Every month the Stray Ferret tries to find out what our local MPs have been up to in their constituencies and in the House of Commons.

This month, Prime Minister Boris Johnson faced a vote of no confidence from Tory MPs. MPs also voted to override part of the Brexit deal that relates to Northern Ireland.

We asked our three Conservative MPs, Harrogate & Knaresborough’s Andrew Jones, Skipton and Ripon’s Julian Smith, and Selby and Ainsty’s Nigel Adams if they would like to highlight anything in particular that they have been doing this month, but, as usual, we did not receive a response from any of them.

Here is what we know after analysing their online presence.

Andrew Jones, Harrogate and Knaresborough MP.

In Harrogate and Knaresborough, here is what we found out on Mr Jones:

• On June 6, Mr Jones voted against Prime Minister Boris Johnson in his confidence vote.
• Mr Jones spoke twice at Prime Minister’s Questions during June. On the 22nd, he urged the Prime Minister to introduce more apprenticeships in the rail industry. Yesterday he asked a question about the government’s Access to Work scheme for disabled people.
• Mr Jones had a stand at Starbeck Community Day on June 18 where he spoke with constituents.
• On June 22, Mr Jones met with young people from the charity Barnados in Parliament.
• On June 23, the MP wrote to Home Secretary Priti Patel about “speeding up” measures to evict Travellers who break the law.
• On June 27, Mr Jones voted in favour of the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill, which aims to override part of the government’s Brexit deal.
• On June 28, the MP paid tribute to Harrogate historian Malcolm Neesam who died. Mr Jones said: “Malcolm was a Harrogate hero. He leaves a body of work that is impressive and an area much the better for all he did”.

Read more:

• Sir Ed Davey: Lib Dems will target Harrogate and Knaresborough as key seat

• Harrogate choir dropped at last minute by Barry Manilow

Julian Smith, MP for Skipton and Ripon.

In Skipton and Ripon, here is what we found on Mr Smith:

• On June 2, Mr Smith attended the Queen’s platinum jubilee service at Ripon Cathedral.
• The MP paid tribute to broadcaster Harry Gration, who died this month. He tweeted: “So sorry & shocked to hear this @BBCLookNorth – Harry was such a special person & at @riponcathedral recent platinum jubilee service was on cracking form – charming everyone.”
• Mr Smith retweeted pop star Taylor Swift, who criticised the US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn abortion law Roe v Wade.
• On June 15, Mr Smith was the keynote speaker at a Women in Business event in Belfast.
• On June 21, Mr Smith voted against a Labour Party motion that would force Prime Minister Boris Johnson to appoint a new ethics chief within two months.
• Mr Smith, who is a former Northern Ireland secretary, abstained on the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill.

Nigel Adams, MP for Selby and Ainsty which includes rural Harrogate.

In rural south Harrogate, here is what we found on Mr Adams:

• The sweary MP tweeted that there has been a “a lot of conspiracy b*llocks spouted” about Boris Johnson’s trip to Ukraine. Last year, Mr Adams made national news after he told Stop Brexit Man, Steve Bray, to “f*** off” outside Parliament.
• Mr Adams also paid tribute to Harry Gration. He said: “Harry was a lovely man and such a professional, fair broadcaster.”
• The MP criticised RMT Union chief Mick Lynch following the rail strikes. He tweeted: “Not sure stopping working class people getting to work is a vote winner Mick.”
• Writing on his website on June 28, Mr Adams hailed the government’s Police, Crime, Sentencing, and Courts Act, which he said will make it easier to stop Traveller encampments and hare coursing.
• In early June, Mr Adams visited Hyderabad in India on a trade trip.

The Friends of Hell Wath and supporters have been pulling together for years to tackle an overbearing foreign invader at the Ripon nature reserve.

But many volunteer hands are still needed, if they are to win the battle by bashing the pervasive Himalayan balsam plants into submission.

Over the years, balsam has spread across a third of the site, putting a stranglehold on some areas and harming the growth of native species crucial to the biodiversity of the reserve.

FOHW secretary Jeremy Dunford told the Stray Ferret:

“Because Himalayan Balsam is so abundant, bees stick around feasting on the plentiful supply of nectar that it provides, meaning that these vital pollinators are not properly serving the needs of other plant species.

“This creates an imbalance, as it limits the variety of plants such as meadow flowers, that can add  greatly to the biodiversity of the site.”

Among those involved in clearing the site of Himalayan Balsam are Nabil Abbas, manager of the Skell Valley Project and FOHW member Karyn Lees.

Last week, the army of tireless volunteers, who have been manually tearing up the balsam, received a helping hand from the scientific  community.

Scientific help

After seeking assistance for two years, FOHW discovered that their call for help was being answered with the introduction of a natural fungal rust developed by the Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International, experts in biological control and fighting Himalayan balsam with fungal pathogens.

The fungus option, which weakens the plant by infecting its stem and leaves throughout the growing season, only infects Himalayan balsam and does not pose a risk to other species.

Not so pretty in pink — the Himalayan Balsam that has invaded Hell Wath Nature Reserve

 Mr Dunford said:

“We were absolutely delighted to be selected as one of the UK’s trial sites and hope that it will lead to a long-term solution that helps us in the work that we are doing here, alongside the Skell Valley Project, whose expertise is invaluable.

“However, while we wait with keen anticipation to witness the effects that the fungal rust has on selected areas of the reserve, we still need as many people as possible, to assist us with the seemingly unending task of pulling and snapping the balsam and stamping on its roots.”

Volunteer assistance

The friends, who can be contacted by clicking this link, have received assistance from 5th Ripon Brownies, young soldiers from the Harrogate Army Foundation and staff from major local employer Wolseley and visitors, who are encouraged to pull, snap and stamp on as many Himalayan balsam plants as possible when visiting the reserve.

Once pulled, the destroyed plants should be left at the side of the paths for collection and all people involved in this mass removal operation are advised to wear gloves, as the plants are often found alongside nettles, which should be left in situ.

Nabil Abbas, manager of the Skell Valley Project, has been providing help, guidance and practical assistance to FOHW.

He said:

“You realise the scale of the task when you see how much of the Hell Wath site has been overrun by the Himalayan Balsam.

“But nature has a remarkable way of bouncing back and it is great to see how the friends and other volunteers are working together to reclaim the area so that native species can flourish once more.”

Community volunteers from Wolseley, have been involved in the huge clearance programme. Picture: Skell Valley Project

Karyn Lees, a member of FOHW, who is literally getting to the root of the reserve’s balsam problem, said:

“Once you start it becomes addictive, as you realise with each plant pulled up and destroyed, you are helping the native species to thrive.”

Read More: 

• What is planned for Ripon’s Spa Baths?
• Fungus joins the fight at Ripon nature reserve

Ripon-based investment and development company Sterne Properties is in the process of acquiring the city’s historic Spa Baths from Harrogate Borough Council for an undisclosed sum.

In an exclusive interview with the Stray Ferret, company director Robert Sterne, said:

“It is our intention to restore the Grade II listed building to its former glory, when it was the centrepiece of the city’s spa quarter.

“Turning the clock back to 1905, it started life as a leisure and hospitality attraction, designed exclusively for the richer members of society, but our proposed hospitality-based regeneration of the building will make it fit for the modern world and open to all.

“Through a painstaking and detailed refurbishment, working closely with architect Andrew Burningham of AB Architecture, the spa complex will be returned to its days of Edwardian elegance.”

Sterne Properties has ambitious plans to refurbish the Grade II listed building.

Ornate and classical features, originally designed to attract well-heeled Edwardians to take spa treatments, will be seen once more in their full splendour and will be accessible to the people of Ripon and visitors to the city.

With its expertise in developing buildings for the city’s leisure, hospitality and retail sectors – including Curzon Cinema, Claro Lounge and Halls of Ripon – Sterne Properties feels well-equipped to take on the challenge of Spa Baths’ renaissance.

Mr Sterne said:

“We have had success in returning redundant properties such as the former NatWest Bank building next to Ripon Town Hall and an empty furniture store on North Street, into destinations that add value to the city’s offer.

“At this stage, we are considering a number of different community-focused uses.

“The initial planning application that we have lodged with Harrogate Borough Council, in the run up to completion of our acquisition of the building, is for a careful ‘strip back’ which will reveal design features that have been either covered up or out of sight since the 1930s, when the spa was re-purposed to accommodate a public swimming pool. “

Mr Sterne added:

“Our thinking is guided by knowledge of Ripon’s people who, like myself, learnt to swim at Spa Baths and see it, with affection, as part of their own and the city’s heritage.

“We believe that by working alongside all interested parties, including the city council and civic society, we can, subject to all relevant planning permissions, deliver an enhanced community asset, with new features, such as a conservatory, that we can all enjoy and take pride in.”

Martin Sterne, who set up the family-run property business in 1990s, added:

“We aim to make our mark on our home city by investing in it and creating developments that leave a lasting legacy.”

Read More:

• Ripon’s Spa Baths close after 116 years
• Plan ahead for road resurfacing and diversions in Ripon this week

The Harrogate district population has increased by almost 5,000 people since 2011, the latest census has revealed.

The government’s census survey, which happens every 10 years, gives a snapshot of the population at that time and is used to inform local and national government policy.

Census day was in March last year and the Office for National Statistics has collated the data and published the first set of results.

It reveals the Harrogate district population has increased by 3.1%, from 157,900 in 2011 to 162,700 in 2021.

This is lower than the overall increase for England (6.6%), where the population grew by nearly 3.5 million to 56,489,800.

Nearby areas like Selby and Leeds have seen their populations increase by 10.2% and 8.1%, respectively, while others such as Hambleton saw a smaller increase (1.8%) and Richmondshire saw a decrease of 4.4%.

The increase in population in the Harrogate district is lower than some may have expected considering the number of new homes built in Harrogate, Ripon, Knaresborough and Boroughbridge.

However many of the largest housing schemes included in Harrogate Borough Council’s Local Plan, such as 3,000 homes near Green Hammerton and a combined 1,500 homes on Otley Road in Harrogate, are yet to be built.

Read more:

• Harrogate district MPs divided over Northern Ireland Protocol
• Harrogate historian Malcolm Neesam dies

The data also reveals that in the Harrogate district, 83,000 people are female and 79,700 are male.

A total of 34,000 people in the district are over the age of 65, which makes up over 20% of the total population.

Statistics on ethnicity, language and religion will be released later this year.

The Office for National Statistics’ deputy national statistician Pete Benton said:

“Today’s census statistics begin to paint a rich and detailed snapshot of the nation and how we were living during the pandemic. They show the population of England and Wales continued to grow across the decade, albeit at different rates across the regions.

“Ultimately, the full suite of census results, based on the information we all gave, will ensure decisions about how the billions of pounds we spend each year as a nation are made using the best possible evidence.

“This includes planning our emergency services, mental health care, school places, hospital beds, houses, roads, buses, trains, trams, GPs and dentists’ services.”

A popular children’s “play café” near Ripon is closing its doors in September.

Little Beans, in West Tanfield, launched three years ago as a role play and messy play café for under six-year-olds.

An announcement on the business’s Facebook page said the venue at Village Farm, on Main Street, would close on Friday, September 2.

Owner Emma Terry wrote:

“It is with a heavy heart that as of September 2, Little Beans will be closing its doors and the Imagination Centre will only be doing private parties and events in external venues.

“This decision hasn’t been made easily and has been taken out of our hands.

“We would just like to thank all of our customers, past and present, who have supported us over the last three years, especially through the biggest pandemic we have ever seen.

“We have made some lovely friends along the way and will truly miss each and every one of you.”

Read more:

• Could a pothole machine be the answer to Ripon’s rocky roads?
• Long-awaited resurfacing work to start on busy Ripon roads

There will be a number of events taking place at the café over the summer and a farewell party is being planned on September 2.

Ms Terry added:

One of Ripon’s busiest thoroughfares will be closed daily between 7am and 5pm for six days from Friday, to enable North Yorkshire County Council to carry out repairs and resurfacing works.

Minster Road, which runs past Ripon Cathedral, along with St Mary’s Gate, are part of an inner-city route that many road users take if travelling to Cathedral Primary School,  Aldi, Marks & Spencer food store, and homes on Residence Lane and those accessed off Priest Lane.

Signs, including ones for a diversion route that takes in Allhallowgate, Stonebridgegate, Magdalen’s Road, Rotary Way and the Ripon bypass have been put in place by NYCC.

With the St Mary’s Gate and Minster Road in their present condition, some motorists have been making their own diversionary route to avoid the potholes.

Stewart Readman, used a steel tape measure to emphasise the size of potholes on St Mary’s Gate.

Among them is Ripon resident Stewart Readman, who contacted the Stray Ferret in April to express concern about the state of the city’s roads.

At that time, he said:

“St Mary’s Gate and Minster Road are particularly hazardous and both my daughter and I had to have springs replaced on our cars because of damage caused by the potholes.

“Since then, it’s a route that we have avoided.”

St Mary’s Gate is currently a patchwork of temporarily filled-in potholes.

Read more:

With the road repairs and resurfacing due to start in four days, Mr Readman said this morning:

“I will be keeping a close eye on this work, but there are still many other roads in Ripon that also need to be attended to.”

The repair and resurfacing works will be carried out from the junction of Priest Lane with Allhallowgate and St Mary’s Gate and on Minster Road.

A resident, who lives on St Mary’s Gate, added:

“We’ve waited a long time for this pothole problem to be sorted out and I just hope that they make a good job of resurfacing the road

“Hopefully it will be up to the same standard as the resurfacing work on Cathedral Car Park, where the contractors did a great job.”

Read more:

• Could a pothole machine be the answer to Ripon’s rocky roads?
• Smooth operators earn praise for Ripon car park resurfacing work

A 13-year-old girl from Harrogate has pleaded guilty to being drunk in public and attacking three police officers.

The girl, who who cannot be named for legal reasons, was referred to North Yorkshire Youth Justice Service for seven months.

The organisation provides a range of services to reduce crime and help young people stay out of trouble.

North Yorkshire Youth Court, sitting in Harrogate on Friday, heard that the girl was drunk and disorderly in Ripon Market Place on March 24.

She assaulted two police officers there and another one at Harrogate police station on the same day.

The girl pleaded guilty to all the charges as well as to a separate public order offence in Harrogate on April 3.

Read more:

• Harrogate girl, 13, charged with drunken assault on police
• Teen girl referred to youth panel after Harrogate McDonald’s police attack

This article is sponsored by Wolseley.

Beth Stephenson has become a rising star at Wolseley in just ten months with the Ripon company’s award-winning Talent Guild.

The Loughborough University student, who is reading accounting and financial management, was debating where to go for her placement year when she found the perfect fit in Wolseley.

Wolseley is the UK’s leading plumbing, heating and cooling specialist with 560 branches across the UK and its headquarters in Ripon.

The company employs more than 320 people in the city and recently completed a £500,000 refurbishment of the Ripon office.

So this is an exciting time to join the team and there’s no better way to get your foot in the door than through the Wolseley Talent Guild.

A taste of different career paths

The opportunity to move around and learn in different parts of the business through the Wolseley Talent Guild was a major draw for Beth, who is originally from York.

She started in August 2021 with the transactional input team but she has also worked with the tax and treasury teams. Beth, 22, said:

“That experience with different departments has meant it is much easier for me to understand the whole business and piece it altogether.

“It seemed daunting at first but I had heard from other people that they had gone to a business and stayed in one department the entire time – sometimes it’s an area they don’t like.

“Now I know which areas I like so when I progress, I can start my career in the area I like. It’s beneficial for my career but also for Wolseley as I have been able to connect the different teams.

“Ripon is lovely. I am from York so Ripon is similar to York but smaller so it’s a very nice place.

“There are lots of lovely places to walk and lots of independent shops. There’s a new vintage shop that has just opened up too which I am excited about.”

Beth is a student at Loughborough University.

Why join Wolseley?

Wolseley’s award-winning Talent Guild is a great way for employees to ensure progression and realise career goals. This industry-leading approach received formal recognition in December 2021, when Wolseley scooped the HR Excellence Award for Talent Management Strategy of the Year.

It includes apprenticeship programmes, talent boosters and career ladders, right through to more technical qualifications and higher education programmes.

Wolseley is currently training more than 130 apprentices across the UK and boosting the skills of more than 150 existing employees.

When employees progress they will notice that Wolseley strives to do the right thing – whether that is in the way they treat customers, suppliers or employees.

Wolseley knows how to attract, develop and retain the best people. The company offers competitive salary, holiday entitlement, a fantastic pension scheme, life insurance and much more.

Would you like to join Wolseley and unlock your potential with the Talent Guild? Click or tap here to find out more information.

Harrogate Borough Council has charged North Yorkshire Police over £110,000 to check and supply its CCTV footage since 2016, the Stray Ferret can reveal.

The council has a network of 212 CCTV cameras across the district to help prevent and detect crime. It has a manned control room that operates 24/7.

But it does not supply footage to the police for free and last month the Stray Ferret reported it asks the force to pay a fee of £57 per hour for the service.

We submitted a freedom of information request to the council that asked how much it has charged North Yorkshire Police in total since 2016.

The answer revealed a total bill of £114,005, which amounts to about £20,000 a year on average. The sum fell noticeably during covid lockdowns in 2021/22.

The annual breakdown is below:

• 2016/17 £23,410
• 2017/18 £19,598
• 2018/19 £20,251
• 2019/20 £18,992
• 2020/21 £13,400
• 2021/22  £18,354

Crime prevention

Ripon has been plagued by well-documented anti-social behaviour and crime in recent years.

The council operates 10 CCTV cameras in the city but Andrew Williams, the leader of Ripon City Council and the North Yorkshire county councillor for Ripon Minster and Moorside, said the charge deters police from following up crime reports.

He said:

“It is ironic that Harrogate Borough Council’s homes and safer communities team appears more interested in making commercial charges to the police, rather than working in partnership with them to help in the detection and arrest of criminals.”

Cllr Andrew Williams

Cllr Williams calculated that the £18,354 charge for the last financial year worked out at less than one hour of CCTV footage a day.

He suggested this means NYP is being selective in which footage it requests and could be missing out on catching criminals.

He added:

“When considering the size of the Harrogate district and the number of CCTV cameras installed across it, that indicates that police, with pressure on their budgets, are having to be selective in their purchasing of footage and only calling on the services of the HBC CCTV monitoring team for the most serious incidents that they are investigating.”

“At a public meeting in Ripon last month, police admitted that nobody had been arrested for the vandal attacks, in part because they could not pinpoint the exact time of each incident and would have to go through hours of footage, which would not necessarily provide the quality of footage required to identify an individual or individuals.”

Read more:

• No update from police following blade incident in Beckwithshaw
• Family of murdered Harrogate policeman seeks permanent memorial

‘Shameful’ charges

Business owner Andrew Hart, who owns the Red Box post offices in Bilton and Starbeck, has previously raised concerns about anti-social behaviour in both areas.

Mr Hart has two private CCTV cameras in his post offices. He said he supplies any footage to the police for free if they ask for it and called the council’s decision to charge “shameful”.

The council currently operates one CCTV camera in Starbeck.

Andrew Hart

He said:

“We are often needing to refer back to our two CCTV systems on both police and private request. It is something we do out of a sense of duty to both the community and in our joint responsibility to fight anti-social behaviour.

“Yes, it takes time and costs us money but we all have to do our bit, surely. I think it is shameful that any council should charge our grossly overstretched police for this service.”

Council’s response

A council spokesperson said:

“CCTV across the Harrogate district, which is owned and managed by Harrogate Borough Council, has ongoing infrastructure and running costs.

“As well as the costs to maintain the service, there are also costs associated with a CCTV control room, staffing and the on-going safe storage of footage.

“Should anyone wish to obtain a copy of any footage, this would require an appropriate individual reviewing it first, followed by providing the footage securely along with a witness statement. All while adhering to the Data Protection Act 1998.

“Therefore, any third-party that wishes to view and use any CCTV footage – such as an insurance company, enforcement agency or the police – is charged to do so.”

North Yorkshire Police declined to comment.

A weekend of theatre kicks off in Ripon tomorrow with street performers, a Shakespeare play and puppeteering all taking place in the city; some for free.

This will be the first Ripon Theatre Festival and will take place from tomorrow, June 23 to Sunday, June 26.

There will be more than 40 events from 20 professional acts taking part in this packed weekend of events.

Saturday is the main day of action with performances from The Comedy Waiters, The Green Finger Folk, the Million Dollar Mermaids and The Flying Wheelnuts.

Events are happening in the ‘festival zones’ in Market Place, Canal Basin and Ripon Spa Gardens. Saturday also sees four family theatre performances, each lasting 20 -55 minutes aimed at children.

There are also pop-up events in The Little Ripon Bookshop, at the Library and at the Curzon cinema.

Comedy Waiters

Other festival highlights include Red Ladder Theatre Company with their acclaimed production of The Damned United, the comic Holmes and Watson – The Farewell Tour and Illyria Theatre Company’s A Midsummer Nights Dream at Fountains Abbey on Sunday night.

The event is organised by a team of 30 volunteers from the Ripon City Festival Trust.

To see the full programme of events click here.

Read more:

• Ripon Civic Society looks to the future for a growing city
• Sculpture trail opens at Newby Hall