Council responds as North Yorkshire hotel to cease housing asylum seekersMystery surrounds Harrogate takeaway closureHome Office arrests illegal worker at Harrogate shop‘Fresh’ burns on Harrogate murder accused after makeshift flamethrower used during attackRecruitment underway for 52 new police posts in North YorkshireHarrogate bar staff to be trained to prevent attacks on women

Harrogate hospitality workers are to receive training on how to make women feel safer in the town centre at night.

Zoë Metcalfe, the North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, announced today her office had been awarded up to £309,911 from the Home Office’s safer streets fund to improve safety for women and girls.

It will fund various initiatives, including vulnerability and spiking awareness training for staff employed in the nighttime economy in Harrogate.

The training aims to make women feel safer at night and tackle violence against women and girls.

The funding will also provide free video doorbells for repeat victims of domestic abuse and stalking.

The commissioner’s office has also secured up to £689,607 from the Home Office to prevent neighbourhood crime, most of which will be spent on security upgrades at homes and farms in and around Scarborough and York.

Ms Metcalfe said:

“Preventing burglary, tackling rural crime and improving safety for women and girls are priority areas within my police and crime plan and violence against women and girls strategy and these initiatives will have a real, tangible impact on how safe people feel both in and outside their homes.”

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Harrogate and Ripon to provide more homes to Afghan refugees

More Afghan refugees are to be housed in Harrogate and Ripon following an urgent request from the Home Office.

North Yorkshire Council has approved the use of eight Ministry of Defence properties in the county — but also flagged up concerns about the pressure on its housing stock.

Six of the new homes are in Catterick and one each is in Harrogate and Ripon.

A council report cited humanitarian concerns as the reason for agreeing to the request and said eight properties “would be manageable in relation to school places, integration support and English language classes”.

But it added:

“Caution is necessary in relation to accommodating more than eight additional households.

“Existing housing pressures in the county need to be considered alongside the fact that North Yorkshire Council is responsible for finding move-on housing for the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy households in the service family accommodation properties should they wish to stay in North Yorkshire.”

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The Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy, which was implemented in April 2021, entitles Afghan citizens who worked for or with the UK in Afghanistan and their partners and children to relocate to the UK.

The report said North Yorkshire had resettled 175 people from 45 Afghanistan households under the scheme since February 2021 and had also received over 1,300 Homes for Ukraine arrivals since spring 2022 , “some of whom are requiring move-on housing in the county following the end of their sponsorship period”.

Rachel Joyce, the council’s assistant chief executive local engagement, said:

“There are specific timelines for this process, however, the Ministry of Defence have identified eight properties in total in Harrogate, Ripon and Catterick Garrison which would provide safe and suitable accommodation for eligible Afghan refugee families.

“Families will be matched to the properties giving them the independence, space and privacy they require. It’s also a chance for them to integrate with the local community and play a part in community life.

“We are unable to reveal the exact addresses of the properties at this stage.”

 

Free security upgrades for some Harrogate district homes and farms

People in parts of the Harrogate district are being urged to sign up for free security checks and upgrades to homes and farms.

Residents in the parishes of Allerton Mauleverer with Hopperton, Kirk Deighton, Kirk Hammerton, Leathley, Long Marston, North Deighton, Sicklinghall and Spofforth with Stockeld are eligible to apply.

They could receive new locks for vulnerable doors, windows, garages and sheds, and alarm systems for farms and small holdings. For homes with suitable WiFi coverage the scheme also includes a RING video doorbell.

Funding for the Protect Your Home was secured last year by the North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner‘s office, which was awarded £719,590 from the Home Office’s Safer Streets Fund.

The scheme aims to prevent burglaries in over 1,000 homes and 90 farms along the borders of the Harrogate and Craven district but so far only 422 homes have received a security upgrade.

In the Harrogate district, the take-up has been as high as 46% of homes in North Deighton and as low as 3% in Sicklinghall.

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Now crime commissioner Zoe Metcalfe and local councillors are encouraging more people to sign up.

Ms Metcalfe said:

“My office have done really well to secure this funding from the Home Office on behalf of these communities and so it’s really important that the money is used to improve the security of as many homes and farms as possible.

“The more people who sign up in a community the more resilient to burglary that area becomes, and we’ve seen this demonstrated in Cononley when a burglar was captured on seven video door bells, many funded through this scheme.”

The last chance to apply is August this year.

Superintendent Teresa Lam, senior operational commander for Harrogate and Craven, said:

“I would encourage any eligible occupants to become involved in this fantastic initiative to help protect their properties”.

 

 

County council criticises Home Office again over ‘dumping asylum seekers’

North Yorkshire County Council has criticised the Home Office for its treatment of those seeking asylum after it scrapped plans to house 1,500 asylum seekers at a former RAF base in Linton-on-Ouse

Conservative Cllr David Chance, executive member for stronger communities, said despite having repeatedly been made aware of the complete unsuitability of a hotel near Selby as bridging accommodation for Afghan refugees, the Home Office had announced it now intended to use it for asylum seekers instead.

The move has emerged just weeks after the Home Office revealed it no longer intended to send asylum seekers to Linton on Ouse, which is four miles from Great Ouseburn and Little Ousburn in the Harrogate district, not far from Knaresborough and Boroughbridge.

It also comes just three weeks after the final Afghan refugees left the hotel near Selby. After leaving the accommodation, Marwa Koofi, 21, who fled Kabul when the city fell to the Taliban last year, said she had since “wasted a year because my hotel was in a location where I couldn’t do anything”.

A meeting of the executive of the county council, which in partnership with a range of agencies continues to provide support to the Afghan refugee families in another bridging hotel in Scarborough, heard families at the Selby hotel had been moved to other hotels.

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Cllr Chance said he was unaware of the proposed number of asylum seekers at the hotel.

He said the hotel had written to the government asking to be considered as bridging accommodation for refugees, “much against our better judgement”.

Coun Chance said: 

“We said that to the Home Office at the time. We do not believe this hotel is suitable for this purpose and I can’t support it.

“You are putting individuals in the middle of a motorway complex with nothing to do and it’s totally wrong, but out of our hands.”

After the meeting, Selby councillor and leader of the council’s Labour group Councillor Steve Shaw Wright said as the hotel was on the side of the former A1 those staying there would face having to walk miles to get anywhere.

He said while Selby Town Council had funded buses to get the Afghan refugees into the town so they could mix with people of their own faith, local councillors had been “really pleased” when they heard the government would close it for refugees.

Cllr Shaw Wright said: 

“We hoped they would go to somewhere more suitable, but it was announced it would be a hotel for individual asylum seekers. That’s even worse because how are they going to cope in the middle of nowhere and, if they’re waiting asylum seekers, some of them might go walkabout.

“It’s an example of the government not having a clue what they are doing with these people and it’s not fair on the asylum seekers and refugees and it’s also not fair on the local community.

“It seems like a knee-jerk decision to dump refugees in the middle of nowhere.”

A Home Office spokesman said the response to the crisis in Afghanistan last August was one of the most challenging, intense and complex overseas operations undertaken by the UK, and the largest air evacuation operation in recent memory.

He added: 

“While hotels do not provide a long-term solution, they do offer safe, secure and clean accommodation. We will continue to bring down the number of people in bridging hotels, moving people into more sustainable accommodation as quickly as possible.”

Review into stalking and harassment response in North Yorkshire

A review is to be carried out into how stalking and harassment is dealt with in North Yorkshire.

The review aims to help police and partners respond better to such incidents.

It is being funded by £100,000 of government money secured by Zoe Metcalfe, the North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner.

The review will be conducted in partnership with the Suzy Lamplugh Trust, a charity that aims to reduce the level of violence and aggression in society.

A press release by Ms Metcalfe’s office said:

“It will see a victim-focused assessment of local systems, processes, training and practice carried out to help North Yorkshire Police and partners understand and respond better to stalking and harassment.

 

“Bespoke training will be provided to police officers and staff from partner organisations to become ‘stalking and harassment advocates’ and provide information, support, advice and guidance to their colleagues.”

£700,000 to protect homes 

Me Metcalfe has also secured £700,000 to prevent neighbourhood crime with an extension of her office’s Protect Your Home scheme.

More than 1,000 homes and 90 farms along the borders of Harrogate borough and Craven district will use the funding to prevent burglaries and protect individuals, families and businesses,

Security upgrades include new locks for vulnerable doors, windows, garages and sheds, and alarm systems for farms and small holdings.

Eligible residents will receive a registration pack through the post shortly.

North Yorkshire Police will also purchase additional Automatic Number Plate Recognition cameras and upgrade Rural Watch signs in specific locations to detect and deter potential burglars.

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Total funding of £809,095 has been secured for the two schemes from the Home Office Safer Streets Fund, which the government launched in 2020 to reduce and prevent crime.

Preventing neighbourhood crime and addressing violence against women and girls are two of Ms Metcalfe’s priorities as commissioner.

She said the schemes will have “a real, tangible impact on how safe people feel both in and outside their homes”, adding:

“This is the fourth time the commissioner’s office has secured additional Home Office funding to support residents across North Yorkshire and York be safe and feel safe and I am confident that what these two schemes will deliver will make a huge difference to individuals, families and communities.”

Parishes eligible for the Protect Your Home scheme are: