Council’s 20mph review ‘kicking can down the road’North Yorkshire Council‘s decision to refuse blanket 20mph zones across the county in favour of a speed limit review has been described as “kicking the can down the road” on road safety.
Councillors on the Harrogate and Knaresborough area constituency committee requested default 20mph zones in November 2022.
However, rather than accept the request the council has now said it will draw up a speed management strategy to “guide a countywide review of speed limits across towns, villages and rural road”.
Council officials said they did not support area-wide or default speed zones on the grounds that “each area will be considered on its own merits”.
Cllr Keane Duncan, the Conservative executive councillor for highways, said the proposal would “deliver real improvements” across the county.
He said:
“The new council is taking an ambitious, proactive approach to setting speed limits, built on evidence and community empowerment.
“This will move away from setting limits in a piecemeal fashion, where we look at one road in one location at a single point in time.
“By taking a strategic view of a town or village we will ensure speed limits there are effective and be able to identify positive changes in partnership with local communities.
“We cannot review all locations immediately, and resources will need to be prioritised, but our approach will deliver real improvements across all parts of the county over time, addressing concerns, improving safety and saving lives.”
But Cllr Pat Marsh, the Liberal Democrat chair of the area constituency committee, said the move would only delay the implementation of 20mph streets further.
She added that a speed management strategy, which the council says will take six months to draw up, was not needed to implement zones immediately.
Cllr Marsh said:
“It is an issue that affects the whole of North Yorkshire, they have got to address it.
“Get the 20mph zones in first and then monitor them. It really is just kicking the can down the road.”
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The council intends to undertake a series of planned speed limit reviews which will be “underpinned” by the speed management strategy.
It added that the move would “generate a rolling pipeline of safety improvement schemes for delivery”.
However, Cllr Arnold Warneken, Green Party member for Ouseburn, said the proposal lacked ambition and described it as “another delaying tactic”.
He said:
“There is no real substance to the North Yorkshire Council proposals. Whilst I was told to be patient as there was a comprehensive review taking place and the report would reflect this I was, and it does not, so now we have yet another example that the executive know better and show shallow concern and fake listening to the people they represent.
“We cannot keep putting off taking action to make our roads safer for everyone, we cannot keep putting off taking action to protect our environment, we cannot keep putting off taking action that will prevent life changing injuries or worse still fatalities. If not now, when?”
Ian Conlan, of the 20s Plenty North Yorkshire campaign group, said:
“There is a far better evidence base to have a default 20mph to replace existing 30mph limits, and develop an exceptions process to decide where to have higher speed limits than 20mph in a few roads in towns and villages, but only where vulnerable road users are fully protected.”
Mr Conlan urged supporters to demonstrate outside County Hall in Northallerton on Tuesday next week, when North Yorkshire Council’s executive will discuss the matter.
Starbeck Baths to close at Christmas for £29,000 heating repair workStarbeck Baths looks set to be closed over Christmas for heating repair work costing £29,000.
North Yorkshire Council has commissioned a contractor to upgrade the controls for heating both the pool and the building.
Leeds-based Westminster Controls Limited is set to carry out the work during a “planned shutdown” of the facility over Christmas this year.
Nic Harne, the council’s corporate director of community development, said:
“The contract is to upgrade the controls responsible for heating both the pool and the building.
“The replacement controls will provide significantly better automation and efficient control of the heating and ventilation systems.
“The work is due to be carried out during the planned shutdown of the pool over Christmas.”
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The Stray Ferret has asked the council for the specific dates when the pool is planned to be closed but has not yet had a response.
It is due to be the second time this year the baths will shut for maintenance work.
The facility was closed for a month in April due to an “unforeseen mechanical failure”, which coincided with the Easter school holidays.
Brimhams Active, which was set up by Harrogate Borough Council but is now run by North Yorkshire Council, manages leisure facilities in the Harrogate district.
At the time, it said an an air leak in the pool plant equipment caused poor water clarity led to the closure.
The pool reopened on May 11.
Gallery: Knaresborough’s midsummer party in the castleHundreds of people watched a free live screening of the Glastonbury festival in the grounds of Knaresborough Castle on Saturday.
The Party in the Castle saw friends and families turn up with their own food and drink and soak up the atmosphere in glorious weather.
Organised by volunteers from Knaresborough & District Chamber, the event proved hugely popular.
The chamber hopes it will be the first of annual community events in the castle, providing North Yorkshire Council grants permission to use the site.
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Lead organiser and chamber member Kelly Young said:
“We were bowled over with the level of support both before and during the event and the feedback from the Knaresborough community has been fantastic. There was an amazing atmosphere and the whole place was like a big family party.
“We feel so privileged to have been given the chance to bring the town together through music, against such a stunning backdrop as Knaresborough Castle. We also hope that the central location of the event, close to many local businesses, will have bought increased consumer spend to our community, as well as making it affordable for everyone to attend on any budget.”
Cllr Hannah Gostlow, who represents Knaresborough West on North Yorkshire Council, helped to fund the TV through her councillor’s Locality budget. A crowdfunding campaign also contributed to funds for the not-for-profit event.
Here are some images from the night by photographer Mike Whorley.
£3.5 million remediation work underway at Ripon leisure centre
Remediation works costing £3.5 million are underway at the Ripon leisure centre building which closed in late April.
North Yorkshire Council’s assistant director for culture, leisure, archives and libraries, Jo Ireland, said:
“We can confirm the ground stabilisation works at the former Ripon Leisure Centre have now started.”
Hoardings and fencing have been put in place around the 28 year old leisure centre building.
He added:
“These works came about following the discovery of a void underneath part of the original leisure centre.
“The void is understood to have been present for a number of years and was discovered when the reinforced concrete slab, which provides the foundation for the new swimming pool, was cast.
“By addressing these historic issues, it allows us the opportunity to ensure future generations will be able to access modern sport and leisure facilities in their city for many years to come.
“Once the works have been completed the original leisure centre facility can be refurbished as planned – which includes an extended gym, two new activity studios, a spin studio as well as meeting facilities – and complement the 25 metre, six-lane swimming pool that opened last year.”
Work is scheduled to go on until spring 2024 and in the meantime a temporary gym will remain in use on the car park near the entrance to the Jack Laugher Leisure and Wellness Centre.
The £300,000 facility, operated by Brimhams Active on behalf of North Yorkshire Council, includes Technogym equipment.
Customers are able to use the changing and shower facilities at the swimming pool as well as the sauna and steam suite. Group exercise classes continue to be provided at Hugh Ripley Hall.
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Calls for urgent action to stop North Yorkshire children vapingCalls have been made for urgent action to tackle children vaping across North Yorkshire amid an “explosion” in young people using e-cigarettes.
A meeting of North Yorkshire Council’s children and young people’s scrutiny committee heard the authority’s annual health and wellbeing survey concluded more than one in three of children aged 13 to 15 years old had at least tried vaping, while 9% said they used them regularly.
Smoking of traditional cigarettes was continuing to decrease and the use of illegal drugs remained low, the meeting was told, but some children were starting to vape while still at primary school.
The study found some 5% of 10 and 11-year-olds pupils responded that they had at least tried vaping.
However, councillors were warned the vaping statistics in its Growing Up In North Yorkshire study were “woefully out” and the actual prevalence of vaping was likely to be much higher.
Earlier this year Dr Mike McKean, of the Royal College of Paediatricians and Child Health, said vaping was becoming “an epidemic” among teenagers.
He said if the growth of youngsters vaping continued at the same rate, almost all children would vape within five years.
Dr Tom Cavell-Taylor, who is a governor at Ripon Grammar School, told the scrutiny meeting:
“I don’t think young people appreciate the dangers of vaping.
“Vaping was seen as a better alternative to smoking, but there is a bit of a health time bomb going on with vaping and I don’t think that message is fully appreciated with young people.”
Cllr Kirsty Poskitt, who is also a youth worker, added it was “not unusual for year five and six pupils to be vaping”.
She said:
“What I’m really concerned with is how fast the public health is getting out. I have conversations daily with young people that vape that have no clue that it is in any way dangerous.
“The parents see it as a much better, they taste and smell nice, they’re trendy, you’re not going to have that first hacking experience of cigarettes.
“It’s a huge explosion and it’s one of my biggest concerns with young people.”
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The meeting heard councillors call for the government to step up campaigns to raise awareness of the dangers of vaping in the way that it has highlighted the risks of smoking tobacco and drinking alcohol or ban the sale of single-use vapes.
Councillors said by looking at the images in the windows of vaping shops alone, it was obvious children were being targeted.
The authority’s director of children and young people’s services, Stuart Carlton, said while he appreciated the immediate need to raise of the risks of vaping, it would be worse to launch a campaign that wasn’t accurate.
He said one of the issues with tackling vaping was that “the market moves really quickly”, so it was important to get messages precise.
Mr Carlton said:
“I would just ban them. I think they should only be available on prescription as part of a smoking reduction programme to adults only. That’s how you get them out of the system.
“Some of the things that are giving us the most concern aren’t the ones sold in shops, it’s the illegal market. These are black market vapes with cannabinoid additions which are causing horrendous incidents to children who experiment. You can do something about vaping, but then miss the thing that’s doing to most damage.”
The scrutiny committee was told public health officials were teaming up with a range of bodies, including the NHS and Trading Standards, to tackle the issue in a coordinated way.
Former stables and cricket pavilion to be demolished in Harrogate 480-home planSeveral derelict buildings including a cricket pavilion are set to be demolished in fields off Otley Road in Harrogate to make way for the 480-home Bluecoat Wood development.
The government’s housing agency Homes England is behind the housing scheme, which would cover 28 hectares of largely green fields. The homes would wrap around horticultural charity Horticap.
A mix of one, two, three, four and five-bedroom houses are proposed for the site. Homes England says 40% of the houses will be allocated as “affordable”.
An outline planning application was submitted last year but is yet to receive final approval.
However the developer asked North Yorkshire Council if it could demolish several buildings on the site and the authority confirmed this month that it can.
It means that five timber buildings associated with a former stables will be demolished as well as a small shed and a stone barn on the site.
A cricket pavilion formerly used by Pannal Ash Cricket Club will also be demolished.
However, under plans submitted by Homes England, the development is set to include a new cricket pitch on the site and the club will return to using it.
Documents state:
“The wider proposals for the Bluecoat Park site include a new cricket pavilion and cricket field, which will provide a new home for Pannal Ash Cricket Club and will allow them to return to the site.
“Alongside the proposed residential development and cricket facilities, a football hub is also proposed. These sporting facilities will provide much higher quality sporting facilities in this area, which will help encourage an active and healthy lifestyle.”
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The section of Otley Road approaching Harlow Hill is set to be transformed by up to 1,500 homes over the next decade.
The Bluecoat Wood site has been mooted for housing for many years and Homes England took it on after a previous plan fell through.
The former Harrogate Borough Council Local Plan, which is still binding, says that the Windmill Farm site on the other side of Otley Road can also be developed.
Plans for 770 homes and a new primary school were submitted last year by Anwyl Land and national housebuilder Redrow Homes. The site also includes space for self-build homes.
But there have been long-standing fears from residents that the services that people rely on will be put under further strain by the new developments.
The Western Arc Coordination Group is hopeful a council-led document called the West Harrogate Infrastructure Delivery Strategy (WHIDS) will go some way to ensuring investment takes place into roads, schools and healthcare before much of the homes are constructed.
But it’s faced a series of delays which has frustrated residents in the group.
Council’s new dog poo policy causes a stink in KnoxA change in the council’s bin regime is seeing dog-waste pile up by the roadside, according to local residents.
Over the last week, North Yorkshire Council has removed the familiar red dog-waste bins from Knox, which is on the north-west edge of Harrogate. In their place, they have put green wheelie bins, but not all in the same positions as the bins they replace.
Knox resident Maxie Schiffmann-Rowinski said:
“They’ve put a wheelie bin right outside our house, and now it’s filling up with dog poo and it really stinks in this warm weather.
“All of us living down here are pretty angry about this. This lane is very popular with dog-walkers, and some who don’t know about the green bin are just leaving their dog-poo bags on the ground where the dog-waste bin used to be.
“I’ve complained to the council via their online form, but had no reply.”
Asked about the move, Karl Battersby, North Yorkshire Council’s corporate director of environment, told the Stray Ferret the bins had been removed following a service review, and that the council was being guided by good practice outlined by the Waste and Recycling Action Partnership in its Right Bin, Right Place study.
He said:
“The newer bins have a larger capacity and house a wheeled bin. This means they are efficiently emptied by our larger wagons, reducing the risk from manual handling individual bags. With the greater capacity, fewer bins are required which helps to reduce street furniture, particularly in locations where two bins may have been placed close together.
“This and other new bins will be emptied less frequently due to the increase in capacity, but they will be emptied as often as required, taking seasonal variances into account.
“The replacement bin at the end of Knox Lane was planned to be further down the lane, in close proximity to existing street furniture. We will check it’s correctly positioned.”
The council has installed a large new bin at the end of Knox Lane… but some dog-walkers have yet to get the message.
Paul Haslam, the North Yorkshire councillor serving Bilton and Nidd Gorge, said he was party to the decision-making process that led to the policy change, but that it had not been implemented as he had imagined it would be. He said:
“This looks like a well-intentioned project that’s gone wrong. I agreed with the principle behind the plans: to make it easier by using more machinery, which in some cases would result in changes of locations and frequency of emptying.
“But it’s quite obvious that the way it’s turned out is not ideal – there are not enough bins and some of them are in the wrong place.”
North Yorkshire Council’s Mr Battersby said that the bin replacements in Bilton and Knox would be followed by others in Harrogate.
He said:
“Surrounding parishes have already had the work completed, and Bilton is the first of the urban areas to start and receive the new bins.”
But Cllr Haslam said the policy needed to be reviewed and that’s what the council would do. He said:
“I’ll be meeting with street-cleansing officers on Monday and we’ll be going over the whole of the Bilton and Knox area and seeing how it can be improved.
“The council is not going to roll any more bins out until we’ve got Bilton and Knox right.”
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Muffin Break cafe coming to Harrogate?An empty shopping unit in Harrogate town centre looks set to host a Muffin Break cafe.
Notices have appeared in the window of the former Hotter shoe shop on Cambridge Street for a pavement licence application.
The notice says the applicant is FoodCo UK Franchising Ltd, known as Muffin Break bakery cafe.
Muffin Break is a franchise business of FoodCo that originated in Canada and now has about 60 UK outlets. The closest one is in Bradford.
The former Hotter shoe shop
They typically sell muffins, cakes and coffee and also provide breakfasts and light lunches.
The licence application is dated June 9 and says the deadline for comments is June 13 — four days later.
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The Stray Ferret asked North Yorkshire Council, which determines licence applications, for further details.
The council displays pavement licence applications on its website here. But a spokeswoman said the Muffin Break application was no longer available because the objection expiry date had passed. She added the licence had been granted.
We tried to contact FoodCo UK Franchising but have not had a reply.
Council spends £2m on consultants for Harrogate’s Station GatewayMore than £2 million has already been spent on outside consultants to work on Harrogate’s controversial Station Gateway scheme, figures reveal.
The £11.2 million active travel project will transform the area outside Harrogate Station to make it more friendly for cyclists and pedestrians.
It’s being led by North Yorkshire Council, which replaced North Yorkshire County Council, which previously led on the project, in April due to local government reorganisation.
To develop the project the council hired global consultancy firm WSP to draw up its business case and preliminary and detailed designs.
Following a freedom of information request submitted by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, North Yorkshire Council has revealed just over £2 million has been paid to WSP so far with the majority going towards design costs.
In a statement, the council argued that its use of consultants for the scheme is commonplace and typical of large-scale active projects across the country.
It also said consultants can help when there is not the required expertise within the council.
But the public sector’s increasing reliance on consultants, often to plug gaps created during austerity, has troubled some with a Guardian editorial published in March stating consultants are a “symptom of shrinking faith in the public sector”.
‘A money pit’
Liberal Democrat councillor for Knaresborough West, Matt Walker, who is a critic of the Station Gateway scheme, told the LDRS that the amount spent on consultants is a signal that the project “is shaping up to be a money pit“ for taxpayers.
Mr Walker, who will be standing for the Lib Dems in next month’s Selby and Ainsty by-election, said:
“That is a huge amount of public money to spend on consultants, more than 15% of the cost of the scheme. It’s a money pit that is not part of a wider strategic plan for active travel and one which does not have the full backing of the local community, or businesses.
“The cost of building materials has already sky rocketed since the original costing for the scheme was done. Are we going to cut back on what is delivered or pour money tax payers money into this scheme?
“What Harrogate needs is real investment, as part of a strategic plan to deal with congestion. Innovative and exciting options for active travel not costly consultants.”
‘Increased consultation pushed up costs’
The council said the sum paid to WSP has increased due to the additional public consultation which led to designs being changed.
Karl Battersby, the council’s corporate director of environment, said:
“Consultants have only been used where there is not sufficient in-house resource or very specific expertise within the council. This is a common occurrence with consultants used for almost, if not all, Transforming Cities Fund projects across the country.
“The cost includes survey work as well as individual disciplines – landscaping, highways, traffic modelling, signals, drainage, lighting – consultation support, planning and Traffic Regulation Orders, and project management, including business case development, risk reviews, programming and attendance at meetings.
“The design cost has increased where additional works have been identified, such as revisions to landscaping or additional consultation engagement.”
Background to the scheme
Among the proposals include redeveloping the area outside Harrogate Station, making Station Parade single-lane to add cycle and bus lanes and part-pedestrianising James Street.
But it’s divided the town with the results of the third and final round of public consultation, published in January, suggesting the Harrogate public are narrowly against it.
It’s still to receive final approval but won the backing of senior councillors in Northallerton at a meeting last month.
The predicted cost of the scheme is now £11.2m — a sum that has risen considerably from the £7.9m initially suggested by council.
Nidd Plus could run services from axed Pateley Bridge children’s centreA Nidderdale councillor has called for a children’s centre that is closing in Pateley Bridge to be repurposed by community organisation Nidd Plus.
Nidderdale Children’s Centre, based at St Cuthbert’s Primary School in the town, is one of five Sure Start centres North Yorkshire Council will close following a public consultation over spring.
The centre opened in opened September 2010 and was backed by £590,715 of taxpayers’ money but it did not reopen after the pandemic.
The council estimates it will save £13,400 a year in running costs by closing the building and North Yorkshire Council’s Conservative executive met yesterday to rubber-stamp a report that recommended the five closures.
Nidderdale Children’s Centre was based at St Cuthbert’s school.
However, during the meeting Andrew Murday, the Liberal Democrat councillor for Pateley Bridge and Nidderdale, intervened to tell councillors Nidd Plus has a plan to use the space for “multi-generational” support services.
Nidd Plus currently has a hub in the town which includes a small library, a desk for council and police matters and a tourist information point.
It also provides transport for residents so they can attend support centres outside of Nidderdale.
Cllr Murday said:
“The centre at St Cuthbert’s school is a very large room. I visited it last week. It’s not been used at the moment and nor will the school find any use for it in the future. There’s a facility there that could be used.”
The councillor said if Nidd Plus were to take over the space it could offer a much larger library for residents and it would also be able to offer some support services in the town without the need for residents to travel long distances.
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He added:
“We have the support of Nidd Plus to develop the centre. At the current time the library facility is tiny but this room and building offers opportunities to expand those services.
“Nidd Plus is providing transport for all sorts of people to go as far as Harrogate to access day centres. If we’re allowed to use this centre it would be a great opportunity to provide a daily multi-generational service. I commend Nidd Plus for bringing forward a plan to use this in a way that would benefit our community throughout Nidderdale.”
In response, the council’s corporate director of children and young people’s service, Stuart Carlton, said the council would be “more than happy” to speak with Nidd Plus about the building’s future.
Michael Harrison, the Conservative executive councillor for health and adult services, said the closure of the children’s centre “shouldn’t prevent costed plans coming forward” about the future of the building.
Cllr Harrison added:
“I know from personal experience what a good community anchor organisation Nidd Plus are.
“I know the decision today doesn’t stop plans coming forward. They have to be robust but there’s nothing stopping them coming forward.”