Harrogate district among worst prepared areas for electric cars, says study

The Harrogate district has been revealed as one of the worst prepared areas in the UK for the electric car revolution.

New research shows the district places fourth among the least ready regions, with just one charging point for every 134 electric or hybrid cars.

This comes as more and more motorists across the nation are making the switch to electric as the government’s ban on sales of petrol and diesel cars by 2030 is now less than a decade away.

Harrogate has seen rapid growth in the number of electric vehicles on its roads, with more than York or any other district in North Yorkshire.

However, the district’s charging infrastructure is lagging behind and there is now pressure on local authorities to speed up their offering in order to support efforts to tackle climate change.

Harrogate Borough Council – which has admitted the district’s charging point numbers are “some way behind” neighbouring areas such as York and Leeds – has set an aim to get 10,000 electric vehicles on the roads by 2023.

It said in a statement that it has installed charging points at several council-owned locations and that it plans to roll out 60 more within the next five years.

The borough council said: 

“It is encouraging to see that the Harrogate district has seen an increase in electric vehicle ownership.

“Our Ultra-Low Emission Vehicle strategy aims to respond to this local need and fulfil our vision to have the most ambitious and forward-thinking programme for electric vehicles of any borough council.

“Charging points have been installed at council sites across the district, including Phoenix Business Park in Ripon and Conyngham Hall in Knaresborough.

“Charging points will also be installed at Hornbeam Park train station car park in Harrogate, Victoria multi-storey car park in Harrogate, Chapel Street car park in Knaresborough, Southlands car park in Pateley Bridge and cathedral car park in Ripon in the coming months.”

Harrogate Borough Council is responsible for areas including off-street parking and planning, and said all new housing developments are equipped with charging points along with a dedicated electric circuit.

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On-street parking is the responsibility of North Yorkshire County Council which said it recognised the urgency of improving electric car infrastructure, but added it wanted “take the time needed to ensure we find the correct solutions to ensure everyone has convenient access”.

It said a charging point study is currently underway and will involve a public consultation to ask residents for their views.

Karl Battersby, corporate director for business and environmental services at the county council, said: 

“North Yorkshire is currently exploring many options and engaging with specialist companies to seek solutions to the challenges surrounding electric vehicle charging.

“Options being considered include rapid charging hubs and innovative measures to provide on-street charging.”

Mr Battersby added: 

“Harrogate has more registered electric vehicles than any other district in the county and also the most publicly available charge points, though some of those have restricted availability.

“Department for Transport data shows Harrogate and Ryedale are in the top 40% of UK council areas for total numbers of charging points.”

The research which shows Harrogate places fourth among the least ready regions is from insurance group esure. It found the district comes behind only Slough, Swindon and Stockport which is the worst prepared place with 448 electric and hybrid vehicles having to share each charger.

The figures also show it’s 3.5 times harder to find a charger in Harrogate than in York which has made better progress with one charging point for every 38 vehicles.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, London comes out on top as the best prepared area with only four cars per each charger.

New co-working space opens in Harrogate

Harrogate Borough Council‘s co-working space, Co-Lab, has opened.

Co-Lab consists of new offices, a meeting room and communal space. It’s based on level 3 of Harrogate Convention Centre on King’s Road.

The authority secured £540,000 of funding from the Leeds City Business Rates Pool to fund the project.

It aims to connect digital, tech and creative businesses in the Harrogate district.

Alistair Forbes, Harrogate Borough Council’s in-house growth manager who will support businesses at Co-Lab said:

“Co-Lab will be focussed on digital and tech businesses, but we are inviting anyone interested in collaborating with the business community to talk to us.

“From designers to hardware specialists, technologists, marketers and developers, our aim is that everyone works together to help our community become more successful.”

Ripon butcher wins contract with Selfridges and Fortnum & Mason

Ripon-based online butcher, Farmison & Co has won a contract to supply London stores Selfridges and Fortnum & Mason.

Farmison’s new Saucepan Ready range was curated by the company’s Michelin-starred executive chef, Jeff Baker, who has cooked for the Queen and Barack Obama.

The deal comes after Inverleith LLP, an Edinburgh-based specialist consumer brand investor, acquired a majority stake in the business, so it could press ahead with expansion plans.

Business founder and chief executive, John Pallagi, said:

“It’s a real feather in our cap to get Saucepan Ready listed with these two such iconic British retailers – it’s also recognition of the superb quality of the heritage breed meat our farmers supply.”

As well as the Saucepan Ready dishes, Selfridges and Fortnum & Mason are stocking Farmison & Co’s beef dripping and chicken schmaltz.

Battery storage facility planned for Burton Leonard

Plans have been submitted to build a battery energy storage system near Burton Leonard.

The application has been submitted to Harrogate Borough Council by Harmony Energy Limited. The company also hopes to build a solar farm nearby.

The battery energy facility will store electricity so it can support the National Grid and provide electricity during high demand.

It would be built next to the Wormald Green Northern PowerGrid substation, off Station Lane, Wormald Green.

The storage facility would be built in the field marked in red.

‘Cold and insincere’ letter from Harrogate hospital led to suicide, inquest hears

A Harrogate man has told an inquest a “cold and insincere” letter from Harrogate District Hospital led to his wife to take her own life days later.

Sarah Jane Louise Tatlow, 57, died on March 26 last year at the home she shared with her husband and two sons in Harrogate.

She had been undergoing treatment for an aggressive form of cervical cancer.

Julian Tatlow told today’s opening day of the inquest in Northallerton that his wife was not fully aware of her “poor prognosis” until she received a letter from one of her doctors at Harrogate District Hospital days before her death.

The letter was sent following an in-person consultation with Ms Tatlow and her husband on March 17.

Ms Tatlow, who was a director of management training and development consultancy Kronos Learning, did not share the letter with her husband, who found it in the days after her death.

He described the letter as “cold and insincere” and said it contained details not made clear to them during the consultation.

He said the use of words such as “slurry” to describe the kind of faecal matter that would have ended up in his wife’s stoma bag, and the shock of her “poor prognosis” would have made his wife question “what is the point?”.

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Mr Tatlow told the inquest in Northallerton:

“I believe if she didn’t receive a copy of this letter, I may still have a wife and my sons a mother.”

The consultant who sent it responded to say:

“The extent of her cancer was confirmed on 10th March after numerous scans. I believe Sarah had come to the conclusion [of the severity of her cancer] following numerous consultations with myself and colleagues.”

Cancer diagnosis

The inquest heard that Ms Tatlow suffered frequent urinary tract infections in late 2020. A routine cervical screening in January 2021 then diagnosed cancer.

Dr Allison Amin, a consultant gynaecologist at Harrogate District Hospital, said she knew instantly it was an aggressive form of cancer that had spread to her pelvic area.

But Mr Tatlow said in an opening statement, which was read out at the inquest, that neither he nor his wife was aware of her “poor prognosis”. He said all the consultations had suggested that operations could “give her a better quality of life”.

Mr Tatlow asked each doctor if they had made it clear to his wife how aggressive her cancer was. Each doctor said they were unable to confirm their exact words but were sure Ms Tatlow knew her cancer was aggressive.

Mr Tatlow said to one of the doctors “my recollection is entirely different”.

He also asked why none had referred his wife to her GP for depression during a time in which, he said, she was clearly struggling.

At the time of her death, Mrs Tatlow was waiting for two surgeries that were due to take place early in April.

The inquest, led by coroner Oliver Longstaff, is due to conclude tomorrow.

Northern to continue with Harrogate train cuts despite pressure from MP

Northern will press ahead with plans to cancel the 6.07am train service from Harrogate to Leeds, as well as some other services, despite lobbying from Harrogate and Knaresborough’s Conservative MP Andrew Jones.

The Stray Ferret reported this month that the 6.07am service — the first of the day — will be axed from May 15. Some evening services will also be cut.

The early service was popular with business travellers as a way to get to London King’s Cross before 9am.

The decision to cut the service was branded as “disgraceful” by Brian Dunsby, of Harrogate Line Supporters Group.

Urging a rethink

Last week, Andrew Jones MP wrote to the chairman of Northern, Robin Gisby, urging him to “rethink” reductions to the service between Harrogate and Leeds.

Mr Jones wrote that train services in Harrogate had got better over the past decade but cuts could risk losing these “hard-won improvements”.

However, a Northern spokesperson said today that the operator, which is now owned by the UK government, confirmed the cuts will still take place from May 15.

They said the cuts were primarily due to driver shortages and not a reduction in passengers since the pandemic.

However, the spokesperson added Northern will look to reinstate some services during the rest of 2022.

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The spokesperson said:

“We recognise that some of our customers are disappointed with the upcoming changes to their service. We are sorry for any inconvenience caused.”

“Along with the rest of the industry, some amendments to the timetable will be made from 15 May 2022.

“For the remainder of the year, services will be reinstated where possible with the intention of a larger uplift in December 22.

“These reinstatements will take us more in line with December 2021 service levels although any changes are dependent on several factors. We will share the final plans when we can.”

Brian Dunsby, of Harrogate Line Supporters Group said news that the 6.07am cut would remain was “not good enough”.

He added:

“I was expecting them to keep that one. I’m very disappointed.”

Harrogate’s Tewit Youth Band wins flurry of awards

Three groups from Harrogate and District Tewit Youth Band had a successful trip to Northampton last weekend for the National Youth Band Championships of Great Britain.

The group’s Tewit Junior Band, Tewit Intermediate Band and Tewit Senior Band were all awarded for their efforts.

Tewit Junior Band, comprising of eight to 11-year-olds who have never performed in a competition setting before played a 15 minute programme under musical director Allan Briggs.

Adjudicators praised the young musicians, saying “this was what banding should be all about”. They were awarded a merit.

Tewit band

The junior band with musical director Allan Briggs.

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Tewit Intermediate Band, performing under musical director Rebecca Marshall, they played circus-themed The Big Top before soloist Ella Simpson played The Lazy Trumpeter.

The adjudicators liked it so much they awarded her the title best soloist for the section. Overall the intermediates came second.

Tewit Senior Band with musical director Richard Marshall

The Tewit Senior Band performed in the last section against some of the top youth bands in the country, including bands from specialist music colleges.

Alongside musical director, Richard Marshall, the band played a programme that included a solo performance from 16-year-old tenor horn player, George Fearnley.

George was named best soloist for the competition and the band placed third with a gold adjudication for their efforts.

President Colin Gibbs said it was “an amazing achievement with such strong competition”.

 

 

36 supported living flats to be built at Claro Road in Harrogate

Plans for a new 36-flat supported housing development in Harrogate have been given the go-ahead today.

Jackie Snape, chief executive of the Harrogate charity Disability Action Yorkshire, made an impassioned plea to councillors for the scheme to go ahead. She said disabled people wanted to be given more control of their lives.

Ms Snape told Harrogate Borough Council‘s planning meeting that the need for supported housing was growing ever greater as disabled people “want so much more than residential care”.

She was speaking in support of plans to replace the charity’s existing Claro Road care home with 36 flats, which will allow residents to live more independently.

Ms Snape said:

“Disability Action Yorkshire has provided residential care for disabled people in the Harrogate area for the past 60 years, and for at least the last six years we have been working towards stopping that part of our service.

“The reason for this is that the disabled people we work with are telling us very loudly that they don’t want residential care.

“I asked the young disabled people currently living in 34 Claro Road what they thought I should say to you today.

“They said ‘just tell them we are ready, we want choice and control over our own lives, we just want our own front doors, we want what everyone else has.’”

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Disability Action Yorkshire, which this year celebrates its 85th anniversary, is working with Highstone Housing Association to build three apartment blocks at the Claro Road site.

Residents ‘no longer want residential care’

Ms Snape said the need for this type of accommodation has been growing over the last decade, but became in even greater demand during the pandemic which “solidified the resolve” of Claro Road residents that they no longer want residential care.

She said:

“For the past two years they have been treated differently to the rest of society, at one point not being able to have visits from friends and family while the rest of the country went out to eat out.

“Nearly every day somebody said we wouldn’t be in this situation if we had a home of our own.”

The charity’s plans – which included a mix of one and two-bed flats – were approved with “open arms” by Harrogate Borough Council’s planning committee today.

Works will now start later this month to construct the first of the flats on the grounds of the current home and on a derelict playground which was sold off by the council last year.

The existing care home will be replaced with flats, as well as a base for support staff who will be on site 24-hours-a-day.

Speaking at today’s meeting, councillor Stuart Martin said:

“This is exactly the sort of development we should be building and it’s one of the easiest decisions I’ve taken on this planning committee.”

Race for Life returns to Harrogate this summer

Cancer Research UK is inviting people to take part in Race for Life in Harrogate on Sunday, July 10.

Women, men and children can choose to enter 3k, 5k and 10k events in the town that all start from The Stray.

There is also a chance to take part in obstacle courses Pretty Muddy and Pretty Muddy Kids.

Race for Life was cancelled in 2020 due to covid but returned to Harrogate in September last year.

Money raised from the event helps scientists find new ways to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer.

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Race for Life

Siobhan Byrne, Race for Life spokesperson for Harrogate, said:

“Our Race for Life events are open to all. For some people, the Race for Life is literally a walk in the park. Slow and steady still wins. For others, it’s a jog. Others may opt to push themselves harder, taking up the challenge of the 10k distance and even pushing for a new personal best time.

“But what is for certain is we’re looking forward to welcoming people of all ages and abilities. Race for Life Harrogate will be fun, emotional, colourful, uplifting and an unforgettable event this year.”  

Anyone who signs up between Monday April 4 and Monday April 18 can claim a 30% off the entry fee as part of a special sale by using the code EASTER30.

Besides the entry fee, competitors will be asked for £50 minimum sponsorship.

To sign up, visit raceforlife.org.

Roadworks reduce Harrogate’s Cheltenham Parade to single lane until Thursday

Drivers are set to face delays in Harrogate town centre as roadworks take place on Cheltenham Parade.

North Yorkshire County Council is carrying out work to install a fibre optic cable up the street and has reduced traffic to one lane.

Cheltenham Parade becomes single lane next to the junction with Commercial Street and Station Parade.

The move has led to queues on the road this lunchtime, with traffic backing up onto Ripon Road.

According to the county council’s roadworks map, the work is set to remain in place until Thursday this week.

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Pannal Ash juniors take home the cup

Pannal Ash Whites U14’s won the Leeds and District Cup on Sunday.

The team won the trophy after a hard-fought 3-0 victory over Wortley at Whitkirk FC.

After a good start, the team survived an early scare when Wortley hit the crossbar.

Two goals from Henry Collings saw the Whites take a 2-0 lead at half-time.

The win was capped off with a long-range effort from Jamie Stokoe.

Head coach Dave Holdsworth said.

“We’re delighted that a great set of boys who support and work so well together have their reward. This trophy is hard-earned and reflects what can be achieved with effort, practice and respect for others in the game. Brilliant achievement! Well done to all the lads!”

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Next up for the U14’s is the County Cup final on 24th April against Yorkshire Amateurs.

Pannal Ash Whites U14 squad are: Toby Sharkey, Otis Baker, Sam Caine, Charlie Dunsmore, James Meehan, Aaron Brompton, Sam Grass, Charlie Moss, Oliver Holdsworth, Lewis Jalal, Kuba Balcerzak, Henry McQuade, Henry Collings, Jamie Stokoe

Whilst the under 14s picked up the trophy, the club’s under 11’s team lost 6-1 in their final Leeds and District Cup final against Hunslet Club, which was also played on Sunday.

MP’s memorial tree at RAF Menwith Hill saved

A memorial tree at RAF Menwith Hill that was under threat of removal has been saved and replanted.

The tree was originally planted in 1994 in memory of Bob Cryer, who was the Labour MP for Bradford South. He was a vocal campaigner for transparency at the base and died in a car accident in 1994.

Mr Cryer secured a debate in parliament a few months before he died when he claimed the aim of the base was to “assert and retain United States supremacy”.

The Ministry of Defence, which owns the site, is building a new visitor centre, vehicle canopy and changes to the road junction on Menwith Hill Road.

However, this work involved removing the memorial tree that was replanted close to the site’s main gate in 2002. It was planted alongside the public highway on land not owned by the MOD.

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Last year, the Stray Ferret spoke to the late MP’s wife, Ann Cryer, who was the MP for Keighley from 1997 until 2010. She said she was “very upset” about the possible removal of the memorial tree.

But on Thursday, the MOD replanted the tree 100 metres away from its old location with work overseen by both an arboriculturist and an ecologist.

This means the tree should hopefully survive while plans to upgrade the entrance at the base can continue.

Bob Cryer’s alder tree in its new location

Sqn Ldr Geoff Dickson, RAF Menwith Hill, said the MOD wanted to ensure the move was done in a way that was “sympathetic to the memory of Mr Cryer”.

A second alder tree was also planted.

Sqn Ldr Dickson said:

“Mindful of the significance, we wanted to be sympathetic to the memory of Mr Cryer and to the sensitivities of the protest groups.  Accordingly, we hired a professional tree removal company to re-locate the alder some 100 metres further west on the verge bordering Menwith Hill road.

“The operation was successfully carried out last Thursday, with the roots of the tree being dug out by hand so as to avoid damage to the roots system.  The work was overseen by both an arboriculturist, and an ecologist. A second alder similar in size was planted a few feet away to complement the original tree.  We sincerely hope the tree will survive and thrive in its new habitat.”

The move was welcomed by Lindis Percy, co-founder of the Campaign for the Accountability of American Bases.

Ms Percy said:

“The America base at Menwith Hill is to be significantly upgraded so the alder tree dedicated to the memory and work of Bob Cryer MP had to be moved.

“He worked tirelessly to make the base accountable to Parliament. His work has been continued by many people since his untimely death in 1994 and we hope the tree survives the move.”