Council draws up North Yorkshire Combined Authority branding

Council officials have drawn up logos and designs for the new York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority.

The combined authority, which will be headed by an elected mayor, is scheduled to be launched in November this year.

It will include councillors from North Yorkshire Council and City of York Council and make decisions on matters such as economic development and transport.

Officials have drawn up brand designs for the new council at a cost of £5,000.

The designs, which were developed in-house, include colours from each of the authorities including North Yorkshire Council, City of York Council, York and North Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership and the North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner.

A spokesperson for the council said that the designs were drawn up “in order to minimise spend and utilise existing assets as much as possible”.

They added:

“The branding was developed taking into account all of the partners existing logos and colour palettes, including for the LEP’s Growth Hub and Invest in York and North Yorkshire brands.

“This was in order to minimise spend and utilise existing assets as much as possible. An iterative process, working through a number of concepts led to the brand that was approved by the joint committee.”

The branding is expected to be included on social media, the authority website, posters and staff lanyards.

What is a combined authority?

A combined authority is a body set up for two or more councils to make joint decisions.

In this case, North Yorkshire Council and City of York Council would come together to make decisions on matters such as economic development and transport.

It will be a separate body to North Yorkshire Council and City of York Council.

The closest example of this is West Yorkshire Combined Authority, which recently has led on the £11.9 million Harrogate Station Gateway scheme, as well as similar schemes in Skipton and Selby.

The combined authority would be headed by a mayor who is directly elected by the public.

An election for the Mayor of York and North Yorkshire is set to be held in May 2024.

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North Yorkshire tourism bosses warned not to repeat past mistakes

Officials developing a destination management plan to replace Welcome to Yorkshire have been urged to learn the lessons from the past.

A meeting of North Yorkshire Council’s transition scrutiny committee yesterday heard councillors call for the local authority to protect the Yorkshire brand, take more heed of the views of small businesses and work to attract international events without losing oversight of the consequences of tourism on communities.

Councillors were told the local authority was weeks away from submitting a destination management plan  to Visit England to join neighbouring areas such as East Riding, Durham and Cumbria in becoming a local visitor economy partnership, to gain more national funding and support.

Officers told the meeting at County Hall in Northallerton they had consulted extensively with the sector on the framework which would lead, influence and coordinate all of “the aspects of our destination which contribute to a visitor’s experience”.

They said the plan would take account of the needs of visitors, residents, businesses, and the environment, joining all organisations with an interest in the industry responsible for 10 per cent of the county’s economy.

It is planned to bring Yorkshire LVEPs together in a destination development partnership, which would then identify collective strategic priorities.

In addition, the council is also part of a group looking at marketing North Yorkshire at a national and international level, the meeting was told.

Councillors heard while the council’s ambition is to increase the £2bn visitor spend by about 5% a year and increase the proportion overnight visitors to 20% of all visits, there were concerns the latter aim could exacerbate housing and staff accommodation issues in some areas.

An officer told members the council was confident the plan’s priorities reflected what the industry was wanting.

He added: 

“We have a really ambitious set of targets to grow it year on year and to retain more overall visitors.

“We get a lot of day visitors but there is a real shift to try and get overnight stays and the retention time being longer.

“We want that plan to be private sector-led, but also with a clear steer from where the local authority is taking the lead. We are not under-estimating our leadership role in this, but we also want the sector to own and help us deliver these ambitions.”

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However, Helmsley division councillor George Jabbour highlighted how comments by the Federation of Small Businesses, which represents 4,000 businesses in the county and York, on the council’s plan had been “very far from glowing”.

FSB comments included: 

“Businesses are frustrated after being excited about the new start that this is where we have landed – they don’t see the purpose of the DMP or what need it answers due to the confused plan and lack of vision.”

Cllr Jabbour added: 

“North Yorkshire County Council had too close a relationship with Welcome to Yorkshire. There were a few scandals involved there. It is a concern from the start we don’t get as close and that the new council makes the same mistakes as before.

“The reality is we have got to make sure we have something quite ambitious and hopefully we will have enough time to change and improve the final plan.”

Officers said they would meet the FSB to address concerns, but some businesses appeared to have confused the management plan for a strategy.

The committee’s acting chairman, Cllr Bryn Griffiths, told officers: 

“Don’t lose the Yorkshire brand. The Yorkshire brand is so strong. Don’t degenerate it.”

Government urged to ‘come clean’ on North Yorkshire RAAC schools

Harrogate and Knaresborough Liberal Democrats have called on the government to “come clean” on which schools in North Yorkshire are affected by dangerous concrete.

The Department for Education revealed this week that 156 schools in England have been identified as having reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC).

There is concern that those facilities with RAAC are prone to collapse.

Nick Gibb, schools minister, has said the number of schools affected may still increase.

The government has not said when a list of the affected schools will be published.

Tom Gordon, Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate for Harrogate and Knaresborough, said ministers should say which schools in North Yorkshire have been identified as being at risk.

He said:

“The government must come clean about what schools in our area are affected by crumbling concrete.

“Parents, grandparents, guardians and carers of children attending schools in North Yorkshire have a right to know that their children are safe at school.”

Mr Gordon blamed “years of underinvestment by the Conservative government” for “crumbling school facilities”. He added:

“The government has known about this crumbling concrete for years, but time and again has denied our children the money needed to stop schools from collapsing completely.

“Ministers must release information about each and every school that has been affected so far, and also set out a timetable to complete inspections on all other schools suspected to have RAAC.”

Mr Gordon added that he has called on North Yorkshire Council to confirmed if all schools in North Yorkshire have been surveyed for the crumbling RAAC ahead of the new school year.

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North Yorkshire Police pledge bank holiday blitz on motorbikes

Motorcyclists in North Yorkshire will be targeted this bank holiday weekend as part of a police operation.

North Yorkshire Police will use a H2 Kawasaki Ninja unmarked motorbike equipped with cameras to gather evidence for prosecutions.

It will also deploy several marked and unmarked police bikes and cars and speed camera vans on key routes across the county.

The force said the “engagement and enforcement” was part of a National Police Chiefs’ Council operation on motorcycle safety this weekend.

It said the main priority was to reduce the number of road casualties.

Motorcyclists represent almost a quarter of fatal or serious injury collisions in the UK, despite making up three per cent of vehicles on the roads.

Many bikers take to the county’s vast road network for days out over the bank holiday.

Superintendent Alex Butterfield said:

“Everyone has the right to travel on the road safely. We believe that no one should be killed or seriously injured as a consequence of using our road network and we will continue to work together to prevent harm and make our communities safer.”

North Yorkshire released this video about the weekend campaign.

Council to approve £400,000 to draw up new housing plan

North Yorkshire Council is set to spend £400,000 on creating a new housing plan for the county.

The Local Plan will guide where land can be used for housing and employment for decades to come.

It will replace the Harrogate district Local Plan 2014-35, which outlines where development can take place across the district between 2014 and 2035.

The old plan was published by Harrogate Borough Council, which was abolished at the end of March.

The new North Yorkshire Council executive next week will recommend approving a sum to help progress work on the first year of the countywide plan.

This will include commissioning “key technical evidence”, such as flood, transport and housing needs assessments.

Gary Fielding, corporate director for strategic resources at North Yorkshire Council, said in a report a full cost for the plan will be published at a later date.

He said:

“The preparation of a new Local Plan for the whole of North Yorkshire is now required and involves pulling together multiple work streams across council services. 

“Discussions are underway with several services including highways to fully understand the technical evidence required to support a new plan and the resource implications involved.

“Benchmarking is also underway to understand any cost efficiencies of pulling together evidence for seven former district authorities.

“A full report on budgets will be pulled together which addresses the resource and staffing implications for developing a Local Plan over the next five year.”

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The plan will plot where housing and development can take place over the next 30 years, including across the Harrogate district.

Conservative councillors on the authority’s executive agreed to draw up the Local Plan last December.

Barn conversion ‘free for all’ could lead to ‘destruction’ of Dales, say national park leaders

National park leaders have criticised a government proposal to allow landowners to redevelop barns in protected landscapes into homes without planning consent.

Leading officers at both the Yorkshire Dales and North York Moors national parks have said the potential relaxation of the planning system outlined in a Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities consultation were very concerning.

National park bosses are dismayed a proposal to give farmers permitted development rights on barns has resurfaced less than a decade after the government abandoned the same proposal amid an outcry.

In 2014, park authorities and MPs raised concerns about the suburbanisation of rural areas if a swathe of barns was turned into homes, saying the proposal flew in the face of protecting national parks.

Impetus for the latest proposal has been linked to the government abandoning housing targets and an attempt to find ways to increase housebuilding in the face of a national housing shortage.

The consultation states: 

“Allowing our town and village centres within protected landscapes (such as national parks) to benefit from the right could help ensure the longer-term viability and vitality of these community hubs, supporting the residents and businesses that rely on them.

“We also want to support the agricultural sector by providing further flexibilities to farmers to undertake works on their agricultural units and enable farm diversification without having to submit a planning application.”

Chris France, director of planning at the North York Moors National Park Authority, said agricultural buildings played a key contribution to cultural heritage of the country’s national parks.

He said: 

“We don’t say you can’t do anything with them, but the whole point in having a planning system in a protected landscape is to carefully control those changes.

“The proposal to take barn conversions outside the planning process completely disenfranchises local populations, neighbours and in national parks, the nation, because we wouldn’t have any input into whether we think a proposal is acceptable.

“In national parks this isn’t going to deliver more housing for local people, which is what’s needed, it will just deliver more holiday homes and destroy our finest landscapes at the same time.”

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The national park leaders said the move would do nothing to ease the need for affordable housing in either area as developers would not have any restriction on the type of homes they created.

Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority chief executive David Butterworth said the proposal would mean up to 6,500 field barns across the 841sq mile area could be converted into homes, “decimating” the landscapes.

He added: 

“If I was trying to devise a policy that would essentially lead to the destruction of Yorkshire Dales national park, this would be the policy. These are permitted development rights to convert a property without any planning restriction.

“It is one of the most bonkers examples of environmental destruction I could think of. I am extremely concerned that this has been introduced now with an eight-week consultation. It is just crackers.”

A spokesperson for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said: 

“This consultation remains open and we will consider all responses, including that from National Parks UK, before coming to a decision. We have been clear that any developments must be beautiful and enhance the environment.”

Criticism as ‘affordable’ Yorkshire Dales national park houses marketed at up to £320,000

Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority is facing criticism after it emerged properties built as part of a flagship affordable housing scheme designed to enable young people to get a “first foot on the property ladder” are being marketed at up to £320,000.

A Yorkshire Dales community leader and local families have said the shared ownership properties at The Hornblower Court development in Bainbridge, the cost of which averages at £278,000, are in no way affordable and have done nothing to ease the housing crisis in Wensleydale or the national park.

The development in the highly protected area was only given consent on condition that it delivered affordable housing.

Under the scheme, potential buyers wanting a 25% share in a £320,000 end of terrace three-bedroom property would pay a weekly rent of £126.92 while also paying off their £80,000 contribution.

The homes are being marketed under shared ownership following the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority being threatened by a neighbouring resident to the site with High Court action over its decision to approve the original scheme, which saw the most expensive property priced at £196,000.

In 2019, averting potential huge court costs, the park authority conceded £196,000 was not affordable for many local residents and started working with Broadacres Housing Association on an alternative scheme.

After the house prices were revealed, Bainbridge residents described the development as a missed opportunity to stem the departure of young people from the area.

One resident, whose name is withheld, said: 

“How can a house that was not affordable at £196,000 for 100% ownership become affordable when it now costs £320,00 for 80% ownership? It absolutely stinks.”

Upper Dales councillor Yvonne Peacock added: 

“How can anyone local possibly afford to live in them?

“If the park authority had gone ahead with the original scheme the houses would have cost up to £124,000 less than they do now. When challenged they were not brave enough to stand their ground and by members’ convictions.

“The original affordable housing scheme was passed twice, unanimously, by members and after a resident threatened a judicial review they backed down and went for affordable housing through shared ownership and look what we are left with.”

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Member champion for sustainable development at the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, Richard Foster, said the authority was examining how it could ensure a range of affordable housing tenures were available in its forthcoming Local Plan.

He said: 

“We are in a desirable area and it does price the lower end of the market out.

“These houses may not be affordable to everybody, but hopefully there will be locals out there who can afford these houses.

“It is not affordable in the purest sense of the word, but it is making a type of housing affordable for people who can’t afford because they live in a national park and have a job in a national park.”

Broadacres’ director Helen Fielding said the housing association fully understand many local people in rural parts of North Yorkshire found it difficult to buy a home in their home communities because prices are so high, particularly in the national park.

She added: 

“Our shared ownership homes at Bainbridge offer people with a connection to the area the opportunity to buy as little as a ten per cent share in their home, in the first instance, for just £24,000 and then pay a subsidised rent on the remaining share.

“This means that people can get that all important first foot on the property ladder with a smaller initial deposit and in future, if their circumstances permit, they may buy additional shares in their home, further reducing the amount of rent they pay on the unsold share.

“We know how important it is to rural life for local people to find suitable homes in the communities they grow up in, and we’re committed to helping people find their forever homes close to family, friends and work.”

Stray Views: Time to ban dogs from Valley Gardens?

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.

People who do not keep their dogs on leads despite signage are spoiling other people’s enjoyment of Valley Gardens.

The rules need to be strictly enforced or ban dogs to a separate area that is perhaps not so popular with other members of the public.

I like dogs but I believe that some people do not consider others when they just let them off the lead.

Susan Lovatt, Harrogate

‘Poor service’ at Harrogate station

I met my daughter off the London train today. She’s pregnant and has a toddler and travelled from King’s Cross. I was not allowed on the platform to help her off the train despite the fact that the train terminated there and so I wouldn’t be going anywhere. 

When I questioned the staff I was told that she should have booked assistance. All I wanted to do was help her off the train, but they were not interested. 

Very poor service and a taste of worse to come I suspect.

Julie Boothman, 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.

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Council approves additional £1m to set up North Yorkshire combined authority

A committee that focuses on North Yorkshire’s devolution deal has approved an additional £1 million to implement a new authority.

The North Yorkshire Combined Authority, which will elect a mayor in May 2024, will oversee £13 million worth of new homes, green economic growth to achieve a carbon-negative region, and further investment in digital broadband, if its setup is successful.

The combined authority is scheduled to be launched in November this year.

It will include councillors from North Yorkshire Council and City of York Council and make decisions on matters such as economic development and transport.

North Yorkshire has already spent £582,000 on the implementation of the authority, but a further £1 million was granted by the committee on July 24.

Nick Edwards from North Yorkshire Council, speaking on behalf of the chief finance officer for the devolution deal, said: 

“With regards to the request for an additional £1 million, the principles remain to the initial cash flow and that is on the basis that when the combined authority is established and it receives its grant funding that the implementation costs are repaid immediately to the council.

“If for any reason the combined authority does not proceed, the financial risks of the implementation costs rest equally with North Yorkshire and York councils.”

However, Mr Edwards asked the committee to consider the significant returns this investment would take from securing the implementation of the deal.

Mr Edwards said: 

“The combined authority will receive significant funding when it is established – funding which is on top of any specific project funding – from November 1, if that is the setup date, will include funding of around £10 million, and £19.5 million in 2024/25.

“So in a matter of months of the authority going live, there will be funds of circa £30m available to it.”

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These funds are expected to go towards the mayoral capacity fund, the transport capacity fund and the investment fund.

A request to approve an adult education budget request of almost £500,000 was also approved at the meeting.

The estimated cost of delivering the implementation stage of the adult education budget over two years is £975,748.

The bid to the Department of Education is £480,932 (49.29%), requiring a local contribution of £494,816 (50.71%).

Voters head to the polls for Selby and Ainsty by-election

Voters will head to the polls this morning as a by-election is held in Selby and Ainsty.

The election was called after former Conservative cabinet minister, Nigel Adams, resigned with immediate effect in June.

The constituency’s northern border includes Harrogate district areas such as Huby, Follifoot, Spofforth and some of the villages in the Vale of York, such as Tockwith, Green Hammerton and Long Marston.

A total of 13 candidates have been confirmed for the contest. The full list is below:

Voters are reminded that the by-election is the first to be held in North Yorkshire where ID will be required at the voting booth.

Acceptable forms of ID include photocard driving licences, UK passports, and bus passes for older or disabled people.

Polls for the by-election will open at 7am and close at 10pm.

You can find your nearest polling station by entering your postcode on the North Yorkshire Council website here.

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