Harrogate bridge may be closed again after ‘astonishing’ crossing

There are fears a Harrogate village bridge may have to close for repairs again — little more than a week after it reopened.

Hampsthwaite Bridge closed suddenly on June 2 for repairs estimated to cost £60,000

it reopened on September 7 but within days one of the parapets has been damaged.

Local resident and retired engineer Martin Weston, who uses the bridge daily, inspected it after seeing a photo on social media of a large agricultural vehicle crossing the bridge and reading comments by concerned locals.

Mr Weston told the Stray Ferret::

“I have inspected the bridge for damage and it showed that the parapet walls have been pushed out and loosened again over a six-metre section and it looks likely that we will face another closure when repairs need to be carried out.

“I have reported the issue to Geoff Howard from Hampsthwaite Parish Council, who I met at the bridge.

“The damage does not appear to be as severe as the previous incident and hopefully subject to the authority inspection team appraising it, it will be kept open at least until repairs are carried out.”

The vehicles squeezes over.

Cllr Howard said the recent closure caused considerable inconvenience and signs clearly showed a maximum width of 6ft 6ins for crossing vehicles.

He added:

“It is astonishing therefore to see the JCB being driven over recently.

“And it is recent because, as can clearly be seen on site, one of the joints broken by the upstream parapet having been pushed out, was pointed with a new mix of unweathered mortar.”

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The historic bridge, on Church Lane, crosses the River Nidd and joins Hampsthwaite and Clint.

Cllr Howard said he’d reported the incident to the parish council and highways authority North Yorkshire Council “and suggested someone in authority needs to have a word with the contractor”.

He added the entire parapet between two refuges had been nudged over by 10mm to 20mm and ought to be inspected by the council.

Cllr Howard said:

“The real issue is that some folk should be so unthinking as to even attempt such a crossing after all the disruption and cost the previous damage caused.”

 

Knaresborough council has ‘long shopping list’ of services it could deliver

Knaresborough Town Council is optimistic it can run services and assets as part of North Yorkshire Council’s double devolution agenda.

North Yorkshire Council has promised to hand more powers to parish councils through its policy of double devolution — and a pilot scheme is set to start next year.

Town councillor David Goode said this week Knaresborough has a “long shopping list” of assets or services it could deliver as part of the programme.

It has already submitted an expression of interest in running the town’s weekly Wednesday market for the double devolution pilot.

Cllr Goode’s comments came during a presentation to North Yorkshire Council’s Harrogate and Knaresborough area constituency committee on Thursday.

The town council, which is on the same level of local government as parish councils, currently charges a council tax precept of £25.85 per household a year for band D properties.

This allows it to provide services including Christmas lights, put on some local events and offer grant support to local charities. It also runs assets including two allotments, a playing field and Knaresborough Wellbeing Hub.

Cllr Goode said potential future options under double devolution included running public toilets, car parks, civic buildings like Conyngham Hall and Knaresborough House or leisure facilities like Knaresborough Pool.

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He also said the town council was considering utilising Localism Act 2011 legislation to take control of community assets.

But he added any asset transfer between North Yorkshire Council to Knaresborough Town Council must be supported by residents.

He said:

“If we’re going to keep community enthusiasm for this programme, residents have to see positive results. We need to walk before we can run. We need to balance services that are potential revenue generators with those that are just a cost on the council.

“This assumes any transfer from North Yorkshire Council comes with funding to maintain the current service levels that it’s run at. Where there is potential to invest, the cost has to be justified and taken only after full consultation with local residents.”

In November, North Yorkshire Council will choose up to six councils that will be part of the double devolution pilot.

Harrogate crematorium donates £12,000 from recycled metal

A Harrogate crematorium has donated £12,000 to two charities as part of a county-wide metal recycling scheme.

Stonefall Crematorium raised the funds through the recycling of metals recovered from cremations — with the consent of bereaved families.

Parts used to construct coffins and orthopaedic implants including hip, knee, and replacement joints were all retrieved to be recycled.

North Yorkshire Council bereavement services raised £82,000 in total from its four crematoriums, which besides Stonefall also include Skipton Crematorium, Maple Park in Thirsk and Woodlands Crematorium in Scarborough.

The council partnered with the Institute for Cemetery and Crematorium Management and BRUCE Metals to choose which local charities receive donations.

Stonefall donated £6,000 to Candlelighters, a children’s cancer charity, and another £6,000 to The Friends of Harrogate Hospital which raises money for advanced hospital equipment and services the NHS cannot provide.

Cllr Michael Harrison, the charter mayor of Harrogate, presented the cheque to the Friends. He said:

“The charity, run by volunteers, helps ensure patients of Harrogate hospital have the most pleasant experience possible, often during an unsettling time.

“I’d like to thank those families who, during a difficult time, have consented to us recycling metals recovered. By raising this money, everyone involved has done their bit to helping local charities.”

John Fox, chair of the Friends, added:

“We are extremely grateful for this generous donation to support our future work.

“As well as thanking the ICCM for their generosity, I’d like to thank our former mayor, Trevor Chapman, for nominating us and the council’s bereavement services.”

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Crescent Gardens rough sleepers offered accommodation ‘daily’, council says

North Yorkshire Council has said it has provided a group of rough sleepers in Harrogate‘s Crescent Gardens with daily offers of accommodation.

The group, which it is claimed contains up to 10 people at various times, took over the pavilion near the public toilets a week ago.

The Stray Ferret reported yesterday anti-social behaviour concerns among nearby residents.

One resident, Eileen Dockray, said she had reported the group to both the council and North Yorkshire Police on Tuesday but was passed between the two.

Andrew Rowe, the council’s assistant director for housing, yesterday said:

“We are aware of a group of people sleeping rough in this area and have been engaging with them daily with offers of accommodation made to them all.

“In the evening there is a larger congregation but those visiting the site are not homeless.

“A multi-agency meeting takes place weekly and this site is on the agenda for actions by everyone involved. Reports from the public of anti-social behaviour have been minimal, but it is important that we are notified to enable the police to pursue any appropriate actions needed.”

The pavilion has been used by rough sleepers for a week.

Mr Rowe added:

“The council is committed to its work with rough sleepers in the county and will continue to engage with this group, in an attempt to secure a suitable housing outcome.

“The area is monitored by our community safety team and any issues of an anti-social nature should be referred to the police.”

One resident from the nearby Grosvenor Buildings, who asked not to be named, said this morning the group were “talking, yelling and laughing” between 3am and 4am this morning.

The resident added:

“It has been like this for a few days. They are occupying a central public space, depriving residents of its use and causing day-to-day nuisances to the neighbourhood.

“I called the police and was told it is a council issue.

“A few residents in my building are also frustrated by the lack of action from any authority to remove the encampment.

“This Crescent Gardens pavilion attracted a few entrenched homeless people before and now even a large group — over 10 during certain times — so should be identified as a ‘vulnerable site’.”

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Knaresborough resident says council was warned about collapsed wall

A Knaresborough woman has said she and other residents on Briggate raised concerns about an old stone wall that collapsed yesterday.

The wall, which was painted by Knaresborough artist Joseph Baker Fountain last century, crashed on to the road at about 2pm. Fortunately nobody was hurt.

Police and council staff responded quickly by clearing away debris and installing traffic lights.

But Catherine Rogerson, who lives on Briggate, told the Stray Ferret she reported the wall to North Yorkshire Council last month because it appeared unsafe.

Ms Rogerson said bricks were clearly moving and the wall was buckling. She added:

“I said it was an emergency and could collapse, causing a nasty accident.

“Several other local people have also contacted them about it. We all stressed it was in a dangerous state.”

Ms Rogerson said a woman at the council said she would report the matter but no action was taken.

Recalling the moment it came down, she said:

“My husband and I were in the kitchen and heard what we thought was a thunderstorm and then we realised what had happened.

“The main thing is nobody was hurt — but it could have been nasty.”

A passing motorist pulled over and the police were called. Lights continue to manage traffic.

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Ms Rogerson said she hoped the wall, which has been a feature of Briggate for many years, would be repaired using the same stone.

The Stray Ferret approached the council for a response late last night and will publish its response when we receive it.

 

Local streetlights could be switched off at night to save money

Streetlights on footways in North Yorkshire could be switched off between midnight and 5am as part of a new policy.

North Yorkshire County Council reduced the hours its roadway lighting was switched on between 2012 and 2016.

Now its successor authority, North Yorkshire Council, is looking to do the same with footway lights.

The Conservative council, which could be forced to use £105 million of reserves to cover deficits over the next three years, is expected to approve the measure on Tuesday when its ruling executive meets.

It is also expected to approve spending £2.5m on replacing thousands of footway lights before they fail.

The executive will consider a three-step plan to replace 900 decrepit concrete street lighting columns, introduce 4,000 energy efficient LED lanterns on existing steel columns and change sensors on about 2,000 existing LED lanterns to part-night photocells.

An officer’s report to the meeting states residents, parish and town councils will be consulted over the proposed part-night lighting.

The report adds much of the existing footway lighting, which transferred from the former district and borough councils to North Yorkshire Council in April, will be beyond repair within the next five years due to changes in EU legislation that made numerous lamp types obsolete.

The report states it had been estimated some 5,000 of the former district and borough councils’ footway and amenity lights used obsolete light sources such as high-pressure mercury and low-pressure sodium.

It states:

“Within the next three to five years these lanterns will fail, and we will be unable to repair them.

“If we replace the lanterns on an ad-hoc basis, as and when they fail, the process will be less efficient, more expensive and would place a strain on future revenue budgets as opposed to this capital Invest to Save proposal.”

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Switching footway lighting off between midnight and 5am will further reduce energy consumption and contribute towards the council’s carbon reduction targets, the meeting will hear.

Executive members will be told upgrading the lighting to LED would produce an energy saving of 1.3 million kw/h, cutting 340 tonnes of carbon dioxide and £440,000 in annual energy costs.

The meeting will hear the obsolete concrete columns are “most prone to structural failure” and their replacement will offer the opportunity to
provide multi-purpose lighting columns.

The new lighting columns could be used to support attachments such as sensors, CCTV cameras, ANPR cameras, flower baskets, Christmas displays and next generation BT mobile phone transmitters.

The council’s finance boss, Councillor Gareth Dadd, said concerns had been raised over community safety when the council first reduced the street lighting hours, but increased incidences of crime had not transpired.

He said:

”It was a success. We led the way where many other local authorities are now following.”

The authority’s Green Party spokesman and Ouseburn councillor Arnold Warneken said as the proposed programme was set to cut the council’s carbon footprint and save money it appeared to be a “win-win scenario”.

He said:

“It is just scratching the surface of the sort of things we should be doing. There is a definite relationship between trying to reduce carbon footprint and the economy.

“However, from a true green perspective, we should be waiting for these lights to fail because they have an energy inside them that has cost to create them in the first place.”

‘Save the Station Gateway!’: Harrogate cycling campaigner issues plea

Cycling campaigner Malcolm Margolis has appealed to councillors to save Harrogate’s under-threat £11.2m Station Gateway.

It follows the publication of a report ahead of a meeting of North Yorkshire Council‘s Conservative-run executive on Tuesday, which says the council may now focus on the most popular aspects of the scheme to get it back on track.

However, the report does not mention active travel or cycling and the council could still decide to abandon the project altogether.

The original plans included reducing a 300-metre stretch of Station Parade to single-lane traffic to make space for cycle lanes, part-pedestrianising James Street and overhauling Station Square.

The council paused work on the project last month due to a legal challenge from Hornbeam Park Developments.

Mr Margolis spoke on behalf of Harrogate District Cycle Action campaign group at a meeting of the council’s Harrogate and Knaresborough area constituency committee today.

He said:

“We are asking you for the good of our town to save Harrogate Station Gateway. Along with many others, we think the plans are very beneficial.

“Some of you think the same, others don’t. You agree with some key elements but not others such as making Station Parade one-way or part-pedestrianising James Street.”

Mr Margolis said scrapping the scheme or removing the active travel elements risked damaging the council’s reputation with government “for years to come”. when it came to winning active travel funding.

Other failed bids

He referred to other failed bids, including for cycle lanes on Victoria Avenue and Knaresborough Road, the scrapping of cycle lanes on Oatlands Drive and Otley Road as well as the decision to discontinue the Beech Grove Low-Traffic Neighbourhood.

Mr Margolis warned the council would be doing a “massive disservice” to Harrogate’s residents if the Station Gateway funding is not used.

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The campaigner also read out a letter he received from Conservative MP Andrew Jones in June 2023 when he described the project a “big test” for North Yorkshire Council to show that it can deliver projects. Mr Jones said the scheme had been the subject of “often inaccurate and vociferous criticism”.

However, after the judicial review was submitted by Hornbeam Park Developments in August, Mr Jones called the Station Gateway a “timed-out dead scheme”.

North Yorkshire Council officer Mark Codman read out a statement in response to Mr Margolis.

He said:

“The committee notes the statement from Harrogate District Cycle Action.

“The project is being considered by the executive on September 19 and area constituency committee members will be able to consider the next steps as appropriate at the executive meeting.”

Electric vehicles charging points in Knaresborough car park causing ‘significant harm’

A Knaresborough business owner has claimed 10 electric vehicle charging points installed in a car park have caused “significant harm” to the town and are driving shoppers away.

A petition signed by over 500 people protesting against how EV infrastructure has been introduced in Knaresborough was debated by North Yorkshire Council‘s Harrogate and Knaresborough area constituency committee in Harrogate today.

Ten of the 56 regular parking bays in the town centre Chapel Street car park were turned into electric vehicle-only spaces with charge points at the end of 2022 by Harrogate Borough Council.

A further 12 spaces were given over to EVs in Conyngham Hall’s car park on the outskirts of the town centre but the charge points there have not yet been switched on.

However, at Chapel Street there have been reports of the spaces reserved for EVs laying empty, which has caused consternation to traders particularly on market days.

A statement was read out to councillors on behalf of hairdresser Kelly Teggin who launched the petition. The statement said:

“Like any market town there’s a recognition of the need for transition and charging points are attractive to residents and tourists if introduced at the right time and place.

“However, in this case, implementation of changing points at Chapel Street car park and at Conyngham Hall have been badly-handled in terms of consultation and choices made. They’ve caused significant negative impact on traders in the town centre, attractiveness to visitors and increased congestion.”

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A report prepared by officers ahead of the meeting said just five vehicles a day were using the charging spaces at Chapel Street.

But the council forecasts that after five years this will have increased to 22 cars a day and by year eight it will be 30 cars.

Electric vehicle EV Chapel Street car park parking

Electric vehicle charging bays in Chapel Street car park.

Dedicated EV bays require traffic regulation orders to restrict access to EVs only, which according to reports the spaces at Chapel Street do not have.

Matt Walker, the Liberal Democrat councillor for Knaresborough West who supports the petition, said any non-EV motorist who had received a ticket for parking in the reserved spaces should contact him as he would be “happy to defend and get those revoked”.

Arnold Warneken, the Green Party councillor for Ouseburn and an EV driver,  said he was “shocked and surprised” the council decided to put the spaces in Chapel Street, which is one of the town’s busiest car parks.

But he warned against an increasingly hostile movement against EVs on social media. He added:

“I’m totally behind having EV charging points. There’s an anxiety that infrastructure is not in place for people that drive EVs but there’s a movement out there that’s anti-EV”.

Paul Haslam, the Conservative councillor for Bilton and Nidd Gorge, said there was a “lack of understanding” about EVs but he hoped North Yorkshire Council used the changes in Knaresborough as a “learning opportunity on how we can do it better next time”.

Cllr Walker proposed a motion with nine different points, including a call for a full review into parking in Knaresborough and an assertion that the EV infrastructure had been implemented poorly in the town. It passed by six votes to four.

The area constituency committee is, however, only an advisory body to the Conservative-controlled council.

Concerns over encampment of rough sleepers in Harrogate’s Crescent Gardens

Residents have spoken of their frustration over a lack of action against a group of rough sleepers camping in one of Harrogate’s most popular areas.

A group of homeless people have inhabited the pavilion alongside the toilets in Crescent Gardens over the last week.

A Harrogate woman concerned about antisocial behaviour said she had been told by both North Yorkshire Police and North Yorkshire Council that neither had any power to resolve the situation and she kept getting passed between the two.

Eileen Dockray said the group had expanded as fellow rough sleepers and friends joined with their personal belongings.

She said people were coming and going throughout the day and night, adding:

“The council passed me to the police, the police back to the council, and then back the police.

“The police also said they have no power to move people who are just people gathering to have a chat and to drink, no matter how it bothers residents. What are we meant to do?”

The pavilion has become home to the rough sleepers.

Another Harrogate resident, who asked not to be named, said:

“Many local residents are not able to access the area anymore and a few weekly exercise groups have moved to Valley Gardens.

“The walking tour has also diverted its route.”

“I am surprised how the council does not act when a homeless encampment has popped up in the centre of our floral town where many visitors and locals frequently pass through.”

One rough sleeper, called Sally, told the Stray Ferret on Wednesday a council member of staff had visited Crescent Gardens that morning.

Sally said she was advised to wait for a call to hear a range of options going forward but she had heard nothing since.

We asked North Yorkshire Council what measures it was taking but had not received a response by the time of publication.

A North Yorkshire Police spokesperson said:

“Homelessness is something the council look after so it would be for the council to answer your questions regarding the visit and/or the options available to those who may be sleeping rough.”

Cllr Sam Gibbs, a Conservative who represents Valley Gardens and Central Harrogate on North Yorkshire Council, told the Stray Ferret:

“From what you have told me my instinct tells me it is a police matter as far as the anti-social behaviour is concerned as it is probably private land.

“The council offers a range of support for rough sleepers and work closely with other organisations such as the Harrogate Homeless Project.”

Maggie Gibson, who was housing needs manager at the former Harrogate Borough Council, reported homelessness had “significantly increased” in the district amid the pandemic and cost of living crisis in February this year.

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Park and ride scheme mooted for Ripon

Could a park and ride scheme be the answer to Ripon’s parking problems as it bids to attract more visitors?

That was one of the suggestions made at Monday’s full city council meeting, where Councillor Jackie Crozier called for a feasibility study focused on Ripon’s parking issues to be carried out.

She said:

“With more new housing coming on stream and an increase in visitors, we need to start to move forward by looking at all options that are open to us.”

“On a recent market day, some people who came to the city found it impossible to find a parking space and Ripon lost out because of this as they headed elsewhere.”

Councillor Andrew Williams, said:

“One of the things that we need to look at is how we could link Ripon’s new bus service into a park and ride scheme so that tourists and other visitors can park on the outskirts of the city and be brought in by bus.

“At the same time, to ease the pressure on parking spaces, we should encourage more residents to leave their cars at home and come into the city by public transport.”

As a first step in looking to find a solution to the city’s parking problems, it was agreed that North Yorkshire Council officers be invited to meet with Ripon City Council’s transport group and for preliminary discussions to be held.

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