Killinghall bypass ‘yesterday’s solution’ to congestion

Proposals for a £20 million Killinghall bypass have been criticised by environmental group Zero Carbon Harrogate.

North Yorkshire County Council has put forward plans to build a bypass, with a likely route from the Old Spring Well pub on the A59 to the roundabout in Ripley that goes to Pateley Bridge and Ripon.

It would be one of range of measures, including a park and ride bus scheme and enhanced cycling routes, to ease congestion in the Harrogate district.

But Rod Beardshall, transport lead at ZCH, told the Stray Ferret awareness of climate change had increased locally and building a major new road would “send out the wrong message”.

Mr Beardshall described the decision to refuse Harrogate Spring Water’s expansion plans into Rotary Wood as a “tipping point” for the town, where environmental concerns outweighed other factors.

Rod Beardshall, from Zero Carbon Harrogate

He called a bypass “yesterday’s solution” to tackling congestion:

“It would take years to build and as the climate situation moves on the idea would end up being more anachronistic.”

Killinghall has been bedevilled by traffic for decades and the problem has worsened recently as new housing developments have swelled the size of the village.

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Mr Beardshall highlighted a 2017 study by countryside charity CPRE that suggests new roads actually increase traffic rather than ease congestion.

He described roads “a very clumsy tool to address congestion” and called on the council to focus on better bus services and walking and cycling access for Killinghall. He even suggested charging motorists to drive through the village:

“If you build a road, it’s there forever.

“By thinking about a bypass you take the eye off the ball for more imaginative solutions.”

Last month, councillor Don Mackenzie, executive member for access at North Yorkshire County Council, said the bypass would ease congestion in the “fastest-growing village in the county”.

He said:

“We have a duty to respond to the many residents and local members who feel that they want to take some of this traffic out of their village.

“That includes 44-tonne lorries, which could not be replaced by a person walking or cycling. That is why we firmly believe that certainly further consideration of a bypass to take this traffic out of the village is needed.”

Six covid deaths at Killinghall nursing home

A Killinghall nursing home has confirmed it suffered six covid-related deaths in the final fortnight of January.

Westfield House Nursing Home remained almost covid-free until the new fast-acting strain struck around Christmas.

The outbreak had a devastating impact on residents and staff, culminating in the recent spate of deaths.

Many other care homes have also been badly affected by covid in recent weeks.

Tracey Holroyd, chairman of Warmest Welcome, which owns Westfield House and eight other homes, including The Crest Care Home in Harrogate, said:

“We have had six deaths that appeared to be related to covid since January 17.

“We now have just one resident who has to finish the remainder of their isolation period, which ends tomorrow.

‘Currently we don’t have any residents who are ill — or more ill than one would expect given that they already require 24-hour nursing care.

“The staff are all now back to work with the exception of the last two, who will be returning to work on February 5.”

Ms Holroyd said all residents and staff at Westfield able to have covid inoculations had now done so.

But the recent outbreak of the virus has meant delaying jabs for some people.

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Harrogate park and ride could be built in Pannal

Two locations in Pannal have been identified as sites for a new Harrogate park and ride bus service.

A park and ride is among measures proposed by North Yorkshire County Council to reduce traffic and ease congestion around Harrogate.

Other schemes include a Killinghall bypass, new cycle paths and traffic calming in Bilton.

Land near Pannal Golf Club and land near Buttersyke Bar roundabout south of Pannal have been chosen as park and ride sites.

County councillor Don Mackenzie, executive member for access, said a key factor was the sites’ location on the 36 bus route that runs regularly between Leeds, Harrogate and Ripon. He said:

“One of the great costs of a park and ride is the shuttle bus, which would have to be contracted out.

“If you can tie it in with a scheduled service it would mean you could avoid this cost.”

Pannal is about three miles from Harrogate. Cllr Mackenzie said a more central location might not work as well because if motorists had to battle through town centre traffic to get to the park and ride they might not think the service was worth bothering with and park in town instead.

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Cllr Mackenzie said the park and ride idea “could happen fairly quickly” depending on developments.

It is one of the main projects in the council’s Harrogate transport improvement programme.

Perhaps the programme’s most ambitious and controversial proposal is for a Killinghall bypass.

Cllr Mackenzie said the likely route would be from the Old Spring Well pub on the A59 and then south and east of Killinghall to join the A61 at the roundabout in Ripley that goes to Pateley Bridge and Ripon.

It would not touch the western side, where the Nidderdale Greenway is located, he added.

Two Harrogate district villages show big covid spike

The number of new covid cases in Killinghall and Hampsthwaite is more than double that of anywhere else in the Harrogate district.

North Yorkshire County Council statistics today revealed a total of 62 cases have been recorded in the two villages in the last seven days.

The next highest sub-districts locally are Ripon South and East and Starbeck, which both have had 28 cases.

The figure for Killinghall and Hampsthwaite is second in all of North Yorkshire only to Malton and Norton, which has registered 63 infections.

It comes as a further 39 infections were recorded in the district, according to today’s Public Health England data.

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It takes the total number of cases since the start of the pandemic to 6,392.

Meanwhile, the district’s seven-day covid rate has fallen to 245 people per 100,000.

The county-wide rate is 222 and the national average stands at 382.

No further deaths from patients who tested positive for coronavirus have been reported at Harrogate District Hospital, according to NHS England figures.

Harrogate district care homes ‘ravaged’ by covid

A care home company boss has spoken of the struggle to contain recent outbreaks of covid that have “ravaged” homes in the Harrogate district.

A total of 258 care home residents and staff in North Yorkshire currently have covid, according to figures from North Yorkshire County Council this week.

Tracey Holroyd is chairman of Warmest Welcome, whose Westfield House Nursing Home in Killinghall has suffered one death recently and currently has 12 infections.

Warmest Welcome owns eight other homes, including The Crest Care Home in Harrogate, and Ms Holroyd said all but one had been hit hard by covid recently, along with many others in the care sector.

She said the new mutant strain of covid struck Westfield House over Christmas.

“This new variant is so fast, it just ripped through the home. It’s horrible.”

Westfield House had hardly suffered any covid infections until Christmas.

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Ms Holroyd said staff followed all the correct protocols but the speed of transmission in a building full of vulnerable older people was devastating. She said:

“The care home is the community so if the virus is in the care home it’s in the community. And this virus is so fast.

“It’s just been awful but we are over the worst. We’ve just got to keep on keeping on.”

Ms Holroyd said the manager and deputy manager had both been off but were now back, and that having so many staff absent had been a “massive problem”.

The infections are also delaying the vaccination programme at Westfield House. Ms Holroyd paid tribute to the dedication of staff during such a difficult time, adding:

“The vaccine can’t happen soon enough.”

North Yorkshire County Council said this week 76 out of 235 care settings in the county, which includes care homes and extra care facilities, has one or more positive covid case.

Of that number, 55 have recorded outbreaks, which is two or more cases. Nine have large outbreaks, which is defined as 10 or more cases.

 

The Harrogate district’s top five covid hotspots

There have been 633 covid infections recorded in the Harrogate district in the last seven days, according to government statistics.

The infection rate has rocketed over the last month and the current seven-day average rate is now 494 people per 100,000.

But there are considerable variations within the district.

The government breaks each district into smaller areas known as middle super output areas, each with a population of about 7,200 people.

According to the latest figures, the middle super output areas with the most current infections are central Harrogate and central Knaresborough.

The more rural Pateley Bridge and Nidd Valley, which has been consistently less affected throughout the pandemic, has the fewest current infections.

Most infections

1 Central Harrogate 76

2 Knaresborough Central 61

3 Harrogate West and Pannal 59

4 Killinghall and Hampsthwaite 53

5 Starbeck 47

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Fewest Infections

1 Pateley Bridge and Nidd Valley 13

2 Hookstone 17

3= Dishthorpe, Baldersby and Markington

3= Spofforth, Burn Bridge and Huby 19

5 Masham, Kirkby Malzeard and North Stainley 21

 

Killinghall bypass ‘could cost in excess of £20 million’

A new bypass for Killinghall could cost in excess of £20 million, county council officers have said.

The project would come as part of a plan proposed by North Yorkshire County Council to tackle congestion in the Harrogate district.

Councillors on the Harrogate and Knaresborough Area Committee heard the proposals at a meeting today, along with other measures to cut traffic.

It comes after the county council conducted a study in 2019 to find ways to ease congestion in the district.

Initial proposals included building the bypass along with a western relief road. However, that idea has now been taken off the table and a standalone bypass has been suggested.

Allan McVeigh, senior highways officer at the authority, told the committee that the project is estimated to cost “in excess of £20 million”.

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But he added that the figure was a “high level estimate” at the moment and more work needed to be done on the scheme if it were to be taken forward.

A report before the committee said the current bypass proposal would cost less to construct than the relief road and would offer “high value for money”.

Cllr Don Mackenzie, executive county councillor for access, speaking before the Harrogate and Knaresborough Area Committee.

Cllr Don Mackenzie, executive county councillor for access, speaking before the Harrogate and Knaresborough Area Committee.

Meanwhile, concern was raised from residents and campaign groups over cycle routes and the increase in flow of traffic into Harrogate as part of the project.

Rod Beardshall, of Zero Carbon Harrogate, called on the county council to oppose the plan. He added that “all non-road solutions for Killinghall should be considered before a bypass.”.

In response to concerns, Cllr Don Mackenzie, executive member for access at the authority, said a bypass was necessary to remove congestion from the “fastest growing village in the county”.

He added that the scheme would include active travel measures, such as cycle routes..

He said:

“We have a duty to respond to the many residents and local members who feel that they want to take some of this traffic out of their village. 

“That includes 44-tonne lorries which could not be replaced by a person walking or cycling. That is why we firmly believe that certainly further consideration of a bypass to take this traffic out of the village is needed.”

The bypass is set to be added to the county council’s list of major schemes, which would require funding from the Department for Transport.

Nellie turns 105 – is she Harrogate district’s oldest person?

A Killinghall care home resident celebrated her 105th birthday yesterday with a giant cake and more than 300 cards.

Nellie Prince, who was born during the First World War in 1915 and lived independently until the age of 103, now lives at Westfield House Care Home.

She is the home’s oldest resident, and her milestone has prompted debate about whether she is the oldest person in the Harrogate district.

Leah Dodd, the manager’s assistant at the home, came up with the idea of getting 105 cards for Nellie’s 105th birthday and approached the local primary school and community groups to make or send cards.

Her appeal caught the imagination and even appeared internationally, which led to more than 300 cards from places as far away as Canada and Malibu.

Leah, an expert cake maker, also made the huge cake for Nellie’s big day.

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Nellie was born in Leeds but moved to New Zealand as a young child.

She returned to the UK when she was 14 and worked as a housekeeper until the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 when she helped the war effort by making ammunition.

Nellie, who has never married, had various jobs after the war until she retired aged 60, which incredibly is 45 years ago.

Some of Nellie’s birthday cards.

Her earliest memory is of her and a friend, who were both poor eaters, being fed by her mum. The only way her mum could get them to eat was by saying, “one for Nellie, one for Stanley”.

Her secret of a long life? Good food and “no takeaway rubbish”!

Covid rate rises again in Harrogate district

The coronavirus rate of infection for the Harrogate district has increased for the first time in almost a month.

The seven-day average rate of infection peaked at 303 people per 100,000 on 9 November.

It then fell rapidly to 85 on 30 November, according to the data from Public Health England.

But yesterday’s latest figure, which is for the seven days to December 3, showed the rate had gone up on three consecutive days and is now 95.

That is still below the North Yorkshire average of 105 and the England average of 148.

But it does suggest the sharp downwards trend went into reverse before the end of lockdown on December 2.

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The district’s R number, which refers to the rate at which the virus is spreading, remains low at 0.4.

This means every 10 people infected will pass it on to another four.

Killinghall and Hampsthwaite is still the local area with the most positive cases, having recorded 21 in the last seven days.

Harrogate district covid rates fall by two-thirds during lockdown

The Harrogate district is set to end the second lockdown with a far lower rate of covid than when it started.

Government figures today reveal the district has an average seven-day rate of infection of 92 people per 100,000, compared with 277 people per 100,000 on November 5.

This means the rate has fallen by about two-thirds since lockdown began.

The England average is currently 154 and the North Yorkshire average is 107.

The R number has fallen from a peak of 1.6 last month to 0.6 today. This means every 10 people with covid will infect another six.

Public Health England recorded another 18 positive test results today, which is well below the 95 on November 9.

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There were no further deaths reported today at either Harrogate District Hospital or in the district’s care homes.

Killinghall and Hampsthwaite remains the district’s covid hotspot, with 26 infections in the last seven days.

The next highest is Ouseburn, Hammerton and Tockwith with 18.

Pateley Bridge and Nidd Valley, Masham, Kirkby Malzeard and North Stainley and Ripon North and West have not recorded a single new infection for at least seven days.