was “shouting and swearing” and telling him: “Don’t touch me.”

She added:

“I remember shaking a lot and I didn’t know what to do.

“I just froze in fear. I was in shock.”

She said that during the “horrible” incident, McCabe had “terrified” her and at one stage she feared she might be raped.

McCabe’s barrister Kevin Baumber read out character testimonies during the trial in which friends described him as a “hard-working, kind-natured individual” who took “great pride” in his work. 

His sports coach and best friend said McCabe was a “fun guy but has always been serious and sensible, someone I would go to in a crisis”.

‘No credible explanation’

District judge Tan Ikram said McCabe had given “no credible explanation as to why (the victim) would make up such a serious allegation”. 

Mr Ikram added:

“She was telling the truth about what happened that night, I’m sure of that.

“On the other hand, (you) were cautious in your answers (having had) plenty of time to think about it. You have elaborated to try to make innocent sense of what you did. I’m sure that your intentions throughout were sexual.”

He told McCabe: 

“She never consented (to sex) and you knew she didn’t.”

He said McCabe had shown “no remorse” for his behaviour.

The six-month jail sentence was suspended for two years and McCabe was placed on the sex-offenders’ register for seven years.

As part of the order, he must complete a 100-day alcohol-abstinence programme and up to 20 days of rehabilitation activity.

He must also take part in a 43-day sex-offending group-work programme and was made subject to a three-year restraining order which prohibits him contacting the victim. He was made to pay £620 prosecution costs and a £128 victim surcharge. 

Non-surgical ‘Brazilian butt lifts’ come to Harrogate

A new aesthetic clinic and training academy offering an alternative Brazilian butt lift service is set to open on King’s Road, in Harrogate.

Classic Cosmetics originated in Boroughbridge but is moving to Harrogate to meet demand.

The clinic will offer aesthetic treatments to clients, as well as training to those wishing to pursue a career in cosmetic treatments.

Classic Cosmetics’ treatments include lip fillers, micro-blading and anti-wrinkle injections.

The clinic also offers a non-surgical alternative to the controversial Brazilian butt lifts, which has been subject to health risk concerns.

The treatment in Harrogate will use a hyaluronic acid injection instead of other methods, such as fat transfer.

Brazilian butt lifts, or BBLs, have grown in popularity in recent years, with the likes of Towie star Dani Imbert among those undergoing surgery.

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Alongside its work with clients, the CPD-accredited training academy in Harrogate offers one-to-one courses in aesthetic treatments, including facial fillers, lip blush and eyelash extensions.

Vicki Barnes, founder of Classic Cosmetics, explained those wishing to train in advanced cosmetics treatments “must be trained in physiology and anatomy first”.

Ms Barnes has 18 years of experience in the beauty industry and has trained in aesthetics since 2019.

She said:

“Harrogate has become a selling point for my clients now.

“They will come to train with me and then spend a weekend in Harrogate”.

The clinic will open on Wednesday, April 5.

Guilty plea ends trial into alleged Harrogate cocaine racket

The trial of three men allegedly involved in a cocaine-and-cannabis racket potentially worth millions has ended prematurely after one entered guilty pleas to conspiracy and two others were acquitted. 

Kole Lleshi, 54, of Hargrove Road, Harrogate, Allaman Tatariku, 25, from Hampshire, and Gavin Woodley, 44, of Ashfield Road, Harrogate, were on trial for their alleged part in the lucrative narcotics conspiracy run by an Albanian organised-crime group.

The trial began at Leeds Crown Court on Monday when the prosecution told the jury how “kilo blocks” of cannabis and cocaine were being transported between London and Harrogate where they were sold on the street.

However, on the second day of the trial, Kole Lleshi and Woodley, who both admitted involvement in the supply of Class A and B drugs but denied being part of the wider conspiracy, were acquitted of the more serious charge after the prosecution decided to offer no evidence against them.

Tatariku, of Penhale Road, Portsmouth, ultimately admitted two counts of conspiring to supply Class A and B drugs and will be sentenced on a date to be fixed. 

The gang’s ringleader, former Harrogate restaurant worker Ermal Biba, 38, is also due to be sentenced after already admitting his part in the mega-money drug plot, along with Kladji Lleshi, 23, of Kinloss Court, London, and Adam Sarkowski, 41, formerly of Wedderburn Close, Harrogate. 

Dritan Lleshaj, 53, formerly of Spring Mount, Harrogate, had already been jailed and deported for possession with intent to supply cocaine and cannabis. 

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Biba, of Trafalgar Court, Harrogate, admitted conspiring to supply cocaine and cannabis between June 2019 and May 2022.

Prosecutor Katherine Robinson said the conspirators, mostly Albanian nationals, were also involved in a £1.5 million cannabis farm in Rochdale which was connected to the Harrogate operation.

Biba was the lynchpin between two distinct conspiracies in which, after his first foot soldiers were arrested, he recruited others, incliuding Kladji Lleshi, Tatariku, Woodley and Sarkowski. 

Biba was released under investigation following his initial arrest in May 2020 for the first conspiracy, which involved Kole Lleshi and Dritan Lleshaj, but continued operating “dealer lines” in Harrogate run by an “organised-crime group”.

Kole Lleshi admitted his part in the drug operation by transporting a kilo of cocaine from London to Harrogate in September 2019. 

However, he denied being involved in the wider conspiracy.   

Harrogate ‘drug run’

In September 2019, Biba arranged a “drug run” which involved Kole Lleshi driving to London and bringing back Class A drugs to Harrogate.

Biba was in contact with an unknown man in London from whom Lleshi was ostensibly to collect the drugs. A few weeks later, Biba sent Kole Lleshi a text message saying: “We go tomorrow.”

The following day, Lleshi set off for London again in a Kia vehicle, ostensibly for a drug pick-up, and returned to Yorkshire where he was stopped by police on the A1 near Doncaster. During a search of his car, officers found a kilo block of high-purity cocaine in a plastic bag. The drugs had a “wholesale” value of £25,000.

The following day, Lleshaj was arrested after meeting Biba in a Harrogate restaurant. Lleshaj was found with £419 in cash and five wraps of cocaine. 

He told police he was homeless, but they found the keys to his house in Spring Mount and searched it. They found “various quantities” of cocaine and about £2,000 cash.

Woodley played the role of “facilitator” by allowing the gang to supply drugs from his rented house in Ashfield Road, where they found 264g of high-purity cocaine and two large “vacuum packages” of cannabis worth up to £11,000.

Biba, Lleshaj, Tatariku and Kladji Leshi were said to be regular visitors to this property where police also found “debt lists”, cash, digital weighing scales and hydroponic equipment.

Woodley was subsequently arrested at his then home in Fairfax Avenue, Harrogate, where police found a small amount of cocaine and cannabis and a torch-like stun gun. 

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Ms Robinson said Greater Manchester Police raided an industrial unit in Rochdale in March last year when they arrested two Albanian men after they found a large cannabis grow on an “industrial” scale. 

Those two men admitted cultivating cannabis at the factory which had a harvest of 144 kilos with an estimated “street value” of £1.5 million.

Ms Robinson said:

“(Police) surveillance had been carried out and members of the organised crime group in Harrogate regularly visited this industrial estate in Rochdale.

“ANPR (cameras) showed Mr Biba’s vehicle travelling in that direction and Kladji Lleshi and Allaman Tatariku’s phones showed they travelled down the M62 from Harrogate to Rochdale.”

Biba, Kladji Lleshi and Sarkowski all admitted their part in that cannabis conspiracy. 

Kole Lleshi admitted possessing cocaine with intent to supply and had already served a 40-month prison sentence for that, but denied having knowledge of the wider conspiracy, claiming he was “simply on an errand” to collect something from London in September 2019 but that he didn’t know what that was. 

Woodley, who was said to have worked in Harrogate restaurants with Biba, admitted possessing a prohibited weapon, namely the stun gun, and allowing his premises to be used for the supply of drugs, but was acquitted of all other charges including conspiracy in the wider drug plot. 

He was given a 23-week suspended prison sentence.

Biba, Sarkowski, Kladji Lleshi and now Tatariku will be sentenced at a later date.

Government rejects cycling schemes in Harrogate and Knaresborough

Cycle schemes in Harrogate and Knaresborough will not go ahead after the government rejected the bids for funding.

North Yorkshire County Council applied for £3.19 million from the fourth round of the Department for Transport’s active travel fund.

It would have paid for segregated cycle routes on Victoria Avenue in Harrogate, a section of the A59 between Mother Shipton’s Cave and Harrogate Golf Club and a project in Richmond.

But the DfT allocated the £200 million to bids from other local authorities instead.

The council indicated in a news release last month it had been allocated £1.08m from the fourth funding round and been invited to bid for an additional £2.16m. But it said today it had actually not been awarded a penny.

The news is another blow for attempts to encourage cycling in the Harrogate district after phase two of the Otley Road cycle route was abandoned and traffic calming measures on nearby Beech Grove were reversed.

There is still no final decision on the £11.2 million Station Gateway, which would improve cycling around the train station.

It also appears to leave wider plans to create a connected, segregated cycle route from Cardale Park to Harrogate town centre in tatters.

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North Yorkshire County Council’s Conservative executive member for highways and transportation, Cllr Keane Duncan, said:

“We are inevitably disappointed that our ambitious £3.19 million bid to enhance facilities for cyclists and pedestrians through the fourth round of the government’s active travel fund has not been successful.

“We believe we put forward strong proposals for the three schemes.

“We are seeking detailed feedback from Active Travel England so we can understand the reasons behind their decision. We hope to work with them to progress schemes in these areas and elsewhere in the county successfully in future.”

Harrogate’s Valley Gardens to host three-day coronation celebration

Valley Gardens in Harrogate is set to host a three-day celebration event for the coronation of King Charles III.

The free event will take place from Saturday, May 6, until Monday, May 8.

It will include live stream of the coronation ceremony on a big screen from Westminster Abbey.

Besides the big screen, a stage will feature a line-up of family-friendly entertainment.

There will also be fairground rides, food and drink stalls, pop-up character appearances, circus workshops and an artisan market in the gardens Sun Colonnade.

Cllr Sam Gibbs, Harrogate Borough Council’s cabinet member for environment, waste reduction and recycling, said:

“Valley Gardens provides the perfect backdrop for our three-day event to celebrate the coronation of King Charles III.

“There will be rides, family entertainment throughout the weekend, pop-up character appearances and circus workshops. There truly is something for everyone and even better, it’s all free.

“So pack a picnic and come on down to Valley Gardens to mark the coronation.”

For more information on the event, visit the Visit Harrogate website.

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Paperchase in Harrogate to close tomorrow

Paperchase in Harrogate will close tomorrow after the company went into administration last month.

The cards, gifts and stationery company has been holding a closing down sale since administrators Begbies Traynor took control of the business.

The James Street shop has already sealed off half of the unit as stocks run low. It is running a 70% off sale and selling some cards for as little as 10p.

Tesco bought the rights to the cards, gifts and stationery brand, entitling it to sell Paperchase items in its supermarkets, but did not buy the stores.

The move affected 106 Paperchase shops and more than 800 staff nationally.  All stores are due to cease trading by Monday.

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