A Green Party councillor has said North Yorkshire Council’s plan to curb climate climate change does not go far enough.

In January the council published a draft climate change strategy includes ambitions such as becoming carbon neutral by 2030, increasing walking and cycling as well as planting 37,000 hectares of new woodland by 2038.

Last month, it then launched a survey called Let’s Talk Climate that asked residents a series of questions about the strategy

However, Arnold Warneken, Green Party councillor for Ouseburn division, said the survey has garnered just over 1,000 responses, which he called disappointing.

He blamed the number of responses on a lack of promotion by the council and said it should be offering more, particularly around agriculture which is estimated to contribute one third of the county’s total emissions.

Cllr Warneken said:

“Air quality is often overlooked and as far as agriculture is concerned we’re taking no action. The council owns its own farms and there are things we can be doing. I don’t think we’re offering enough and the survey isn’t getting the responses it warrants.

“They haven’t pushed the survey hard. I like the officers but I don’t think we’re in people’s faces enough with it.”

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Cllr Warneken called on residents to fill in the survey before the deadline.

He added:

“We’ve got another two weeks where people can spend 10 minutes filling in a form that gives a real chance for county to lead the way on biodiversity and climate change and give our children and grandchildren a better quality of life.”

North Yorkshire County Council’s Conservative executive member for managing our environment, Cllr Greg White, said:

“We remain committed to tackling the threat of climate change, and we recognise that this is the biggest challenge that we face both in North Yorkshire and as a country as a whole.

“We have launched a county-wide engagement with the public to seek their views on a draft climate strategy for the new North Yorkshire Council.

“This includes the first ever public engagement specifically targeting young people, seeking the views of people aged 16 to 25 on the draft climate strategy.

“There are a host of ways for everyone to take part in the latest Let’s Talk engagement campaign about climate, including online as well as face-to-face events and support from the 42 libraries across the county.

“The engagement has also been publicised to the media, and details have been sent to staff, councillors and partner organisations to ensure that the widest possible audience is reached.

“The new council has an ambition to become carbon neutral by 2030, and we have also endorsed an ambitious bid for York and North Yorkshire to become the first carbon negative region in the country, meaning more carbon dioxide emissions would be removed from the atmosphere than are emitted.

“Work which has already been undertaken in the county to tackle carbon emissions includes the installation of energy-saving LED street lighting, energy efficient improvements to buildings and trialling the use of electric vehicles.”

You can take part in the survey on the council’s website here.

As Harrogate Borough Council draws to a close, the move to scrap the authority also sees 24 councillors lose their roles.

The brand new North Yorkshire Council will have 16 elected representatives from the Harrogate district.

However, only 12 of those councillors will move on from seats on the borough council.

Some have successfully sought reelection to the new council.

Among those stepping down include council leader, Cllr Richard Cooper, and deputy leader of the authority, Cllr Graham Swift.

Members of the cabinet Cllr Phil Ireland and Cllr Stanley Lumley have also departed.

In this article, we take a look at the 24 councillors who will no longer represent the district.

Rebecca Burnett

The former chairman of Harrogate Borough Council’s planning committee.

She represented Harrogate St Georges since 2018. 

Trevor Chapman

Mayor Trevor Chapman and wife Janet

Cllr Chapman, who represented Harrogate Bilton Grange, was mayor of the Harrogate borough last year.

The Liberal Democrat was on the council since 2018.

Read more:

• Explained: What happens to bin collections in Harrogate after devolution?
• Explained: Who will make planning decisions in Harrogate district after devolution?

Richard Cooper

Leader of the council since 2014, Conservative Cllr Cooper represented Harrogate central on the authority.

He announced in October 2021 that he would not seek election to North Yorkshire Council.

Ed Darling

Conservative Cllr Darling was chair of the licensing committee on Harrogate Borough Council and represented Knaresborough Castle ward.

John Ennis

John Ennis, Conservative.

Cllr Ennis, a Conservative, represented the Harrogate Stray ward on the authority.

Sam Green

Sam Green, who was the youngest councillor on Harrogate Borough Council.

Cllr Green, who was only elected in May last year, was the youngest borough councillor at 26-years-old.

He was elected to the Wathvale ward on the council.

Sid Hawke

Cllr Hawke was one of two Ripon Independent councillors on the borough council.

Phil Ireland

Conservative Cllr Ireland was one the authority’s cabinet. He held the carbon reduction and sustainability portfolio.

He also represented Knaresborough Aspin and Calcutt ward.

Steven Jackson

Cllr Jackson was a Conservative councillor who represented the Harrogate Saltergate ward on the council.

Sue Lumby

Cllr Lumby was the Conservative councillor for Harrogate Coppice Valley. She also chaired the council’s human resource committee.

Stanley Lumley

Councillor Stanley Lumley (pictured left)

Conservative Cllr Lumley was the authority’s cabinet member for culture, tourism and sport and oversaw the creation of Brimhams Active, which now runs council leisure centres.

He unsuccessfully stood for election to the new North Yorkshire Council. He also represented Pateley Bridge and Nidderdale on the borough council.

Stuart Martin

Conservative Cllr Martin was mayor of Harrogate borough in 2020.

He represented Ripon Moorside on the authority.

Pauline McHardy

Cllr McHardy, who represented Ripon Minster, was a Ripon Independent on the borough council.

Nigel Middlemass

Cllr Middlemass was a Conservative councillor who represented Harrogate Kingsley ward.

Ann Myatt

Conservative Cllr Myatt represented Ouseburn ward on the borough council.

Tim Myatt

Cllr Myatt was part of the council’s cabinet and held the portfolio for planning.

He also represented Harrogate High ward.

Victoria Oldham

Conservative Cllr Oldham is the current mayor of the Harrogate borough. She chaired full council meetings this year.

She also represented Washburn ward.

Alex Raubitschek

Cllr Raubitschek was a Conservative councillor who represented Oatlands ward.

Matt Scott

Conservative Cllr Scott represented Harrogate Bilton Woodfield on the borough council and chaired the authority’s general purposes committee.

Nigel Simms

Cllr Simms, who represented Masham and Kirkby Malzeard, was vice-chair of the council’s planning committee.

Graham Swift

Conservative deputy leader of the council and portfolio holder for resources, enterprise and economic development, Cllr Swift was among the senior councillors on the authority.

He unsuccessfully stood for election to North Yorkshire Council. He also represented the Duchy ward on the borough council.

Tom Watson

Liberal Democrat Cllr Tom Watson represented Nidd Valley on the borough council.

Matthew Webber

Cllr Webber, who was a Liberal Democrat, represented New Park on the authority.

Christine Willoughby

Liberal Democrat Cllr Willoughby sat on the council for Knaresborough Eastfield.

The new leaders of North Yorkshire Council have said making £252 million worth of savings in the next five years as part of local government reorganisation has become “massively tougher”.

Chief executive Richard Flinton and the authority’s political leader, Cllr Carl Les, said almost two years after using large-scale savings as a key plank in its case for creating a single unitary authority for North Yorkshire that “the world is in a different place”.

In 2021, auditors’ analysis of the county council’s unitary found it could save £30m a year by cutting red tape and reducing senior management and elected member costs.

In addition, by using the new council as a springboard for change, the auditors concluded savings could rise to between £50m and £67m a year, netting up to £252m at the end of the first five years, saving of up to £185 a year for households.

However, on the eve of the new authority launching, Mr Flinton said the council was instead looking at needing to cut £70m over the next three years just to balance its books and achieving savings had become “massively tougher”.

He said: 

“Since those predictions were first made the councils have made a lot of savings themselves that would have been in that territory.

“Lots of demand pressures have changed. Austerity has come around the cost of living pressures, the price we are paying for things has increased massively.

“The world is a different place from two years ago where people were making projections using consultants around the art of the possible. The reality against more people having problems looking after kids, more people presenting wanting adult social care, more of the housing challenges such as mould, the world doesn’t stand still.

“Against that backdrop we’re saying we need to save £70m over the next three years. We are going to be honest with people and say that’s not going to be a breeze.”

Read more:

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The county council has stripped £200m from its annual spending since austerity hit in 2010, partly by relying on volunteers to help run services such as public libraries.

Mr Flinton said: 

“As we come under more and more financial stress that type of innovative dealing with the public is probably going to be more and more.”

“One of the new unitary council’s early cost-cutting programmes will be to sell some of the former district, borough and county council properties, which equate to more than 3,500 bits of property excluding schools.”

When selling the properties Mr Flinton said the council would have regard to the interests of the community and in some cases the property could be used in a regeneration scheme, but in the majority of cases it would be “good old fashioned case back into the bank and value for money.”

The incoming council aims to bolster its online offer, but has pledged face to face contact with residents would continue with a council office kept in each of the former district areas.

Cllr Les said: 

“As soon as we put any one of those properties up for closure you can bet your bottom dollar there will be a campaign to save it.”

Harrogate Borough Council will be abolished at the end of today after 49 years of existence.

The council, along with six other district councils and North Yorkshire County Council, will be replaced by North Yorkshire Council from April 1.

The move comes as part of the biggest shake-up in local government since 1974.

It means North Yorkshire Council, which will employ 11,500 staff, will be responsible for all council services in the district, including bin collections, planning, licensing and highways.

The change will also see the district represented by 16 councillors, instead of the current 40 on the borough council plus more on the county council.

Among those councillors stepping down are Richard Cooper and Graham Swift, the leader and deputy leader of Harrogate Borough Council respectively.

‘We will be locally-based’

The new leaders of the unitary council have pledged the new authority will be local, despite being based in Northallerton.

Speaking ahead of the takeover, Richard Flinton, the new chief executive of the council, defended the authority from criticism that it was too remote.

He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service:

“We will have locally-based managers who have a strong understanding of the issues in their areas.”

The authority’s leadership says while one safeguard against parochialism on the new authority would be in its executive members representing communities from across the county, another is by retaining its headquarters in Northallerton.

Richard Flinton, chief executive of North Yorkshire Council.

Mr Flinton said: 

“If our headquarters was in Harrogate or Scarborough then there might be more of a concern that we would be focused on that as the council view of the world. 

“Being in a fairly modest market town mitigates against that.”

Meanwhile, Cllr Carl Les, the Conservative leader of the new council, defended the decision to create 90 councillors to cover the entire county – rather than the current number of 319 which cover different councils.

He said:

“Representation by numbers doesn’t work. What matters is if you’ve got energetic people in the cohort of 90. The great benefit of reducing from 319 is that we have saved £750,000.

“I think we’ve got enough members to represent the people and continue the political process. You don’t have to go to a parish meeting to understand what’s happening in that parish.”

Read more:

• Explained: What happens to bin collections in Harrogate after devolution?
• Explained: Who will make planning decisions in Harrogate district after devolution?

From the towns of Knaresborough, Masham and Pateley Bridge to the villages of North Rigton, Summerbridge and Kirkby Malzeard, life will continue without Harrogate Borough Council.

For anyone still not aware, the council will be abolished at the end of this month after 49 years of existence.

From April 1, a new council called North Yorkshire Council will be created for the whole county and HBC will eventually become a distant memory.

Harrogate Borough Council has played a role, small or large, in the life of every resident so the Local Democracy Reporting Service asked four different people in the Harrogate district the same question — what will be its ultimate legacy?

The view from residents

Rene Dziabas

For some residents, the council begins and ends with when their bins are collected.
Others are more engaged with the ins-and-outs of council business and how it spends public money.

Rene Dziabas is the chair of Harlow and Pannal Ash Residents Association, a group that covers an area from Harlow Hill to Rossett Green and Arthurs Avenue to Castle Hill.

Mr Dziabas has lived in Harrogate for 40 years. He said even though the town has seen major changes on the council’s watch he would still move here today if he could.

He said:

“The recycling set up and bin collection has been good. The Valley Gardens and the Pinewoods look good. Those elements are still nice features of Harrogate. The Mercer Art Gallery is an absolute jewel, it punches above its weight. Its exhibitions are really good and well-curated.”

But despite these uniquely Harrogate benefits that the council delivers, Mr Dziabas said over-subscribed schools, poor quality roads and pressure on Harrogate District Hospital have all been made worse by planning decisions taken by Harrogate Borough Council.

Over 4,000 homes could eventually be built in the west of Harrogate over the next decade, including over 1,000 homes in fields next to RHS Garden Harlow Carr on Otley Road.

As with elsewhere in the district, these new developments will change the face of Harlow Hill and Pannal Ash forever. However, residents were disappointed with a document drawn up Harrogate Borough Council last year that said how the homes will link up with local roads, schools and healthcare services.

Mr Dziabas said:

“In this neck of the woods, Harrogate Borough Council is not leaving it in a better state. I can’t think of any major piece of work that’s really had a significant mitigation effect on the problems at the west of Harrogate.”

The council’s Harrogate district Local Plan 2014-35, which outlines where development can take place, will mean thousands more people can enjoy living in the Harrogate district but Mr Dziabas said there are lessons to be learned when it comes to consulting with residents about development. He added:

“Harrogate Borough Council ought to have been more communicative with the public in general. Ultimately we live in a democratic society, we are funding those institutions and I don’t think it’s unreasonable for them to communicate.”

The view from the staff

The Civic Centre in Harrogate

Local government union Unison estimates Harrogate Borough Council has employed around 10,000 people since it was created in 1974.

David Houlgate, who has been Harrogate branch secretary at Unison for the last 18 years, said it’s these people who will be the council’s “enduring and lasting legacy”. He said:

“They are the ones who have delivered services over the years, they are the ones who kept those services going during the pandemic, they are the real stars of Harrogate Borough Council.”

The vast majority of council staff will automatically transfer over to the new authority North Yorkshire Council on April 1.

Mr Houlgate is hopeful these staff members will deliver quality services to residents despite the well-documented cost pressures the new council will face. He said:

“If it gets things right and works with its staff and the trade unions to deliver joined-up and effective services then it’s likely that Harrogate Borough Council will fade in the memory.  If the new council fails to deliver on what it has said it would then inevitably Harrogate council will no doubt be missed.”

Mr Houlgate has worked for the council for the last 26 years and is currently a local taxation team leader.

Since 2010, the government has slashed funding for the council, which he said has resulted in higher workloads and stress for staff. He added:

“It has changed an awful lot in my time at the council.  It delivers more with less which has been necessary as a result of drastic cuts to funding from a central government that only seems to pay lip service to public services.

“To do this it has, over the years, cut the terms and conditions of staff, pay has not kept pace with inflation and workloads and stress absences have increased.

“As it comes to an end, there are recruitment and retention issues like never before.  It probably does not offer the career paths it once did.  The new council will hopefully offer more opportunities. We will have to wait and see.”

The view from outside of Harrogate

Cllr Andrew Williams

Harrogate Borough Council was created in 1974 as an amalgamation of smaller councils including those in Knaresborough, Nidderdale, Ripon and Harrogate.

The council has been based in Harrogate for all that time, moving from Crescent Gardens to the Civic Centre in 2017.

But for some people living outside of the town, Harrogate Borough Council has focused too much on the district’s largest urban area.

Cllr Andrew Williams is a former councillor on Harrogate Borough Council. He currently sits on North Yorkshire County Council as an independent and is also leader of Ripon City Council.

There are hopes in Ripon that the new council will look at the city as an equal to similar-sized market towns in the county like Thirsk, Malton and Northallerton.

Cllr Williams has been an outspoken critic of Harrogate Borough Council as he believes the authority has not given Ripon a fair shake.

The council has invested heavily in the Harrogate Convention Centre, which he believes has resulted in few benefits for his city.

However, he praised the council’s staff for their work in delivering services to residents over the years. Cllr Williams said:

“It would be fair to say that some of the services provided are not unreasonable. The refuse collection service, parks and gardens and the housing department do their best.

“The staff have worked incredibly hard to deliver services for residents across the district.”

Harrogate Borough Council points to its investment in new state-of-the-art leisure facilities in Ripon and Knaresborough as examples of its commitment to towns outside of Harrogate.

Cllr Williams called the new pool in Ripon a “significant improvement” but added:

“One project in 50 years is hardly justification for its previous misdemeanours in my view.”

Cllr Williams said Harrogate Borough Council’s legacy in Ripon will not be positive:

“[Their legacy is] under-investment and a failure to recognise the Harrogate district encompasses more than Harrogate, the conference centre being the prime example.

“Money has been poured into Harrogate at the expense of everywhere else in the district.”

The view from charities

Jackie Snape

Harrogate Borough Council has been a staunch supporter of the district’s voluntary and community sector.

There are more than 700 charitable organisations in the Harrogate district and many have stepped up over the last 13 years as the council has been forced to cut services due to austerity.

The council organises the Local Fund, which was launched in 2018 by Harrogate Borough Council, Harrogate and District Community Action and Two Ridings Community Foundation.

Last year the fund granted £85,000 to 29 different groups.

Jackie Snape, chief executive of Disability Action Yorkshire, said she has enjoyed working with local councillors on various campaigns, including a recent push to improve accessbility at tourist venues. Ms Snape said:

“Harrogate Borough Council was an early adopter of our Think Access campaign, and one of the major factors that we, and other charities, will miss is the local knowledge with individual councillors, often showing a great interest in causes close to their heart and local area.”

Key to the council’s relationship with charities is the role of the mayor, which is a councillor that for 12 months has a packed diary full of meeting charities and attending events.

Current and final Harrogate borough mayor Victoria Oldham was seen getting stuck in with a shovel last year to break ground at Disability Action Yorkshire’s £7.5m supported living complex at Claro Road.

Ms Snape added:

“For many years we were blessed by regular visits by the mayor of the day, all of whom paid great interest in the work we do, both at Hornbeam Park and at Claro Road.

Ms Snape said the council’s legacy of supporting charities will be remembered. Many charities rely on funding from the council and she hopes the new authority will show the same level of support. She said:

“Its work in helping and supporting a raft of charities working with some of the most vulnerable people in society will certainly be remembered for many years to come.

“We hope that when April 1 arrives, and North Yorkshire Council takes over that the same level of local funding and support continues, which is vital to the survival of many charities in the district.”

Looking ahead

If four more people were asked their opinion on what Harrogate Borough Council has achieved and what its legacy will be — it would likely generate another four very different answers.

This perhaps shows the council has done more for the district than it is sometimes given credit for.

But most would probably agree that how fondly Harrogate Borough Council will be remembered is likely to depend on how successful the new council is at the delivering the nuts and bolts services that residents have always expected for the last 49 years.

Read more:

• Explained: What happens to Harrogate taxis after devolution?
• ‘Once you’ve been to Bettys you’ve done Harrogate’, claims Ripon councillor

A new council is set to take over in the Harrogate district in three weeks’ time.

Both Harrogate Borough Council and North Yorkshire County Council will make way for North Yorkshire Council on April 1.

Under the new council, how taxi drivers operate and how they are licensed will change.

In this article, we will explain how taxis are currently licensed and what will change from April this year.

Who currently licences taxis?

Currently, Harrogate Borough Council licences taxi drivers within the district.

Those drivers who wish to operate a taxi in the borough must be licensed by the council.

Once they have a licence, they can drive their vehicle and operate anywhere in the district.

Similarly, the borough council is responsible for licensing wheelchair accessible cabs.

Who sets the fares?

As well as issuing licences, the borough council also sets the fares and fees for drivers.

The council reviews fares for taxis annually.

What will happen from April?

From April, the new North Yorkshire Council will implement a single taxi zone across the county.

The existing seven district councils, including Harrogate, currently have their own hackney carriage and private hire licensing policies. 

However, under the new policy, drivers will be able to operate in any area of North Yorkshire.

The plan has proved controversial with local cabbies, who described it as a “disaster”.

They argue that the move would lead to taxis crowding out busier areas and leave rural communities without a service.

What about fares?

The council is currently considering how to set fares for taxis under its single zone policy.

A proposal over fares for North Yorkshire cabs is expected to go before councillors on Tuesday (March 21).

Read more:

• Explained: Who will make planning decisions in Harrogate district after devolution?
• Explained: What happens to bin collections in Harrogate after devolution?

Visitors to the Harrogate district are staying longer and spending more than they were pre-pandemic, according to new statistics.

However, the number of visitors over the same 2019 to 2022 timeframe fell by 650,000 from 6.47 million to 5.82 million.

Destination Harrogate, the Harrogate Borough Council tourism organisation, said today visitors contributed £637 million to the local economy last year, compared with £606 million three years previously.

The organisation also said the average length of stay increased from 2019 to 3.5 days, compared with 3.3 days three years previously. This is despite the fact the UCI Road World Championships took place in Harrogate in 2019, leading to high hotel occupancy rates in September that year.

John McGivern, destination events manager at Destination Harrogate said it was “fantastic news for our local businesses and residents”, adding:

“The fact that people are staying longer and spending more aligns directly with our objectives of a sustainable tourism model, attracting more revenue into the local economy, whilst minimising the impact on the environment.

“Together with our partners, with whom we share this achievement, we can celebrate the significant impact that our visitors are making on our local economy and can we look forward to further successes going forward.”

The figures are based on a tourism economic impact modelling process called STEAM that uses local supply-side data and visitor survey data. More information on the Harrogate district data is here.

Destination Harrogate aims to grow the visitor economy to £836.7 million by 2030, however its future is unclear after Harrogate Borough Council is abolished to make way for the new North Yorkshire Council in two weeks’ time.

Rudding Park Spa. Pic: Charlotte Gale

Cllr Stanley Lumley, cabinet member for culture, tourism and sport at Harrogate Borough Council, applauded Destination Harrogate for “boosting the economic impact of visits to the area”. He added:

“Harrogate’s visitor economy is the largest driver of the local economy second only to the property sector, and its value cannot be underestimated.

“With such a positive set of results we can look forward to a prosperous future for Harrogate as a major tourism destination within North Yorkshire.”

Since its launch a year ago, Destination Harrogate has delivered activities including a health and wellbeing campaign under the Visit Harrogate brand to attract higher spending visitors to stay longer for healthy breaks, Harrogate Christmas Fayre; events on the Stray marking the Queen’s platinum jubilee and the return of Harrogate Carnival.

Read more:

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Harrogate is forecast to be the second fastest growing town in Yorkshire this year, says the new chief executive of North Yorkshire Council.

Richard Flinton, who is set to oversee devolution in the county from April 1, was the keynote speaker at the inaugural Stray Ferret Business Awards on Thursday.

Mr Flinton told the ceremony at Pavilions of Harrogate that supporting local business would be a major part of the new council’s agenda.

He said:

“Supporting business will be a really big part of the council.

“I have got great admiration for the wealth creators, the entrepreneurs and the talented individuals in this room.”

Mr Flinton will oversee the biggest reorganisation of local government in North Yorkshire since 1974.

The move will see seven district councils, including Harrogate Borough Council, and the county council scrapped to make way for one unitary authority.

Read more:

• National firm acquires Harrogate accountants
• Stray Ferret Business Awards: The winners

Mr Flinton, who is also involved with York and North Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership, said he wanted to see the new council work closely with the private sector.

He said:

“Our shared aim has got to be to try and create more jobs and wealth.

“I know that growing your businesses is what creates those jobs and that wealth. One of our roles in the public sector is to be able support you through infrastructure, through making sure people have got the right skills and work together to make sure we grow our economy.”

‘A massive opportunity’

Mr Flinton said Harrogate was “an incredibly important” part of the economy of North Yorkshire, adding:

“Ernst and Young are forecasting that Harrogate will be the second fastest growing part of the whole of Yorkshire this year, just behind the city of Leeds.”

He added that there was a “massive opportunity” for Harrogate to be one of the most vibrant towns in the north of England.

The Stray Ferret Business Awards showcased a variety of talent from across the area, and 11 finalists were crowned the winners of their categories.

The ceremony was attended by nearly 400 guests and celebrated the success of businesses from across the district.

You can read more about the winners of the awards here.

Voluntary organisations that helped North Yorkshire communities during covid could benefit from a share of £1.5 million funding.

The funding will be available following the launch of the new North Yorkshire Council in just under four weeks, on April 1.

It will allow community and voluntary groups to increase their capacity to act as so-called “community anchors”. 

The funding, spread over the next three years, will be available to organisations to act as hubs for the public to access advice and support and to increase resilience in communities. 

The project is building on the work that was undertaken by all of the current eight councils in North Yorkshire, including Harrogate Borough Council, to develop close working relationships with a network of community and voluntary groups which were instrumental in providing support to residents during the pandemic. 

North Yorkshire County Council’s executive member for stronger communities, Cllr Greg White, said:

“Volunteers and community groups have always played a hugely important role in North Yorkshire, but their work came even more to the fore during the covid crisis. 

“These organisations became a trusted voice for communities and helped us to publicise key public health messages and provided support at a grassroots level by co-ordinating the delivery of food and other essential items while checking on the most vulnerable members of society.”

Community anchors

While the concept of community anchors has been employed elsewhere in the country, the scheme in North Yorkshire is thought to be among the biggest of its kind nationally. 

The vast swathes of rural North Yorkshire which are home to some of the most isolated communities in the country present significant challenges in ensuring that the 615,000 residents in the county are given the support and services that they need. 

Groups that are already established in North Yorkshire can apply for £15,000-a-year in funding to become a community anchor ahead of a deadline on March 20. 

To qualify for the funding, organisations need to be established in communities with an existing base where they are delivering services, while also demonstrating a proven track record that they are financially sustainable. 

The funding is being made available to broadly increase the capacity of the groups, rather than being targeted at a specific project, and to strengthen the resilience of communities to build on the solid foundations that developed during the pandemic. 

The investment would be available to finance a range of activities such as building partnerships with organisations including the council and health services and increasing their capacity to deliver physical and mental well-being programmes for communities. 

The money could also be employed to help develop projects such as community transport services, running social enterprises and delivering skills and education. 

The funding would also be potentially used to help communities to respond to emergencies, and improve people’s financial resilience, especially in relation to food and fuel. 

Nidderdale Plus and Ripon Community House

Groups which could apply for the funding and played a key role throughout the covid pandemic include Nidderdale Plus, the Upper Dales Community Partnership and the Grassington Hub as well as the Community Care Associations in Stokesley, Thirsk and Easingwold. 

Ripon Community House, which is based in part of the city’s old workhouse and celebrates its 10th anniversary this month, was another of the community support organisations established in the pandemic, and staff are due to apply for funding to become one of the new community anchors. 

The venue, which provides meeting rooms for the community as well as a food bank and activities such as chair-based exercise classes, currently houses a base for Harrogate Borough Council to offer services such as waste and housing, and this will continue with the launch of North Yorkshire Council. 

Ripon Community House’s chief officer, Suzanne Bowyer, said:

“The legacy of covid has meant that we have become a real trusted voice in the community, and people come to us for advice – if they don’t know which organisation to go to, then we can invariably help. 

“To have the chance to build on this work by becoming a community anchor is so important, and the launch of the new council in North Yorkshire will undoubtedly help ensure the public can access services even easier by knowing there is one single organisation to deal with.” 

Funding from the government has already been used for North Yorkshire’s voluntary sector as part of financial support provided nationally to help the country recover from the pandemic. 

However, the new funding is being provided via North Yorkshire County Council’s Stronger Communities Achieve Together programme and is aimed at supporting about 30 different organisations over a three-year period. 

North Yorkshire County Council and the seven district and borough authorities will merge from April 1 to pave the way for a devolution deal, which is set to transfer decision-making powers and millions of pounds of funding from Westminster to local political leaders. 

The new council will retain a main office in each of the former district areas, supported by additional customer access points in public locations.

Information on how to apply for the community anchors project is available online on the county council’s website.

Read more:

• Stray Ferret Business Awards: North Yorkshire Council chief executive to be keynote speaker
• Council sets aside £11m for A59 Kex Gill contingency funding
• City council opens funding scheme to more Ripon organisations

A new council is set to take over in the Harrogate district in three weeks’ time.

Both Harrogate Borough Council and North Yorkshire County Council will make way for North Yorkshire Council on April 1.

The move throws up questions over housing and planning in the district – in particular, who will make the decisions?

In this article, we will explain how key decisions over housing, new businesses and a Local Plan for the Harrogate area will be made.

Who currently makes planning decisions?

Currently, any decision over permission to build new homes or businesses in the Harrogate district is made by Harrogate Borough Council.

The council is the local planning authority – meaning any applications must be submitted to it.

Officials at the council then make decisions on whether to approve or refuse permission for a development.

Some applications may go to a council planning committee, which is made up of local councillors, to make a decision.

What will change from April?

From April, the borough council will no longer exist.

This means that the new North Yorkshire Council will become the local planning authority.

Any proposals to build new homes of businesses will have to be submitted to the new council.

It will then make decisions on new developments in the Harrogate district.

How will it make decisions?

North Yorkshire Council has proposed setting up two committees to deal with planning applications.

The first will be a strategic planning committee in Northallerton which will deal with major proposals, such as plans for 500 or more homes and employment sites.

There will also be a sub-committee on the Harrogate and Knaresborough Area Constituency Committee, which will deal with proposals of 500 homes or less.

Similarly, plans for Ripon would be overseen by the Ripon and Skipton Area Constituency Committee.

What about the Harrogate district Local Plan?

Under the new council, a fresh Local Plan will be drawn up.

The plan will show where land can be used for housing and employment over the next 15 years.

It means that the current Harrogate district Local Plan 2014-35 is set to be scrapped.

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