north yorkshire county council Archives - Page 45 of 96

Free school cycling lessons to be ended in North Yorkshire

North Yorkshire County Council is facing criticism over a proposal to charge thousands of parents for their children’s school cycling proficiency training

Leading councillors will on Friday consider accepting the Department for Transport’s grant to run Bikeability, the government’s national cycle training programme, which teaches practical skills as well as how to cycle on roads.

A proposal to formally accept the grant has been made despite the sum being less than the £46.20 per pupil received last year. The shortfall in total is almost £90,000 and could lead to a £10 charge for parents to partially offset this.

An officers’ report states alongside an increased subsidy from the council, from September will be the first full year in which fees will be charged to the families of more than 4,000 primary school pupils for the course.

The officers’ report warns:

“For the programme to continue, funding will be required to meet the shortfall, through either a full charging scheme or another source.

“This may impact on the number of schools booking courses.”

The report reveals that for the current academic year, the council accepted a grant of £168,165 to provide up to 3,637 places on the scheme, which employs seven fixed-term, part-time staff and approximately 40 casual relief cycle trainers.

For the coming academic year the Department for Transport has offered grant funding of £186,165, to provide 4,137 places, equating to £45 per pupil.

The report adds:

“For the programme to continue, funding will be required to meet the shortfall, through either a full charging scheme or another source.”

The council’s executive member for access, Don Mackenzie, said while the charge to parents was coming on top of many other cost of living increases, the benefits of undertaking cycling training were very significant.

Describing the £10 fee as “a very small amount”, Cllr Mackenzie said Bikeability had become more important with the switch to more sustainable modes of travel and in the drive to tackle obesity.

He said:

“It gives people better skills on the road, improves their confidence, and once trained encourages more people to take up cycling. To me it is up there with life skills such as learning to swim.”

‘Dreadful idea’

However, the authority’s Liberal Democrat and Labour group leaders, councillors Bryn Griffiths and Eric Broadbent, have called for the ruling Conservative administration to rethink the levying charge, saying it would prove divisive in some schools and an unacceptable extra charge for many families.

Cllr Griffiths said putting an extra £10 charge on people already struggling to make ends meet due to mounting fuel and food costs was “a dreadful idea”.

He said:

“An exemption for children on free school meals would be an excellent idea.”

Cllr Broadbent added he was concerned the charge could lead to some children from financially struggling families not taking the course and while £10 would seem a minimal sum to many people, it would represent another item those on low incomes would not have budgeted for.

North Yorkshire pension scheme investments in Russia total £5m

Almost 97,000 people who have contributed to the North York and York local government pension scheme could see up to £5 million of the fund wiped out unless those managing it are able to recover investments they have made in Russia.

However, council bosses have emphasised that whether or not the investments in Russian companies can be retrieved when trading eventually resumes on Moscow’s stock exchange the £5 billion pension fund is in a particularly strong position.

The North Yorkshire and York Pension fund represents a tiny fraction of the £5 billion in shares British investors have trapped in Moscow’s stock market, which has remained closed since sweeping sanctions were launched against Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine.

Officers overseeing the pension scheme said while it had no direct investments in Russia, some of the external fund managers the fund used had discretion to invest where they could generate the greatest returns for the former and current local authority employees and numerous other public, education and voluntary sector staff in the scheme.

They confirmed while the pension scheme had no holdings in states such as North Korea or Iran, some 0.1% of the investments were in Russia and due to China’s economic strength it was almost impossible to avoid having a significant amount of holdings on the Shanghai exchange if the pension fund was to grow.

The last decade has seen a turnaround in the fortunes of the North Yorkshire Pension Fund which has been described by council officers as “miraculous”, going from a funding level of just 35% to 129%, with a £1 billion surplus.

Officers said even with the loss of the Russian holdings the funding level would remain well above 128% funding level.

Despite this, opposition councillors have questioned why those managing the pension fund did not withdraw the Russian investments as the prospect of war mounted over several weeks.

Cllr Stuart Parsons, leader of the opposition on the county council, said it had been clear Russia was an unsuitable place to invest in since its invasion of Crimea in 2014, and those concerns had been heightened by Russia’s actions such as the Salisbury novichok posoinings.

He said many of the 97,000 people invested in the fund would recoil in horror at the thought of their contributions bolstering the Russian economy and regime.

While the pension fund’s managers already invest within parameters, it is understood some bosses overseeing the fund will examine whether it is possible to further restrict where and how the pension fund can be used in future.

Cllr John Weighell, who led the county council for 14 years and now chairs the Pension Fund Committee, said fund managers were instructed to go over and above ethical criteria, with a commitment to “responsible investments”.

He added the pension fund had a responsibility to generate returns for its contributors so councillors would never direct experts it employed about individual investments.

Asked why the Russian investments had not been withdrawn before the invasion, Cllr Weighell said the Russian action had not been foreseeable as there had not been such a conflict in Europe for many decades.

A spokesman for the North Yorkshire Pension Fund said it was working with fund managers and its investment advisers to determine the most appropriate action in the longer term.

He said:

“We are saddened by and strongly condemn the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.

“Given the current circumstances we have immediately suspended making any further investments in Russia, and continue to review our existing investments including our approach to exiting in due course as and when markets permit.”

Otley Road cycle route progress ‘appalling’, says cycle group

Progress on a cycle route on Harrogate’s Otley Road is “appalling”, says a local cycle group.

The comments come as the next stages of Harrogate’s Otley Road cycle path are to be reviewed in line with new government guidance after complaints that parts of the completed route are “unsafe”.

It is likely to mean further delays for the troubled project, which first secured funding in 2017 and is seen as key to cutting congestion in the town.

Officials at North Yorkshire County Council this week held a walkthrough with cycling campaigners who have been left frustrated over the delays and have also raised concerns over the completed works.

John Rowe, vice chairman of Harrogate District Cycle Action, described the progress made so far as “appalling” – but said he was glad the feedback and new guidelines are now being taken into account.

He said:

“Talks have been constructive, but the challenge we have got is that the designs were done before the new national standards were introduced.

“There also wasn’t an awful lot of willingness on behalf of the council to look at best practice without those standards. They wanted to do what they felt was adequate with the experience they had.

“The results are a little disappointing, but that is not hugely unexpected.

“We are hoping the next stages can be built better and with these new quality design standards in mind.”

The guidance published in 2020 says “cycles must be treated as vehicles and not as pedestrians” – and also gave new priorities including wider cycle lanes which are segregated from traffic.

Mr Rowe said while recognised there are space constraints on Otley Road, parts of the completed route were “badly designed”.

A particular concern is a narrowed section of cycle path at Otley Road’s junction with Harlow Moor Road which has been described as “unsafe”.

The council is currently in talks with Yorkshire Water to buy a small plot of land in order to remove a wall and widen a corner on this part of the route.

Mr Rowe said:

“That whole corner needs taking out because there is just no space – the gap is barely wide enough for a bike to get around.

“You can just imagine kids cycling around there – plus pedestrians – at school run time. There is just no space for that to happen safely.”

Council ‘will listen to concerns’

Melisa Burnham, area highways manager at North Yorkshire County Council, has insisted the completed route is safe and that the council will listen to all current concerns and further feedback under the next stages.

She also said the new guidelines would be used as a “starting point to create a safe route” under the next stages, although she added they “cannot be fully applied” to all parts of the route.

Ms Burnham said:

“We recognise the new cycling guidance and the benefits this brings to users.

“We are always ready to take on board the experience of users which is why we walked through the route with the cycle group and designers to understand if any further improvements to phase one can be made.

“The route is safe and we will be carrying out a third safety audit in the next few weeks.

Ms Burnham also said the council is committed to widening the corner at Harlow Moor Road and that the land purchase should be concluded “within the next three to six months.”

She added:

“We will be holding further workshops with key stakeholder groups to review designs for the second and third phases of the cycleway scheme in light of this new guidance.

“Once all phases of the scheme are finished it will help to improve safety along the entire length of the Otley Road corridor.

“The aim is to accommodate all users – pedestrians, cyclists and motorists – to aid sustainable travel, ease congestion and support the future growth of Harrogate.”

The Otley Road cycle path is part of a wider package of sustainable transport measures for the west of Harrogate which once completed will cost around £4.6 million.

The council previously said it hoped to start work on the next stage in April.

‘Limited funding’ for traffic calming on Cold Bath Road, says council

North Yorkshire County Council officials have said there is “limited funding available” to implement traffic calming measures on Harrogate’s Cold Bath Road.

A call was made to introduce speed cameras or CCTV to the road following a three-car collision in the early hours of Sunday morning.

One resident said that the road becomes a racetrack after 10.30pm and called on the authorities to do more to tackle the issue.

However, an email to the resident from the county council, seen by the Stray Ferret, says that measures for the road would be costly and there is limited funding.

Paul Ryan, project engineer at the county council, said:

“Our collision data shows that in the last three years there have been four collisions resulting in personal injury along Cold Bath Road — two slight and two serious. One slight involved a low speed shunt when in queuing traffic, the other slight involved a pedestrian stepping off a controlled crossing when green light was for vehicular traffic.

“The first serious involved a motorist pulling over towards the kerb edge to avoid oncoming traffic and has collided with a pedestrian, the second serious involved a motorists driving away from a parking space and colliding with a passing cyclist.

“It is therefore unlikely that further traffic calming measures would have reduced the likelihood of these types of collisions and personal injury.”

Mr Ryan added:

“The situation on Cold Bath Road will continue to be monitored, alongside all other roads across the county to highlight where the limited funding available for improvement schemes is targeted towards.”

North Yorkshire Police continues to investigate the Cold Bath Road crash and has appealed for witnesses and CCTV footage.

It involved a Volkswagen Golf heading towards Otley Road which crashed into two parked cars at the junction with West Cliffe Road at 3.10am on Sunday morning, leaving one passenger unconscious. No other injuries were reported.

No arrests have been made in connection with the incident.

A police statement added:

“It is only by sheer luck that the collision didn’t result in a fatality.

“As part of the investigation we would like to appeal to local residents and businesses to check their CCTV systems and ring doorbells around the time of the collision as it may have captured the vehicle, the collision, and anyone making off from the scene shortly afterwards.

“Additionally, if anyone has any other information about the incident which may assist our enquiries please contact us quoting reference 12220038835.”

‘Do you need to wait until somebody is killed by a speeding car?’

A parish council near Knaresborough has written to 32 North Yorkshire county councillors urging them to make 20mph the default speed limit in their area.

Goldsborough and Flaxby Parish Council said in the email action should be taken now to reduce the current 30mph limit before somebody is killed.

The council wrote the letter in support of the 20s Plenty campaign, which is a national initiative to make a 20mph speed limit normal on residential streets and in town and village centres.

The email says drivers “put their foot down” in Goldsborough even though it has a primary school. It adds that only about 15% of all the roads have pavements on both sides, forcing them to walk on the highways,

The red arrow shows the playground entrance in Goldsborough.

It adds:

“There is a high proportion of elderly residents in Goldsborough, many of whom may have hearing issues and reduced sight, and are physically less able to move out of the way quickly.

“There are not many street lights in the village and, as such, at dusk or in the dark, it is not easy for drivers to see people walking in or crossing the roads.”

Flaxby speed signs ‘in wrong place’

The email says the current 30mph signs in Flaxby “are completely in the wrong place, and drivers have already entered the village before they see the speed signs and even think about slowing down”.

It adds a speed survey in 2018 revealed 17.5% of motorists travelled over the 30mph speed limit. The correspondence also raises concerns about the lack of street lighting and the number of HGVs driving through the village to visit the weigh-station at Gill’s Farm, just past Coneythorpe.

HGVs often go along Shortsill Lane in Flaxby, which has no pavements.

The email says:

“Do you really need to wait until somebody is killed by a car speeding through a North Yorkshire village before you begin to tackle this important issue?”

North Yorkshire County Council is the highways authority for the county. The parish council wrote to 32 county councillors that sit on boards, panels and committees that could influence speeding decisions.

Caroline Greenhalgh, vice chairman of the parish council, told the Stray Ferret it had received just two responses from councillors so far, saying the matter was being considered.

Delayed A59 Kex Gill reroute now set to start next year and finish in 2025

The delayed £60 million reroute of the A59 at Kex Gill is now unlikely to start until next year, with work continuing until 2025.

North Yorkshire County Council previously said it hoped the reroute would start in autumn last year and take 15 months.

But the council is still negotiating on one remaining objection to compulsory purchase orders it issued for the scheme.

The A59 is the main route between Harrogate and Skipton. A diversion is planned west of Blubberhouses on the A59 at Kex Gill, which has been blighted by a history of landslides and a recent “instability issue” that cost the council £1.4 million to resolve.

Richard Binks, head of major projects and infrastructure at the council, said:

“We remain committed to progressing the essential realignment of the A59 at Kex Gill as quickly as possible.

“Negotiations over the one remaining objection are now in an advanced position and we are confident of a positive resolution in the coming weeks.

“This would enable a contractor to be on site to carry out preparatory work by the end of the year, with main construction beginning early next year. Completion would be scheduled for early 2025.”

If left unresolved, the objections could lead to a public inquiry – which would delay the start of the project further.

Cllr Don Mackenzie, executive councillor for access at the council, told a council meeting last year.

“The project programme without a public inquiry indicates that construction could start this autumn (2021). On the other hand, if a public inquiry is required, the start of works could be delayed by up to 15 months.”

Key dates revealed for elections to new North Yorkshire Council

Candidates could be able to put themselves forward as soon as next week for May’s elections to the new North Yorkshire Council.

The election will be one of the most crucial in the county’s history because it will spell out the end of North Yorkshire County Council and the seven district and borough councils in Harrogate, Selby, Scarborough, Craven, Hambleton, Ryedale and Richmondshire.

They will be replaced by the new unitary authority from April 2023.

Nominations are likely to open on Friday next week for candidates hoping to become one of the 90 councillors who will lead a new era of local government.

That date is subject to new legislation, which is currently passing through Parliament and once approved will fire the starting gun for voting to take place on 5 May.

Speaking at a public briefing last night, Ben Nattrass, elections manager at Harrogate Borough Council, said parliamentary approval of the legislation was expected next week as he also set out some of the next steps.

He said:

“We are waiting for the Structural Changes Order to pass through Parliament and we expect that to be done next week, which would allow us to open nominations on March 18.

“Each candidate who wishes to stand in the elections must submit a set of nomination forms and these must be submitted no later than 4pm on 5 April.”

Once approved, the Structural Changes Order will be followed by an official notice of election, which is likely to be published on March 17.

Voting on May 5

Candidate nominations will then open the following day before closing on April 5.

After voting takes place on May 5, polling cards will then be counted and the results announced the following day.

The newly elected councillors will represent 89 new divisions on North Yorkshire County Council for one year before serving a four-year term on the new council.

They will play a key role in shaping how public services will work in the future, with all areas from bin collections to road maintenance being transferred across to the new council in what will be a mammoth task.

Richard Flinton, chief executive of North Yorkshire County Council, previously said:

“The councillors elected on 5 May will make decisions on services that affect individuals, families and communities, so we want to make sure that anyone who wants to consider stepping forward as a candidate has all the information they need.

“These elections are important for everyone in the county, so if you are eligible to vote, please make sure that you are registered, then you can be sure that your vote will count.”

The deadline for people to register to vote is April 14.

To find out more on how to become a candidate, tap or click here.

£4.9bn North Yorkshire pension fund struggles to offload holdings in Russia

Managers of a pension fund run for North Yorkshire and York’s biggest employers as well as for a large number of staff working for a spectrum of private firms are struggling to offload indirect holdings in Russia, it has emerged.

A meeting of the North Yorkshire Pension Fund Committee heard it had some £4.9 billion of assets at the end of the year and liabilities of only £3.8 billion, leaving a surplus of over £1 billion.

Members were told that although the pension fund was “very healthy”, with a 129% funding level, about 0.1% of the fund related to Russian “indirect holdings through our managers”.

Council officers told the meeting:

“We are working with those pension fund managers and our advisors on the most appropriate course of action to take, but options are quite limited at the moment.

“One issue at the moment is that the Russian stock exchange is actually closed at the moment.”

The meeting also saw the pension fund, whose members range from teachers to security guards, heralded for efforts to ensure its investments help to tackle climate change.

Council officers said while investing in commodities such as oil, energy and metals, during the current period of high inflation was profitable, over the long-term such investments would not be pursued.

They said while the North Yorkshire Pension Fund has its own responsible investment policy that was reviewed annually, the authority had been working with one of its fund managers Border to Coast, one of the UK’s largest pension pools, on the development of its climate change policies.

Climate change

York councillor Christian Vassie welcomed the policy change, saying the pension fund clearly recognised the role that such pension funds had in the transition to a low carbon economy in the future.

He said while it was vital the fund continued to make money for its members, he was hopeful North Yorkshire Pension Fund would press home the importance of climate change in investment decisions.

Cllr Vassie said balancing responsibilities to ensure that people have a secure pension when they retire while ensuring that we all have somewhere to retire to.

He added:

“This pension fund has a clear leadership role to move Border to Coast forward. There are a number of instances where they are showing less commitment than some would like.”

Bride’s disappointment as Harrogate Register Office maintains covid guest limit

A bride-to-be has expressed disappointment after discovering Harrogate Register Office is still imposing covid restrictions on the number of wedding guests.

Deanna Contreras and Sean Wilkinson are due to tie the knot at the register office on May 27.

They have been told the maximum amount of guests permitted remains 32 rather than 55 — which was the number pre-covid.

Ms Contreras, who got engaged shortly before covid struck two years ago, said:

“We were supposed to get married last year but postponed it because we wanted all our family there.

“It never entered my head that the limit would still be 32 people.”

It means the couple have had to restrict family invitations as well as partners of guests.

The register office on Park Parade.

Ms Contreras, who lives in Starbeck, said:

“We thought ‘let’s wait and have a happy time in 2022’ — and it will be a happy time but this has put a dampener on it.

“I’m not going to get stressed about it. I’m 56 and have been married before but I do feel sorry for young brides.

“I think this is a bit over the top. We can’t keep putting everything on hold for covid.”

Last month Ms Contreras wrote to Harrogate Borough Council leader Richard Cooper about the matter.

Cllr Cooper replied to say:

“From my point of view I cannot see what possible justification there can be for restrictions in numbers to be given when all national restrictions have been lifted and the event is three months away.”

He added he would contact the leader of North Yorkshire County Council, which is responsible for the register office, urging it to think again.

‘Reviewing arrangements’

Neil Irving, assistant director for policy, partnerships and communities at the county council, told the Stray Ferret:

“Until April 1 we are required by law explicitly to consider covid transmission risks around public events.

“Government continues to advise that space and ventilation are important factors in minimising covid transmission.

“We are currently reviewing all our arrangements for events such as weddings and to bring in changes from the beginning of April, but for the present we continue to take steps to minimise covid transmission as rates, though falling, continue to be relatively high.”

Coming soon! New pothole machine to improve Harrogate district roads

North Yorkshire County Council has said it will use two new state-of-the-art machines to blitz potholes across the county this month.

The machines are able to fix the potholes through a technique called spray injection patching.

With this method, the machines clean and dry the holes then fill them with a cold bitumen compound to seal cracks. Finally, an aggregate is used to fill the hole.

The county council said in a press release yesterday that acquiring the machines would enable it to undertake “an extended programme of pothole repairs across many North Yorkshire neighbourhoods during March”.

It added “local communities will be informed of locations and anticipated dates for the work very shortly”.

The council was encouraged by a recent trial of the machines and believes they are a cheaper and quicker way to fill in potholes. It also said repairs can last longer.

Conservative councillor Don Mackenzie, executive member for highways, said:

“The trials carried out were very successful and this is a great opportunity to repair more roads.

“This is good news for residents of North Yorkshire, spray injection patching is a much quicker process of repairing potholes and the repairs tend to last a lot longer.

“It offers a cost-effective way of repairing potholes whilst reducing the inconvenience to the travelling public. We have also secured the services of this specialist equipment later in the year.”

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‘Dreadful idea’

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Council ‘will listen to concerns’

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Flaxby speed signs ‘in wrong place’

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Voting on May 5

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Climate change

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‘Reviewing arrangements’

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