5 things to do in and around Harrogate this weekend January 2-4Picking up or dying down: What are the issues facing Harrogate’s live music scene?Strayside Sunday: Covid testing should be devolved to local authorities

Strayside Sunday is our weekly political opinion column. It is written by Paul Baverstock, former Director of Communications for the Conservative Party. 

Life, it has been said, is just the correct apportionment of blame.

It certainly seems that way in politics and the media coverage of it. I’m as guilty as the rest, often writing negative opinion in this column and raging against the machine in conversation. Time for some perspective I feel.

Last Sunday I wrote about the dilemma faced by former Northern Ireland Secretary and Ripon MP Julian Smith in whether or not to support a new trade bill that would break international law and ignore the Northern Ireland protocol he signed when in office. When the moment of truth came Mr. Smith found enough moral fibre and courage to abstain, thereby preserving his principle, avoiding conflict with his own party leadership, safe in the knowledge that his vote would not put too much of a dent in the government’s whopping majority in parliament. He made a mature political decision to do the right thing both by the people of Northern Ireland and by the party he represents. For this he is to be applauded.

Contrast this with the position of Harrogate’s Andrew Jones MP. A remainer, Mr. Jones waved through the bill, voting with my old boss Iain Duncan Smith, Jacob Reese-Mogg, Steve Baker and the rest of the European Reform Group ultras, for a law that breaks previous agreements with the European Union and breaks international law.

There may well be good reasons for this (although preserving his odour with the Conservative Chief Whip is not one them), but, as ever, Harrogate’s MP is reticent, some might say invisible, when it comes to explaining the reasons behind his actions to the people he purports to represent. Try as they might, I understand the journalistic staff of The Stray Ferret can’t extract comment or explanation from Mr. Jones, nor his office. At worst this pattern of behaviour is undemocratic, at best it is disrespectful, regardless it is cowardly.

But governing is always difficult; it is the consideration of competing claims and countervailing arguments. Done well and, in normal times, government should arrive at negotiated settlements, grounded in their own cogent and transparent philosophy, or “political bottom” as I call it, with enough marrow to satisfy the appetites of all interested parties, voters prime amongst them.

But as we teeter on the brink of another national lockdown; likely a 2-week “circuit break,” it does begin to feel as though the government’s response to Covid is out of control, lurching from one entirely reactive policy to the next. ‘Whack-a-mole;’ knocking local outbreaks on the head, was tried and failed, bubbling was given a go and hasn’t worked, and the ‘Rule of Six’ has lasted less than two weeks. The Government is at sea, but, let’s remember, by definition there is no playbook for handling this pandemic, unprecedented in its scale and effect. This is as true in Harrogate and North Yorkshire as it is nationally.

Our “world class” Test and Trace programme is a disaster. The national testing system is the latest in a long line of national ‘top-down’ IT programmes that are not fit for purpose. Stories of people finding it difficult to book a test online are myriad, delays are common and tests have been offered that require 200-mile or more round trips. Quietly, significant rates of false positives and false negatives confuse the picture. Consequently, as Covid rates rise again, local authority leaders are holding back testing capacity to ensure tests are available for their own key workers. Cases go unchecked, frustration mounts and decisions are made in fear.

I would imagine that this fear (of a rise in Covid infection rates) is at least in part behind Harrogate council’s decision to give a week’s notice that it will not extend permission for outdoor drinking and dining to continue on Stray land outside the The Blues Bar. Hot on the heels of the mess made of the Stray by the World Cycling Championships the council worries publicly that, as Autumn sets in, slippery conditions underfoot will endanger the local public and leave it with a turf repair bill. Sod it, I say. The more than 3000 people who have signed a petition against the council’s plan seem to agree.

I understand that government has to find a way to act in our best interest while reassuring us that all will be well. But fobbing us off with jobsworth “elf and safety” justifications for actions taken to protect us from the coming second wave will not wash.

Local authority leaders are also exasperated with Westminster’s efforts to recruit a national workforce of Trace Agents. Beyond the fact that few of these people possess the established local, third sector and civil society networks which enable effective communication with local people, they also lack detailed knowledge of the key societal variables driving both Covid behavioural compliance and outbreaks; such as the nature of local housing stock, family living patterns, travel habits, culture and language. This is, in fact, what local authorities are in business to do. We need to let them get on with it.

Tracing efforts were initially outsourced to national private providers such as Serco (offering a one size fits all approach) when, instead, local authorities would much rather use their own staff, equipped both with specialist epidemiological training (asking the right questions in the right order) and a detailed understanding of their own patch. This is how it works round here and all that. Our MP’s, Messrs Adams, Jones and Smith, ought to be advocating loudly and publicly for this approach, rather than following blindly the party line that all is well in Test and Trace land. They must know that this is beyond politics; it’s a matter of life and death.

That’s my Strayside Sunday.

 

 

 

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Outdoor tables set to remain at The Empress

Harrogate Borough Council appears to have withdrawn its threat to remove tables and chairs outside The Empress.

More than 3,000 people in a week signed a petition by owners Simon and Sharon Colgan calling on the council to reverse its decision.

The Colgans say they now only needed to reduce the distance between the outside tables and chairs, while still adhering to two metre social distancing guidelines.

The couple have also been told to remove tables and chairs from outside The Blues Bar, which they also own but that situation remains under review.

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The council had given both pubs one week to remove all of their tables and chairs over fears they could damage the Stray.

Ms Colgan told the Stray Ferret the latest development was good news for her workforce and for customers:

“We would like to thank the customers who went out of their way to sign our petition from last Friday. It has been incredible. Even some of our old customers who now live in America took the time to help. It means that we can serve more customers and keep more people in work.”

The Stray Ferret approached Harrogate Borough Council for comment today but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

Update: A council spokesman said: “Following a positive meeting with the Empress public house, we have agreed to provide a temporary licence that allows them to use an area outside to maintain social distancing.”

More than 2,000 call for council to leave tables outside Harrogate bars

Two Harrogate bars are fighting back against the council’s threat to remove their outside tables and chairs with a week’s notice.

Over the weekend, more than 2,000 people have signed a petition calling on Harrogate Borough Council to reverse its decision.

Simon and Sharon Colgan run both The Blues Bar and The Empress, and took advantage of the relaxed rules on outdoor dining in recent months.

Now, the council said it will remove any tables and chairs left on the grass after this Thursday. It raised fears that Stray land could be damaged when the weather changes.

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Dozens of messages of support were posted after the Stray Ferret shared the news that the outdoor chairs and tables would have to be removed.

Sharon said she has around 2,000 signatures behind the bar and nearly 600 on the change.org website over the weekend. The website reads:

“Please sign a petition to keep the tables and chairs outside The Blues Bar and The Empress. The area has allowed us to keep our patrons safe and our staff employed. Without this space we won’t be able to attract the number of customers we need to keep our staff employed.”

Simon and Sharon Colgan are the owners of The Blues Bar and The Empress.

A spokesman for Harrogate Borough Council told the Stray Ferret:

“Given the time of year and the impending bad weather, we are now asking all businesses who have been using Stray land for tables and chairs to remove them. This is to prevent damage to the Stray and also reduce the risk of injury should it become wet and muddy.”

The owners of The Blues Bar and The Empress have said that they would contribute towards maintenance of the Stray if it became an issue. They are meeting with council officers later in the week to discuss the situation.

North Yorkshire County Council had previously said it would be “happy to review any requests for longer term use of the public highway” for al fresco dining.

Harrogate council threatens to remove tables from outside bars

Harrogate Borough Council has told the owners of two bars in the town that they must remove their outside tables and chairs by next week.

Simon and Sharon Colgan run both The Blues Bar and The Empress, and took advantage of the relaxed rules on outdoor dining in recent months.

The couple told the Stray Ferret recently that the alfresco-style dining had doubled bar sales compared to the same time last year.

But the party appears to be over. Mr and Mrs Colgan said they received an “aggressive” letter from the council telling them that they can no longer use Stray land.

The letter said the changing weather in autumn meant the Stray could be damaged, or customers could be put at risk, if the grass continues to be used. It advised that unless furniture was removed by next Thursday, the council would remove it and dispose of it.

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Sharon told the Stray Ferret that she would be willing to contribute towards maintenance of the Stray if it became an issue:

“There can be a small amount of damage from tables and chairs but we are willing to look after the grass. If the council had a conversation with us then we would have made that clear, but they have just sent us a letter out of the blue with a week’s deadline.”

Yorkshire Hotel has taken full advantage of the temporary outdoor seating rules.

The Blues Bar and The Empress appear to be the only businesses affected. Simon Cotton, the group managing director at The Yorkshire Hotel, said he has not seen any such letter after using the grass along West Park.

A spokesman for Harrogate Borough Council told the Stray Ferret:

“Over the summer we have taken a pragmatic view of allowing businesses to use public open spaces so that they can operate while adhering to social distancing requirements.

“Given the time of year and the impending bad weather, we are now asking all businesses who have been using Stray land for tables and chairs to remove them. This is to prevent damage to the Stray and also reduce the risk of injury should it become wet and muddy.”

North Yorkshire County Council had previously said it would be “happy to review any requests for longer term use of the public highway” for alfresco dining.