Property Gold is a monthly column written by independent bespoke property consultant, Alex Goldstein. With over 17 years’ experience, Alex helps his clients to buy and sell residential property in some of the most desirable locations in Yorkshire and beyond. 

This week Alex explains the benefits and pitfalls of selling your home using virtual tours. 

When it comes to selling your home, we are consistently told that estate agents need to use every tool at their disposal – from accompanied viewings to drone imagery and social media campaigns. However one relatively new bit of technology is getting a lot of coverage both by agents and indeed the property portals – virtual tours.

From the comfort of your armchair, you can now have a ‘virtual look’ around a property in high resolution and never leave your own home. Given the Covid circumstances we currently find ourselves in, there is a strong argument to create a virtual tour of your home. Afterall they look great, buyers seem to love them and if it helps sell your home then why not?

However as I see it, there is another angle to virtual tours and the way they are generally used in the marketplace currently is questionable.

Firstly and most importantly, a virtual tour is a significant security risk. Having interviewed a former Royal Marine Commando who now runs his own security business, he concurred that given the high resolution of these tours and ability to zoom-in, meant he could easily find out where alarm panels and sensors were, family photographs and documents to research the vendor, where keys were kept, high value items, plus of course take an in-depth walk through. Thankfully he was one of the good guys, but what if he wasn’t?

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The other issue is that virtual tours are often casually placed online, however it gives too much information away up front about a property. You are letting interested parties make up their own minds about your home, without them engaging with the agent, which somewhat defeats the object of the exercise, especially if they have got the wrong impression.

It is always encouraging to hear that you received several hundred views of your virtual tour, however the agent can’t follow any of these viewers up, as they and the portals do not know who actually viewed it.

Instead, I feel the key with virtual tours is to keep them offline and for the agent to retain control by offering ‘accompanied virtual tours’. This means that an interested party can still virtually look around your home, however the agent shares their computer screen and talks the viewer through in real time. This means you will get better feedback, more engagement and don’t unnecessarily add to your digital footprint.

The key with virtual tours – less is more!

Camilla Davies started up Skin SOS in November last year with a vision of providing ‘complete relaxation and rejuvenation along with some fantastic results-driven treatments for people in Harrogate.

She has years of experience in both clinical settings and spas and has worked all over the world, including in Perth, Western Australia where she developed a great deal of her expertise. Camilla focuses on treatments that offer both ‘holistic well being and fast results’ and has partnered up with two brands ‘Comfort Zone’ and ‘Dermaquest’ as she feels they tick both boxes.

Pre-lockdown, Camilla invited me down to her salon, a relaxing haven, with basement treatment rooms tucked away on Cold Bath Road. She explained her ethos and talked me through the products she uses and why.  What was absolutely clear, is the belief that she has in the brands she uses. Camilla is a font of skincare knowledge and I felt in totally safe hands.

Whilst lockdown means Camilla is unable to do her usual hands-on ‘hormone ageing facial’ or ‘body active massage,’ she has a lot the same products that she uses in her treatments available to buy within her Christmas selection, with lockdown-friendly options of click and collect or delivery (for free to a Harrogate postcode.) So you can treat your self or someone else to a Christmas beauty set that not only looks amazing but is a total game-changer for your skin. It also means your supporting a local business… which is really important right now.

The Christmas gifts were on display in her treatment room felt and smelt just like Christmas. Here are just a few of the most perfect pressies on offer. You just need to get in touch with Skin SOS via Facebook, Instagram or the website to order:

Dermaquest essential mini cleanser- Packaged to look like a beautiful bauble for your tree! This ph balancing cleanser is great for all skin types for daily use, with papaya and pineapple eating away at dead skin cells to leave your skin glowing.

Price- £15 

Comfort Zone Beautiful Eyes- The Comfort Zone Beautiful Eyes Kit contains a hyaluronic acid eye gel that provides relief to tired, puffy eyes. The high-definition lengthening mascara extends the lashes for more volume.

Price – £25, eye gel sold separately is £33 so a fabulous deal! 

Comfort Zone Remedy kit- A winter essential for everyone. The mixture of cold weather and having the heating on at home is a recipe for dry skin, so these products are perfect gifts to keep your skin hydrated. The professional, fragrance-free solution for sensitive and redness-prone skin. The intensive serum with soothing, fortifying actions is ideal for reinforcing the skin’s complete defence. The soothing cream, with a barrier-effect texture, nourishes and calms even the driest and most delicate skin. Price – £75 – products sold separately would have been £120. £45 saving with this Christmas kit.

You can also buy a voucher for a Signature Facial, perfect as a Christmas gift. Usually £50, buy one for just £25 here. 

If you have anything lifestyle related that you would like me to cover, please get in touch- ami@thestrayferret.co.uk.

Two new benches have taken pride of place in Harrogate and Knaresborough to celebrate key workers.

One of the benches is in Harrogate’s Valley Gardens; the other overlooks the boats on the River Nidd in Knaresborough.

The volunteer group Supplies for Key Workers in and around Harrogate is behind the project.

The group commissioned the benches from Harrogate Borough Council at £1,200 each, using money left over from fundraising events.

Julie Mills, head of the Supplies for Key Workers group, told the Stray Ferret:

“It is just brilliant to see. When I saw that plaque, I was quite emotional. This is what we have all done together.

“We have not really stopped since the first lockdown but it is nice to sit on the benches and reflect on what we have achieved.”

Read more:

• Ripon coronavirus testing site being considered
• Coronavirus clinic to open at Jennyfield community centre

More than 3,000 people are in the group, which was set up at the start of lockdown.

The group is still receiving requests for scrubs and visors.

Few topics, it seems, generate more debate in Harrogate than the planters on James Street.

The Stray Ferret put a picture of the new car parking blockers on our social media feeds late last night and more than 150 people have already posted comments.

The council had promised to provide “eye-catching” planters to replace the cones it had installed as part of covid social distancing measures on the popular shopping street.

But the reaction, it has to be said, was distinctly mixed. Some approved, albeit with caveats:

“I like them, better than seeing those orange cones everywhere.”

“Better than cones but a bit small, look dwarfed by the space around them.”

But there were concerns about everything ranging from the impact on parking to whether they might be trip hazards or even attract the attention of thieves. Here’s a sample:

“I have just walked through town and I am utterly shocked at how many streets these complete waste of money have been put on. Surely it is not beyond the common sense of the council to realise there are many businesses in town that are not shops and are reliant on this parking for staff and customers?”

“These stupid pots of weeds (well they will be weeds in a couple of weeks) are another nail in the coffin of retail.”

“I’m sure they’ll drag thousands in and increase footfall.
The shop owners must feel so thankful that they have such a far sighted council.”

The social distancing cones on James Street, Harrogate.

“Trip hazard, hope the council’s insurance policy is up to date.”

“Hazard, someone is going to end up running into them. Are they even visible at night?”

Read more:

• James Street social distancing cones to be replaced with planters
• James Street pedestrianisation looms amid ’empty shops’ warning

One person suggested the road should be cobbled like York and parking restricted to maintain the character and encourage social distancing.

Some people have been having fun with the planters and photoshopped Bill and Ben the Flower Pot Men into the picture.

The issue of cost inevitably was raised.

“Were the cones not working? Shame the money wasn’t spent helping the other streets in Harrogate that have independent businesses all trying to survive.”

It has to be said the majority of comments were not of approval. But some did acknowledge that flowers were better than cones.

“It’s better to have some natural cheer than the typical plastic misery.”

A Harrogate drug runner has been jailed for three-and-a-half years for supplying heroin and crack cocaine.

Daniel Chatten, 18, was first arrested in July when police spotted him walking away from a known drug user in the town centre, York Crown Court heard.

He was bailed pending further enquiries but was then caught “bang at it” again, said prosecutor Dan Cordey.

On this occasion, police spotted the teenager on Coach Road, arrested him and searched his home, where they found dozens of wraps of heroin and crack cocaine.

Chatten was inordinately co-operative with police, even telling them where to find the drugs cache, adding helpfully: “There’s loads!”

The teen appeared for sentence via video link on Wednesday after pleading guilty to two counts of possessing Class A drugs with intent to supply.

High purity cocaine

Mr Cordey said officers on patrol in Tower Street on July 6 spotted Chatten “walking away from a known drug user”.

He ran off but was stopped in Victoria Avenue. Officers searched him and found £675 in his rucksack, as well as a “debt list” and a mobile phone that was “constantly ringing”.

They also found 100 wraps of Class A drugs in his underpants, including 57 wraps of “high-purity” cocaine and 43 wraps of heroin.

As he was being arrested, Chatten bragged to officers that the cash found on him “wasn’t even half of a day’s takings”.

Mr Cordey said Chatten was operating as a drug “runner” on behalf of suppliers higher up the chain who badgered the teen with text messages such as “Sort it out” and “It’s getting late”.

Read more:

• Bradford to Harrogate county lines drugs: two men arrested
• Police drugs bust near Harrogate’s Valley Gardens

Chatten was released on bail following his arrest, but about six weeks later patrol officers spotted him on Coach Road. Again, he tried to scuttle off but officers recognised him from his first arrest and he was quickly apprehended.

They found a single wrap of cocaine, which Chatten had stuffed inside a cigarette lighter after unscrewing the top. Chatten’s phone was “ringing constantly again”, said Mr Cordey.

Drugs kept in sock

During a subsequent search of Chatten’s home, he told officers where they would find the drugs stash and added: “There’s loads – they’re in the wardrobe, in a sock in a jacket pocket.”
Inside the wardrobe were two purple tubs containing 22 wraps of cocaine and 11 wraps of heroin.

Officers also found a snap bag, inside which were 23 smaller bags of heroin, a set of weighing scales, £160 in cash and 23 “deal” bags of crack cocaine.

In August at York Magistrates’ Court, Chatten, of no fixed address, was given a 12-month conditional discharge for sending an offensive or menacing text message on February 27.

Magistrates committed him to the crown court for sentence on the drugs matters.

Nicholas Leadbeater, for Chatten, said his young client had no previous convictions for drug offences.

He said Chatten had begun selling drugs so he could buy his own house, and after his initial arrest he continued peddling heroin and cocaine to repay his “employers” for the drugs seized by police.

Jailing Chatten for three-and-a-half years, judge Sean Morris said he could not overlook the fact the teenager had been dealing potentially lethal substances that “create misery”. He added:

“To make things worse, once arrested – albeit (you were) honest with police – you were bang at it straight away because you were in debt.”

The judge made a confiscation order in relation to the cash seized from Chatten.

Police have raided more cannabis farms in the Harrogate district in the last three years than any other area of North Yorkshire.

A Freedom of Information request by the Stray Ferret to North Yorkshire Police revealed that 25 or more cannabis plants had been seized on 13 occasions in the district since 2017.

The district has also seen the most police activity this year, with 11 cannabis raids compared with just four in all the other districts combined.

In total, police have raided 43 cannabis farms across the county since January 2017.

Read more:

• Bradford to Harrogate county lines drugs: two men arrested
• Harrogate man escapes jail after flashing at woman

Officers also made 22 arrests relating to cannabis farms, though the figure includes people who may have been arrested for more than one offence.

North Yorkshire Police have been approached for comment, but did not respond by time of publication.

Figures on the number of cannabis farms seized across North Yorkshire broken down by Safer Neighbourhood Command. Data: North Yorkshire Police.

‘Sophisticated’ cannabis farms

Police were called to a cannabis farm in the district just two months ago.

In September, officers launched an investigation after a large cannabis farm was found in a former Ripon nightclub.

Officers were called to the former Matrix nightclub on Kirkgage when two people were reportedly seen running away away after being disturbed during a routine building check.

Despite an extensive search, including the use of a police drone, the two people were not found but a search of the building found a “large scale, sophisticated” cannabis farm.

Being a police traffic sergeant and father to a young child, Sergeant Paul Cording is used to being busy. Some nights he is the only traffic sergeant patrolling North Yorkshire’s 6,000 miles of roads.

But although the first lockdown decimated the volume of traffic on the roads, the second one has been far busier — and more challenging in some ways. He says:

“We’ve seen more high end speeding. That could be a result of less traffic on the road and people thinking they can use it as a race track.”

Sgt Cording, 49, who lives in Harrogate, said there have also been more incidents involving drink and drug drivers and more domestic incidents. But late night alcohol disturbances are down.

14,000 Twitter followers

Sgt Cording’s sometimes shocking tweets about life on the frontline have brought him a near-14,000 following,

North Yorkshire Police trust him to communicate directly with journalists and the wider public in his warm, engaging manner.

He weaves personal anecdotes, such as cannabis drivers, chasing suspected poachers and a colleague being bitten by a person with covid, with more serious messages, such as promoting the charity Brake’s road safety week.

Read more:

• Almost 90 arrests in three years as police tackle county lines drug crime
• Police arrest man after incident in Harrogate Town centre

He says there were “some issues” within the force when he started tweeting in 2011 but increasingly the police recognise the value of officers engaging directly with the public and showing a bit of personality rather than parroting corporate lines.

“You have to be engaging otherwise there’s no point.”

A former RAF man, he works from 7am to 7pm for two consecutive days, then from 7pm to 7am for two consecutive nights then has four days off. What has been his most distressing incident?

“Being first on the scene of a fatal road traffic accident involving one of my colleagues. She was hit by a speeding drink and drug driver.”

Likes a beer

Since joining the police in 2001, Sgt Cording says there has been “huge progress” in looking after officers’ mental health by providing welfare meetings, incident briefings and trauma incident management. But some things are never forgotten.

To unwind, he spends time with his wife and three-year-old son, plays hockey, runs and “likes a beer”.

He tries to answer every direct message he receives on Twitter.

“I’ve only ever had to block two people and that’s because I didn’t want to buy any Raybans and because I’m a happily married man. Read into that what you will!”

A £60 million project to reroute part of the A59 Harrogate to Skipton road is scheduled to start next summer, if government funding and planning permission is granted.

The project, which will take a year to complete, will see the creation of a three-mile diversion west of Blubberhouses at Kex Gill.

The Department for Transport and North Yorkshire County Council hope the new route will solve problems caused by landslips, which have blighted travel on the road for years.

The road was closed for eight weeks in 2016 and traffic diverted through Ilkley and Otley after heavy rain caused a landslip.

Read more:

• Three weekends of disruption to improve Harrogate rail services
• James Street social distancing cones to be replaced with planters

County councillors are set to pledge further funding next week for the realignment of the road if costs go above a government grant.

Plans for the new road on the A59 at Kex Giill. Picture: North Yorkshire County Council.

Cllr Don Mackenzie, executive county councillor for access, told the Stray Ferret he was “hopeful” the scheme will go ahead.

He said:

“We are pressing for a decision on the funding.

“It has been a difficult year and there has been a change of government since we put the bid in.

“But everything we are hearing from the Department for Transport is positive.”

Cllr Mackenzie added the project could begin without traffic disruption to begin with but it might occur towards the end when the new road is connected with the existing A59.

The Department for Transport has indicated it will offer up to £56 million towards the project, with the county council covering the remaining £4.95 million.

While the government has yet to give final funding approval, it has set a condition that any further costs would need to be met by the authority.

Council bosses have estimated the overall cost to be £60 million, but added it could increase to £61 million if a public inquiry is held.

A planning application for the project will go before the council’s planning committee on December 15.

Senior county councillors have been recommended to accept the funding condition at a meeting on Tuesday next week.

The new Knaresborough leisure centre is set to be built on the same site as the current one, it was revealed today.

Harrogate Borough Council said it had chosen the existing site on King James Road as its preferred option.

It was one of four options, along with Conyngham Hall, Knaresborough House and Hay-a-Park under consideration.

The council faced a backlash for considering Grade II* listed Conyngham Hall, with Knaresborough Civic Society among those opposing the move.

A Hands Off Conyngham Hall Grounds petition by the Harrogate and Knaresborough Liberal Democrats attracted more than 1,600 signatures.

But that option now seems to be off the table.

Conyngham Hall appears to be off the table.

Ian Clark, Knaresborough Civic Society’s secretary, welcomed the decision. He told the Stray Ferret:

“This is good news for many people in Knaresborough. Conyngham Hall was not a suitable option for a leisure centre.

“It would not have done the historic building any favours if they built a new site right next to it and replaced park land with a car park.”

The decision is likely to be ratified at a council cabinet meeting on December 2. Residents will then be consulted on whether they agree.

Local property consultants Carter Jonas looked at the leisure centre options.

The council said the decision was based on factors including location, physical appearance, access as well as planning and legal issues.

A new £10 million leisure centre is also being built in Ripon. It will have a six-lane, 25-metre pool, an extended gym and sauna suite, three activity studios and meeting rooms.

Leisure services plans for the district take a step forward

Harrogate Borough Council also announce today is was set to appoint Alliance Leisure Services as its development manager for leisure.

The company, based in Somerset, will be responsible for the delivery of investment in leisure sites in Harrogate and Knaresborough.

Read more:

• Conyngham Hall plans ‘cultural vandalism’
• New consultation planned over future of leisure services
• Harrogate council approves leisure services overhaul

Councillor Stanley Lumley, the council’s cabinet member for culture, tourism and sport, will be asked to approve the decision tomorrow.

Cllr Lumley said:

“There are some exciting times ahead that shows our investment in the future of the sport and leisure facilities in the Harrogate district.”

Three weekends of rail disruption in and around Harrogate will begin this weekend.

The disruption is due to a £9.8 million project that will enable trains to run more frequently between Leeds and York.

North Yorkshire County Council and the York and North Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership is funding the upgrades, with Network Rail carrying out the work.

Network Rail will begin by installing equipment at Harrogate’s train station this weekend that enables trains to change track.

Read more:

• LNER to increase train numbers on East Coast line from tomorrow
• Full steam ahead for micropub at Knaresborough train station

Weekends of disruption

• November 22 – Northern services will be replaced by road transport between Horsforth and York. LNER services between London King’s Cross and Harrogate will start or terminate at Leeds.
• November 28 to 29 – Northern services between Knaresborough and York will be replaced by bus services on Saturday and between Horsforth and York on Sunday
• December 5 to December 6 – The line between Horsforth and York will be closed from 23:30 on Saturday with bus replacement services in place. On Sunday Northern services will be replaced by buses between Horsforth and Harrogate/York. LNER services will start or terminate at Leeds.

North Yorkshire county councillor Don Mackenzie, the executive member for access, said:

““When complete, it will significantly enhance the rail infrastructure in the north. The capacity of services as well as their frequency will be increased, making it much more convenient and reliable for passengers using this line.”