‘Show patience’ on covid turnaround, says Andrew Jones MP

Andrew Jones, the MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, has said people must “show patience” before the UK turns the corner on coronavirus.

Reflecting on the year on his website, Mr Jones said many people would be glad to see the back of 2020.

But he added we “can be certain life will slowly return to normal” due to vaccinations and improved care for severe cases of covid although it will take “some time.”

Mr Jones wrote:

“As we quietly move into the new year we must show patience and further restraint as that process takes place.”

Coronavirus vaccines began at Harrogate’s Great Yorkshire Showground on Tuesday. People aged over 80, care home residents and care home staff were first in line.

It is believed about 900 vaccines a day are being given although the NHS has yet to reveal figures.

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In further reflections on 2020, the Conservative MP praised the public, private and voluntary sectors for rallying together during a year like no other.

He wrote:

“We didn’t need a pandemic to know how brilliant our public services are but it was a very powerful reminder.

“We have though learnt some things about ourselves and one another which I hope we can carry through into 2021 and beyond.  And we have also learnt lessons that reinforce that which we already know but perhaps didn’t recognise enough.

“Community matters.  We looked out for our neighbours who were elderly or less well than us. We got in touch with support organisations to volunteer our services.  Street-based groups sprang up to help those around them.”

 

Harrogate’s Otley Road set for two sets of roadworks at same time

Delays are expected on Otley Road in Harrogate next month, with two sets of roadworks set to take place at the same time.

The news comes shortly after it was revealed Skipton Road, which has been plagued by roadworks in 2020, will see more work carried out for two months from January 4.

The first set of newly announced roadworks, due to start on January 5 for five weeks, will allow Yorkshire Water to lay new pipes between Wharfedale Avenue and College Road.

Yorkshire Water said in a statement the works would accommodate new housing developments in Harrogate and address low pressure issues.

Northern Powergrid is then expected to begin 11 weeks of work on January 11. This scheme is part of a programme to relocate utilities so its highways team can carry out improvements at the Otley Road/Harlow Moor Road junction .

Once this work is completed, the highways team will commence phase one of the junction upgrade and cycleway from Harlow Moor Road to Arthurs Avenue.

North Yorkshire County Council, which is responsible for highways and approved the works, said those involved would try to keep disruption to a minimum.

Melisa Burnham, the council’s highways area manager, said:

“It is hoped that work can take place at the same time with co-ordinated traffic management, which will reduce the overall impact. If this does not prove feasible then the works will take place consecutively.

“The traffic management will be continuously monitored and manually controlled during peak times each day. We are committed to keeping disruption to a minimum.”

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More roadworks are planned the other end of the town, on Knaresborough Road. They are due to begin on January 4 from the junction with Granby Road to Rydal Road, and continue until the end of February.

They are taking place to allow a new water pipe to be installed. Junctions along Knaresborough Road will be closed separately for short periods, with diversions put in place.

Boris backs Harrogate Christmas Eve doorstep jingle

Prime Minister Boris Johnson today called a Harrogate mum backing her campaign to get the world to ring a bell on Christmas Eve.

Mary Beggs-Reid came up with the idea last month and nearly 500,000 people have already signed up to take part.

Today she received a phone call from Mr Johnson, who told her that he will be taking part at 10 Downing Street with his fiancé Carrie Symonds and their young son Wilfred.

Mary planned to travel to London to meet the Prime Minister but the new tier four restrictions in the capital meant a phone call was more suitable.

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The Christmas Eve doorstep jingle asks people to ring a bell or bang a pan at 6pm for two minutes to “spread festive spirit and help Santa’s sleigh fly”.

With her now famous bell in hand, which will soon become a family heirloom, Mary told the Stray Ferret:

“It’s wonderful, I can’t believe we’ve got the Prime Minister involved. Lots of people from Lapland joined last week, it’s going to reach everywhere.

“There will be a wave of bells on Christmas Eve. We will see it coming from New Zealand and that will build up the excitement even more.

“We will just have two minutes for the children when something amazing and magical will happen, I can’t wait.”

Mary’s inspiration for the event came from the film Elf, where residents of New York sing together to power Santa’s sleigh with their Christmas spirit.

With news that the Christmas relaxation of rules has been reduced to just one day, she thinks that there will be a lot of interest on Thursday.

Coronavirus vaccine centre opens in Harrogate

The coronavirus vaccine centre has opened in Harrogate for the first time.

Harrogate’s Great Yorkshire Showground is housing the local coronavirus vaccination site, which was a hive of activity this morning.

Those over 80, care home residents and care home staff are first in line for the vaccine.

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GP practices in Harrogate and the surrounding area will oversee the rollout and appealed for volunteers to help marshal the car park and signpost patients.

The vaccination programme is expected to last several months. Vaccines will be carried out seven days a week from 8am to 8pm.

It has been a long road to this point and news of the vaccine centre opening locally has been welcomed by those in line to receive it.

Bid to convert Windsor House into 94 flats

Plans have been submitted to change the use of Windsor House in Harrogate from offices to flats.

Under the plans, the seven-storey building would accommodate 94 flats consisting of 14 one-bedroom and 80 two-bedroom properties.

Windsor House, which is located in the Duchy estate area, is one of the most distinctive landmarks in Harrogate.

Built in 1900 overlooking Valley Gardens, it was originally the Grand Hotel until it became offices in the 1980s.

Now agents Savills, acting on behalf of Boultbee Brooks (Harrogate), the limited liability partnership that owns the 3.5 acre site, has applied to Harrogate Borough Council to change its use again.

The site, off Cornwall Road, falls within Harrogate Conservation Area and many of the trees in its boundary are protected by this or by tree preservation orders.

The site contains car park spaces for 288 vehicles.

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Most of nearby Windsor Court has been converted from offices to flats in recent years.

A letter by Savills accompanying the planning application says:

“The location of the site is extremely sustainable, being within walking distance of all public transport options
and all of Harrogate’s main services and amenities.”

31 coronavirus cases as Harrogate district ‘braces for new variant’

The Harrogate district has recorded a further 31 coronavirus cases today, according to Public Health England figures.

It brings the total cases in the district so far up to 3,998. That is around 2.5% of the local population but only reflects the number of people who have been tested which increased considerably around September.

Harrogate District Hospital has not recorded any further coronavirus deaths in more than a week and remains at 106 deaths.

There are currently 14 coronavirus patients at the hospital, down from 21 last week.

In the local coronavirus press briefing today there were real concerns around the new coronavirus variant, which spreads faster but is not more deadly.

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Richard Webb, the corporate director of health and adult services at North Yorkshire County Council, said:

“We do not have any confirmed cases of the new coronavirus variant yet but I imagine at the rate at which it spreads it will be heading north at some speed.

“So therefore we have to brace ourselves for the fact that the new strain will reach North Yorkshire very soon.

“We will then have to deal with the consequences of that.”

Local health leaders also highlighted rising coronavirus cases in Scarborough at the press briefing this morning.

The seaside town’s seven-day average rate of infection shot up to 254 per 100,000 people from about 150 a week ago.

It also has the highest positive rates in the north east of England.

With all of those factors coming into play it could mean that the whole of North Yorkshire may either need to move up into tier three or split into different tiers.

Harrogate people urged to be patient when booking GPs amid delays

The NHS is urging people in the Harrogate district to be patient when booking GP appointments amid concerns some patients’ anger is boiling over at delays.

Health leaders issued the plea today, saying a combination of exceptional demand and staff being affected by normal winter sickness and covid was causing strain.

NHS North Yorkshire Clinical Commissioning Group and NHS Vale of York CCG, which buy health services for the county, acknowledging ‘the wait to speak to a member of a surgery’s reception team in some areas may be a little longer than normal’ and asking people to show ‘patience and kindness’ in the run-up to Christmas.

Dr Charles Parker, NHS North Yorkshire CCG clinical chair, said:

“We recognise how frustrating it can be to be in a call queue but surgery staff are doing their very best in challenging circumstances.

“GP practices have been asked to vaccinate the 50-64 year olds against the flu, to give the covid vaccine, to work in constrained ways to keep patients and staff safe and to do this with higher numbers of staff off work, isolating or ill.

“This is a lot to cope with at the same time. They absolutely do not deserve to be shouted at and abused.”

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Dr Parker added people should not ring GP practices asking about the covid vaccine but instead wait for notification. He added:

“This will help keep the phone lines clear and help practices cope with providing prompt care.”

Local pharmacies can also help with minor ailments, such as coughs, colds, sore throats, tummy trouble and aches and pains.

Patients can also get non-emergency medical advice at all hours by using the NHS 111 service online or over the phone.

Harrogate sisters’ literary lunches go global in lockdown

Two Harrogate sisters who were initially hit hard by lockdown say their literary lunches business has bloomed in the last year.

Sibh Megson and Beth Hocking set up Gliterary Lunches in 2006 out of a love for good books, food and company.

The pair took their unique events to cities across the country to work with authors like Lionel Shriver, Jodi Picoult and Tony Parsons.

Coronavirus hit the events industry hard this year but Gliterary Lunches moved online to lift peoples’ spirits.

Initially free to attend, the Gliterary Lunch Hour raised £3,600 for the charity MIND.

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Authors and customers have gotten involved from around the world including New York, Sydney Singapore and Stockholm.

Sibh said the attendance has grown rapidly since the first online events:

“Having to cancel our spring programme of events meant we needed to find new ways to keep the business buoyant and our customer base close.

“Our first paid-for event in September was for 100 people, and we are now hosting over 300 which is a rapid growth in numbers.

“Authors are delighted with the opportunity to talk to readers as they can’t attend the usual round of promotional events.”

Beth added that the events are no longer limited in any way:

“We have been pushed to be more creative and think outside the box, and get to grips with the technology.

“We are no longer limited by geography or capacity, and our corporates are now able to entertain their clients from all over Europe.

“We’re very aware how the situation is hitting businesses hard and we’re mindful just how lucky we are.”

Tickets cost £10 per person to attend the Gliterary Lunches or £35 per person, which includes a bottle of Prosecco, chocolates and a signed copy of the book.

Find out more by clicking or tapping here.

Strayside Sunday: We are treating the homeless as human cargo, fit only for containment

Strayside Sunday is our weekly political opinion column. It is written by Paul Baverstock, former Director of Communications for the Conservative Party. 

The housing and homelessness charity Shelter has been in the news this week.  They have gathered data that shows that 253,000 people in the UK will pass this Christmas season without secure housing.

During the first lockdown, swift and decisive government action virtually eradicated homelessness in our country by housing people in utilising otherwise deserted hotels, boarding houses and vacant rental properties.  As a result of the “Everyone In” initiative, many of the most vulnerable in our society could at least face the threat presented by Covid-19 certain in the knowledge that they could do so with a roof over their heads and have beds on which to sleep.  An issue that has taxed and stumped policymakers for years was solved with an alacrity that betrayed the repugnant and rank inaction of successive and previous governments of all political persuasions.

Last week, the Stray Ferret reported that Harrogate Borough Council has provided emergency accommodation for local homeless people for the ‘festive’ season.  This under the Severe Weather Emergency Protocol (SWEP) that obligates councils to provide cover and shelter during the inclement weather conditions of the winter months.  So they should.

However, in their infinite wisdom Harrogate Borough Council has installed 3 bright yellow (“look everybody, homeless people!”) shipping containers in the Tower Street Carpark.  They are chain-link fenced in and, unless alterations are to be made to them, are windowless and appear ill-ventilated.  This is truly shameful.  The idea that in a wealthy, albeit resource constrained, Covid-stymied civilised society, that we should think shipping containers provide appropriate shelter for anyone at any time of the year passes understanding.

What of compassion?  What of humanity?  What of simple human decency?  As the occupants exit their steel, aluminium or fibre-reinforced polymer (which are the materials from which shipping containers are apparently made) billet, they will look across the street at the local Travelodge; now open for business, as our national government seeks balance the need to keep the economy moving, with the possible health risks posed by Covid.  I doubt very much that it, or indeed any hotel in Harrogate is currently operating at full occupancy.  But surely it is not beyond the wit of man or woman to manage occupancy across the borough to meet both private demand and the needs of those living on the streets.  Especially in circumstances in which private enterprise has benefitted hugely this year from the wonton largesse of (taxpayer, our children and our grandchildren) funded loans, grants, furlough schemes

All housing developments these days come with a requirement for an element of social housing.  Or they should – it turns out the North Yorkshire County Council’s housebuilding company Brierley Homes is under criticism for avoiding having to build affordable dwellings at their developments in Bilton and Pateley Bridge.  None the less, perhaps we could ask the same of larger hotels; that they provide a small number of rooms for the socially disadvantaged?

The uncomfortable truth of course is that business does not want to co-mingle the homeless with paying guests.  The even more uncomfortable truth is that you and I would think more than once about patronising a hotel in which we might bump into the homeless in the corridor.  We’re alright jack and anyway our consciences, pricked as they are by this and other injustices, don’t tend to compensate for any compromise of our own comfort or hotel “experience.”  Our fear-fuelled prejudices of the smelly, drunk and drug addled dispossessed don’t add to the ambience of a stay away.

Harrogate is often named as one of the most desirable places to live in Britain.  It’s a reputation of which our council is rightly proud.  If an appeal to HBC on the merits won’t make them do better by the homeless then how about this?  Harrogate risks damaging it’s reputation.  It will become known as the kind of affluent and selfish place that wants to hide the fact that it has the same knotty and mucky problems and challenges that inner cities face.  It is in danger of becoming known for hiding its homeless in plain sight, for thinking so little of its least fortunate charges that it seeks to make them human cargo, fit only for containment.  It doesn’t make me proud to live in a borough whose council would do this.

At our holidays and high-days visits to church in the days to come we will bask in the warm and sentimental candle-lit glow of self-satisfaction that follows.  They tell us that this is the time of year for peace and goodwill for ALL men (and women and children).  We will all agree with that and likely walk swiftly by the Tower Street Carpark on the way home, heads down.  Let’s demand better of each other, of our local authority and of national government.

Bottom line, we should get our homeless inside, in real accommodation, for Christmas – and make sure they can stay there

That’s my Strayside Sunday.  I wish you all a very Happy Christmas.

Paul is taking a break over the Christmas period. Strayside Sunday will be back on January 3 2021.

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Harrogate gallery ‘Giraffle’ raises £1,000 for food bank

A Harrogate gallery has raised £1,000 for the town’s Trussell Trust food bank with a “Giraffle.”

Watermark Gallery, on Royal Parade, sold 200 tickets at £5 each and pulled the name of the winner today.

A six-year-old boy called Dominic, and whose parents own Westmorland Sheepskins just up the road, won the top prize created by illustrator Jane Ray.

Jane created the five-feet tall paper mache giraffe based on the main character of a book called “Zeraffa Girraffa.”

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Just as the character of that book travelled far to her new home in Paris, Zeraffa toured the Harrogate district in past few months.

The giraffe took pride of place in the windows of Catherine Smith Vintage, Bespoke Eyewear, Westmorland Sheepskins and the Little Ripon Bookshop.

When Dominic found out that he had won Zeraffa he jumped for joy out in the town centre. Anna Martola, of the Watermark Gallery, told the Stray Ferret:

“It is a real treat that it is going to someone who is going to love it, and a little boy just like in the story of Zeraffa.

“I mean it took Jane three weeks to paint and her original art pieces go for between £1,000 and £7,000 so it’s definitely a little investment.”

Liz Hawkes, owner of the Watermark Gallery, previously said:

“Zeraffa was a real talking point in the window of our gallery, and we had countless enquiries about buying her.

“I think people saw her as a ray of sunshine during a somewhat challenging time.”