Harrogate district continues to buck UK unemployment trend

The Harrogate district continues to buck the trend as the number of people claiming out-of-work benefits falls slightly, according to latest figures.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics for January show 3,460 people were claiming out-of-work benefits — 3.7% of the population.

The number is down from 3,540 in December.

This is in contrast to the UK figure of 6.2% of the population claiming support.

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Financial support for those out of work include Universal Credit and Job Seekers’ Allowance.

Figures in the district have remained stable throughout the pandemic, which suggests the government furlough scheme has protected many staff from redundancy.

Professor Jamie Morgan, of Leeds Business School at Leeds Beckett University, said the impact on the figures of furlough ending will depend on people having jobs to return to.

He added it would also depend on whether employers were in a position to maintain staff and also have customers returning.

Professor Morgan said:

“The effect though, is also likely to depend on who are the main sources of local business demand – especially in hospitality –  what fraction are tourists and from where?

“There is some expectation that from the summer there will be a spike in activity in the hospitality sector – as people start to use some of the savings they have been forced to make and a sense of relief sets in.”

However, he added that the effect on the numbers will also depend on what, if any, public health restrictions are placed on businesses later this year.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak is set to outline his budget tomorrow, which is expected to include a £5 billion fund to help retailers and the hospitality sector reopen.

Live: Harrogate district traffic and travel

Good morning and welcome to our traffic and travel service, which is designed to keep the Harrogate district moving.

Whether you travel by car, bus or train we will keep an eye out for any possible disruption to your journey. All brought to you by The HACS Group.

It’s Connor again back on the travel desk from 6.30am. Spotted an accident or a road closure? Send your updates to contact@thestrayferret.co.uk.

If traffic is moving well or it’s at a standstill then we will let you know with our updates every 15 minutes.

Full update – 9am

Thanks again everyone for checking out the Stray Ferret’s traffic and travel service today. I am now heading over to the newsdesk but will be back again from 6.30am tomorrow.

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Firefighters rescue Parka-wearing climber from Almscliffe Crag

Firefighters rescued a climber who got stuck up Almscliffe Crag on Saturday.

Crews from Knaresborough attended the incident on Crag Lane, North Rigton in the afternoon.

They used a ladder to help the Parka-wearing climber back to safety.

Almscliffe Crag, which is made of Millstone Grit, is a popular landmark for climbers and walkers.

A spokesperson for Knaresborough Fire Station said the person was not injured but had “a little bit of hurt pride”.

One comment on the fire station’s Facebook post accused the unnamed climber of “irresponsible behaviour” during a lockdown.

North Yorkshire Police has frequently warned people not to travel for exercise during lockdown.

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But Paul Metheringham, Knaresborough watch station manager for North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue, told the Stray Ferret:

“The young man was local to the area so he was not breaking any coronavirus restrictions.

“He thought he would climb up with his friend and realised that he had got himself stuck at about five metres up.

“Luckily no injuries, just a little bit of hurt pride and hopefully a lesson learned.”

 

North Yorkshire Police launches campaign to target drivers on mobile phones

Police will be patrolling the Harrogate district’s main roads in a HGV cab as part of a new campaign to catch drivers using mobile phones.

North Yorkshire Police said today it had borrowed the cab to give them a better view to detect mobile phone use and other dangerous behaviour.

The campaign, named Operation Tramline, follows a similar initiative last year that caught a man who took both hands off the wheel to use his phone and a lorry driver who rolled a cigarette.

Highways England, which runs Operation Tramline nationally and owns three unmarked cabs, is loaning the vehicle.

Traffic Constable Mark Patterson, of North Yorkshire Police’s roads policing group, said he had seen people lose their lives because motorists got distracted. He added:

“All drivers on our roads know using a mobile phone while driving is wrong. But nobody thinks they’ll be the driver that causes one of those incidents.

“Catching those offences as they happen, then using enforcement and education is one way we can make our roads safer for everyone.

“Using Highways England’s HGV cab during Op Tramline is an excellent way to do that, as it gives us an unparalleled vantage point.”

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Several other roads policing units also take part in the operation.

If officers in the lorry see an offence taking place, it is recorded by the passenger. Marked units then pull the vehicle over and the driver is dealt with immediately.

Operation Tramline police HGV

The HGV cab loaned to police.

Last year North Yorkshire Police also discovered:

The drivers received fixed penalty notices, which typically include a fine and points on their licence.

Harrogate primary school joins catholic academy trust

St Robert’s Primary School has today become the third school in the Harrogate district to join a catholic academy trust based in Leeds.

The primary school, on Ainsty Road in Harrogate, is now part of the Bishop Wheeler Catholic Academy Trust. 

St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School in Harrogate and St Mary’s Catholic Primary School in Knaresborough already belong to the trust, which now has 11 schools in north and west Yorkshire.

St Robert’s has 276 pupils, aged 5-11. Although many are catholic, it admits children of all faiths.

Headteacher Jill Collins said:

“The support and care we have been given over the last year shows how the trust will enable St Robert’s to continue providing an outstanding Catholic education to our children.”

The school was rated ‘outstanding’ in its latest Ofsted inspection. Chair of governors, Dr Matt Blackamore said:

“We are so pleased to be joining our fellow Catholic schools in the Bishop Wheeler Trust and we are looking forward to working closely with them to continue providing great education together.”

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Darren Beardsley, interim chief executive of the trust, said bringing another school into the trust helped to fulfil the vision of the Bishop of Leeds, the Right Reverend Marcus Stock, of a family of schools working together to share resources and raise education standards.

The trust is named after Bishop William Gordon Wheeler, who was Bishop of Leeds from 1966 to 1985.

It is one of five multi-academy trusts in the Diocese of Leeds. It plans to expand in the next few years to include 18 Catholic schools in the area.

Masked robber jailed for terrifying Harrogate couple

A masked robber who terrorised a woman and her elderly partner in their Harrogate home has been jailed for over four years.

Michael Palmer, 41, broke into the couple’s flat while the victim and her 60-year-old partner were asleep, York Crown Court heard.

The woman was woken by the sound of glass smashing and got out of bed to investigate. She was confronted in the hallway by two masked men who had broken in by smashing a pane of glass in the front door, said prosecutor Andrew Finlay.

The two men were wearing face coverings or balaclavas and one was wearing a camouflage jacket. They pushed the woman into the living room and demanded money.

One of them, thought to be Palmer’s cohort, told her to get down on the floor and demanded she tell them where she kept her money as he stood over her.

“She said she didn’t have any,” added Mr Finlay.

“The (unnamed male) continued to shout (at) her, standing over her.”

The intruders went looking around the flat and one of them went into the bedroom where the woman’s partner, who was ill, was laid in bed.

They came back into the living room where the woman had grabbed a phone to try to call for help.

Palmer, who was on hard drugs at the time, demanded the phone from the woman, but she refused to hand it over, whereupon the duo left the flat empty-handed.

Home-made balaclava

The woman, who had been living temporarily at her partner’s flat, called police and gave them a description of the two men.

After a search of the area, they found Palmer and his cohort as they were emerging from a local property and were about to get into a taxi. They were both arrested.

The property was searched where police found a bag containing a crowbar, gloves, a home-made balaclava and a black jacket, which had been worn by Palmer during the break-in. The balaclava had been made out of a sleeve with eyeholes cut into it, said Mr Finlay.

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Glass fragments from the balaclava and jacket were found to have come from the point of entry, namely the smashed door pane, and DNA evidence was found on the clothes in the bag.
The two victims, who were named in court, said they had been “extremely scared about what happened and what (the robbers) were going to do”.

The male victim said he had been having nightmares about the break-in. He and his partner were now very nervous when they went to bed and panicked “at every noise”.

‘Horrific offence of random violence’

Palmer, of Butler Road, Harrogate, refused to answer police questions following his arrest, but ultimately admitted attempted robbery, which occurred at about 3.30am on February 22, 2019.

The court heard that Palmer was a career criminal with over 100 offences to his name, including burglaries, violence, intimidating a witness, shoplifting, public disorder and damaging property.

Defence barrister Ian Hudson said Palmer was hooked on crack cocaine at the time and also had an alcohol problem.

Mr Recorder Preston condemned Palmer for a “horrific offence of random violence inflicted on completely innocent people (who) were not young”, adding:

“This was planned, this was violent in its execution and caring not one bit that these two people who had done nothing to you were left traumatised.”

Mr Preston told Palmer:

“The male (victim) was unwell and was confronted in his bedroom with one of you two (intruders). He’s been having nightmares.”

He criticised Palmer for his “appalling recorder of dishonesty and violence”.

Palmer was jailed for four years and seven months, of which he will serve half behind bars before being released on parole.

Harrogate set to get its own chocolate factory cafe

Harrogate is to get its own chocolate factory cafe this summer staffed by people promised to be more talented than Willy Wonka.

The Harrogate Chocolate Factory cafe is due to open at the end of May in the former Big Red Bike Company building, near the Odeon cinema.

Learning disability charity Harrogate Skills 4 Living Centre (HS4LC), which is behind the initiative, has spent £100,000 renovating the building.

The charity, which was set up in 2010, helps adults with learning disabilities and autism.

Many of the people it supports have been unable to get work experience during the pandemic.

As a result, HS4LC set up its own business making chocolate in the kitchen of its offices on North Park Road, Harrogate.

Demand grew quickly and the charity sold 500 chocolate hampers before Christmas.

This encouraged it to set up a cafe as a social enterprise, selling chocolate made in the chocolate ‘factory’ beneath its offices.

Currently the Harrogate Chocolate Factory only sells a 70% dark chocolate bar made from Peruvian cocoa beans but a vegan milk chocolate bar is in the works.

Michael Horn, enterprise manager for the chocolate project, told the Stray Ferret:

“There are a few reasons why you can feel good if you buy this chocolate. It supports charity, it’s sustainable and it doesn’t have any nasty allergens.

“Coronavirus has made it a tough year for everyone. We are still here to help young adults with learning difficulties.

“Our charity is there to be like the final step to help our clients get into the world of work. It gives them another choice.”

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Hadyn Moorby-Davies, chief executive of HS4LC, said:

“It will be fantastic to see the cafe when it opens, I am really chuffed with how it has been working so far.

“The students are also really excited about it. The Harrogate Chocolate Factory has been in planning for a couple of years.

“We know that York has a strong connection to chocolate but why can’t Harrogate have that as well? Maybe this could be the start.”

MPs watch: vaccines, coup d’etats and aphrodisiac takeaways

Every month the Stray Ferret tries to find out what our local MPs have been up to in their constituencies and in the House of Commons.

In February the vaccination programme galloped ahead and prime minister Boris Johnson announced the UK’s roadmap out of lockdown.

We asked the district’s Conservative MPs- Harrogate & Knaresborough’s Andrew Jones, Ripon’s Julian Smith, and Selby and Ainsty’s Nigel Adams if they would like to highlight anything in particular that they have been doing this month, but we did not receive a response from any of them.

Here is what we know after analysing their online presence.

Andrew Jones, Harrogate and Knaresborough MP.

Andrew Jones, Conservative Harrogate and Knaresborough MP.

In Harrogate and Knaresborough, here is what we found on Mr Jones:

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Julian Smith, MP for Ripon and Skipton.

Conservative Julian Smith, MP for Ripon and Skipton.

In Ripon, here is what we found on Mr Smith:

Nigel Adams, Conservative MP for Selby and Ainsty which includes rural Harrogate.

In rural south Harrogate, he is what we found on Mr Adams:

Your Harrogate set to launch tomorrow

Your Harrogate is set to launch its online radio service tomorrow with familiar faces from Stray FM.

The show on Monday at 8am and promises to offer the “best of life in Harrogate.”

Currently Your Harrogate is only available online and people can listen on their phones through an app or through a smart speaker.

Your Harrogate will launch with an all-male lineup who are all former DJs on Stray FM, which closed last year.

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Nick Hancock will be on breakfast duty and promises to set listeners up for their day with local weather, travel and school news.

Pete Egerton will be on daytimes, Ricky Durkin on weekday afternoons, Alex Cann on weeknights, Will Smith on weekends and David Whittle on weekend afternoons.

Stray FM broadcast its final show at the end of August ahead of a merger with national station Greatest Hits Radio.

Bauer Media, the owners of Greatest Hits Radio, promised to keep the show as local but there have been complaints on social media that it has not delivered.

The full line up is as below:

Weekdays
6am Early Breakfast
7am Nick Hancock
10am Pete Egerton
2pm Ricky Durkin
6pm Alex Cann

Saturdays
7am Ricky Durkin
10am Will Smith
1pm David Whittle

Sundays
7am Alex Cann
10am Nick Hancock
1pm David Whittle

Stray Views: Planters, pruning and the NHS Nightingale..

Stray Views is a weekly column giving you the chance to have your say on issues affecting the Harrogate district. It is an opinion column and does not reflect the views of the Stray Ferret. 

We need to focus on the economy and move on

I fail to see why on earth we need a public enquiry into the nightingale hospital.

Has Cllr Jim Clarke and others forgot when covid took momentum we had to be prepared for the worst surely?  It could have been overwhelming had the NHS not been able to cope and save peoples lives.  What cost can you put on this?

Let’s move forward, concentrate on getting the economy back on track, support people less fortunate than others and not waste money on inquires. I often wonder if councillors understand what their real role is .

Mike Fisher, Harrogate

Are councils trying to deter visitors to Harrogate?

Are North Yorkshire County Council and Harrogate Borough Council deliberately trying to drive away visitors and shoppers with the constant downgrading or lack of maintenance and repair of the West Park Stray area?

First we had derelict and much-loved shelters in need of repair. How long have they been an eyesore to visitors or through traffic, which probably wont want to return if this is the standard.

Now we have horrible timber planters blocking traffic on Beech Grove. Surely we are better than this in Harrogate.

Ken Richardson, Harrogate 

Vicious hedge pruning a mistake

This year’s vicious hedge pruning has had a secondary effect; drivers are able to drive over verges with no fear of bushes and trees damaging their vehicles’ paintwork.

Lanes are becoming wider, the verges turn to mud and when it rains the deep ruts turn into torrents, wearing away the road edges.

I have lived in Blubberhouses for 26 years and the pruning has been excessive this spring.

Deborah Power, Blubberhouses

Making Oatlands one-way would harm St Aidan’s students

I have attended St Aidan’s High School for over five years and am now in year 12 in the associated sixth form.

I live in Wetherby, which mean I am required to get a school bus every morning.

Implementing a new one-way system on Oatlands Drive could have a devastating effect on my education and the education of all pupils of both St Aidan’s and St John Fisher’s high schools who get school buses.

Wetherby Road is notoriously busy and as a result I am often late for school. However, If a new one-way system is implemented, this will mean remaining on Wetherby Road until the Empress roundabout, which will probably add 20 minutes to my journey.

I get to school at around 8:55am. Adding 20 minutes to this will mean missing the start of period one, which will severely reduce the amount of teaching I am getting and therefore affect my A-level grades. The first 5-10 minutes is when most of the instruction is given for the lesson – missing this will therefore mean having to wait until the teacher is finished then having to get them to explain again, wasting both my time and theirs.

I have already missed a large amount of learning due to lockdown restrictions.

While I understand the motivation behind the one-way system, there are already usable bike lanes on Oatlands Drive and two wide pavements for pedestrians.

If this one-way system is allowed, it will not only be a waste of public funds that could be used to improve Wetherby Road or to provide technology for online learning to those less fortunate than I am. It will also have a negative effect on my learning in a year that is pivotal for my future.

Tom Adamson, Wetherby. St Aidan’s and St John Fisher’s Associated Sixth Form

Amazing treatment at Harrogate hospital A&E 

My son broke his arm yesterday afternoon. We went to Harrogate hospital A&E. I would like to let everyone know that we were looked after fantastically, that the team were so helpful and that even on a Sunday evening at 10.30pm they operated on him. We had amazing aftercare in the Woodland children’s ward.

The doctor who first saw Oliver was saying goodnight to his work colleagues. He took one look at my son and said ‘I’m not going anywhere’, assessed the damage, administered pain relief and got the X-ray sorted. He stayed for an extra hour and a half to ensure my son was looked after.

Just a fantastic service and I can’t thank them enough.

Simon Wade, Langthorpe, Boroughbridge

Got an opinion on the Harrogate district? Email us at letters@thestrayferret.co.uk. Please include your name and approximate location details. Limit your letters to 350 words. We reserve the right to edit letters.