Artificial intelligence to be used to improve winter travel on Harrogate district roads

Artificial intelligence is to be employed on Harrogate district roads this winter to keep traffic moving during severe weather.

North Yorkshire County Council revealed yesterday it was working with Finnish weather technology firm Vaisala to improve monitoring of its network of 5,800 miles of road.

Vaisala will use a combination of artificial intelligence, computer modelling and live data to survey road conditions more quickly.

A council news release said:

“As highways officers drive the network, the video technology automatically surveys the roads and identifies defects. It processes the data within a few hours.

“This gives the highways team a visual snapshot of the whole network, capturing useful data about the road condition and road signs very quickly and enabling them to target resources most efficiently.”

The authority is trialling Vaisala Wx Horizon, which uses real-time weather information, historic weather and road condition data alongside computer modelling to help identify required winter treatments.

It is also investigating Internet of Things sensors to provide feedback on road surface temperatures and moisture levels.

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Last year the council spent £500,000 on measures including installing 27 weather stations across the county to provide up-to-date information to help the council make decisions about when and where to grit roads.

The B6265 at Greenhow near Pateley Bridge and the B6267 Low Burton near Masham are among the areas with weather stations.

Cllr Don Mackenzie, executive councillor for highways at North Yorkshire County Council.

Cllr Don Mackenzie, the former executive councillor for highways at North Yorkshire County Council, pictured at a weather station last year.

The stations include solar-powered cameras that relay live images of road conditions to the county council’s website, where they help people plan their journeys.

‘Vital to everyday lives’

Cllr Keane Duncan, the council’s executive member for highways and transportation, said:

“North Yorkshire’s extensive highways network, which includes many rural roads, is vital to the everyday lives of the county’s residents, its businesses, tourism industry and wider economic prosperity.

“That’s why we have a strong track record in putting ourselves at the forefront of technological advances that enable us to make quick, well-informed decisions to help to keep our roads open and people on the move during winter weather.

“These latest developments with Vaisala continue that long-standing approach and demonstrate our commitment to ongoing improvement to enable our dedicated teams to support residents, businesses and visitors across the county.”

Jarkko Sairanen, Vaisala’s executive vice president for weather and the environment, said:

“I am convinced the county and its people will benefit from the latest advances in mobile and Internet of Things technologies to help keep the road network safe and accessible, while minimising the cost and carbon footprint of efficient winter maintenance operations.”

The Stray Ferret has asked the council how much the new measures cost but has yet to receive a figure.

Picture: At one of North Yorkshire’s weather stations are (from left): Mike Francis of NY Highways; Erik Sucksdorff, sales director at Vaisala; Jo Wright, sales manager at Vaisala; Richard Marr, highway area manager at North Yorkshire County Council; Nigel Smith, head of highway operations at NYCC; Barrie Mason, assistant director, highways and transportation at NYCC; Jarkko Sairanen, Vaisala’s executive vice president for weather and the environment; and Alan Palfreyman, technical officer at NYCC

 

Government awards North Yorkshire £336,000 bus grant

The government is set to award North Yorkshire County Council £336,000 for bus services just five months after rejecting a multi-million pound funding bid.

Ministers wrote to council officers to offer a grant to cover the costs of staffing in its enhanced partnership team, which helps to draw up funding bids and work with bus operators to improve services.

The move comes after the Department for Transport rejected a £116 million funding bid as part of the authority’s Bus Service Improvement Plan for the county.

In a letter to council officials, the government said the grant would help it continue to work with bus companies.

It said:

“We understand that this funding does not replace BSIP funding to spend on transforming your bus services.

“But we do hope it will help to support your ongoing work with operator partners, especially working through an enhance partnership or franchising arrangement, to deliver better bus services (whether they are commercial or tendered) and enable you to use local bus funding to best effect and attract future bus funding as it becomes available.”

Failed funding bid

The move comes after the county council failed in a bid for bus improvement funding back in April.

Ministers rejected a £116 million bid from the authority which would have funded new bus lanes, more affordable fares, real-time passenger information and a simpler ticketing system for services across North Yorkshire.

The government said it refused the scheme because it “lacked ambition”.

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Cllr Keane Duncan, executive councillor for transport at the council, warned in July that bus services were “facing a potential cliff edge” due to loss of government subsidies.

Despite the failed bid, Cllr Duncan said previously that the council would continue with some of its plans for transport – such as a park and ride in the district.

He said:

“While we suffered a setback with our Bus Service Improvement Plan bid to the Department for Transport being unsuccessful, we are working to identify potential sites along the A61 corridor and elsewhere in town.

“This will build on the work we’ve already undertaken as part of the Harrogate Transport Improvements Programme study that was completed in 2021.”

The Stray Ferret approached North Yorkshire County Council to ask whether it felt the latest bus grant was sufficient, but had not received a response by the time of publication.

Double council tax on North Yorkshire second homes approved

Owners of second homes in North Yorkshire are set to pay a 100% premium on their council tax.

Senior councillors on North Yorkshire County Council yesterday approved the measure, which is expected to come into force within two years.

The council’s executive unanimously backed the plans, which would effectively double council tax bills for second home owners, and the proposals will now be considered at a full council meeting.

The move will see the premium introduced for homes which have been sat empty for a year or more.

Cllr Carl Les, leader of the county council, said the move would help local people access housing.

He said:

“There is no simple solution to the issue of affordable housing, second homes and the impact they have on housing for local communities.

“But we recognise that bold and decisive action needs to be taken to deal with the affordable housing crisis in North Yorkshire, and that is why the executive has decided to pursue the policy of a council tax premium.

“It may not be popular with everyone, but that is not the key factor in this decision. We need to act to try and ensure more local people have access to housing in their own communities, and the premium on council tax bills for second homes will be a significant step towards achieving that.

“Second homes and the impact they can have on the availability of housing has been a long-running problem that has affected communities not just in North Yorkshire but across the country, and this was reinforced by the findings of the independent North Yorkshire Rural Commission.”

Analysis by the county council showed the introduction of a 100% premium on council tax bills for second homes in North Yorkshire could generate in excess of £14 million a year in additional revenue.

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The research said that Richmondshire could generate about £1.8 million through the second homes premium, while the Craven, Harrogate and Ryedale districts could each provide about £1.5 million in extra revenue.

North Yorkshire County Council’s executive member for finance, Cllr Gareth Dadd, who is also the authority’s deputy leader, said: 

“We know that there is an acute shortage of housing for local people in many communities in North Yorkshire, and this has been an issue that has long affected their opportunities to actually buy their own home.

“Places such as the Yorkshire Dales and the North York Moors as well as coastal towns such as Scarborough and Whitby are without question wonderful places to live.

“But with that comes the fact that these areas also see very high numbers of second homes, which affects the availability of housing for local people.

“The scheme to introduce the council tax premium will ideally see these second homes brought back into use for local people. But if not, then there will be a valuable new revenue stream created that will help fund council priorities, such as helping introduce more housing for local communities.”

Council launches pilot scheme as escalating numbers of children are overweight

North Yorkshire County Council has reported an escalating number of overweight youngsters since axing a well-regarded scheme to help children and their families make positive changes to their diet.

A council report has revealed since Healthy Choices was abandoned due to government cuts in 2020, the county has had no weight management service for children and has seen annual rises in children with excess weight that have been “much higher than in previous years”.

After completing Healthy Choices, 80% of youngsters saw marked weight reductions.

In 2016, 21% of five-year-olds and about 30% of 11-year-olds in the county, significantly lower than the national average, were found to be living with excess weight.

However, a public health report has revealed these figures have since overtaken or moved close to the national average, with 29% of reception pupils and 38% of primary school leavers classed as overweight.

Although child weight statistics for different local authority areas for last year will not be published by the government until December, last year it was reported  obesity rates in both reception-aged and Year 6 children increased by around 4.5 percentage points between 2019-20 and 2020-21.

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Concerning the sharp rise in children with excess weight, the council report said: 

“There is a real need for families across the county to receive compassionate support to manage weight, eat well and move more.”

Such is the concern over the rise in children with excess weight since its Healthy Choices programme was abandoned two years ago that senior councillors and officers have agreed to pump up to £106,000 from its reserves to kick start a family weight management service.

The 18-month pilot service will utilise the county’s current successful service for adults to support adults who have dependents that need a holistic support for the whole family. It will also take referrals for children and young people through the National Child Measurement Programme and other health professional referral routes.

However, unlike Healthy Choices, which was delivered in children’s homes or at a local venue, the new service will be remote, with up to 12 phone or video calls.

The officer’s report states the service will be “more cost effective” than Healthy Choices, which cost £300,000 annually.

The authority’s executive member for health, Councillor Michael Harrison said since 2020, both locally and nationally there had been the largest rise in obese primary schoolchildren on record.

He said: 

“We have a good record on our adult weight management initiatives, with five per cent body weight reductions for those completing programme we offer, and that weight loss is sustained 24 weeks later.

“If these figures are going up there is an increasing number of people who are having their lives impacted by complications to their health in later years. As public health professionals it is right that we should try and something about it in a practical but compassionate way.”

Harrogate Photographic Society to show historic photos

Harrogate Photographic Society has announced plans for its 100th anniversary, which include showcasing historic images of the town as well as photos from the early days of Ukraine’s independence.

The society was founded on October 23, 1922 and was originally based at a shop on King’s Road.

Mike Hudson, the society’s president for its centenary year, said:

“There were seven members originally but that rapidly expanded… and it took off big time from then.”

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A team from the society has gone through the image archives at Harrogate Library and North Yorkshire County Council to find pictures from that time.

Many images have been lost but the ones which remain are set to be digitised and displayed to the public in the near future.

Mr Hudson said they were hoping to preserve elements of Harrogate’s history. He added:

“When someone passes away, the sons, daughters and relatives… [put photos] in the bin or in the skip and they’re lost forever. We’re very lucky to have just a few photographs and prints that have survived.”

There are also plans for a special presentation alongside local jewellers Ogden of Harrogate about the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in Egypt in 1922.

JR Ogden was tasked with advising archaeologist Howard Carter on the jewels and gold found within the tomb.

The covid pandemic was a challenge for the group, Mr Hudson admitted, with its meetings having to be held online.

However, he hoped that people would now be encouraged to return and meet the photographers in-person.

Four photos of the Harrogate Photographic Society from its recent history

Some of the society members’ photos (photos: Harrogate Photographic Society)

Photos from Ukraine

Following the look at Harrogate’s past, the society will hear from globally renowned photographers including Tim Smith and Paul Haley.

Mr Smith will discuss his time spent in Ukraine and Russia in 1991, when Ukraine voted to declare independence from the Soviet Union.

Mr Haley, a war photographer, will be sharing his photos for the Falklands War, the 40th anniversary of which was this year.

Mike Hudson believed that each photographer brought something different in terms of their work. He said:

“Each photographer has something special to say themselves. They each excel in the genres of photography they take.”

North Yorkshire gets less than half national average for special schools

Education bosses at North Yorkshire County Council have revealed the county only receives 46% of the national average funding to build and extend special schools.

The authority says it receives the country’s lowest level of funding per pupil for special schools despite data evidencing the county has significantly less specialist provision than is available in an average local authority.

As a result, North Yorkshire County Council says creating a school to support young people with significant SEMH needs in Hambleton and Richmondshire has become “an urgent priority” for the Government as it considers how to distribute its £2.6 billion programme for expanding special school provision.

A meeting of the council’s executive on Tuesday looks set to see councillors approve a bid for a share of the funding to cover a new 120-place academy-run special school at former school site on Grammar School Lane, in Northallerton.

The same meeting will also see the leading councillors consider increasing day places at Brompton Hall School, Scarborough and add provision for Special Educational Needs pupils at Caedmon College, Whitby to add to the provision it offers at Forest Moor School, near Harrogate.

Since 2015 North Yorkshire has seen a 131% rise in pupils with Educational Health Care Plans compared to a national increase of 97%.

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An officers’ report to the executive states the relatively limited funding it has received to build or extend special schools has left the authority facing a challenging task in expanding provision for SEMH pupils.

It says the council’s two specialist schools for SEMH pupils, Brompton Hall and Forest Moor, are both “a considerable daily travelling distance” from the Northallerton and Richmond and that talking to parents about sending children is challenging as both the schools are currently rated inadequate by Ofsted.

The report states: 

“Consequently, we have been placing youngsters with SEMH needs in independent special schools with places in those provisions typically costing £60,000 to £70,000 per annum compared to an annual cost per place of £23,000 in the council’s special schools.”

The report states the new school in Northallerton for children aged eight to 16 would enable the authority to support more pupils in appropriate local specialist provision while reducing the ongoing financial pressure on the high needs revenue budget.

The authority says it is “well aware that there are sensitivities within the local community” about how the Grammar School Lane site is used and developed, and that “it is entirely appropriate that those views are factored into the future plans for the site”.

The report concludes: 

“Our site development work indicates that the scale of development we are proposing would not require the full site to be assigned to the school development, with this assessment taking into account the need to rectify the shortfall in outside space currently available to Mill Hill Primary School on the site.”

Changes to Harrogate district bin collections for Queen’s funeral

Changes to bin collections across the Harrogate district have been confirmed for the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II.

Harrogate Borough Council has announced that all collections will take place a day later than usual from the day of the funeral which is being marked with a bank holiday on Monday 19 September.

This will affect garden waste, refuse and recycling collections, and all household waste recycling centres will also close on Monday.

The date changes for bin collections are as follows:

Normal collections will then resume on Monday 26 September.

Meanwhile, all council-run leisure centres in the Harrogate district will also close on Monday “to allow the team to pay their respects to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II,” the council said.

Customer services for both the borough council and North Yorkshire County Council will also be unavailable on this day when Harrogate’s Civic Centre will close.

Anyone who needs to get in touch with the borough council in an emergency should call 01423 556300.

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Call for referendum over Harrogate town council

Senior Conservative councillors in Harrogate are set to call for a referendum on whether to create a town council.

Harrogate Borough Council will no longer exist from April 1 when the new unitary authority, North Yorkshire Council, is created.

If a new town council is created it could be given control over areas including parks, tourism and events.

Some think a town council would boost local decision-making while others regard it as an unnecessary extra layer of bureaucracy.

Next week, Cllr Richard Cooper, leader of the council, and Cllr Graham Swift, deputy leader of the authority, will table a motion calling on the county council to hold a referendum.

Cllr Richard Cooper (left) and Cllr Graham Swift.

Cllr Richard Cooper (left) and Cllr Graham Swift.

North Yorkshire County Council has launched a review into whether to create a lower tier authority in the town. A consultation into the matter is currently being held.

The motion, which will go before a full borough council meeting on September 21, says:

“This council calls upon North Yorkshire County Council to hold a binding referendum of Harrogate town residents who would be constituents of a new Harrogate Town Council to determine whether such a council should be formed.

“Information should be made available before the vote on what duties the new town council will have and how much the additional council tax precept will be to pay for those duties.

“Such a referendum will give democratic legitimacy to the new town council in the eyes of those who fund it and are affected by its decisions.”

Harrogate and Knaresborough Liberal Democrats have already called for Harrogate to have its own town council.

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Harrogate and Scarborough are the only major places in North Yorkshire not to be parished.

Earlier this year, Conservative leader of the county council, Cllr Carl Les, said he hoped the matter could be resolved “as soon as possible”.

When asked when the referendums could be held, Cllr Les told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that this was currently unclear. He said:

“We are getting a lot of requests about town councils made to us from people including local politicians, as well as the business community and groups like Harrogate Civic Society.

“There is clearly an appetite to do something about this.

“And of course the sooner we can do it, the sooner we can find out whether there is an appetite amongst the general population.

“They are the key people in all of this. They have to be asked for their opinion and will say yea or nay.”

A public consultation over setting up a town council for Harrogate is currently open. You can have your say here.

The consultation will close on September 30.

Double North Yorkshire council tax on second homes set to go ahead

Second home owners in North Yorkshire look set to be the first in the country to pay double council tax.

It comes after an investigation into avoidance loopholes concluded there is potential for the charge to be avoided.

In an attempt to help improve access to housing for local people, North Yorkshire County Council’s executive will on Tuesday consider launching a 100% council tax premium on second homes and premises which have been left empty for a year or more from April 1, 2024.

The move follows last year’s North Yorkshire Rural Commission recommending a charge is levied on second homes and used to finance affordable housing, helping to reverse the ongoing exodus of young families from areas where house prices are many times above average wages.

Two months ago the authority’s leading members postponed a decision on the premium after numerous concerns were raised about whether it would encourage council tax avoidance, for instance by second home owners transferring properties transferring to business rates.

Some opposition councillors have claimed the premium will prove difficult to implement while people who have owned properties in the county for decades say the move will simply make second homes the preserve of the rich.

In a report to the executive, officers forecast more than £14 million a year could be raised from using the levy being introduced by the government in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill.

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Research has shown Richmondshire could generate about £1.8 million through the premium, while the Craven, Harrogate and Ryedale areas could each provide about £1.5 million in extra revenue. Hambleton could provide £1 million and the Selby district a further £260,000.

Addressing the concerns over tax avoidance loopholes, the report states that because council tax rates for second homes mirror those of main residences there may be issues with the classification of properties and the application of a second homes premium “may prompt owners to reclassify properties for genuine reasons”.

The report highlights that properties only need to be available to let for more than 20 weeks in a year to be classed under business rates and that the only detail needed to support such a claim is evidence of an advertisement for let for the property.

From April second homeowners must also prove the property was let for short at least 70 days.

The report states the council would use “mechanisms available” to clamp down on couples who own second homes and falsely claim they are living separately and warns of financial penalties if bogus information is provided.

Officers added while the proportion of second homes in Wales paying the 100 per cent premium had fallen by up to nine per cent since being introduced there in 2017, it is unclear whether the downward trend has been caused by avoidance loopholes or by bringing second homes back into use as housing.

Ahead of the debate, the authority’s Green Party group coordinator, Cllr Andy Brown, who represents Aire Valley, said areas faced “being hollowed out of permanent residents” and there was a strong case for raising the council tax not just on second home owners, but “anyone who rents a property out using short term online letting companies”.

He added it would take skill to design a local property tax to impact on rarely used second homes rather than North Yorkshire’s expansive tourism industry.

County council set to reject climate change action appeal

North Yorkshire County Council looks poised to dismiss moves by Green and Liberal Democrat councillors to accelerate the response to thr climate change and biodiversity crises, claiming they could be counter-productive.

The council’s Conservative-run executive will consider two environmental notices of motion that councillors were prevented from debating at a full council meeting in July, with the authority’s chairman instead opting to refer the proposals to its cabinet members.

Both motions propose the establishment of a new committee specifically to scrutinise the council’s progress and leadership in tackling climate change and establishing biodiversity plans to ensure oversight of the collective ambition of the council.

Since losing its overwhelming majority at the May elections, the Tory-led council has been facing mounting pressure, particularly from the Liberal Democrat and Green groups, to redouble its climate change and biodiversity efforts and allow opposition councillors to play a greater role in shaping such policies.

An officers’ report to the executive states the creation of a new scrutiny committee would take the number of such forums at the council to seven.

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It adds the council’s scrutiny function is under review as part of the establishment of a new unitary authority and recommendations would be brought before all elected members later this year.

One of the motions also calls for the creation of a new executive member to reflect the scale of the job, but the officers’ report highlights the executive already has the maximum number of members allowed under the county council’s constitution.

Liberal Democrat group leader Cllr Bryn Griffiths, who represents Stokesley, said the officers’ report failed to fully address the high priority and action needed to effectively deal with climate change and the ecological emergency in North Yorkshire.

He said: 

“I think the points we put forward to deal with that are still valid and worthwhile objectives that the council should be taking on board and should be fully debated by the full council.”

The council’s Conservative leader, Cllr Carl Les said the executive’s debate and recommendations to the next full meeting of the authority in November would focus on how the authority could best manage the impacts of climate change.

He said: 

“It is a hugely important issue to us. It seems to me that the Greens and Lib Dems are suggesting we have to have a special executive member and a special scrutiny committee, but we believe the climate change and biodiversity issues cut across everything that we do.

“The approach that we are taking by embedding it into everything we are doing, so every report we produce now examines the climate change impact, is better.”

When asked if the decision to reject specialist climate change roles and groups at the council was politically-fuelled, Cllr Les said: 

“Not at all. All our scrutiny committees have the ability to look at climate change implications.

“If anything they have more influence and control over what we are doing than what is being proposed.”