Stray Ferret shortlisted for Website of the Year in prestigious journalism awards

The Stray Ferret has been shortlisted for Website of the Year in the Society of Editors’ 2020 Regional Press Awards. 

The digital news service for the Harrogate district is one of seven websites in contention for the award.

The awards are widely regarded as the newspaper industry’s most prestigious. The winner will be revealed on September 16.

The Stray Ferret launched online at the onset of the covid pandemic in March last year and now has built a loyal audience with around 700,000 page views a month.

Our investigations have included, amongst others, the total cost of Harrogate Borough Council’s new offices, exposing a culture of secrecy at the authority, the shoddy work of a local “builder” and exposing how a Harrogate hotelier held an illegal New Year’s Eve party during lockdown.

Read more:

Tamsin O’Brien, editor of the Stray Ferret, said:

“I am immensely proud that the Stray Ferret has been shortlisted for such a prestigious journalism award. We have worked very hard since we launched 18 months ago to bring quality local news to the people of the Harrogate district.

 “We have done our absolute best to cover the issues that people care about whether that be new housing developments to political devolution and, of course, the impact of covid which has dominated the news agenda since we started.

 “Since we launched we have broken many news stories. The Stray Ferret exists for local people as the place to go for local information and as a platform for debate – it’s fantastic that our work has been recognised by the wider news industry.”

Also nominated are: Manchester Evening News, the Liverpool Echo, KentOnline, Bristol Live, PlymouthLive and ChronicleLive.
Harrogate’s Otley Road set for yet more roadworks

Five weeks of travel disruption on Otley Road in Harrogate will begin on Monday due to work by Northern Gas Networks .

Work will take place around the Otley Road/Harlow Moor Road junction and is scheduled to finish on Friday September 3.

The news is unlikely to be welcomed by commuters or businesses that have had to contend with an almost continuous set of roadworks on the road since January.

Yorkshire Water dug up the surface to re-lay water pipes and Northern Powergrid did the same to relocate electricity infrastructure.

Next week’s works are to prepare for the delayed Otley Road cycle route.

Read more

North Yorkshire County Council told the Stray Ferret that work on the cycle route will begin on September 6.

Nigel Smith, head of highway operations at the council, said:

“Utility works by Northern Gas Networks and Northern Powergrid remain to be completed before work can begin on phase 1 of the Otley Road cycle scheme.

“Northern Gas Networks is scheduled to be on site between August 2 and September 3, and Northern Powergrid between  August 16 and 27. BT has confirmed its works can be carried out during the Harlow Moor Road junction improvement.

“The anticipated start date for phase 1 of the Otley Road cycle scheme, which includes the Harlow Moor Road junction improvement, is September 6 this year, subject to the above utilities completing their work.”

Harrogate Spring Water to submit fresh plan for Pinewoods bottling plant

Harrogate Spring Water is preparing to submit a new planning application to expand its bottling plant in the Pinewoods.

The company issued a statement today saying it will not appeal Harrogate Borough Council’s decision in January to refuse its expansion — but instead it will publish details of a new expansion plan “in the coming weeks”.

Harrogate Spring Water, which is owned by the French multi-national Danone, had applied to expand its bottling plant from 0.77 hectares to 0.94 hectares, which would have meant destroying public woodland planted by local families in the area of Pinewoods known as Rotary Wood.

To compensate, it offered to replant trees, create scrubland and build a pond on private land behind Harlow Carr Gardens.

The loss of trees at Rotary Wood provoked a major backlash and councillors on the planning committee voted overwhelmingly to reject it — against the wishes of council officers who had recommended approval.

Harrogate Spring Water was granted outline planning permission to expand to the west of its existing site in 2016, which meant the principle of development had been established but the details had not been agreed.

However, the company said today it was working on a completely new application and the 2016 application would be disregarded.

It has pledged to consult with the community before pursuing a formal planning application to the council.

James Cain, managing director of Harrogate Spring Water, said:

“We care passionately about acting in the best interests of Harrogate, its people and its natural environment. And that’s why we listen to the community.

“Our vision is to create a sustainable future for our business as one that supports high quality jobs, drives prosperity in the town and looks after nature.

“We’ve taken on board the feedback on our original expansion plans. Now we’ll continue to engage with the community – actively seeking views on a revised plan that responds to people’s concerns and ambitions.

“We’ll also be clear in explaining our rationale, and why we believe this move is important from an environmental and economic perspective.

“We’ll provide a further update in the coming weeks.”

Read more:

Rotary Wood fears remain

A spokesperson for the Pinewoods Conservation Group, a charity that aims to protect the Pinewoods, said it would review any new plans “carefully and continue to engage” with Danone.

They added:

“We are also pleased to see that the feedback provided by ourselves and other groups will be taken onboard.

“However, any plans that result in the loss of any part of Rotary Wood that is part of a designated asset of community value under the Localism Act will continue to be difficult for our members to support.

“A key challenging factor that is likely to remain will be the offer of suitable publicly accessible land as mitigation for any loss of public green space that was much lacking in previous proposals.”

Writing on Harrogate and Knaresborough Conservative MP Andrew Jones’ website Community News, Sam Gibbs, the Conservative councillor for Harrogate Valley Gardens, said:

“I am pleased that Harrogate Spring Water will not be appealing the decision to refuse a further extension. I hope that provides some reassurance to residents who were concerned about the loss of public access to the Rotary Woods.”

First major event at Royal Hall since coronavirus will have restrictions

Harrogate’s Royal Hall is set to host its first major event since its closure last year — but some covid restrictions will remain in place.

The Gilbert and Sullivan Festival, which takes place from August 8, will be limited to 55% of the venue’s 950 seat capacity.

A one-way system will also remain in place and those attending will be asked to wear a face mask.

Usually the festival attracts audiences from around the world as well as groups from universities across the UK but neither will be in attendance this year.

Nevertheless, the 11-day event will provide a major boost to the district’s economy, with thousands of people attending the comic operas, including The Pirates of Penzance, The Mikado and HMS Pinafore.

The festival began in Buxton, Derbyshire but moved to Harrogate in 2014. The 2020 festival was set to be the biggest ever before covid hit.

Read more:

Festival organiser Janet Smith said:

“The Gilbert and Sullivan Festival is what everyone needs at the moment. It is uplifting entertainment that takes people’s minds off the last couple of years.

“It’s just pure enjoyment and ensures audiences have a jolly good laugh. Our loyal audiences have been so supportive, we couldn’t let them down.

“This is also important for our fantastic opera singers and musicians, who have been unable to perform and delivering Amazon boxes through lockdowns.”

Ms Smith added she was determined to continue the legacy of her late husband Ian Smith, who died in 2019 after re-establishing the Gilbert and Sullivan genre in 1994.

Paula Lorimer, director of Harrogate Convention Centre, which manages the Royal Hall, said:

“It’s the first major entertainment event at our conference centre since we re-opened, so it’s a huge joy to see them return.

“We normally welcome aficionados and fans from around the world, alas this won’t be the case this year, but the show will go on! We look forward to giving visitors a warm welcome.”

Harrogate Conference Centre and The Royal Hall now has a packed programme of upcoming entertainment. Highlights include Billy Ocean, Jools Holland, and Jimmy Carr.

The Royal Hall reopened to the public for the first time since coronavirus on July 7 for an open day.

Interested in local events? Check out our new ‘What’s On’ page for all of the latest events in the Harrogate district.

Number of covid patients at Harrogate hospital triples

The number of coronavirus patients at Harrogate District Hospital has tripled in the last week, a media briefing heard this morning.

Amanda Bloor, accountable officer at NHS North Yorkshire Clinical Commissioning Group, told North Yorkshire Local Resilience Forum the hospital was treating nine patients compared with three seven days ago.

However, the number remains well below the 67 patients the hospital was treating at the height of the second wave in February.

Ms Bloor added the increase has been mirrored across the county:

“Unfortunately the number of patients does continue to rise. As of yesterday, there were 136 patients across our hospitals in North Yorkshire and York.

“This is up from a figure of 112 this time last week – and 16 of those 136 patients are in intensive care.

“If the number of patients with covid does continue to rise, it could have an impact on our hospitals’ ability to carry out planned procedures.

“We are not seeing that significantly at the moment but we do just need to keep an eye on those numbers.”

A breakdown of the figures shows there are nine patients in both Harrogate and Scarborough hospitals, 26 in York and 92 in South Tees.

Read more:

There has not been a covid-related death at the Harrogate hospital in more than three months.

This is due to high levels of vaccine uptake but Ms Bloor said there was still work to do to ensure more people are protected, particularly the younger population.

She said: “The vaccination programme is now open to all age cohorts and is particularly focusing on the younger cohorts.

“With the easing of restrictions from July 19, it is potentially understandable that younger people may feel there is now no advantage of getting vaccinated but we are seeing some younger people in hospital with covid who are actually quite poorly.

“I would continue to urge everyone to come forward for their vaccination – it is the best method of protection.”

Infection rates falling

It comes as Harrogate’s weekly infection rate continues to fall. The rate reached a record high of 534 cases per 100,000 people on July 18 and now stands at 348.

Health officials believe the drop in cases across the country could be down to schools closing for the summer holidays and people meeting up outdoors due to the recent sunny weather.

What they have said for certain though is that the number of people being admitted to hospital with covid needs to start falling as well to show that the virus is really in decline.

Dr Victoria Turner, public health consultant at North Yorkshire County Council, said:

“The number of people in local hospitals with Covid over the last week has continued to increase, however, we do know that hospitalisation data does tend to lag a bit.

“If that starts to go down too, then we can start to be a bit happier that the decline in cases we are seeing at the moment is a real one.”

Harrogate district charities receive £45,000 from Local Fund

Nineteen not-for-profit organisations in the Harrogate district have been awarded a total of £45,000 to help restart their activities after covid from The Local Fund for the Harrogate District.

The fund, which is a partnership between Harrogate Borough Council, Harrogate and District Community Action and Two Ridings Community Foundation, was established in 2017 to provide grant funding to local voluntary organisations.

Successful applicants include Boroughbridge and District Community Care , which will use the grant to fund the running costs of providing a new minibus service to a farm shop and Nidderdale and Pateley Bridge Men’s Shed, which will spend the money on power tools.

This was the third round of funding from the Local Fund.

Jan Garrill, chief executive of Two Ridings Community Foundation, said:

“All the projects funded are working so hard to help local people safely reconnect, get active and be social again, whatever their circumstances.”

Sam Gibbs, chair of Harrogate Borough Council’s voluntary and community sector liaison group and a member of the Local Fund grants panel, said it had been an incredibly tough year for charities, adding:

“Now, more than ever, it is critical these charities receive vital funds to ensure they can restart their activities and continue supporting as many people as possible.”

Read more:

Full Circle Funerals contributed to the sum of funding awarded.

Those that received funding were:

Vegan restaurant Vertigo set to open in Harrogate

A vegan restaurant chain with three sites in Manchester is set to open a fourth site in Harrogate.

Vertigo, which describes itself as a plant-based eatery, has started to fit out the former Stevie’s Bar unit under the Everyman Cinema on Station Parade.

It is unclear exactly when the restaurant will open but the company has said it will be “very soon”.

Although many restaurants have vegan options in Harrogate, it is believed this will be the only dedicated vegan restaurant in town.

Read more:

The new venue will have 55 seats and be open for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Other Vertigo restaurants serve burgers, bao buns, jackfruit and blackbeen chilli, sweet potato dhal, falafel bowls and more.

The Harrogate menu will also include coffee, cakes and natural wines.

Vandals may force Harrogate shop to remove iconic bears

A Harrogate children’s clothing shop may be forced to remove its iconic bears after they became the target of vandals.

Milk and Honey of Harrogate, on Cheltenham Parade, has displayed the bears outside for five years but in the last couple of months they have suffered a lot of damage.

Sarah Elizabeth Wood, the shop manager, takes in the smaller bears overnight and locks the largest bear with a chain locked but even this is not enough to deter troublemakers.

Following the latest attack, which happened just after 3am on Sunday morning, Mrs Wood is considering whether the bears should remain.

CCTV footage from the night showed three people, believed to be teenage boys, attack the bear with a stick before pulling it to the floor and jumping on it.

Read more:

Mrs Wood told the Stray Ferret:

“I do think the red carpet and the bears help us get customers because it makes us stand out.

“Everyone who walks past at least comments on the bears or takes a photo with them. So it would just be really sad if we have to take them away.

“I don’t think the bears can take anymore. One more weekend of them being ravaged like that and they will have to go.”

Mrs Wood has tried to repair the broken feet and ears of the bears but she fears that if they are damaged again they may become unstable and fall on people.

She put out a post on Facebook yesterday evening warning that the bears days may be numbered.

The post has had hundreds of reactions, with many people sharing stories of their time with the bears.

Harrogate Clothes Bank to reduce services after losing premises

Harrogate Clothes Bank will be without a permanent home at the end of this week, meaning services will be cut.

The charity provides free clothing for local people in need but its lease on a unit at McCarthy’s Storage World on Ripon Road, Harrogate is coming to an end.

It means the organisation will no longer be able to offer in-person appointments or accept public donations. It will, however, provide home deliveries.

Mike Procter, the charity’s co-ordinator, said the charity was likely to move its stock to a number of temporary locations until it found a permanent solution.

The clothes bank has already called for new accommodation but with no success. It is in need of a 1,200 square foot unit at an affordable rent.

The space also needs to be in an easily accessible location, ideally on a main bus route.

A Harrogate Clothes Bank Facebook post today said:

“Changes are coming at the clothes bank: Saturday 31st July is our last day at McCarthy’s Storage World before we move into temporary premises. Please call in to see us between 10.30 and 12.30 if you need our service, it will be your last chance to visit in person for a few weeks.
“We are unable to accept donations at the moment.”

Read more:

The clothes bank, which is run entirely by volunteers, was set up in 2016. Families in financial difficulty in Harrogate can get in touch on Facebook and inform the charity of its needs.

Mr Procter previously told the Stray Ferret:

“There are many reasons why people may need our help, it could be due to long-term financial issues or a crisis situation causing critical need such as escaping an abusive relationship.

“We will continue to help as many people as we can.”

Harrogate woman’s dispute with housing company over ‘unbearably hot’ flat

A Harrogate woman has spoken of her anger at Yorkshire Housing for having to endure “unbearably hot” conditions in her flat since 2011.

Angela Sansom is the leaseholder of a flat on Kings Road in Harrogate. Yorkshire Housing, which is based in Leeds and owns and manages about 20,000 homes in Yorkshire, has the freehold.

Ms Sansom said work carried out on behalf of Yorkshire Housing on the roof and windows of the property in 2011 made the flat unbearably hot, with the temperature often reaching up to 29 degrees centigrade.

She said the regular high temperatures and the time it has taken to resolve the issue has had a devastating impact on her mental health.

Fed up by how long the matter was taking to resolve, Ms Sansom opened an official complaint in June last year.

A surveyor’s report, commissioned by Yorkshire Housing in response to the complaint, recommended measures such as installing trickle vents and heat reflective solar films to reduce the impact of the sun.

Read more:

Now Yorkshire Housing has submitted a planning application to amend the initial works. It has admitted two roof vents should have been included in the original work 10 years ago and will now be installed alongside other measures.

Ms Sansom said:

“It has had a massive effect on my wellbeing. I’ve lived in this house for over 20 years so I know it’s the work that caused the problem. It became unbearable.

“It wasn’t getting any better so I knew I had to lodge the complaint.”

Ms Sansom said she was pleased the planning application has been submitted but disappointed by the way the matter has been handled. She said Yorkshire Housing should have done more to support her during the process.

A Yorkshire Housing spokesperson said:

“Work was carried out in 2011 to the roof and windows of one of our properties in Harrogate, this work was approved by planning and was undertaken in full accordance with building regulations.

“We have now submitted a planning application to make amendments to these works and to make sure the leaseholder has a comfortable home and we hope work will begin in the coming weeks.

“Yorkshire Housing is meeting the full cost of all the works undertaken to help support the customers wellbeing and we’re still in touch through a dedicated contact to keep them updated on progress.”