A big budget Netflix movie featuring Bridgerton star Phoebe Dynevor is being filmed today at the former Harrogate Borough Council offices in Crescent Gardens.

Bank Of Dave will be a biopic of Dave Fishwick, a self-made businessman from Burnley in Lancashire.

James Bond actor Rory Kinnear will play Mr Fishwick, opposite Phoebe Dynevor, who is best known for her role as Daphne in the hit Netflix period drama.

Mr Fishwick became famous after he set up a community bank that was called The Bank of Dave by locals in Burnley. It lent money to businesses in the wake of the 2008 financial crash.

He subsequently became a TV personality, filming programmes about unscrupulous payday loan lenders.

Crescent Gardens has been empty since the council relocated to Knapping Mount in 2017.

Impala Estates, a property investment company in Harrogate, bought the building in January 2020 for £4m. But the last update on its website for the property was exactly one year ago.

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A new mosque will be created in central Harrogate after the sale of the former Home Guard club completed today.

Harrogate Islamic Association has collected the keys for its new Tower Street premises after raising the £500,000 needed to buy the now-dilapidated building.

However, the hard work is not over: the group will continue to raise funds throughout Ramadan, which started today, to fund the renovations needed to bring the property back into use.

Zahed Amanullah, a member of the association, told the Stray Ferret:

“We are just over the moon — we’re so excited.

“Other communities in Yorkshire are looking this way and are really impressed with what they have seen.

“It’s a great example of how to establish a community within a wider society that is really harmonious and supportive.”

Mr Amanullah said Friday prayers for members of the association had been celebratory, with many having moved to Harrogate a decade or more ago and been searching for a place for a mosque ever since.

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Harrogate Borough Council granted planning permission in March for changes to the building to create a place of worship.

HIA then began a crowdfunding campaign to raise £200,000, alongside loans, to complete the purchase and to carry out repairs. Mr Amanullah said the first priority was to repair the roof and ensure the building was water-tight before any further work was carried out.

Zahed Amanullah of Harrogate Islamic Association

Then, he hopes some space can be refurbished and opened later this year while the remainder of the building is renovated. He added:

“There are some real architectural surprises in there – we’re looking forward to having a good look around. We had just one or two walks through the building in total darkness so far!

“We’ve had people offering in-kind support. That alone is hugely helpful — we’ve got tradesmen and women offering their services.

“We’ll be using an architect, and we’ll be working with Harrogate Civic Society on our plans.

“We’re looking forward to welcoming people into the building. We will have some sort of public open house when it’s safe to do so.”

Three men have appeared in court charged with stealing items from household waste recycling centres in Harrogate and Ripon.

North Yorkshire County Council operates the sites at Penny Pot Lane in Harrogate and Dallamires Lane in Ripon.

Lewis Boocock, 23, of Pioneer House, Dewsbury, is alleged to have stolen six laptops from Dallamires Lane and two TVs and two laptops from Penny Pot Lane on March 20 last year.

Mitchell Boocock, 22, of Common Road, Batley is charged with the theft of numerous electrical items from Penny Pot Lane on March 29 last year.

Luke Boocock, 21, of Leeds Road, Ossett, is alleged to have stolen electrical items from the sites at Penny Pot Lane and Dallamires Lane on March 21 and March 29 last year.

The cases, which were heard at Harrogate Magistrates Court yesterday, have been remitted to Lancashire Magistrates Court on April 22.

The three men were granted unconditional bail.

A longstanding fixture on Harrogate’s high street will close for good tomorrow.

Orvis, which sells outdoor clothes, fly-fishing gear, dog accessories and walking items, has been trading in town for about 25 years,

It opened on Parliament Street in the 1990s before moving to its current five-storey unit on West Park.

But the American owners have decided to move the business mainly online

The company, which has a closing down sale, employs around eight people who have now all found jobs elsewhere.

On its penultimate day today, there was an overwhelming sense of sadness at the site of the last few garments hanging on racks.

There were also items of store furniture and plastic shoe blocks scattered around for sale for just a few pounds.

The store’s stock is depleted now after a month of major discounts.

Staff were sad to see the store go and hoped another retailer would take on the building.

The future of the unit remains unknown. The Stray Ferret has contacted the retail agent, Stapleton Waterhouse, but has yet to receive a reply.

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Orvis has 18 shops in the UK and all but one, at Stockbridge near Reading, will close. The company will instead focus on online sales, particularly fly-fishing equipment.

Orvis was founded in Vermont in 1856 by Charles F Orvis.

The upstairs rooms are now completely bare.

A dispute over the decision not to hold a by-election in the Harrogate district has reached the House of Lords.

Following the death of Conservative Cllr Normal Waller at the end of January, Harrogate Borough Council has announced a by-election will not be held in Marston Moor.

The ward includes the villages Tockwith, Cattal and Bilton-in-Ainsty.

The council said a routine election was due to take place within six months of Cllr Waller’s death, meaning a by-election would not be needed.

Norman Waller

However, that election has since been cancelled, as all existing HBC councillors have had their terms extended by a year while the new North Yorkshire Council is set up.

Confirming the decision, the council said:

“As a matter of law when a casual vacancy arises within six months of the date for the ‘ordinary election’, then the casual vacancy is to be filled at the next ‘ordinary election’. For this reason, a notice of vacancy stating the election for Marston Moor would be on May 5 was published.

“However, local government reorganisation and the Structural Changes Order has changed this by cancelling the Harrogate Borough Council ordinary elections on May 5 and extending all serving Harrogate Borough Council members’ term of office until April 1, 2023 at which point Harrogate Borough Council will be dissolved as part of unitary re-organisation.

“Having taken legal advice and consulted with the Association of Electoral Administrators we cannot see any way forward for the election to fill the vacancy at Marston Moor ward.”

However, the decision has been criticised by former councillor Arnold Warneken, who was intending to stand for the Green Party in the by-election.

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Mr Warneken highlighted the inconsistency with Wathvale ward, where a by-election is set to be held on May 5 following the retirement of Cllr Bernard Bateman. He said:

“I’m not at all happy with the situation that Harrogate council have allowed the residents of Marston Moor ward to end up with, which is that as a result of the death of my friend and colleague, former district councillor Norman Waller, we would all expect there to be a by-election but for reasons beyond me this is not the case, and we will be without an elected representative for the next 13 months.”

House of Lords

Now, the issue has been raised by Baroness Natalie Bennett of Manor Castle in the House of Lords.

Baroness Bennett, a former leader of the Green Party, submitted a question to the government on Wednesday about its correspondence with HBC about holding a by-election in Marston Moor after the planned local elections were cancelled. The government has two weeks to provide a response.

Harrogate Borough Council yesterday reiterated that its decision about Marston Moor was made before the planned elections for the district were cancelled. The decision to hold a by-election in Wathvale was made after this date.

The by-election for Wathvale takes place on Thursday, May 5. It is the same day that voters across North Yorkshire will go to the polls to elect their representatives for the new county-wide unitary authority.

Over the next year, work will take place to set up North Yorkshire Council ready to take over from the existing county council and seven district councils, including Harrogate, next spring.

Motorists should expect delays on North Park Road in Harrogate as temporary traffic lights will be in place over the weekend.

The lights, which are in place at the junction with Harcourt Drive, have been put in place as telecommunications company CityFibre carries out work on the street.

It means drivers using North Park Road to get into and out of the town centre should expect delays.

The temporary lights will be in place until April 4, according to North Yorkshire County Council.

The Stray Ferret has changed the way it offers Traffic and Travel alerts.

We will now notify you instantly through app notifications and flash tweets when there is an urgent alert. This could include heavy traffic, dangerous weather and long delays or cancellations of public transport.

The alerts are sponsored by The HACS Group.

Coppice Valley Primary School is hoping to raise £10,000 to improve its library and provide a space for students to be inspired by books.

The current space inside the Harrogate school is more than 20 years old and the second-hand shelving is beginning to collapse.

The plan is to use the funds to completely redesign the space with new storage, books and floor mats.

Ms Emma Meadus, headteacher, said the school set up a covid-safe book swap outside during the pandemic and because of that many books weren’t returned or were returned in poor condition.

The school wants to improve its current library.

The school has had a quote from a design company of £8,800. Any remaining donations will be used to buy new books.

Ms Meadus said:

“It’s been a make-shift, make-do area and the books are in need of an upgrade. We knew it needed to be better for our kids, we have a lot of catch-up learning to do after the pandemic and we want a beautiful space for the kids to be inspired.”

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The school is celebrating its 50th anniversary in September and hopes the library will be a legacy project.

Although the target is £10,000, the school wants to raise £20,000 over the next two years it so it can build another library for younger children in a separate area of the school.

To support the school’s appeal, click here.

Spring booster vaccination clinics are set to begin at Harrogate’s Great Yorkshire Showground tomorrow.

The centre wound down operations in January following the winter booster campaign.

However, it will now resume clinics after the government announced further booster jabs for those aged 75 and over, care home residents and people with weakened immune systems.

Yorkshire Health Network, which is a federation of 17 GP practices in the Harrogate district, operates the site at the showground.

It will be open from 8.30am until 5.30pm tomorrow (April 1) and will also be accepting appointments for Sunday during the same opening hours.

The Sunday clinic is rearranged from the Saturday opening, which was previously advertised.

Tim Yarrow, operations manager at Yorkshire Health Network, said:

“Anyone who initially had appointments for Saturday needs to come either tomorrow or Sunday at the same time or re-book.”

The clinic will also accept anybody aged over 12 for first, second and booster doses.

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Appointments can be made through the NHS national booking system. Bookings are advised — those who turn up for walk-ins should expect queues.

Meanwhile, Homecare Pharmacy Services will continue to offer walk-in jabs at its site on Chain Lane in Knaresborough.

The Chain Lane Community Hub will be open from 8am until 5.30pm tomorrow and 9am until 4pm on Saturday, April 2.

Pateley Bridge Pharmacy has clinics tomorrow from 9am to 1pm and and on Thursday next week from 9am to 1pm.

Have covid rates peaked?

The move to resume clinics comes after covid infection rates rocketed this month. However, the rate has begun to decline.

Latest government figures show the seven-day average rate of infection in the Harrogate district is now 976 per 100,000 people. It was 1,000 on March 25 after starting the month at 342.

Meanwhile, latest figures show Harrogate District Hospital has 30 patients with covid.

NHS England statistics show 235 people who tested positive for covid have died since March 2020 at Harrogate hospital.

North Yorkshire Police identified more than 200 driving offences in Harrogate in five hours during a blitz to coincide with new mobile phone legislation.

The force revealed today it undertook the operation between 11am and 4pm on Friday, when the new laws come into force.

Officers from the police’s roads policing group and local neighbourhood policing teams targeted drivers in Harrogate.

Among the offences recorded were speeding and using a mobile phone while driving. It is not known how many resulted in further action.

Mark Hutchings, from the force’s road safety team, said the aim was to reduce deaths and make the roads safer. He added:

“Officers targeted drivers on Friday, the day when the new mobile phone legislation came into effect, in an effort to make sure motorists take note of these important changes and abide by the new law.

“We will continue to undertake targeted activity such as this across the county as part of Operation Boundary – North Yorkshire Police’s dedicated road safety and enforcement operation.

“We’ll be on the look-out for road users across the county who take risks – risks that can, and do, cost lives.”

Police guidance on the new legislation is available here.

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A fire officer saved a tiny kitten when it got stuck inside a recliner chair in Killinghall.

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service received a call to help the animal after it somehow became trapped in the chair.

Paul Metheringham, station manager at North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, said a single person was dispatched in a car to help the feline.

Using small tools, the rescuer was able to help the kitten escape unharmed.

The incident happened at about 7pm on Tuesday. No further details are available.

The fire service’s incident log said:

“A fire service officer rescued a tiny kitten that had got stuck inside a recliner chair. The kitten was rescued and had no injuries.”

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