Uniting Harrogate’s town centre businesses with a common voice is one of the biggest challenges facing Harrogate BID as it approaches its second anniversary.

With numerous groups and organisations representing different elements of the town, the BID hopes it can find common ground and bring different factions together to make progress for the benefit of all.

However, even within its own membership, there is no consensus on what the town centre needs. BID ambassador Jo Caswell said it is surprising how wide the range of opinions is on matters like pedestrianisation.

“It’s very mixed. A lot of it is to do with the demographics of the outlet and their customer base and what suits them as a business.

“We’re here to get feedback and put all that information together and put some kind of strategy together as a consequence of it. We’ve been very proactive – I’ve got a good feeling about what Harrogate BID will deliver if we know it’s the right thing that the retailers and general public want.”

Having been in post for five weeks, with the official title of Harrogate Host, Jo has spent a lot of time going from business to business, finding out what they need to make their lives easier in such difficult times.

A Harrogate resident for more than 20 years, she feels a sense of loyalty to the town and is enjoying being able to “put something back” by supporting the town centre. But she has been surprised by the lack of a sense of community across the town centre.

“There’s not as much of a community hub as I thought there would be. Why that is, I’m not sure.

“In a way, that excites me, because I think the initiatives that we’re putting forward are addressing that directly: networking with the councils, meetings with the homeless project. Our responsibility is to bring all those people together, give a bit of cohesion to it and represent those views.”

Harrogate BID’s new project manager, Dawn Gennery

Jo will be joined by a second Harrogate Host next week, as well as project administrator Dawn Gennery, who is supporting acting BID manager Simon Kent in his work.

Alongside liaising between organisations and business owners, the BID is aiming to provide a practical boost for local businesses over the coming months. A £100,000 investment is being made in Christmas lights – compared to around £30,000 raised in previous years through donations – to drive visitors into the town centre.

With retail and hospitality facing the most challenging times in most businesses’ histories, the BID is also working on more schemes to increase footfall and improve the environment of the town centre over the coming months. Measures including additional street cleaning and new planters to brighten up shop frontages through the winter months.

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Since it was launched in early 2019, Harrogate BID has faced its own challenges. Board members have come and gone – including the resignation of its first manager after less than four months last year, and the departure of four board members including the chairman in April, citing undue influence from local authorities and an inability to make progress on important projects.

Jo recognises the challenges still facing the organisation, but said the reception so far for her proactive approach has been reassuring.

“Generally, I’m finding it very positive. Because Harrogate BID has been quite invisible so far, there’s a bit of scepticism sometimes, but when you talk things through and talk about initiatives, I’ve had very little negative comeback.”

A Christmas lantern parade held annually to draw shoppers into Harrogate town centre has been called off this year.

The Harrogate at Christmas group said it is unable to bring together the parade of local school children safely under the continuing covid-19 restrictions.

Since 2017, the lantern parade has seen local schools create brightly-coloured displays to walk through the town centre, watched by friends and family. The organisers aim to bring more people into town in order to use local shops, restaurants and cafes in the run-up to Christmas.

Group chairman John Fox said:

“It is disappointing that we have had to cancel this year’s event. With more schools wanting to participate, together with more local musicians we just cannot make it covid compliant.”

The lantern parade was first held as part of the Big Switch-On of the Christmas lights in 2017, when the event was filmed as part of a programme about Harrogate’s festive preparations. Harrogate: A Great Yorkshire Christmas was shown on Channel 5.

The parade was later moved to be held separately from the lights switch-on, aiming to spread the crowds coming into Harrogate over a number of nights. This year’s event would have taken place on Thursday, December 3.

Last year, nearly 200 children, parents, friends, musicians and staff from St Peter’s and Western primary schools took part in the parade, led by Reincantation Choir. The event is managed by Red Cape, whose managing director Martin Ballard said:

“We are disappointed that the event is cancelled, but we have agreed with the Harrogate at Christmas Group that we will make the Christmas Lantern Parade bigger and better in 2021.”

The Co-operative Bank in central Harrogate will close before the end of the year as a result of national cuts.

The Prospect Crescent bank is one of 18 branches to be closed by the Cooperative, with 350 jobs set to be lost as a result.

The bank said the decision was made based on footfall during 2019 and was unrelated to the coronavirus lockdown.

Co-operative Bank chief executive Andrew Bester said:

“Our people have shown great dedication and commitment to our customers over the past few months, so we are very sorry to announce this news today.

“Unfortunately, we’re not immune to the impact of recent events, with the historically low base rate affecting the income of all banks and a period of prolonged economic uncertainty ahead, which means it’s important we reduce costs and have the right-sized operating model in place for the future.

“At the same time, we are responding to the continuing shift of more and more customers choosing to bank online, with lower levels of transactions in branches, a trend which has been increasing for some time, across the banking sector and more broadly.

“The bank is in a resilient position given the significant progress we’ve made in recent years, and our focus is on maintaining this as we continue to support our customers through the crisis. We will do all we can to support colleagues through the process with fairness and respect.”

The branch closure will be completed by December 1 and customers who are affected will be contacted directly by the bank with information about alternative options.

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A share of £14,000 in grants has been handed out to businesses in Harrogate town centre to help them reopen after the coronavirus lockdown.

Harrogate BID has offered a match-funded grant of £750 for vital equipment – and so far, 27 companies have taken up the offer.

The funds must be spent on signage, barriers, screens and other safety equipment. Sanitiser is not included on the list.

More than a quarter of the £20,000 of funding is still available, taken from the BID’s annual income which comes from a levy on business rates paid by town centre businesses over a certain rateable value.

Harrogate BID acting chair Sara Ferguson said:

“Businesses have been through an awful lot since mid-March’s lockdown, and I’m pleased that the BID is able to offer financial assistant to levy payers to be able to reopen.

“The town centre is home to a wide range of businesses, who employ a large number of staff from across the district.”

Submissions from levy payers must include a brief description of equipment already purchased, what they are in the process of buying, plus receipts, estimated delivery dates and expected costs. Grants are not restricted to retail and hospitality businesses.

Levy payers can apply for the funding by emailing info@harrogatebid.co.uk, and find out more by visiting the Harrogate BID website.

A pedestrian was left with a serious ankle injury after a collision with a black BMW X6 in the centre of Harrogate.

It happened at the junction of The Ginnel and Montpellier Street on Tuesday at around 4pm.

North Yorkshire Police is appealing for witnesses, or anyone with CCTV footage of the area, to help establish the full details of what happened.

Anyone with information can call the force on 101, select option2 and ask for Chris Storey, or email chris.storey@northyorkshire.pnn.police.uk.

Alternatively, call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111. Quote the North Yorkshire Police reference number 12200143779.

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Harrogate Borough Council has been given £141,177 from the government to help reopen high streets in town centres in the district safely.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced yesterday that non-essential shops, such as clothes stores and electronic outlets, will reopen from June 15 and urged people to spend money to help the economy “bounce back”.

Now, councils across the country have been handed money from a £50 million pot to help with measures to make shopping areas safe and will be able to spend the funding from June 1.

The money is designed to fund measures such as new signs, temporary barriers, street markings and marketing campaigns to reassure people that High Streets are safe.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged people to spend money to help the economy when non-essential stores reopen from June 15.

It comes as North Yorkshire County Council has already put out temporary bollards in town centres across the district to widen pavements to help social distancing. The authority’s highways chief was forced to defend the measures after criticism from some traders and on social media.

The funding is expected be among the last from the European Union Regional Development Fund which is allocated to the UK Government and handed to councils. The EU fund will finish at the end of this year.

High Streets Minister Simon Clarke MP said:

“As we begin to slowly return to normality, the re-opening our high streets will be key to kick-starting our economic recovery.

“Levelling up the regions and supporting our high streets has always been central to the mission of this government.

“Many businesses have already introduced creative ways of trading such as contactless collection or taking orders by instant messaging and shows that they are ready for the challenges ahead.

“That’s why we are providing an extra £50 million for councils to support a range of safety measures that will help get these businesses back on track and ensure that people can enjoy their time visiting their local high street safely again.”

Harrogate Borough Council has been approached for comment on what it intends to spend the funding on.

The new interim manager of Harrogate BID wants to turn conversations and plans into real action over the coming weeks.

Simon Kent believes the money put into the BID by its levy payers – businesses in Harrogate town centre – should be put to good use in making the organisation one of achievements, not just ideas.

“It’s difficult in any organisation where you have got a board of people all with their own businesses to run,” he said. “It’s easy to sit around agreeing things, but getting things done is another matter.”

In his previous role as director of Harrogate Convention Centre, Mr Kent (pictured above) said he was an advocate of setting up a BID in Harrogate from the outset. It was first proposed in 2017 by John Fox, at the time leading a group of volunteers to fundraise for the annual Christmas lights, and Mike Procter, president of Harrogate District Chamber of Commerce.

Mr Kent said:

“There are lots of people in Harrogate with similar ambitions for the town. I saw the BID as a way of moving these things forward.

“It would generate money which means, rather than just ideas, you can make things happen. That has always been the driver for me: it puts the town centre businesses in charge.

“I live in Ripon and I used to live in Knaresborough. They’re smaller towns but they also have a stronger sense of community. They have parish councils that effectively become the focus for the activities. There’s no equivalent parish council in Harrogate town, so I saw the BID as slotting into that gap.”

After he helped to get the BID established in late 2018, Mr Kent was vice-chairman for the first few months while the board at the time was working on getting the organisation established and setting up its ways of working.

Only three of the current 15 board members have been in place since this time last year, with resignations including then-chairman John Fox, who stepped down at the end of 2019 and was replaced by Bob Kennedy in March. The manager appointed last July, meanwhile, left the post within four months.

Now, having had his first meeting of the current board via video last Thursday, Mr Kent says it is a happy group:

“It’s difficult, because joining an organisation where you can’t meet people face-to-face is very strange. I’ve spoken to all the board members for an hour, or two in some cases.

“I understand their aspirations for the BID and their goals. It’s interesting how aligned everybody is. There’s a number of projects and some people are advocates of some over others. There’s good, healthy debate, but everyone is focused on a common goal.”

List of priorities

For the next three months, Mr Kent’s part-time role will be to help move some of the BID’s upcoming projects forward. Although the coronavirus crisis makes it difficult to set up events, the board has a list of priorities which it will be carrying out as soon as it can. These include:

• joining other BIDs to lobby for the coronavirus grants scheme to be extended to any business with a rateable value up to £150,000, rather than £51,000 as it currently stands.
• Investing “significant sums” in deep cleaning the town centre
• emphasising Harrogate’s floral reputation with more displays
• planning for improved Christmas lights
• making the run up to Christmas “really magical” with events and activities in the town centre to help businesses recover from the coronavirus shut-down

With questions raised about whether levy-payers’ contributions should be spent on work like street cleansing, Mr Kent argued that although it is a Harrogate Borough Council (HBC) responsibility, the BID’s money could complete cleansing work over and above the levels done routinely by the local authority.

Harrogate BID wants to prioritise street cleaning, to make the town centre attractive when shoppers return

Asked about the many groups in Harrogate and their overlapping work, such as Think Harrogate, Independent Harrogate and the proposed new destination management organisation with links to HBC and Harrogate Convention Centre, Mr Kent said the BID would play its part alongside others.

“I think it’s an exciting time,” he said. “The key thing is that the BID brings is a bit of extra money. The businesses have put into it and there’s a responsibility to spend that money wisely on making Harrogate the best it can be.”