Harrogate and Knaresborough MP tables parliamentary motion on Parkrun20,000 pensioners in Harrogate and Knaresborough could be hit by winter fuel cut, says MPStray, Woodlands and Hookstone by-election preview: Andrew Timothy, Liberal Democrats

Andrew Timothy says North Yorkshire Council needs more enthusiasm in its ranks.

He believes he can offer that if elected as councillor for Stray, Woodlands and Hookstone on April 11. He’d be the youngest member of North Yorkshire Council at 25.

Originally from the West Midlands, he moved to Harrogate a few years ago to work in a science lab. He lives just outside the division on Leeds Road.

The nature of being on the council where meetings are held during the day means younger people can be put off from standing due to work commitments. Mr Timothy says his employer will allow him to go part-time so he can fulfil his duties.

He believes his age helps him better understand the challenges facing young people in Harrogate and points to the often-heard complaints that there’s not much for them to do here.

He said:

“It’s difficult for young people. We’ve seen youth services cut and teenagers have nowhere to go in Harrogate.”

Mr Timothy believes transport is a big issue for residents in the division and he says they have been let down by the Conservative administration in Northallerton.

He said:

“Their record on transport has been really poor. We’ve seen how the Station Gateway has got to a point where it now just looks like a face-saving exercise. It’s not worth the £12m quid spent on it.

“The roads are full of potholes too, patched up on the cheap.”

With his scientific background, he’s looked into a Scottish company that fills in potholes using recycled plastic. He believes it’s the sort of innovative approach needed to get the roads in a better condition.

The Lib Dems have had some bad press lately due to their leader Sir Ed Davey getting dragged into the Post Office scandal and the shock resignation of Pat Marsh, which led to the by-election.

If he’s going to be elected, he’ll need to win over the supporters of the long-serving councillor.

Mr Timothy said “it was right she was suspended and resigned” but that she also “did a lot of good over 30 years”.

Voters go to the polls on April 11 and Mr Timothy wants to be a forensic presence on North Yorkshire Council. He said:

“It’s an asset that I’m coming in from a scientific background. I have the literacy to scrutinise the administration properly.”

The by-election will take place on Thursday April 11. For more information visit the council’s website.

A full list of candidates is below:

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Local democracy in North Yorkshire ‘destroyed’ by devolution, says peer

Devolution in North Yorkshire has made local government an “incoherent mess” and “destroyed” democracy, a Liberal Democrat peer has claimed.

Harrogate Borough Council was one of seven district authorities, along with North Yorkshire County Council, abolished on March 31 to pave the way for the new North Yorkshire Council.

The single-tier system has vastly reduced the number of councillors in North Yorkshire from almost 400 to 90.

A combined authority for York and North Yorkshire is due to be created next year, led by an elected mayor, as part of the UK government’s devolution agenda.

Lord Wallace of Saltaire said in a speech in the House of Lords on Thursday the structure of local government across England was now “an incoherent mess” and accused the government of “imposing mayors on places that did not want them”.

He added:

“I find what has happened recently in North Yorkshire the most appalling, and when I heard someone assure me that no councillor in North Yorkshire would need more than two hours to drive from the ward they represent to council meetings, it showed me just how far we have gone.

“Decent places such as Harrogate, Scarborough, Richmond and Craven, which had working district authorities and which represented real places, have been dismantled and they are now trying to set up very large town councils for them.

“We have the prospect of a mayor, somehow, for North Yorkshire and, incidentally, one for East Yorkshire. That is the effective destruction of local government and I really do not understand the rationale for it.”

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He contrasted the situation with Fenland District Council, where councillors represented far fewer people, and therefore had more time to deal with their issues.

Lord Saltaire said:

“After the next election, a reform of the way in which the governance of England is conducted at all levels is a vital part of what any new government must be. If we want to regain trust in politics and re-engage some of our citizens more, that is part of how we do it.

“Let us all recognise that we face a situation of deep popular disengagement and disillusionment with the democratic politics we have in this country.”

Old system ‘confusing and expensive’

Carl Les

Carl Les, the Conservative leader of North Yorkshire Council, described the old two-tier system as “confusing, inefficient and expensive”. He added:

“Over half of the country is governed by unitary local government now. Where Lord Saltaire lives has been unitary for years.

“Yes, we no longer have 390 local councillors. Some might say that’s a good thing.”

Cllr Les said the council’s plans for “double devolution”, whereby powers would be handed down to local level, would ensure it was “not only the largest geographic council in the country but also the most local as well”.

 

Ex-Harrogate Lib Dem candidate jailed for abusing girl

Former Harrogate Liberal Democrat candidate Anthony Medri has been jailed for over two years for sexually abusing a teenage girl and paying her to send him intimate photos of herself.

Medri, 64, from Knaresborough, sexually assaulted the girl on several occasions and sent her a picture of an intimate part of his body, York Crown Court heard.

The Harrogate Borough Council candidate in 2015 also urged her to send him indecent pictures of herself, said prosecutor Shaun Dodds.

He said that Medri, who is married, had sexually assaulted the youngster by touching her on intimate parts of her body and kissing her on the lips.

Medri asked the girl on social media if she had “ever seen a grown man’s (private parts)”. He then sent her an intimate picture of himself and told her to delete the messages.

Mr Dodds said that in 2017, Medri started transferring money into the girl’s bank account and asking her what she was wearing.

This was followed by a request for a picture of her in her underwear and a promise to pay her £50 if she sent it. Mr Dodds said:

“She sent an image of herself wearing a bra.

“He had previously bought her some underwear…and asked her for photos wearing that underwear.”

The prosecutor said that between 2017 and 2019, £580 of payments were made into the victim’s account for intimate photos of her. Mr Dodds added:

“Sometimes she would also get payments in cash as well.”

Grooming process

Medri – who stood unsuccessfully as a candidate for the Lib Dems in the 2015 local elections when he contested the Stray ward – initially gave the girl money so she could treat herself, which the prosecution said was part of the grooming process.

He would tell the girl “to get yourself something nice”, said Mr Dodds.

The victim “wasn’t in a good place” at the time and she felt that Medri used this to take advantage of her difficult circumstances.

He bought her treats such as perfume, clothes, tobacco and vodka – along with a sex toy and told her to “try it out”. The victim put the item in a bin.

Mr Dodds said that on the occasions Medri tried to kiss the girl, she would pull away, but he would kiss her again. He once drove her to a remote location where he sexually assaulted her.

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Medri was ultimately brought in for questioning and accepted having asked for pictures of the girl in her underwear and that he had given her money, but initially denied sexually assaulting her.

A trial was due to be held but Medri ultimately admitted one count of intentionally causing a child to look at an image of a person engaging in a sexual act, three counts of sexual assault and three counts of causing or inciting the sexual exploitation of a child to become a prostitute or be involved in pornography, namely asking the girl for photos of herself in her underwear.

Mr Medri, of Forest Moor Road, appeared for sentence today when the court heard a harrowing statement from the young victim.

She said she had been left with the “overwhelming” feeling that she was somehow at fault for the abuse.

This and the fact that Medri had protested his innocence for so long had caused her “extreme anxiety”. She added:

“I don’t think I will ever get over what has happened. I think about it every single day.”

Carer for disabled wife

Defence barrister Jeremy Barton said there had been a “plethora” of character references provided by friends and family of Medri.

He conceded, however, that Medri’s offences, which occurred over a period of about a year, were “disturbing and worrying”.

He said that Medri, who had worked all his life and was now a carer for his disabled wife, had shown a “degree of remorse”.

Judge Sean Morris told Medri he should have owned up to his offences “a long time ago” and described his protestations of innocence until his belated guilty pleas as “gutless”.

He told Medri:

“For heaven’s sake man, why did you put this girl through all those months of anguish waiting for (what was expected to be) a trial. It’s gutless.”

He said that only an immediate prison sentence was appropriate for inciting a young girl “in a vulnerable position to sell pictures of (herself) for Medri’s “sexual pleasure”.

The judge said that Medri had taken advantage of the girl when she was in a “desperate state” because of her life circumstances.

Medri was jailed for two years and two months, but he will only serve half of that behind bars before being released on prison licence.

Medri was also given a five-year sexual-harm prevention order to protect children and placed on the sex-offenders’ register for 10 years.

 

Harrogate’s Independents vow to stand again

A group of five Independents has vowed to stand in future elections after they failed to win a seat on the new North Yorkshire Council.

Anna McIntee (Stray, Woodlands, Hookstone), Lucy Gardiner (Valley Gardens & Central Harrogate), Sarah Hart (Harlow Hill and St Georges) Daniel Thompson (Coppice Valley and Duchy) and Jon Starkey (Boroughbridge & Claro) all stood for the election on May 5.

Using the motto ‘Time for a Change’ and sporting pink uniforms, they pledged to put a stop to housebuilding in the area and oppose transport schemes like the Harrogate Station Gateway.

In the end, the district’s electorate voted for change, but it was the more familiar yellow of the Liberal Democrats that they chose.

But during their concession speeches at the election count, Ms Hart, Mr Thompson and Ms Gardiner all suggested they’d stand again in future elections, with a potential Harrogate Town Council on the horizon.

‘Same old faces’

It was a disappointing set of results for the Independents, in contrast to the strong showing by Independents in Ripon.

Over the past couple of years, thousands of people signed petitions set up by Anna McIntee and Lucy Gardiner to oppose the Oatlands Drive one way scheme and the Beech Grove Low Traffic Neighbourhood.

However, they weren’t able to translate successful petitions into votes.

Ms McIntee came fourth in her division with 167 ticks next to her name.

Ms Gardiner and Ms Hart fared better, receiving over 300 votes each, but they didn’t come close to beating the victorious Tory and Lib Dem councillors they were up against.

The five candidates met for a debrief last week where they reflected on the campaign.

Ms Gardiner said they were disappointed to see “the same old faces and old ideas being returned for another five years”.

She said:

“We were not just paper candidates but true representatives of the community, sharing many of the main issues as the residents and businesses, too many houses, no proper infrastructure, increase in congestion with no realistic solutions, pocket planning, all the wasted money on vanity projects, to name a few.

“It is disappointing that we didn’t get the majority and it was a shame there wasn’t an Independent candidate for every seat. However, considering we had no party machine behind us and none of us had ever stood before, we didn’t do too badly.”

Mr Starkey said he was disappointed by the low turnout.

“An average of only 36% voted and many still voted for the ‘party’ rather than the ‘person’, so we have to ask ourselves why?
Is the thought process ‘let’s give them another chance’, ‘I’ve always voted the same’, ‘it’s time for change’, or ‘what’s the point?’”

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Upsets

Before the election, it was difficult to predict who would vote for the ‘Time for a Change’ five.

Would it be disgruntled Conservative voters? Or people who don’t usually vote but who were attracted to their anti-establishment message?

The Conservatives failed to win three of the five seats where the independents stood.

These included the current deputy leader of Harrogate Borough Council, Cllr Graham Swift. He came a close second in the Coppice Valley and Duchy division, in a big upset for the Lib Dems.

Daniel Thompson came third and suggested his 199 votes helped to deny Cllr Swift the win.

Ms Gardiner said they succeeded in part of their aim of getting “the wrong people out”.

She said:

“We may not have succeeded by getting in but we certainly opened up the conversation and put the cat amongst the pigeons seeing a few key Conservatives in ‘safe’ seats voted out.”

Mr Thompson added:

“The Conservatives have been in power for years and their only legacy is a shambolic local plan favouring the pockets of the national house builders, pocket planning with multi million pound cycling lanes going nowhere and the (reported) £17 million vanity project that is the Civic Centre.”

Local issues

Following the abolition of HBC next year, it’s expected that a Harrogate town council will be set up to potentially manage local assets such as the Stray and Harrogate Convention Centre.

Elections could take place in 2024, and Ms Gardiner said the independents want to ensure Harrogate has a strong “community” voice, free from the shackles of party politics.

She said:

“Our efforts weren’t in vain, the independents aren’t going anywhere and we will strive to ensure Harrogate and Knaresborough doesn’t get swallowed up by the new North Yorkshire Council.

“We must not be led by politics, we must be led by the community and have a town council with the right people at the helm.”

Strayside Sunday: Was it Boris or was it local failure?

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

In the wake of last week’s local elections, Councillor Richard Cooper, the Leader of Harrogate Borough Council, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that the Conservatives poor showing could be put down to dissatisfaction with Boris Johnson’s national government. 

And what a poor showing it was for the blues, with 10 of 21 Harrogate district seats turning yellow.  The Lib Dems ended the evening as the largest group in the Harrogate district and with the most seats (8/13) on the Harrogate and Knaresborough Area Constituency Committee.  

 I do, however, have some sympathy with Mr. Cooper’s view that national issues predominated.  My household and our area relatives voted Liberal Democrat en masse, in some cases voting that way for the first time in their lives. 

We simply could not bring ourselves to vote Conservative because of the shambles in Westminster.  Shambles both singular (…Boris Johnson,) and shambles plural (…his cabinet).   

I felt compelled to vote against the interests of a man with no integrity, no honour and no shame.  I didn’t try, nor did I need to, persuade others in my circle to do the same. As with millions of people around the country they came to the view that Boris is not to be trusted.  Nor, increasingly, is he to be liked. 

We know he lied and lied again about Partygate and his role in it.  We know too that whatever his role he presided over a 10 Downing Street with a work culture that would make any self-respecting American frat house blush.  A culture lacking appropriate sobriety. Worse yet a culture lacking appropriate accountability. 

The question that gurgles out of the Downing Street cess pit is precisely what, these days, represents a resigning issue?   

I don’t contest that Boris had a half-decent coronavirus and lockdown.  I think too that he has been almost exemplary in his handling of British interests and leadership in respect of Ukraine. 

But these issues, and the consequential negative economic and cost of living crisis effects are going to severely test the nation in the months ahead and to navigate that needs the government to reach into a now non-existent goodwill bank account. 

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Boris is responsible for that penury, along with Rishi’s wealth and wife’s non-dom status, Priti’s ghastly and shaming “send them back to Rwanda” policy, and pretty much anything to do with Jacob Rees-Mogg. 

This government’s juice is not worth the squeeze:  As a result councils like Westminster, Wandsworth, Barnet and Southampton slipped from Tory grasp last week and the North Yorkshire almost did.

 Andrew Jones MP must now be in fear of his seat, bless him.  Harrogate has a solid Liberal Democrat base again and a recent tradition of its parliamentary representation. 

When approached for comment by the Ferret on local elections night he waved our intrepid journo away.  Not for him it seems to speak to local residents through, by some margin, the most read news outlet in the district. 

Prideful nose bitten to save fearful face? Silly man.  He may well come to regret his stance come the night of the next General Election, if indeed he stands – some think that he may give way to a Richard Cooper candidacy. 

If so, Stray Ferret readers can no doubt look forward to continuing ghosting from the local Conservative Party during the next couple of years.  This kind of behaviour goes beyond the obviously misguided view in some local Tory circles that the Ferret is a Liberal Democrat organ and becomes a democratic insult to local constituents.   

Which brings me back to the local election results.  Whatever the national picture Harrogate Borough Council has not covered itself in glory these past few years.  Expensive (vanity?) projects like the Knapping Mount council HQ, Appy Parking, and now the Station Gateway development substituting for a concerted and sustained effort to get the planning and economic development knitting right. 

The town centre of Harrogate is a sorry mess; with empty shop fronts and discount outlets wherever you look.  Oxford Street’s concrete desert lacks any sort of charm. 

This was meant to sorted out through the town plan, a plan which was never used as the means to bring people together in share municipal endeavour. Instead, multiple outsourced and bought consultations led to division, stasis and, as we can see, inaction.   

National issues were important last Thursday, but don’t kid yourselves that local issues didn’t matter at all, Messrs Jones and Cooper. 

Your tenure has been marked by arrogance and a lack of focus on issues that matter a great deal to local people.  And, notwithstanding that responsibility for highways rests with North Yorkshire County Council, the landmine like potholes and crazy pavements of the district matter too. 

If indeed Double Devolution happens as Leader of NYCC Councillor Les Carl says it still will, the newly formed Harrogate Town Council will need to get a grip and quickly.  If not, the local Liberal Democrat ascendency might very well continue. 

That’s my Strayside Sunday.      

PS Love the Stray Ferret’s royal bunting!