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. Send your views to letters@thestrayferret.co.uk.

‘Inconceivable’ Knox Lane housing scheme can go ahead

Regarding the proposed full planning application for 53 residential dwellings at Knox Lane, it is inconceivable that Harrogate Borough Council are prepared to push forward with this without addressing any of the 313 objections that have been submitted.

I would further add that there are no supporting comments added. Fulcrum to this is the historical use of the proposed site.

Damian Bowen, Harrogate

Knox Lane housing scheme ‘lacks detail’

In reference to the proposed 52 homes on Knox Lane in Harrogate.

I am writing to express my dismay at the decision by the Harrogate Borough Council’s planning officer to recommend the application be deferred for approval at the next planning committee meeting on Tuesday.

How can the Harrogate Borough Council planning committee have any confidence in the quality of this application given the current documentation submitted contradicts itself and contains a total lack of required detailed information regarding retaining walls, limited traffic, ecology and contaminated ground surveys and no electric charging point locations?

Given this lack of assessment of public and professional comments, surely the planning department could be leaving themselves open to a judicial review?

Stephen Readman, Harrogate

Read more:

• Stray Views: Noisy cars in Harrogate should be monitored at weekends
• Stray Views: Concerns over Scotton Weir removal on River Nidd

Voters ‘have to be realistic’

We have to be realistic. Anyone who is appalled at Liz Truss’s approach to sorting out the economy. i.e giving vast amounts to the rich in the hope that it will trickle down to the poor, has to realise that the only way to get the Tories out and restore fairness and our public services is to vote for candidates most likely to defeat them. 

In Harrogate, the only way is to vote for the Lib Dems. If the other parties don’t realise it’s in their interests to stand down, then we the electorate have to take the only way open to us to get rid of the Tories, which in Harrogate means voting for the Lib Dems.

Barbara Penny, Harrogate

Do you have 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.

A new junior football club has been set up to meet a growing demand for the sport in the Knaresborough area.

The club at Staveley, known as the Staveley Scorchers, is aimed at children aged six to nine and is based at the village’s former cricket ground.

It has been set up by Scotton Scorchers, which has been working with Staveley Sports Association to bring the cricket club facilities back to life.

Staveley Cricket Club’s ground will host Staveley Scorchers junior football club.

Mike Collier, from Scotton Scorchers, said:

“It came to our attention that the former cricket club was no longer used as the cricket team now plays at Boroughbridge.

“With waiting lists at our club, it seems such a shame we couldn’t find space for local children. So we put the two together to create a new junior football club so local children get the chance to play. The demand is definitely there.”

The club will initially be run and subsidised by Scotton and the first season will consist of friendly matches. It will then aim to join the Nidderdale Junior Football League next year.

The teams are U8s (school years 2 and 3) and an U10s (school years 4 and 5).

The club meets on Saturdays from 9am until 10am.

To find out more contact Mike Collier at mikeandjanec@googlemail.com, text 07979 682670 or simply register at the Scotton Scorchers website.

Knaresborough has seen a stream of new businesses opening in the past year despite the challenges posed by the cost of living crisis.

Recent additions include The Secret Bakery and River and Rose and last week high street bakery Greggs confirmed it was opening a branch in the town.

There are currently only six empty units available compared a peak of more than 40, according to the two women behind the Knaresborough Business Collective.

Annie Wilkinson-Gill, from The Crystal Buddha, and Natalie Horner, from Sid Horner and Son, who launched the not-for-profit venture in January, said there were a number of reasons why Knaresborough was so attractive to businesses.

Ms Wilkinson-Gill said:

“There is a lot of new energy coming into the town. More than 12 business have opened here this year.

“I think we have a lot to offer, because we are a tourist destination as well. We bring a lot of tourists in for a good half of the year and the other half sees locals use a lot of the businesses.”

Annie Wilkinson-Gill (left) and Natalie Horner.

Ms Horner added:

“Most of the businesses are quite unique. We offer a lot as a town. You can get everything here. I also think after covid a lot of people wanted to support local.

“You get amazing customer service in Knaresborough. When customers walk in, staff know them by name. All that helps to make it a community. We also have the market on a Wednesday.”

Read more:

• Greggs to open shop in Knaresborough
• Knaresborough banking hub could open this year

The women, who set up the collective to stage events and be a voice for businesses, have both had a presence in the town for more than a decade.

During this time they have seen the town experience struggles with shop closures and empty units.

However, in a post-covid world, they believe there is now more support than ever for local businesses, including amongst the business community itself.

Ms Wilkinson-Gill said:

“As well as the people who live here, the shops all support each other. We all know the importance of keeping each other going. We have all got the same goal.

“I have got the most amazing group of friends in different businesses. It’s a really lovely town full of lovely people.”

A serial sex offender has been jailed for over three years for sexually assaulting an infant girl after “luring” her into an enclosed space.

Kenneth Stephen Fowler, 64, a drifter and heavily convicted paedophile from Knaresborough, assaulted and then performed a lewd act in front of the youngster, York Crown Court heard.

Prosecutor Richard Herrmann said that Fowler had over 100 previous criminal convictions, of which 18 were child-sex offences.

Fowler’s last such conviction was almost 30 years ago, but on August 6 this year, when heavily drunk, he lured the young girl into a public enclosed space, put his arms around her and began touching her “excessively”.

He then tried to remove her clothing before taking off his own clothes to reveal an intimate part of his body. He then performed a lewd act in front of her.

Mr Herrmann said:

“(The victim) said he didn’t say anything (and that) she felt scared and she froze.”

She then moved “very quickly” away from the enclosed area, after which an adult witness saw Fowler buckling up his trousers.

Fowler told the witness, in an “aggressive manner”, that he was “about to set fire to the place”.

Matters were ultimately reported to police who searched Fowler’s flat in Knaresborough and found among his clothes a pair of girl’s knickers.

Read more:

• Harrogate solicitor who rammed car into wife’s home spared jail
• Man admits setting fire to historic Knaresborough pub

Homeless drifter

Fowler, a homeless drifter, was arrested and charged with indecent exposure, sexual assault of a child under 13 and sexual activity in the presence of a child.

He initially denied the offences but ultimately admitted the latter two charges. The Crown ultimately quashed the exposure charge.

He appeared for sentence via video link today after being remanded in custody.

Mr Herrmann said Fowler’s wicked behaviour had caused “great distress” to the girl and her family.

The girl’s mother said her daughter had since had nightmares about Fowler and her horrifying experience:

“She has been very quiet since it happened (and) doesn’t want to talk about it anymore.”

Fowler, originally from Scotland, had 104 previous convictions for 223 offences dating back over 50 years. Eighteen of those were sexual offences, including many for indecently exposing himself in front of children.

In the 1980s, he was jailed on multiple occasions for indecent exposure with intent to sexually assault a female, and another offence of unlawful intercourse with an under-age girl. In one incident in 1988, he exposed himself to a 13-year-old girl and performed a lewd act in front of two young boys.

His last exposure offence was in 1994 but he continued to regularly appear before the courts for offences such as shoplifting and being drunk and disorderly.

Set Harrogate charity store on fire

In October 2019, he received a 16-month jail sentence at York Crown Court for arson and damaging property.

That offence, described as a “revenge” attack, occurred in August 2018 when he torched a charity clothes store for the homeless at the Wesley Centre in Harrogate run by Harrogate Homeless Project, which had helped him get back on his feet after years of living rough.

Fowler, who was again drunk and had some kind of “grudge” against the charity, also smashed a window with a hammer, causing nearly £1,500 damage.

The charity relied completely on donations such as clothes and the damage had resulted in severe disruption to the organisation.

Defence barrister Brian Russell said that after a 30-year gap in his sexual offending, Fowler had “for an inexplicable reason…suddenly reverted to entrenched behaviour which he had managed to avoid for almost (three decades)”.

‘Unhealthy interest in young girls’

Judge Simon Hickey told Fowler:

“At the age of 64, you are still interfering with children…and were touching again an extremely young child.

“While heavily intoxicated, you were to lure this child into the public (enclosed space). She was scared; she froze.”

He said the child was clearly “in very great distress” and told Fowler:

“I find you a worrying and dangerous individual.

“This has changed the little girl’s life and she even…stuffs toys under her bed (for fear of) someone like yourself being under (there).”

The judge said Fowler clearly had an “unhealthy interest in young girls”.

Fowler was jailed for three years and four months. He was told he must serve two-thirds of that sentence behind bars and would only be released when the Parole Board deemed it safe to do so.

Due to the judge’s finding of dangerousness, Fowler was told he would have to serve an extended three years on prison licence once he was released from jail, for the protection of young girls.

A missing man from the Harrogate district has been found safe.

North Yorkshire Police issued an appeal this afternoon for information to find the man, who was last seen leaving his home on Tuesday this week.

But the force reported tonight that the man had been traced.

We have therefore updated this article and removed the man’s name and photo.

Some good news!

The 40 year old man from the Harrogate area has been found safe and well.

Thank you for your support with the appeal. pic.twitter.com/7YlsbsISE7

— North Yorkshire Police (@NYorksPolice) September 28, 2022

Read more

• Last chance to comment on proposed Harrogate Fire Station changes
• Councillors have ‘major concerns’ about plans to reduce Harrogate fire engines

North Yorkshire’s police, fire and crime commissioner has said she would still consider proposed changes to Harrogate’s fire crews “even if the service had millions of pounds in the bank”.

Commissioner Zoë Metcalfe is due to announce her decision on the plans to cut the number of night-time fire engines to just one on Thursday.

She has argued that the changes would allow Harrogate fire station to have two better-equipped fire engines during the day when emergencies are more likely to occur.

Commissioner Metcalfe has also said the proposals – which are part of a new risk and resource model – would allow for investment in fire prevention.

Asked at a council meeting last night whether she would still consider the plans if the fire service was better funded, commissioner Metcalfe said she “would still be doing this” and that she was “very assured” residents will be “kept safe”.

She said:

“We are always looking at different ways to get additional money into the fire service.

“We have this juxtaposition where North Yorkshire Police is what I would call well funded, but the fire service has just only got a balanced budget.

“As far as I am concerned about the risk and resource modelling, I would still be doing this even if we had a lot of money in the bank.”

Currently, Harrogate fire station has one fire engine which can respond to all emergencies and a smaller “tactical response” vehicle that both operate around the clock.

Under the proposals put forward by the North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, the smaller vehicle would be replaced by a larger fire engine, but it would only be crewed during the day.

The plans have drawn criticism from North Yorkshire’s Fire Brigades Union which said the changes along with similar proposals for Scarborough and Huntington would leave the county with a “second-rate emergency response service that will put lives at risk”.

Commissioner Metcalfe has repeatedly insisted that the proposals have been based on “extensive” risk assessments which look at when and where emergencies are most likely to occur.

She also said the changes would allow for improvements in other areas including the fire service’s on-call model which means only five out of 38 fire stations are currently crewed 24 hours a day.

These are Acomb, Harrogate, Huntington, Scarborough and York fire stations.

Commissioner Metcalfe told last night’s meeting: “It is really important to realise that our community risk profile makes sure that we identify where the risks are and that the right amount of resources are in place.

“It is also absolutely right that we invest in prevention and protection, as well as our on-call model which desperately needs attention.”

A consultation into a no-dogs area in a Knaresborough park is set to end today.

Harrogate Borough Council trialled a fenced off area next to the entrance in Jacob Smith Park and asked dog walkers not to go into the space.

It comes after the council received complaints about dogs being let off leads and causing anxiety and injury to children playing in the park.

The 30 acres of parkland was bequeathed to the community of Knaresborough by Winifred Jacob Smith, following her death in 2003.

A public survey into the trial is set to end today.

The borough council said it will then consider a solution to the problem.

It said:

“Following discussions with the trustees of Jacob Smith Park, Friends of Jacob Smith Park, local councillors and users of the park, we have erected a small area of cut grass and temporary fencing to the left of the park entrance to create a dog free space for children to play, and people to have picnics, etc.

“We are asking dog walkers not to take dogs within the fenced area.

“The area is small, taking up less than three per cent of the park’s area so will not make an appreciable difference to the space available for dog walkers and others using the park.”

You can fill in the survey on the trial here. The consultation will close at the end of today.

Read more:

• Donor to fill Knaresborough man’s lorry with hundreds toys for Ukraine
• Jennyfields cafe enters liquidation

Firefighters and councillors have called on Zoe Metcalfe, the Conservative police, fire and crime commissioner for North Yorkshire, to tackle the long-running issue of Starbeck crossing holding up emergency vehicles.

As many as nine trains an hour can pass through Starbeck Station heading to Leeds or York.

It means when the barriers are down there are waits of several minutes for all vehicles, including fire engines, police cars and ambulances.

At a Harrogate Borough Council meeting last night, Liberal Democrat councillor for Hookstone, Pat Marsh, asked Ms Metcalfe if she’d had feedback from firefighters about the problem as she believes delays could potentially be costing lives.

Cllr Marsh said:

“It worries me, that a five minute wait can be the difference between doing something and not.”

In response, Ms Metcalfe said the problem has been raised to her by both firefighters at Harrogate and Knaresborough fire stations.

However, she said firefighters “know exactly what times trains come and go” and can also use other routes to avoid the crossing.

Ms Metcalfe said:

“I went back to the fire service and they quite rightly said that out of Knaresborough fire station you can also turn left out of the fire station and go into Harrogate via Morrisons. They can also go into Starbeck and can turn right into Bogs Lane.

“There’s not just one way into Harrogate. Even if they did get to a crossing they can call ahead (to Network Rail) to let them know they are coming down.”

Read more:

• Starbeck railway signaller carries on centuries-old tradition
• Starbeck groups call truce and promise to work ‘positively together’

Her response didn’t please fellow Conservative and councillor for Old Bilton, Paul Haslam, who also chairs Transport for the North‘s scrutiny committee.

Cllr Haslam told Ms Metcalfe he was “a little disappointed that you weren’t upset about the crossing at Starbeck”, particularly as it’s an issue that was raised to her by the firefighters themselves.

He added:

“I’ve tried for five or six years to get Network Rail to improve technology that would reduce waiting time to two minutes but they’ve refused to do it at the moment.

“I feel if your firemen had been upset that could have been leverage. I’m concerned about it for lots of reasons. The cars are just idling.

“Network Rail have told me all the reasons they can’t do it but they’ve also told me what technology they need.”

Ms Metcalfe promised Cllr Haslam that she would raise the issue with Network Rail.

Train services between Harrogate and Leeds look set be affected by three days of strikes in the next two weeks.

Both the RMT union and Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen have announced industrial action this Saturday (October 1), Wednesday (October 5) and next Saturday (October 8).

Northern, which operates services between Harrogate and Knaresborough towards Leeds and York, has urged passengers not to travel on days when strike action is being held.

A statement from the company said:

“As a result of ASLEF and RMT strike action, Northern customers are advised not to travel on Saturday 1, Wednesday 5 or Saturday 8 October.

“Services are also expected to be affected on Sunday 2 and Sunday 9 October, especially in the morning, so please check before you travel.”

Read more:

• Northern’s new timetable includes early Harrogate to Leeds trains
• LNER warns of nine days of disruption to Harrogate trains

The strike action comes as rail passengers have also been warned to expect disruption on Harrogate’s LNER services from October 1.

Major engineering works in the Newcastle area by Network Rail will affect many services on the LNER route during this period.

The company operates six daily direct trains from Harrogate to London.

The disruption is set to last until October 9.

A truck driver who has been driving lorries full of aid to Ukraine since February said he has been overwhelmed by the response to his latest appeal.

Bob Frendt, 71, has just returned from his fifth trip to eastern Europe, delivering medical equipment to help Ukrainian nationals resisting the Russian invasion.

Before setting off, he revealed plans to take hundreds of toys to the country in November, to ensure children who had had a difficult year would have something to enjoy at Christmas.

As a result of his story appearing in the Stray Ferret, Mr Frendt was contacted by an individual – who asked for his identity not to be publicised – who donated £30,000 to fill the lorry with toys.

Mr Frendt said:

“I couldn’t believe it when he got in touch and said what he was going to do. That will fill the lorry and make a difference to so many children.”

He has been offered the use of a storage unit on York Road in Knaresborough, to enable him to collect everything he needs before his trip.

Read more:

• Harrogate man gives garden a Ukraine-themed makeover
• District businesses donate to Ukraine aid convoy

On his most recent visit, Mr Frendt entered Ukraine for the first time, having previously only reached the Polish border to pass on vital equipment to aid teams.

With a lorry full of supplies donated by local firms Medequip and Andway, he visited a hospital inside the country. He said:

“The hospital is dreadful. I met the chief executive and the head of orthopaedics. When we lifted the back door up and saw what we’d brought, they just burst into tears.

“There were 45 mattresses and they said, ‘that’s 45 people who won’t be sleeping on the floor tonight’. We took zimmer frames and they said, ‘100 people can go to the toilet on their own, without having to wait for someone to help them get there’.

“Where we went, it’s like the London slums in the early 1900s. It’s dreadful. They haven’t got inside toilets, there’s a cold water tap at the end of the road and that’s it.

“This is without the Russians invading – it’s how they live normally.”

The contribution was so valued by Ukrainians, Mr Frendt was featured in a local newspaper while he was there.

Asked by the journalist why he kept returning to help, Mr Frendt said he couldn’t give an answer, other than to say he watched the situation unfold on the news and felt he had to do something. He added:

“It’s going to go on for years. I’ve got to do whatever I can.”

The hospital in Ukraine where Bob Frendt donated equipment

Although the anonymous donor has supplied enough toys to fill his lorry for the Christmas trip, Mr Frendt is still keen to hear from anyone who would like to support his efforts.

As well as more toys, he’s collecting old technology including laptops, tablets and mobile phones to deliver to Ukraine, and is always happy to receive financial support for the £2,500 cost of each six-day trip.

He has also been asked to deliver specialist haemostatic bandages used to treat serious wounds, which cost £40 each, and he hopes he can raise more money to pay for them.

Mr Frendt’s fundraising was boosted by the donation of a while from a Porsche which had raced at Le Mans. It was refurbished by AWR in Knaresborough and turned into a glass coffee table by Harrogate Glass Solutions.

He had planned to raffle off the unusual piece of furniture, but was made an offer he couldn’t refuse by a private collector, and the proceeds have gone towards his next Ukraine trip.

After his November visit, he plans to go again in the spring with a further lorry-load of aid, once the worst of the winter weather has eased.

To donate to Mr Frendt’s efforts, click here to send him an email.