The deputy leader of Harrogate Borough Council has said he is “extremely optimistic” about high streets recovering from the covid crisis as he revealed positive economic data boosted by the reopening.

Cllr Graham Swift, who is also cabinet member for resources, enterprise and economic development, said the percentage of vacant shops across the district had fallen to 6.8% in March – a “significant improvement” from 8.6% around this time last year.

He added data on people’s movements showed the number of visitors to rural areas had returned to pre-pandemic levels, although Harrogate, Knaresborough and Ripon had not yet reached this point.

Cllr Graham Swift, Harrogate Borough Council

Speaking at a meeting on Wednesday, Cllr Swift said:

“I’m extremely optimistic. The rural areas are already seeing traffic flow of people movements, as measured by Google, back to pre-pandemic levels.

“The three major conurbations are not back to pre-pandemic levels yet but the fact is retail is looking extremely positive and I’m very hopeful we will see a strong bounce back in the economy.”

Shops classed as vacant are those not paying business rates to the council.

Cllr Swift said the strongest performing areas for this currently are Boroughbridge, which has just one vacant shop, and Pateley Bridge, which has a vacancy rate of 2.5%.

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His comments followed a question from Boroughbridge councillor Robert Windass, who said members of the public were “curious” over the current state of high streets during the pandemic.

Cllr Swift responded:

“We are now seeing considerable extension of the opening up and unlocking of the country. Last week we saw the opening up of non-essential retail on April 12.

“I went into Harrogate on that morning and was overwhelmed by the innovation and creativity that is going on, particularly around the bar and hospitality sector who have used limited spaces to create exciting opportunities to open up.

“I was very, very impressed by the sector but most important to this question is what is going to be happening in the near future.”

He added:

“There has been a lot of talk over the last few months about Harrogate as a district and how its towns and city have responded to retail sector closures.

“A lot of people count the stores to see which ones are open or closed. In a case where we are in lockdown, it’s obvious that people will see things closed and think they have withdrawn from the site.

“But in actual fact, what we record are the business rate activities of these retail sectors and I’m extremely heartened by the fact that as of March 2021 our retail sector has improved.”

The latest unemployment figures for the district show a slight increase with 3,625 people claiming out-of-work benefits in February, according to the Office for National Statistics.

This equates to 3.8% of the population aged 16 to 64 and is up from 3,460 in January.

Meanwhile, the number of people in the district who were furloughed from their jobs was 12,300 in February, according to the latest HM Revenue & Customs figures.

This was an increase from 9,100 in December, before the third national lockdown began.

A fire started by youths last night in Knaresborough joins a list of numerous others in recent weeks.

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service was called to the fire on Hay-a-Park Lane around 9pm last night.

The Knaresborough crew used a hose reel jet to extinguish the fire in the woods and gave advice to the the group.

This incident is amongst numerous others recorded in recent weeks. The fire service had already put out a plea on its social media recently in an attempt to combat the rise.

It asked parents and guardians to ensure they know what their children are up to now groups can meet outdoors.

The plea, later published of the fire service website, gave this advice:

“Please remind children that:

Deliberately starting fires is usually a criminal offence and even small fires can endanger lives

Fire spreads quickly and can be unpredictable

Playing with fire in the home or garden can have serious unintended consequences

Fires outside can easily get out of control and cause damage to woodland, moorland and wildlife.”

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The fire service says this issue is repeated every year around Easter as the evenings become lighter.

Earlier this month a picnic bench was set alight near the Pinewoods, the fire service also believed this was started deliberately.

Last year The Stray Ferret found the number of deliberate fires, in June, July and August, had actually halved from those in 2019.

A senior Harrogate councillor says he hopes Ripon and Starbeck Baths will reopen next month.

Councillor Stanley Lumley, cabinet member for culture, tourism and sport at Harrogate Borough, said the swimming pools were currently closed despite a government go-ahead to reopen because of staffing shortages and “challenges” around social distancing.

He added the council is “hoping” they can reopen in May, although Knaresborough Pool will stay shut due to maintenance problems.

“We are hoping to open Ripon Pool in May and providing we have got staff availability, very soon after that we will be opening Starbeck,” he told a meeting last night.

“Staff shortages are a problem – there was no point recruiting stuff during the pandemic for obvious reasons and now we are on a campaign to recruit.

“We do hope to open the pools as soon as possible… providing nothing changes with government guidelines or we have any serious staffing shortages.”

Under the government’s roadmap out of lockdown, swimming pools and gyms were allowed to reopen on 12 April when the Hydro in Harrogate and Nidderdale Pool in Pateley Bridge welcomed back customers.

Knaresborough Pool has been closed since the end of last year and will remain shut longer as repairs due to be carried out by specialist engineers from Spain have been halted by travel restrictions, the council previously said.

It said there is an “ongoing” issue with the pool filter and that it was trying to find a UK-based firm to fix the problem.

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It comes as the council is pushing ahead with plans to demolish Knaresborough Pool and build a replacement leisure centre at the same site, while a major refurbishment of Ripon Leisure Centre is due for completion “before the end of the year,” councillor Lumley said.

After construction delays, the “multi-million pound” Ripon project had previously been scheduled for completion in November, and the final costs are not yet known.

The upgrades are being carried out as a replacement for the 116-year-old Ripon Spa Baths which has been put up for sale for an undisclosed sum.

The move has been met with opposition from residents and councillors, with councillor Pauline McHardy last night making calls for the sale to be withdrawn while work on the city’s regeneration masterplan is underway.

“This is a golden opportunity for Ripon to try to maintain and hold onto the swimming pool site to be used as something else,

“It’s no good us trying to come up with ideas of what it can be used for if you are going to sell it from right under our noses.”

Councillor Graham Swift, deputy leader and cabinet member for resources, enterprise and economic development, responded:

“This council several years ago made a commitment to spend considerable sums of money in investing in leisure facilities in Ripon.

“We have to fund that and one of the investments we have made very clear now for several years is the sale of the current swimming pool.

“It will definitely be available for commercial use or for bidding for public use. The Ripon Renewal Project is full steam ahead and all ideas are extremely welcome.”

Two former teachers who live in Knaresborough are supporting calls for children to start formal education aged seven.

Husband and wife Shan Oakes and Bill Rigby said starting at seven, as opposed to four or five, would improve wellbeing and attainment in later years.

The couple, who taught at secondary schools in East Yorkshire, said they had seen children burnt out from learning by the time they were teenagers and believe the UK should adopt an approach inspired by countries like Norway and Finland.

In these Scandinavian countries, children learn through play at kindergartens or nurseries until they are seven.

The proposal is part of the Scottish Green Party manifesto for the upcoming Scottish Parliament election. Education philosophies such as Montessori and Steiner also advocate starting school at a later age.

The couple are both members of the Harrogate & District Green Party and Shan said she knew parents of young children in the Harrogate district who had decided to adopt home schooling to prevent stress.

She said:

“Starting school later puts an emphasis on the child instead of being forced into the template of state schools.”

Bill added:

“We start far too young here. Lots of countries who start later perform much better than ours.”

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In the Harrogate district last week, parents of three and four-year-olds were informed which primary school their children will be starting in September.

But Shan and Bill believe children should spend longer outside of formal classrooms and learn more about nature.

Shan was full of praise for Harrogate schools but said the system often let children down by focusing too much on learning facts and excessive testing.

She added:

“Harrogate schools do wonderful things often in spite of the system.

“But all the testing of children is ludicrous. You can put children off learning.

“Our system is focused on what we think children need to learn rather than drawing out a child’s unique perspective.”

A cat in Knaresborough is lucky to be alive after being the victim of a suspected acid attack.

Emma Harrison, who lives on the Stockwell estate, said on Tuesday her two-year-old cat Tilly came inside looking so wet she thought she might have fallen in some water.

But on closer inspection, she was dry underneath, with a strange and unpleasant smell coming from her fur.

Ms Harrison said:

“She wouldn’t let me touch her. She was howling and crying.”

She took Tilly to the vet, who said the liquid on her fur smelled like acid. The vet told Ms Harrison to prepare for Tilly to suffer organ failure, which she said was “upsetting and scary” to hear.

Tilly the cat before the acid attack took place.

Ms Harrison described Tilly as a real “people’s cat” who would go up to anyone.

“She is sweet by nature.”

After Tilly was given steroids and painkillers, by Thursday it seemed she was getting back to normal – but then her fur starting falling out.

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North Yorkshire Police told Ms Harrison they believed the incident was a one-off, but she has urged other cat owners in that part of Knaresborough to be extra vigilant.

Ms Harrison said she hoped Tilly was now over the worst.

She added:

“I don’t have the words to be polite about whoever did this.”

Ripon Cathedral and two churches in Knaresborough will be holding services this evening to allow congregations to offer their condolences.

Ripon Cathedral is holding a service of evensong at 6pm today to mark the death of the Duke of Edinburgh.

The cathedral told its congregation, via Facebook, that the service will include a reflection from the Dean of Ripon, the Very Rev John Dobson DL. The service will be sung by the lay clerks of the cathedral’s choir.

Prince Philip died last Friday, aged 99

The Lord Lieutenant of North Yorkshire, Jo Ropner, will be attending.

The tenor bell will toll ahead of the service, half-muffled.

Guests will require a ticket, which can be booked here, and the cathedral asks everyone to be seated for 5.45pm.

Prince Philip died at Windsor Castle last Friday, aged 99.

During the period of mourning the cathedral has been open to visitors. People have been invited take a candle and a prayer card and sit in the cathedral to reflect.

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In Knaresborough, the Parish Church of St John the Baptist and the Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin in Goldsborough will be open for prayer vigils.

Due to covid restrictions the churches have said they will not be offering books of condolence.

All of this evening’s services will be held in line with coronavirus restrictions.

A Liverpool fan from Knaresborough has recalled the horror of attending the Hillsborough disaster, which happened 32 years ago today.

The Stray Ferret asked David Houlgate, founder of the Harrogate district branch of the Liverpool FC Supporters Club, about his memories of the day that claimed the lives of 96 Liverpool fans in a crush on the Leppings Lane end.

A 2016 inquest ruled the supporters were unlawfully killed due to grossly negligent failures by police and ambulance services.

A total of 43 Liverpool fans from the Harrogate district travelled by coach to the 1989 FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield.

The coach departed from Gracious Street car park in Knaresborough and picked up fans in Starbeck, Harrogate and Leeds.

David was 21 at the time and travelled on the coach with his mum Diana, who was the branch secretary.

He was in the upper tier of the stand and saw members from Harrogate pulling people out of the pen where the crush took place. He recalls:

“I was fortunate not to be in the pen but we had some really young lads in there. We were lucky that we all survived.

“When it was happening you saw people starting to climb fences and police pushing them back in. You could see supporters on the pitch resuscitating people. You saw supporters carrying people on old advertising boards. It was clear something dreadful was happening.”

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There was an emotional wait back at the coach for the Harrogate and Knaresborough fans to return. Fortunately, all did. David said:

“You’re suffering from shock and you’re not computing it all.

“Nobody had mobile phones back then and everyone had families with parents sat at home, wondering if we survived.”

David still travels to Liverpool games on the coach with fans from the area. He said he shares a bond with the few fans left who were at Hillsborough and also still go to games.

Due to lockdown, he is currently working from home and said time alone can trigger painful memories.

He remembers the 96 people who lost their lives as well as the countless others who were affected by the tragedy.

He added:

“I’m sat at home now thinking about it. It’s with you all the time and impacts on how you look at life.”

One of Knaresborough’s most famous hotels has gone on the market.

Newton House Hotel, York Place, is a converted 300-year-old Georgian townhouse rumoured to have been built with stone from Knaresborough Castle.

Denise Carter bought the 12-bedroom building in 2011. She went on to win plenty of awards, including top spot on the Channel 4 TV show Four in a Bed in 2016.

The hotel tried to join a “sleep over to help turnover” campaign that aimed to replicate the increase in trade caused by ‘eat out to help out’ scheme in pubs and restaurants.

But the country went into lockdown a month later.

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Agents Carter Jonas in Leeds are offering the property on behalf of Ms Carter.

The description, which does not include a price, suggests the building does not necessarily have to be maintained as a hotel. It says:

“A rare opportunity to acquire one of Knaresborough’s signature buildings in the heart of the town.

“It is currently run as a successful guesthouse but offering a variety of potential different uses, subject to planning approval, including reverting back to a substantial private dwelling.”

The Stray Ferret tried to contact Newton House Hotel for comment but nobody was available by the time of publication.

Harrogate Borough Council has defended its plans to ask staff to use public toilets in Knaresborough.

Staff at the council-run Knaresborough tourist information centre are due to move from their current location in the town library to the Courthouse Museum in the grounds of Knaresborough Castle in June.

Museum workers already use nearby public toilets on Cheapside because the ancient castle doesn’t have a drainage system.

Tourist information staff now face the same situation.

A council spokesperson said:

“Knaresborough Castle and the Courthouse Museum are ancient monuments, which do not have any drainage facilities. To install them would come at a significant cost along with a number of archaeological challenges.

“Therefore, employees are expected to use public toilets, which are located close by in Castle Yard.”

David Houlgate, branch secretary at Unison Harrogate has raised concerns, saying office workers having to use outdoor toilets should “definitely remain a thing of the past”.

He added:

“Whilst public toilets are OK if people are caught short when out and about in the town, they are not suitable to be the designated toilets for staff working in an indoor environment promoting the town and wider district.

“There is also no guarantee that they will be open when needed.”

Mr Houlgate said council bosses were pushing ahead with the planned move without addressing the “reasonable and legitimate” concerns of staff.

Unison has also raised concerns about disabled access at the museum.

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The council spokesperson replied:

“The museum has level access to the rear of the building so that it can be accessed by everyone. Unfortunately, as a historic listed building with a number of internal and external steps, it is not possible to provide full access to the building.

“The welfare of our staff is paramount and we will continue to update them as plans progress and address any concerns they may have.”

The spokesperson added that moving the tourist centre into the heart of Knaresborough would provide a “better service” for visitors and residents.

Although the covers of some council-run swimming pool were rolled back yesterday, there is still no date when Knaresborough, Ripon and Starbeck pools will reopen.

Harrogate Borough Council has reopened The Hydro in Harrogate and Nidderdale Pool in Pateley Bridge.

But Knaresborough pool, which has been closed since the end of last year, remains shut as do pools in Ripon and Starbeck.

In its Residents’ News email sent yesterday, the council said Knaresborough pool required repairs and covid restrictions were still preventing Spanish engineers from travelling to fix the filtration equipment.

It said it was “highly unlikely the engineers will be given permission to travel any time soon” and added the council had been in talks with UK pool specialists and were “working up plans to completely replace the faulty equipment”. The newsletter said:

“This is likely to be a more costly solution, but we are keen to ensure our residents in the east of the district have easy access to a pool as soon as possible.”

Across the district in Ripon there is a similar story. The Spa Baths are currently up for sale and remain closed to the public.

A new Ripon pool and leisure centre development was scheduled for completion at the end of next month but has been delayed until November 2021.

The council told the Stray Ferret that further updates on the Ripon development would be released in the coming weeks.

There is also no news on the future of Starbeck Baths.

Read more:

• In response to a second FOI Harrogate Borough Council said the final costs of Ripon’s new leisure centre is not yet known. 
• Ripon councillors begin a campaign to reopen the Spa Baths.