Police commissioner given power to hike council tax by £15

North Yorkshire’s Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner has been given the power to increase the police’s share of council tax by £15 this year.

Zoe Metcalfe, the Conservative commissioner, is currently consulting on her budget plans for police and fire services for 2023.

The government has given commissioners the power to increase the force’s share of council tax by £15 before a referendum has to be held.

It has also set a £5 limit on the fire service precept.

A £15 hike in the police precept would be the equivalent of a 5.34% increase and see the force’s share of council tax rise to £296 for a band D property.

Ms Metcalfe has previously warned North Yorkshire Police needs £12 million in extra funding to tackle rising costs, including salary increases and rising cost of fuel and utilities.

She said previously:

“One of my roles is to set the precepts for North Yorkshire Police and North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, something every commissioner has to do every year.

“It is never easy asking for more money, and I know that many individuals and families are facing financial pressures, but our emergency services are also dealing with rising costs as they continue their vital work to keep us all safe.

“This year is particularly challenging as I have to balance the burden on taxpayers and the growing demands for services from our police and fire and rescue services, so it’s vital that I hear your views.”

Read more:

A £15 increase would see an additional £4.7 million in funding compared with last year’s precept level.

The commissioner’s office says the force has a budget of £191 million — 45% of which comes from council tax payers.

Meanwhile, a £5 increase for North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue would equate to a 6.6% increase in its precept.

It would raise £1.5 million and “would lead to no reductions in planned levels of service delivery”, according to a report by the commissioner’s office.

Ms Metcalfe is expected to outline her budget plans for fire and police services in February 2023.

The consultation into police and fire precepts closes on January 16, 2023. You can take part in the survey here.

Fire crews tackle deliberate lorry fire on A168 Cowthorpe

Fire fighters tackled a deliberate lorry fire on the A168 near Cowthorpe last night.

Crews from Knaresborough and Harrogate attended the blaze at 11.21pm.

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service said the fire was inside the trailer of the lorry and the cause was believed to be deliberate.

Crews said the trailer was stationary.

The service added in an incident log:

“Crews extinguished the fire using two breathing apparatus, two hose reel jets, small tools and a thermal imaging camera.”

Read more:

 

Fire crews tackle kitchen fire in Ripon

Fire crews were called to a kitchen fire in Ripon yesterday.

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue received the call to flats on the city’s Blossomgate at 3.17pm.

A woman who lived in the flat was treated for smoke inhalation but did not require hospital treatment.

Crews from Ripon and Harrogate attended the kitchen fire. North Yorkshire Police and paramedics were also on the scene.

An incident log from the fire service said:

“Ripon and Harrogate crews attended a kitchen fire. Two breathing apparatus and one hose reel jet was used.

“Female occupant was treated for smoke inhalation by paramedics on the scene.”

Read more:

 

Stray Views: How long will the A59 roadworks take?

Stray Views is a weekly column giving you the chance to have your say on issues affecting the Harrogate district. It is an opinion column and does not reflect the views of the Stray Ferret. Send your views to letters@thestrayferret.co.uk.

How long will the A59 roadworks take?

In reference to the ongoing roadworks at the A59 junction with the A658 near Goldsborough.

It is clear that the deadline is just being extended again and again. Earlier this week it was due to finish this Friday, now it is November 27. 

Yorkshire Water must know how long the whole project will take – why can’t they just say and then we can all be clear what is going on or not.

Steve Cove, Boroughbridge

Read more:

One fire appliance is ‘not good management’

As one person has stated, cutting down to one appliance at night time is a not good management. 

As a retired firefighter of 30 years of experience, I can state that there are more fatalities at night time by the event that the fire is discovered later than during the day. One reader has made the same comment.

I know what I am talking about as I attended quite a few fatalities during my time as I served in a city fire service.

Leonard Redmond, Harrogate

Do you have an opinion on the Harrogate district? Email us at letters@thestrayferret.co.uk. Please include your name and approximate location details. Limit your letters to 350 words. We reserve the right to edit letters.

Fire crews tackle blaze at Scotton caravan storage site

Fire fighters were called to a major blaze at a caravan storage site in Scotton last night.

Crews from Knaresborough, Boroughbridge, Harrogate and Ripon responded to the fire on Market Flat Lane.

An incident response unit from Malton was also called to the blaze.

Local resident Ed Marshall captured the below video from the fire, which happened at around 7.30pm.

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service said in an incident log that multiple vehicles were affected by the blaze.

The service added:

“Crews used hose reel jets and breathing apparatus to extinguish the fire which had affected multiple vehicles.

“The cause of this fire is to be confirmed.”

Read more:

 

Last chance to comment on proposed Harrogate Fire Station changes

There are just a few days left for people to comment on controversial plans to cut the number of night-time fire engines in Harrogate to just one.

This Sunday is the final day of a three-month consultation on the proposals from the North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service.

The county’s Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Zoë Metcalfe is running an online survey on the plans which she said would “continue to provide an immediate emergency response” during the night when emergencies are less likely to occur.

She has also insisted the proposals are not cost-cutting measures as the fire service already has a balanced budget.

Yet union officials and councillors have raised concerns over the plans which have been described as “seriously concerning” and “putting money before lives”.

Read more:

Steve Howley, secretary at the North Yorkshire Fire Brigades Union, said the proposed move would leave the area with a “second-rate emergency response service that will put lives at risk” as he also urged commissioner Metcalfe to fight for more funding from the government.

The proposals are included in the fire service’s new risk and resource model which sets out how it will deploy staff and equipment over the next three years.

There are similar proposals for fire stations in Scarborough and Huntington which commissioner Metcalfe said along with the Harrogate plans would save over £1.5 million a year to allow for investment in fire prevention.

She added the proposals are based on an “extensive risk assessment” which has identified the likelihood of fires, road traffic collisions and other emergencies.

Commissioner Metcalfe said: 

“The assessment shows that in our area, the risk of having a fire in your home is generally low, with pockets of higher risk in some of our urban areas and also in the south-east of the service area.

“In fact, other emergencies, such as collisions on our roads or rescues from water during storms and floods, make up a larger proportion of what our service responds to.

“Based on this evidence, your fire and rescue service has put forward proposals that it feels will ensure it has the right people with the right equipment in the right place at the right time to reduce the risk of harm in our communities.

“Before I make my decision on whether to implement them, I want to know what you, the people of North Yorkshire and York, think of them.”

To have your say go to www.TellCommissionerZoe.co.uk.

Councillors have ‘major concerns’ about plans to reduce Harrogate fire engines

Councillors said today they had “major concerns” about plans to reduce the number of night time fire engines in Harrogate to one.

North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Zoe Metcalfe defended her plans at a special meeting of North Yorkshire County Council’s Harrogate and Knaresborough Area Constituency Committee.

Ms Metcalfe, a Conservative, told the Liberal Democrat-controlled committee she would still consider a shake-up of Harrogate’s night time fire service even if she had “millions in reserves”.

Ms Metcalfe told the meeting the plans “were not cuts” but the right thing to do. She said:

“If they were cuts, they would have happened yesterday. We do have a balanced budget until 2026. Let’s be very clear on that.

“If I had millions of pounds worth in the bank of reserves, I would still be doing this. I would still be going out on consultation, because it is absolutely right that we identify our risk and where our risk is in the county and York and then put the right resources to cover that risk.”

Ms Metcalfe added that no fire stations were closing and no whole time firefighters were losing their jobs.

Her three-year plan for the fire service includes proposals on staff shift patterns, the number of fire engines operating at night and putting a greater emphasis on fire prevention.

Harrogate and Scarborough currently both have an emergency fire engine and a tactical response fire engine operating 24 hours a day.

Ms Metcalfe’s model proposes both stations have two emergency response vehicles during the day but only one at night. They would lose their tactical response engines altogether.

‘Race to the bottom’

Paul James, chair of the Fire Brigades Union in North Yorkshire, said the plan would leave Harrogate fire station in a “race to the bottom” on response times.

Mr James told the meeting the changes amounted to cuts and that Harrogate was an area of high risk due to its density.

He added that a cut in funding nationally “has dovetailed” with slow response times locally and criticised the lack of a response standard from the service.

Paul James, chair of the North Yorkshire Fire Brigades Union branch.

Paul James, chair of the North Yorkshire Fire Brigades Union branch, at today’s meeting.

Mr James said:

“Harrogate still requires two appliances during the night to cover serious fires, if positive outcomes are to be achieved.

“Under these proposals during the night time hours Ripon, Tadcaster, Malton, Northallerton and Selby will all have more fire engines than Harrogate.”

He added:

“We feel that the continuing avoidance of declaring a standard [response time] is the avoidance of transparency and accountability.

“These proposals will see Harrogate enter the response time race to the bottom that much of the rest of the county competes in.”

Dave Winspear, director of transformation at North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, denied there was a “race to the bottom” on response times for Harrogate.

Read more:

Meanwhile, some councillors were critical of the proposals.

Cllr Robert Windass, a Conservative representing Boroughbridge who was a fire fighter in Leeds for 30 years, said he did not feel the figures on night time fires “were right”.

He added:

“I did 30 years in Leeds and the most fatalities and the most people we had to rescue was during the hours of night.

“Not during the day, we did get them, but the majority was at night time when people were asleep and when something went wrong such as children playing with matches and things like that.

“So I won’t dispute your figures, but I don’t think they are right.”

As part of its response to the plans, the committee agreed to express major concerns over night cover but welcomed investment in prevention work.

You can find out more about the proposed changes and take part in the consultation here.

Fire crews called to garage blaze in Lofthouse

Fire crews were called to a fire at a garage in Lofthouse late last night.

Fire fighters from Masham, Summerbridge and Lofthouse were summoned to the village at 11.51pm.

The fire was estimated to have damaged 50% of the garage and its contents.

The owner of the property extinguished the blaze before North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue arrived.

The service added in an incident log:

“Crews carried out an inspection using a thermal imaging camera and gave advice to the owner.

“The cause of the fire is believed to be accidental.”

Read more:

 

Emergency services attend three car crash on Ripley Road

Emergency services were called to a crash on Knaresborough’s Ripley Road yesterday.

Police, fire crews and and an air ambulance attended the three car crash at 6.13pm.

Fire fighters from Harrogate and Knaresborough were called to the incident.

An incident log from North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue said crews attended the three vehicle road traffic collision and extricated a female passenger at the scene.

The Stray Ferret has contacted North Yorkshire Police and Yorkshire Air Ambulance for further details on the crash.

Read more:

 

Roof fire causes ‘serious damage’ to old rectory near Ripon

The old rectory in West Tanfield, north of Ripon, has been seriously damaged by fire today.

Crews from Ripon, Masham, Bedale, Leyburn, Northallerton and Thirsk tackled the blaze, which occurred next to the parish church of St Nicholas.

The Stray Ferret understands the roof of the property has collapsed.  It is not yet known how the fire started but it is not believed anyone was injured.

Firefighters tackle the blaze in West Tanfield.

Firefighters tackle the blaze in West Tanfield.

Masham fire station said in a social media post this evening that it and Ripon fire crews were called to reports of a fire in the roof at 10.50am. It added:

“After arriving a short time later a serious fire was developing in the attic space of the property.

“Further appliances from Bedale, Leyburn, Northallerton and Thirsk and an aerial ladder platform from Harrogate fire station was requested.

“Crews entered the building in breathing apparatus to attempt to stop the fire from spreading, but had to be withdrawn due to safety reasons.

“The house has suffered serious damage and crews remain at the scene into the evening damping down.”

Read More: